Catching Up

Princess is watching Dora right now....a favorite.  The boys are at Luke's birthday party at the bowling alley.  We already went to church today.  A favorite moment for me at church was before the service.  The lead pastor came all the way to the other side of the sanctuary to give me a hug when he saw that I was there today.  It was nice to get some other hugs and well wishes.  I was happily surprised that the Worgess family joined us at church.  They have gone to that church two Sundays in a row now.

Yesterday was Champ's baseball game.  He was thrilled to have me there, especially since I missed a few games.  He made some good hits, especially his last one.  He also made a run.  He was super excited.  Princess and I watched from chairs and made a few trips to the restroom.  I helped Champ organize his room for most of the day.  Daddy was working on improving the garage.  My parents babysat the kids for a few hours.  Daddy and I went to chick fil a for dinner.  We also went to Goodwill, a lap around the mall, and for a look at washing machines.  When we picked up the kids, Princess was really enjoying talking on a toy phone.  Champ was watching Garfield.

Friday my mom helped me around the house and we did some errands together.

Thursday was the first day that Princess pooped in the potty.  I brought in our Elmo potty from the garage, and she went in there.  This was after a lovely visit from my aunts.

Evening Time

After Princess crawled up in my lap tonight, she promptly peed.  Unfortunately for both of us, she was just wearing underwear and had  apparently had a lot to drink today.

What should you pray for?  I love prayers by Princess.  Tonight's prayers had her lifting up to the Lord Memaw, Gus, her chocolate bunny, and poop (among other things).

I love bedtime with Princess.  She is the world's worst sleeper, but I love the sweet time before bed.  We like to sing the ABCs, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and Deep and Wide.  She likes to have the light on in the hall after we leave.  She reads her books.  When we turned off the hall light last night, she started screaming that she can't read in the dark.

Tonight when I was brushing Champ's teeth, his tooth fell out.

Super Sunday

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous.  The weather was perfect.  After church, I made activity activities mandatory.  We also tried Princess outside in underwear.  She got many pieces icky, but she also had some successes.

A highlight was a boys versus girls basketball game on the driveway.  We taught Princess to stick her arms out and keep her legs wide when she was guarding Champ.  Our next lesson needs to be move your feet so that he doesn't go around you.  She loved guarding Champ.  We also talked to Champ about not playing tough on Princess.

We also did some yard work.  Champ tried to dig a pool in the backyard with a small shovel.  Princess wanted to go on more Easter egg hunts.  She doesn't close her eyes when asked.  So, I'm not sure how hard the Easter egg hunt was when she saw us hiding the eggs.  Princess loves to be pushed in the stroller.  So she and I took a lap around the neighborhood.

At one point during the day, I realized that Princess was using a glue stick as Chapstick.  I explained to her that it was glue and not Chapstick.  She said, "Oh.". It seemed to convey the message, "Who knew."

Champ loves to have me read some more of his Captain Underpants book to him each day.

Today we were all disappointed to be going back to the grind.  Princess was upset about being awoken, breakfast, not being able to watch all of Dora, having to go to school, and life in general.  Champ was angry with me when he failed to turn off the iPad at the correct time, couldn't find his shoes and sweatshirt, and his clothes were discovered shoved into a closet rather than drawers/hangers.

Daddy picked the kids up today because I had a meeting after school.  Now Daddy is at the PTO meeting.

Grandma and Gus

A highlight of our day was visiting Grandma and Gus.  We enjoyed their company.  They were kind enough to treat us to a Pizza Hut lunch.

Another highlight of the day for Champ was having his first baseball practice of the season.

15k

This morning I ran in a 15 K.  I was pleased that I kept running the whole time, with the exception of bending down to grab the cap that had blown off my head.  I was thrilled with a pace of 10:04.

Final Vacation Day

We feasted in the hotel restaurant on Friday morning, a compensation from the hotel for no wifi access during the week.  I loved the buffet, which the kids and I chose.  The chef made omelettes for Champ and I, a favorite of ours.  The chef even managed to entertain us by purposely causing fire in the skillets.  Daddy enjoyed French toast.

We had a final trip to the pool. I ventured to the hot tub and sauna again.  We got back to our room and began the task of packing up.  As I did my final sweep of the room, I swept my foot along the edge of the beds.  Much to our surprise, I found a can of snuff.  Daddy promptly took it to the front desk.  The employee apologized and gave Daddy some points toward a free night's stay.  Since we spent four nights in the room, we were happy that the kids never found it or got into it.

We said good bye to Nashville and drove to Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Arby's was our choice for lunch, although Daddy and I could barely eat another bite.  Although we tried Princess in just underwear, she had an accident and was forced to do a toddler walk of shame.

While in this city, we visited Aviation Heritage Park.  There were 3 military planes that the kids could inspect.  We walked to the large pond and watched the geese and ducks.  Next, we explored Western Kentucky University.  It was a pretty campus and beautiful weather.  Unfortunately, we never ran into Champ's fraternity friends from the hockey game.  We did, however, see two people on unicycles.

Although we hoped the walks would wear Princess out so she would nap in the car, she didn't get the memo.  We stopped for a Cracker Barrell dinner on the way home.  We were about five minutes south of home when Princess finally fell asleep.

Frat Life or Bust

On Thursday, Daddy brought MCDonalds back for breakfast after I returned from riding the stationary bike.  Then Daddy and the kids enjoyed a lengthy time in the pool while I took full advantage of the hot tub and sauna.  We drove around Nashville.  We explored Fort Nashborough and the River Walk...unfortunately, I realized here that the camera was still at the hotel.  For lunch, we feasted on Backyard Burgers.  Daddy used to live in a city that had this fast food chain, and we love to dine at these if we run into them again.  Princess and I fell asleep in the car.  We woke up to take a tour of the state Capitol.  It was fancy, but it seemed smaller than our own.  The architect lacked the vision for designing a restroom stall in which I could comfortably get a toddler to pee on the potty....we were cramped and unsuccessful.

We took a tour of Belmont.  The campus is beautiful.  The first few buildings even had what appeared to be granite floors.  Champ apparently told others that he was in college.

We tried to eat at Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, but the hour wait turned us off.  We started walking up the street looking for alternates.  As we did, Champ was yelling, "Go Predators," at anyone wearing hockey shirts.  We finally settled into Rippy's.  It was delicious and fast BBQ.  Champ loved that we ate upstairs.  Champ continued to say his hockey wishes throughout the restaurant.

Finally, we went to the Predators' hockey game.  Even if you aren't a hockey fan, you would have liked being in the stadium.  There were so many fun things going on, and there was a lot of enthusiasm for the home team.  Champ was so excited and enthusiastically yelling for his team.  The only people not turning around to look at Champ and raise their eye brows at him was the large group of fraternity brothers in front of him.  The frat brothers, from Western Kentucky University, were encouraging Champ and cheering him on.  As you might imagine, with such beautiful kids, we were put on the big screen several times.  Champ was devastated when the home team lost.  It was an extremely late night for us, but a very good night.

The Magical Bookbag

On our first full day in Nashville, Daddy brought McDonalds breakfast to us at the hotel.  Daddy went out and bought a swimsuit since his never got packed.  He played in the pool with the kids.  Princess wants nothing to do with the baby pool when she can be pampered at the big pool by daddy. She loves to kick as he drags her around.  She also loves to jump from the side into his arms.

After some time wandering around Nashville, we found Cheekwood Gardens.  It was spacious and beautiful.  It would probably be even more gorgeous in a few more weeks when more flowers had time to bloom.  The kids made a cloud craft.  We watched two model trains outside.  Then we played in a tree house.  We checked out the mansion's art exhibit before heading over to Subway for lunch.  We ran into Cheekwood's CFO in line.  When we returned to the gardens, I asked about the back pack adventures that I had seen advertised.  Champ was given a magnifying glass, a back pack, an booklet with tasks to complete around the gardens, a map, and art supplies.  Champ was a new kid with the magical book bag.  He loved the idea of being a detective as we followed the map and completed the tasks.

Next we went to Cooter's Garage near Opry Mills Mall.  The small museum appears to be owned by the man who played Cooter in The Dukes of Hazard.  Daddy and I enjoyed the nostalgia of seeing all the memorabilia from the famed TV show, as well as getting up close to cars from the show.  Champ seemed to enjoy watching an episode of the show that was playing in the place.

We dined at Rain Forest Cafe.  Champ absolutely loved it.  He was flying around the place looking at everything.  Princess, on the other hand, hated the experience.  The first table we were offered was right by the gorillas.  Even though I got a different table, she still was freaked out by all the animals.  She laid on the bench a lot or snuggled up against Daddy in hopes he would protect her.

We parked near the Opryland hotel and walked over to avoid the parking fee.  The kids and I took the boat tour inside the luxurious hotel.  They loved that.  Then we explored the grounds.  The crew was exhausted by the time we went to sleep in the hotel.

Adventure

On Wednesday, I got up and ran 5 miles on the treadmill.  Daddy brought me McDonald's for breakfast, but he brought the kids waffles from Waffle House.  Daddy and the kids loved their morning swim.

Wifi was spotty at best at the hotel.  We went to the visitor's center to look for deals and ideas.  Since it was so windy, we ruled against the zoo.  Instead, we went to the Adventure Science Center.  If you can endure the horrible set up to buy tickets and enter, the place is very exciting for children.  Champ loved virtual baseball, wheelchair basketball, water table simulating your your blood system, and a Magic School Bus meteorologist's TV station.  Princess loved the ambulance, bicycle, climbing, etc.  we ate at the Subway on site for lunch, as well as took in the Planetarium show.

For dinner, our family dined at our favorite restaurant of the trip, The Aquarium.  You walk through fish tanks to get to the dining area.  The dining area is surrounds an enormous fish tank, full of fish, eels, sharks, rays, etc.  Daddy and I shared a seafood sampler platter and shrimp cocktail that was incredible.  The kids food was not nearly as exciting as following animals around the aquarium.  Champ bought and used binoculars here.  We walked past the Grand Ole Opry before retiring for the evening.

The Start of Our Trip

Yesterday we began our trip to Nashville, Tennessee.  Although we hoped Princess would nap in the car, she stayed awake on sheer will.  We ate lunch at Wendy's in Columbus.  I tried to get Princess to be in the potty, but I learned that she won't pee in the potty if the toilets are loud and scarey.  The iPad and Leapster were big hits in the car and also the source of much fighting.  We stopped two other times along the way to try and get Princess to pee in the potty, but we again learned that she will not pee in the potty if they are loud and scarey.

We arrived at our hotel and soaked in how exciting it was.  The kids loved the view from our ninth floor room and bouncing on the beds.  Daddy had scored us a deal on Priceline.  We are staying at a Holiday Inn for $56 a night.

We ate at Cracker Barrell for dinner.  Then we traveled to Walmart to get Princess a new swimsuit and swim diapers.  We got Champ a swim mask.  We later learned that we should have picked up a swimsuit for dad too.  We also learned where the first aide kit is at Walmart.  Princess tripped over my big feet and hit her head on the cement floor.

The swimming pools were calling our names when we returned back to the hotel.  There is a small 1 foot deep pool that is perfect for Princess.  She delighted in splashing around, but she panicked when she got close to going under.  Champ stayed busy swimming around in the bigger pool.

You'd like to think that it was easy for everyone to fall asleep.  Princess loved singing songs while laying down.  She fell asleep finally, but she was restless and all over the bed for a long time.  At one point she climbed over me and started falling head first to the ground.  I miraculously awoke and caught her right before she would have hit her head.  Daddy gave her a drink of water.  Daddy held her.  Later she fell off the bed and thankfully landed on the two pillows I had wedged between the bed and the wall.