NASHVILLE TRIP: HIGHS AND LOWS

As if the past month had not been a bit wild, we decided to wild it up a little more and head to Nashville for a quick trip.  John had to take a food safety class through CFA, and this was the closest place they were offering it.  The girls and I decided to party crash, and so, Sunday afternoon, we headed out for a couple of nights.

Here's the high/low breakdown.

High:  Getting to see John's sister and brother-in-law and baby Shane, who is not such a little baby anymore.  There was a lot of cousin fun.



(How cute is he?)

High:  Getting a slightly larger hotel room that had a closet big enough for the Pack n' Play, so we could close Bella off in there for all of our sakes.

Low:  Realizing that the closet shared a wall with the service elevator that started going strong around 6:45 a.m.  That's mighty early round our parts.

High:  Going to the Opry Mills Mall and eating at the Aquarium Restaurant.  Let's just say the girls absolutely loved it, and everyone around us knew that.




Low:  Realizing that Bella has only one volume for life, and it is really loud.  So the good, the bad and the very ugly are all at top volume.

High:  Eating at the Loveless Cafe for dinner and starting off with this biscuit mountain.

High:  Following up our delicious Loveless dinner with some fantabulous ice cream from Jeni's.  I personally had one scoop of the Goat Cheese and Cherry and one scoop of Brambleberry Crumble.  Those flavors will haunt me forever with their tastiness, originality and the fact that I can not get them in Little Rock.  Plus, it is super cute to boot.



High:  Realizing that Lily likes to use the word "realize" in her everyday vocabulary.  Even better is realizing that she can use it correctly.

High:  Watching Olympics at night for hours.  When the commentator said, "This is a very dangerous vault coming up for him" while we were watching men's gymnastics, John said, "What?  Is he going to be running with a knife in his mouth?"

High:  Lily now asks Bella to do her "maniacal laugh" -  and Bella does it on command.  (And I hear the Muppet Movie villain in my head saying, "maniacal laugh.  maniacal laugh.")

High:  Heading to the Nashville Zoo with Becka and Shane to enjoy the animals.  The Cloud Leopard "kittens" were particularly adorable.

Low:  As we were driving home, Lily fell asleep almost immediately after we turned off the movie.  Bella decided it was a better idea to scream and cry, yell and throw things.  With no end in sight, we eventually had to stop the car to discipline her.  I had flashbacks of Lily at this age requiring the same thing and knowing how tough it is to really know what the right thing to do is at the right time.

Low:  (The Lowest Low)  We apparently stopped the car in a swamp, because once we got back on the road, our car was taken over by an infestation of mosquitos.  I killed seven and felt a bit frantic knowing they were buzzing around us all.  We didn't want to wake our sleeping ones by opening the window while we were going 70 (maybe a bit faster . . .), so I went on a mosquito massacre and had blood on my hands.  It was disgusting.

Now we're home and hoping to stay put for a while.  There is a lot of life to be lived in Little Rock!  One good thing that came from our drive last night is that it allowed us to have a parenting pow-wow that was much needed since this past month has been so scattered.  Our two little friends are both presenting some interesting challenges, and it was good to have a meeting of the minds and get on the same page.  John is such an encouragement to me to do the hard things now, because it is worth it.  Sometimes I wonder at the way God places people and personalities together in families, and I have to trust that he knows best, since it is all for his glory anyway.