tn/ky trip part 1: nashville

This face says it all about how we felt about the first part of our trip and our time in Nashville. 

Our flight from OKC left at 6:20 am! Lesson #1: never schedule a flight with a baby and a preschooler before 8 am. We of course took longer to pack the car and get everyone around than expected. Then had to park the car and catch the shuttle, plus get boarding passes, check luggage, and tags for the stroller and car seat. We were some of the last to board the plane so Chris sat with Elle on one side and I had Todd in my lap on the other side of the plane, not to mention the two people between Chris and I. Lesson #2: people on planes do not care if you have a baby and small child. They will not move so your whole family can sit together. My work bag did not make it because of bad communication and trying to hurry around so early in the morning. Lesson #3: Pack the car the night before. Leave only one bag out with clothes, etc. for the next day and to throw your pajamas and toothpaste in. (We did this before leaving Memphis and it was so much easier to get out the door.)

We did fine except for a little fussiness from Todd on the first flight. However, since the people next to me didn't move I didn't have any sympathy. We changed planes in Denver and got to sit all together. Lesson #4: Elle is the worst window seat person. She kept wanting to put the shade down! Lesson #5: Make sure the power button on the mini-DVD player wasn't left on to run the batteries down. Once we landed in Nashville we were able to get our luggage quickly, and thanks to Hertz Gold Club we had the easiest time getting the rental car. Then we headed to our hotel. Lesson #5: Make sure no major awards show is going on the same weekend you're wanting to stay somewhere or your room will be really overpriced. We were basically at the best white trash hotel in Nashville. Except for the creepy guy knocking on our door and just standing there without saying anything so that we had to call the manager it was fine.

Once we got to the hotel we found out check-in wasn't until late in the afternoon and they didn't have any rooms ready yet. So we took Chris over to Lipscomb University where his conference was at for the weekend. It's a really beautiful area and we ate a quick lunch at Chick-fil-a on campus, where we saw a couple of old friends and neighbors from Memphis and Waco. The kids and I then left for the rest of the day to go back to the hotel and rest and swim.

Friday, while Chris was at the conference I took Elle and Todd to the Nashville Zoo. When Chris and I lived in Memphis we had come to this zoo before and weren't really impressed. But, as I soon discovered this is about 1 of 3 things you can do with little kids in Nashville. Nashville zoo still didn't impress though. It is almost twice the price of the OKC zoo with only a few different animals, Elle wasn't free, and you have to pay to park. I did get a 50% discount with our ZooFriends pass for admission and the members discount at the gift shop though. This zoo is also built on a steep hill and several buildings didn't allow strollers. It was warm, and pushing a stroller up the hills with 48 pounds of babies is not fun. We did see some animals and I let Elle ride the carousel and train, which we normally don't do at our zoo.

Friday night, Chris did his Daddy-duty and swam with Elle in the freezing pool. Todd decided he doesn't like cold water so Elle was having to just play on the steps if we were by ourselves.

We tried to go to the Frist Art Center because they supposedly have a good kids area, but when we showed up there was 5 minutes left until it closed. Lesson #6: don't trust websites for the correct times. Even though the museum stayed open until 9 pm, the kids section closes at 5:30. When we asked why, they said budget cuts. How many people do they need to work an area where kids draw with markers? Really?! At this point in the trip I was done with Nashville. I decided if Chris decides to do this conference again it's going to just be a Momma-Daddy trip so we could enjoy the historical stuff. After we drove away to Paducah things were much better!