Visit to Kentucky

Well, you might expect that our visit to Kentucky was jam packed and super fast. We hadn’t been since August, and we only had three nights in town. Patrick drove us to the airport very early Wednesday morning, and we met up with my parents at Biscuit Love in Nashville, near Vanderbilt U. Nashville irritated me from the moment I got off the jet. The kids were fine, and the flight was easy, but there was terrible traffic going into town (since we got in our upcharged (grr!) rental car at 8:00 am). Parking was difficult, so I dropped the kids off at the restaurant. My parents were already there and had presciently ordered ahead. We ate outside, enjoyed the weather, and headed over to the Parthenon for some playground time. Guess what. Parking was difficult. There was a big event for the CMAs and people were lined up to see Carrie Underwood preform one song.

We played for a while and then bailed out for Costco. Parking was great, and the building had plenty of air conditioning! Gilbert and Seamus somehow got three boxes of chips to take back to the house. Porter and Harlan cooperated by staying in the cart, and we were in and out fairly quickly. We stopped on the way back north at De La Paz, a Mexican joint in White House Tennessee. Home of the 32 oz beer:

Guess who ordered what.

Back at the house, the kids got out all their toys, and knocked themselves out. We tried to see Uncle Bret, but he was working, so we went to him.

Trying Pizza Hut for the first time.

The boys were over the moon about seeing him. He always calls Porter “Bret” and Porter thinks that’s cool, but only when it’s Bret calling him that. Woe unto anyone else who might make that error. He wasn’t busy, so we stayed and chatted a bit and then took the perfunctorily purchased pizza back to the house. An evening of baths and the Princess Bride, and the kids (and I) were pretty much done. Long busy day.

On Thursday, we met up with my friend Lindsey and her two girls. We checked out the spray park in Bowling Green. It’s always a good time, and just like the last time we got together, there were other kids, and the chaperones for that group were so nice to our little ones.

Both boys loved sitting on the jets.

It was so great to see my friend, and I was thrilled to get to hold her baby. I’m now enough past having my own babies that baby-holding is becoming my new favorite pastime! We headed back to my parents, ate some lunch, picked up the older boys, and let Porter have some down time. In the meantime, Seamus and Gilbert had taken Neely, the dog, and Snakey and Charlie, the cats, to the vet. They thought that was pretty entertaining. We went to visit our friends in town and played some shuffleboard, a game called Greed, and chatted about picks for the Democratic nomination. Gilbert and Porter had dental appointments, and then we all went out to see GiGi. It was a fun visit, but then she went to dinner, and I was going to be early to meet my friend! I really had not planned even a 15 minute break in the day!

I recovered and went out to the Mexican place in Franklin to meet my friend for dinner. We had a great chat, catching up. Her son just graduated high school, and it was yesterday he was 10, I promise. I wish we could have spent a longer time, but the place was gearing up for karaoke and I had to get the boys to bed. Bed in other places is sometimes hard for them, and sure enough, Harlan was up in the middle of the night every night we were there. It made me tired.

On Friday, I didn’t have as much planned, so we did dental appointments for Harlan, Seamus, and me. Then I took all the boys to visit GiGi, and we managed to find a break in the rain to blow some bubbles on the patio. That was a highlight of the trip for Porter.

All the boys with GiGi.

Since I had them out and about, we drove around the county a bit looking for “belly-ticklers” or hills that pop the car. I also decided that we could drive by the fork in the road. Seamus wanted to get out and reprise his last jumping shot.

The rain was threatening all day.

Friday night, we had fun going to the Bowling Green Hot Rods game. They had a bobble head giveaway, Seamus and Gilbert got to play a between inning game on the field, there was ice cream, and the Hot Rods won, so all in all, a great evening.

Saturday we met my friend Heather and her son at the park, and I was trying to get the kids to take a picture of the two of us. Porter cut off our heads, Harlan took a picture of our shoes, Gilbert started messing around, and Seamus actually got a decent picture. It was hilarious. And annoying.

Here’s me: Give me back the phone, Gilbert!
Heather: hahahahaha

Anyway. That was funny. Then I got in another visit with GiGi, a quick visit with Bret, and then we needed to head to the airport. Our flight was at 6:20, and I was pretty sure I had my gas planned out fine, but the light came on as we got on the interstate. All worked out well, with every last child falling asleep in the car. The flight was uneventful, and Patrick picked us up. Porter said, “Oh, home. I love you” when we walked in the door.

Til next time!

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