chris... a wonderful dad!

This father's day Chris started out having donuts and reading books with the kids at church for Donuts with Dad. Then he chose Chinese food for lunch and Mexican for dinner. Then we played in Bricktown for the rest of the evening. The kids love their Daddy! He's such a wonderful helper, supporter, playmate, teammate, friend, and gives so much of himself. He works so hard for all of us. And you've got to love a man who wears red socks and plays on the playground!

tn/ky trip part 3: memphis

Our next stop was Memphis! We hadn't been back since I was pregnant with Elle so I really wanted to catch up with friends and show Elle where we lived. We stayed with the Blands, who are some of the greatest people you could ever meet. Dr. Bland was Chris' professor at HUGSR and Nancy got me my job at Oak. We worked together for 3 years. It was wonderful to see her with our kids and for then to get to know the Blands. We didn't get to spend much time with Dr. Bland because he was teaching a short course, but we also got to meet Nancy's grandkids who came along right after we left. Elle had the best time playing with Benson, Sloane, and Blake Leigh. I even got to catch up with another friend, Lindsay, that I taught with. Thank you Blands for hosting us!

We took the kids to the Memphis Zoo. Still one of my favorites! They had expanded since we had lived there so the Teton area was new to me and Chris as well. It was beautiful! The highlights of this zoo were seeing the polar and panda bears.

 I couldn't believe this sign was still there and just needed a pic. One of my kindergarten babies drew this 7 years ago when they were getting ready to open the Northwest Passage where the polar bears are.  I realized that class will be going into 7th grade this year! Wish I could have seen some of them, but I have no idea where they all are now. (Yes, Todd is knocked out!)

This zoo has an egyptian theme for the opening because there's also a Memphis in Egypt. They have a nice water area to play in so Elle and Chris waded around for a bit.

Next, we stopped by HUGSR. The mansion, grounds, and apartments still look the same! We got to see some old professors and neighbors. And, for you HUGSR folks I even got a glimpse of the Cec! So many memories came flooding back from our first 3 years. Elle like running around the grounds and we had to get a quick swing. We knocked on the door of our old apartment, but no one was home.

I fully expected to arrive in The Muggy when we got the Memphis, but we had great weather. Going back reminded me how much we need to make a regular visit. We didn't get nearly enough time to really look around. And, I steered clear from the Pottery Barn Outlet since we were flying. Hopefully, we can go back soon!

tn/ky trip part 2: paducah

While we were in the neighborhood we decided to add a trip to Paducah to our friends Erin and Justin. I loved our time there! We had a blast and it reminded me how richly blessed we are with wonderful friends. We had great conversations, yummy food, beautiful weather (minus the storm/flat tire incident) and exciting adventures. Elle even started telling people she lived in Paducah once we were in Memphis. And I'm sure Erin is still finding Sesame Street stickers all over the place!

Erin and Justin have a wonderful house. We got some good porch swing, playing on the steps, and soccer time in too!

While we were there they had Bikes on Broadway, which is a major street downtown that they blocked off for a few hours for people to ride around. The kids crashed not long after we started, but then we could ride around longer. Think we need to get a bike trailer!

We also went to a cookout with their church friends. This game is called corn hole. You throw bags of corn through holes. You'll have to ask Chris if you want to know how to keep score. Elle had a good time with the kids, and feeding the fish in the pond.

 Saturday nights in the summer Paducah has Live on Broadway (the street from before). The street is blocked off so you can walk up and down to check out the river, live music, other performers, and the antique shops. Elle took advantage of the giant slide and the Hooked on Science table.

You also can check out Kentucky at it's finest! Oh, how I wish this picture showed Creepy Feather Earring Man from the front!

We took a little drive to the lake to play miniature golf and do a safari walk. I think Justin won, not sure now because we had to get out of there pretty quick because of a bad storm. We learned that Elle stays entertained through about 9 holes and then she was done.

 We got in a quick bike ride to the park too even though we had to play in the dark. It's weird going from about the latest spot in the central time zone to some of the earliest spots.

Wish we could have stayed longer! Miss you Lewises! Thanks for having us!

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!