My whole family was down there, plus the dogs! We added 6 adults, 2 kids, and 2 dogs to the mix and my grandparents' house in Cottontown, TN. They said they really enjoyed our visit and were glad we came down, but I sure bet they were glad to see us leave too...haha! We all had a great time and are really glad we made the trip. We headed down Friday after Bobby got off work. It took us 4.5 hours and Natalie didn't sleep a wink! Lately, she doesn't seem to want to sleep in the car at all...or anytime for that matter but I'll get to that later. My parents were already there and Amanda, Matt, and Petunia arrived shortly after us.
Enjoying the wind in her hair!
Saturday, Bobby and I planned to make the trip to Nashville (only 30 minutes south) for an overnight stay to celebrate our 4 year anniversary while all the grandparents watched the girls. The girls did great for them and we had fun, too. I especially loved the 8 full hours of uninterrupted sleep and the king-size bed that had plenty of room for each of us to have our own space!
We stayed at the Marriott Downtown/Vanderbilt. On the website, it is rated as a 4-star hotel, but I don't think I would give it more than 3-stars. We got a good deal on Priceline and they had a complimentary shuttle that took us anywhere in a 2-mile radius so that was a definite plus because the hotel was a little less than 2 miles away from the hotel, making for a long walk or expensive cab ride.
I didn't take my camera, so our Nashville night-out was documented courtesy of Instagram on my phone.
First, we grabbed some lunch at Jack's BBQ...yummy!
What Bobby does best...on the computer as soon as we got in the room! Our hotel was right next to the new Vanderbilt stadium, which Bobby said you could see the field from the pool.
Our view from our room...the Parthenon. Bobby wanted to go inside, but by the time we walked over there, they were closing in 15 minutes, so we didn't pay to go in. We enjoyed walking around Centennial Park, though, very pretty.
Heading outside (hot and humid) to walk to the Parthenon.
The Parthenon
Ready for a night out without kids!
Happy 4 years to us...on the 6th!
Our view from dinner at Virago's...a seafood/sushi place. It was very good and recommended to us from the hotel shuttle driver. We sat outside and loved it!
It was so yummy, I forgot to take a picture before we ate some...oops!
We met up with Matt and Amanda. I took this picture in one of the dark bars we went into and they were blinded by the flash...haha! We had a great time with them! We started at Coyote Ugly (a bust), then headed to The Stage (good band but super crowded), played Laser tag (random but a blast), then ended the night at the Beer Sellar (they had my FAV beer... Hoegaarden and Raspberry Lambic mixed).
Amanda and I had played Laser Tag at this place when we were kids and absolutely LOVED it! We didn't even know it still existed. We all had a great time and you would be surprised to know that most of the people playing were adults, not kids!
You can't see the names well, but in 4th place was Bobby (Longhorn), I was 5th (Medusa...my name the first time I played it), Matt (Sunny D) was tied for 19th, and Amanda (Lexi) was 23rd. The first 3 people on the board basically just stood in a group and shot each other, so we don't count them in our book...we say Bobby got 1st!
The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel, then headed to the Opryland Hotel (since Bobby had never been) to walk around. Bobby originally (before I had asked about going to TN with my parents) planned to head down to Nashville on our anniversary to stay at this hotel since the guys at work have talked about it, but since it was so expensive and Bobby had never been to downtown Nashville, we decided to stay at the Marriott. Granted, the Opryland Hotel is by far a better hotel because of their awesome interior, but we both agreed even though it may have been more romantic, we would have gotten bored. We enjoyed the randomness of our trip to downtown at night. I had been inside the hotel before, but it was nice to go back since it is so pretty.
I do have to admit that I really, really, really miss our beach resort vacations! We spoiled ourselves for the 1st 3 years! Our goals is to go somewhere tropical for our 5th year (next year) anniversary. I hope that happens! However, we do get to go to a beach here in a month when we head to the Outer Banks, NC...can't wait!
I really didn't take any pictures until today when we left. Sunday, we hung out at Grandma and Grandpa Toby's house and ate good food, had a euchre tournament and just enjoyed each other's company. As soon as Bobby and I entered the door, it was back to reality! Natalie was not in a good mood really the rest of the day/evening. She would not take an afternoon nap even though she needed too...badly! She just couldn't get herself away from all the excitement and wanted to be a part of all the action.
This attitude continued way past bedtime. I didn't count, but I think Bobby and I each had to go up 5 times each because all she was doing was screaming. As soon as you would open the door, she would stop crying. This went on and on for at least 2-3 hours. It was awful! I really think it was a combination of being overtired and she was fighting it, cutting teeth, and just wanting to be with everyone else. I was to my wit's end, but luckily Bobby stayed calm and Aubrey slept through it all because if Aubrey would have woken up...oh my! Luckily, after 3 diaper changes and the 3rd sippy cup of milk, she went to sleep!
Shiloh and the twins came over before we all left to say 'bye.'
 |
| Grandma's pretty Morning Glories |
Love this...adorable!
Grandson (Ty) and Great-Granddaughter (Natalie) teaching Grandma some technology :)
Our trip home took 4.5 hours, which was good considering we had to stop 3 times! 1st time was for gas, 2nd was to feed Aubrey, and 3rd was shortly after the 2nd because Aubrey had a blow-out diaper...was her trend for the day! Natalie again would not sleep. For the first hour, she watched LeapFrog movie on the iPad, then whined for the whole 2nd hour, even with toys and food to distract her. By the time we were in Evansville, we were going to stop at the McDonald's play place and right as we were going to turn in, I turned around to look at Natalie and she was asleep! We were so glad she finally fell asleep because she had to have been one tired girl! Shortly after Natalie fell asleep...guess who woke up...
 |
| Aubrey never takes a pacifier, let alone fall asleep with one, but it worked today. |
Last 2 hours in the car (these pictures were taken 10 minutes apart):
Tonight, we decided to take a walk around our neighborhood (a 5 minute walk) to let Natalie get out some energy in hopes she would go to sleep well. We put her doggie backpack/leash on her so she could walk around herself, but yet we had control. It worked well. Aubrey screamed the whole time. She ate almost every hour and a half since we got home...grrr! Must be a growing spurt!
 |
| Walking our 2 "doggies" :) |
We cannot thank you guys (Grandma and Grandpa Toby) for letting us come down and stay! Also Grandma "Lala" and Grandpa "Randy" for watching the girls and getting up with Aubrey throughout the night to let us have a night away! We had a great time! Love you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.