Our weekend away

Chad and I were blessed with an extended weekend away. We had done this in January of 2008 when we went to Chicago for the weekend. We had a great time then, though quite cold and snowy! So this year we thought we would try heading a bit south. We wanted to go somewhere within driving distance and somewhere neither of us had been before.

We decided on Nashville, TN. My parents came here Friday evening to stay with the boys til Sunday. They then met Chad's parents and handed the boys over. The boys had so much fun with both sets of grandparents. In fact, they had so much fun that Andrew was in tears when we came to pick him up because he didn't want to go home! Anyways, I'm getting a little a head of myself.

Chad and I left Friday evening after eating supper with the boys and my parents. We headed to Cincinnati for the night. Saturday morning we were able to sleep in some and then get back on the road. We arrived in Nashville just before 2:00 Saturday afternoon, with the time change - which we didn't expect....we thought the clock in our hotel room was wrong at first. We went to a great little restaurant Sat. evening, Germantown Cafe. The food was excellent, very eloquently presented and such a nice atmosphere! That evening we had tickets at the Ryman Auditorium (a really neat old theatre) for a Grand O'le Opry concert. We went to this to experience a little of Nashville, not necessarily for the artists that were performing. There were probably 12 different artists that each sang two songs. A few of the artists were Lorrie Morgan, Marty Stuart, Ronnie Milsap, Chuck Wicks.

Sunday morning we slept in again and went to the hotels gym for a little exercise. After getting ready we then went to another local Nashville restaurant for brunch, The Garden Brunch Cafe. Another great restaurant; awesome food, nice atmosphere and even some live music. We then headed to a great mall so I could get ( I mean start) my shopping fix. We got through the top level of the mall and then headed back to the hotel for a rest...Chad watched the Colts football game while I read. That evening we went out to eat at Macaroni Grill and watched the movie Blind Side. We both really enjoyed this movie.

Monday was spent much the same as Sunday; sleeping in, out for brunch, shopping, eating and then seeing the movie Avatar. (Can you guess who chose which movie?) Chad's funny comment the week before leaving for TN, when trying to convince me that we should see Avatar was, "If we don't go see Avatar it will be like not going to go see Star Wars back in the day." Well, neither of us saw Star Wars back in the day! Did I like the movie? Umh, I don't really know. I am not a sci-fi kind of person. We saw it in an IMAX theatre and I think the movie was amazing - how did they do all the graphics!? It was really intense. Did I like it? I really don't know.

Perhaps we should have done things to experience more of Nashville. Go to the Country Music Hall of Fame. I'm not sure what else but we had a great time. We loved being just the two of us. Getting a chance to sleep in, enjoying all the great food at the restaurants that I didn't have to cook, having the opportunity to leisurely shop.

We loved getting back to see the boys as well. Carson was very excited to see us with plenty of hugs and kisses... Andrew on the other hand was very tearful, upset...afraid he wouldn't be able to finish the memory game he was just starting with Grandma, Carson and cousin Lucca. He did get to finish the game and he was ok but I think secretly could have stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's much longer!

Thank you very much for watching the boys for us! They loved spending time with the four of you and we appreciated the time were able to spend just the two of us! We feel refreshed.