Nashville Shores Water Park

On Sunday June 24, 2012, we woke up at our little hotel (didn't feel any bedbugs this night) and we went for breakfast. I wanted one place but Alex wanted Shoney's breakfast buffet so since the weekend was all about me up until this point, I gave him that :) Luckily kids Charlotte's age eat free bc it wouldn't have been worth it to pay for the 3 powdered donuts and 4 grapes she ate.

Alex was in his glory. I mean, they don't cook turkey bacon. They only cook the REAL stuff :)

Charlotte was ALLLL about the powdered donuts :)

Then we got the hotel room packed up, loaded the car, and then drove to the water park. Our sweet girl fell asleep on the way to the water park. We were so glad she got her morning nap in before a fun filled few hours at the water park. But when we woke her up, she was in a great mood and ready to go!! 

We stopped and got a water camera so we didn't chance losing or ruining ours.

How cute is this picture???!??!??

Charlotte was a maniac...and had no fear. 

She loved being free to walk around in a big pool and she would try so hard to make friends.

We had SUCH a healthy lunch... a large pickle, french fries, and a big ice cream cone.

Love my sweet girl.

She's so independent she can walk around on her own...or at least she thinks she can.

Her and daddy had a lot of bonding time in the water while momma watched.

The quality of this film is outstanding :) 

Happy we got to have fun at the water park even though none of us went on the big slides or anything.

Time to head back to Georgia.

It was a great few hours at the water park. I have to admit when we pulled up and saw the people walking in I was thinking, "Ummmmm I don't want to share water with these types of people. This is probably their yearly shower." I mean, there was a bunch of grunginess going on.  However, I knew Charlotte would have fun so I wanted to make the best of it. We actually only had to pay for Alex to get in and even for him we got the military discount. So instead of paying $66 we ended up paying $26. It was fabulous! We were there from 11:30 to 3:00 pm. Charlotte decided she had had enough and wouldn't go in the water anymore. She kept trying to make friends with all of the kids. It was so sweet. 

After the water park, we all loaded up and headed back to Georgia. It was a good trip back. It took us right at 6 hours. Charlotte slept for 2 of them and talked the rest of them... We were so glad to be home and get to see Max. I was so happy to get to a bed without bugs in it :) 

Thanks, Alex for an amazing weekend!!! I love you and our kids and our life.

Dinner at Orpyland with the Best

A fabulous part of my birthday weekend was that one of my best friends from the last 12 years was in Nashville the same weekend I was. Just by chance we were both in  the same city! What are the odds!?!?!?!?! So we knew we HAD to meet up. (Besides, everytime I come back to Illinois, Brianne and I see each other...no matter what.)

Since the Gaylord Opryland Hotel is SO amazing, we decided it would be best to meet there! So we met up. It was pretty much Charlotte's bedtime and she had either been in a car or in a stroller all day, so she wasn't the most amazing partner in crime during the dinner. But she did good. She had four adults willing to take her on walks to look at the "wah-wah". 

Charlotte loves her Aunt B.

She went to her right away even though it had been since Christmas since she had seen her. She gave her all of the kisses. It was SO SWEET :)

There was a wedding going on in the area where we ate dinner. Brianne and I were not above just walking over to the leftover cake and taking a few pieces.

We ate at the Mexican restaurant that was in the Opryland hotel. It was delicious and not too terribly priced. This was the first time Nick and Alex had met. They hit it off...and are very similar individuals. I had kept telling Brianne they were similar but it was way more obvious when they were in person. 

Even Charlotte loved Nick :) She put make-up on him and she took him on walks. It was so cute.

This girl loves her some flowers, trees, water, fish... anything that reminds her of outside.

Our little dinner crew :) Notice how large the bump appears in the long dress. WHOA! 

The engaged couple at the water show :)

Charlotte was so excited about the water show! Best part of her day HANDS DOWN.

The Jacksons.

The Jacksons... I wanted to include one with me embracing "the bump"

The next time I see these beautiful peeps will be their wedding week and when I have my little baby with me. Crazy how fast time flies...

It was a delicious meal with wonderful company. Our amazing Nashville day couldn't have ended any better way. Thanks for meeting us, B and Schrammer. Thanks for helping chase our crazy Goose. We can't wait for your wedding day weekend! It will be by far the best day of your lives. Love, kisses, and hugs!! :)

Nashville, TN for a Birthday Adventure

So, on Friday June 22, 2012, Mary had to fly back to Illinois. Charlotte and I got up and took her to Atlanta that morning to catch her flight. We got home around lunch time. We had enough time to pack and get ready for our weekend away in Nashville, TN. Since I was turning 30 and I couldn't do anything crazy and I didn't have family or friends to celebrate with, Alex and I decided we should go to Nashville for the weekend. 

Alex got home from work at 6:30 pm and we got the car loaded, showers taken, and we were on our way! We hit rain on the drive multiple times. Alex drove to South of Chattanooga then I took over and finished the drive. Alex had called to make sure the Embassy Suites had our room set and ready. Turns out they messed up our reservation so we had to scramble to get a room. We finally found a room at the Bedbug Inn... I mean the Guest House Inn and Suites... Alex booked it at 12:30 am and we pulled into the parking lot at 1 am.  We went STRAIGHT to bed. I didn't sleep well bc there was a mattress pad underneath the sheet with nubbies on it...they kept scratching my skin. I kept waking up thinking bugs were crawling below the sheet. UGH!!! (I fixed this problem for the second night. The hotel was pretty clean however... I am just a picky hotel brat... I require ALOT in a hotel.

On Saturday, June 23, our little human alarm clock woke us up at 7 am and was ready to get the day started. So we started our "vacation" day with Cracker Barrel (Becky Weber was so proud!). Charlotte was so excited to have crayons.

She enjoyed her breakfast...and like a true Southern girl, she loved her some grits!

After breakfast, we went to Bass Pro shop to look around and to let Charlotte see the stuffed wild life and the big fish tank. She was so excited! She loved the "ish" and she stood next to a HUGE bear. We then loaded back into the car and drove to downtown Nashville. Charlotte fell asleep on the drive so we drove around a bit then parked. We woke our favorite crazy girl up and started our adventure in downtown Nashville. We walked down to the river and then all around downtown. It was hotter than the hubs of hell but we made due. (The temp was supposed to be 101.)

For lunch, we went to BB Kings in downtown. Alex and I were so excited about it. We went there on our "honeymoon" and we drunkinly had the best nachos EVER there. So we went there for some birthday deliciousness.

My fabulous hubster surprised me with a dozen hot pink roses (with glitter on them) at BB Kings. AWWW!!!!

Charlotte may not have liked her Mac N Cheese but she sure ate the heck out of the shredded cheese on Alex's salad.

These nachos are amazing. I recommend them to all. Just try it.

After nacho time, Alex surprised me with MORE FATTY FOOD and they brought me one of my all time favorite desserts... brownies and ice cream. Charlotte ate a TON of this and was wired. HILARIOUS.

Look at her. She was worried Alex wasn't going to give her some.

My big birthday surprise that Alex thought of all on his own was this.

He got us a limo tour of country stars' homes. Such a good idea!!! He knows I love the Kardashian girls so he said this is his way of getting me to be a Kardashian for a day :)

How many 16 month olds have been in a limo for 3 hours straight??? Yep, my crazy kid has. And she was not calm about it. She took every napkin out of every glass. She had to play in the ice in the cooler and mess with everything she saw. She was soaking wet from the ice. 

I love this picture of her...trying to figure out what is going on with this driver guy...while trying to sneakily turn on the tv.

Here is Dunn from Brookes and Dunn's house. I got a few creepy pictures of the property but this is all I am going to post. I don't want to seem like a stalker.

Someone needs to take a nap... and she did... on my lap... for over an hour.

Here is Alan Jackson's old house... he sold it for lots of millions not too long ago. Again, I took a bunch of creepy pictures of the property but I won't post them.

The way a limo looks with a kid in it.

We saw a bunch of different places including Dolly Parton's house and Little Jimmy's house. We saw the entrance to a bunch of neighborhoods where the big daddy's live. It was relaxing and fun. 

Charlotte loved this ride :) 

Afterwards, we went to Tootsies to see Jake Maurer play with his Jake and the Naked Truth but it was a bit rowdy in Tootsies for the stroller, the 16 month old, and the pregnant woman so we didn't go in. Jake came out and talked to us for a bit. I introduced him to Alex and Charlotte. It was good to see him. (I went to high school with him.) Then we finished our walk around the city back to the car.

I love how Charlotte and I have similar expressions in these next few pics.

Her face is so funny.

The kid loves a microphone.

It was such a fabulous day in downtown Nashville. We walked back to the Tahoe in the heat with the stroller and the hills of Tennessee. We headed back to the BedBug Inn/the hotel and got ready to see one of my bestest friends of all time and her fiance :)

Alex, BRAVO my friend. Great idea with limo, the roses, the fatty brownies. LOVED IT ALL :)