All Good Thing Must Come to an End

Well, we finally made it back home on Friday after a 13-hour drive. It was a wonderful week away, but its good to be back home. I'll write a trip wrap up later and post the last of the pics. Back to the grind!

Nashville Shores

Wednesday was a tiring but fun day. We spent most of the day at Nashville Shores, a family water park that is somewhat of a blend of Berger's Lake (minus the parasites) and NRH2O. We had a great time playing in the various pools, floating in the lake, riding a very steep water slide (after the one slide, Cloe was done with rides), and enjoying a picnic lunch from the back of the van. We didn't take the camera, so you'll just have to imagine our tanned, toned bodies basking in the warm sun (and you'll have to have a REALLY good imagination to do that).

(Note to JB Ledbetter: Jenny did get into the lake and stayed even though she couldn't see her feet but could see small fish swimming around. You would have been proud!)

After the Shores, we returned to the resort for rest and cleanup after making dinner reservations at the Rainforest Cafe. Dinner there was great (and expensive!), but we all ate WAY too much. Cole was a bit overstimulated by all the animated elephants, gorillas, and thunderstorms that went off periodically. He completely ignored the magician that came to entertain us at our table because he didn't know where the next noise would come from.

After dinner we made a lap around the Opry Mills Mall, went to the Stingray Reef and watched dad feed the stingrays (and get very wet). We then called it a day and returned to our pad for the night.

Peking Acrobats

Today we spent a few hours aboard the General Jackson Riverboat. The weather was great, the food WAY over-priced, and the entertainment was AMAZING. We intended to just do the 2.5 hour cruise with the meal, but when we found we could upgrade and see the show, we jumped at the chance. The Peking Acrobats were awesome. They went through a myriad of stunts that were, quite frankly, unreal. From spinning plates to jumping through hoops to stacking chairs 20 feet into the air on four wine bottles (and doing a one-handed hand stand on top of it all), they had us on the edge of their seats. Cole was quite captivated by the show, often commenting how "unsafe" their stunts were or covering up his mouth and eyes in unbelief. When one of the female acrobats spun a large vase with her feet, Cole said, "That's breakable!" It was quite humorous.

Afterwards we returned to the resort for a swim and dinner. I think a low-key evening is in store, which includes the season finale of Deadliest Catch for mom and dad.

Sunday and Monday

Sunday we worshipped with some friends at the Hillsboro Church of Christ here in Nashville and then had lunch at their home. It was a great chance to catch up on James and Deborah and their family. In the afternoon we came back to the resort for some swimming and hang out time. We fixed some dinner, spent some time chillin'--all building up for our first big day on Monday.

After a big breakfast, we packed up our lunches and headed to the Nashville Zoo! This was a really neat zoo, and they're continuing to add more and new attractions. At each of the exhibits, they had kids stationed nearby to share all kinds of facts and whatnot about the animals you were seeing. The kids had a great time petting the goats and camels, as well as seeing everything from the incredibly noisey gibbons to tiny frogs and an enormous anaconda. Our troopes wore out pretty quick in the heat, so we came back to the resort for swimming and rest. Jen fixed some spaghetti for dinner, and we spent the evening working on a 3D puzzle of the Eiffle Tower (ok, the kids helped for about 5 minutes and mom and dad stayed up until 12:30 finishing it off). There were a few pieces missing, but we got it standing and our marriage survived.

Finally, In Nashville

Well, what was supposed to be a short, three-hour jaunt to Nashville from Memphis turned into a 5-hour marathon. The reason--two kids (particularly the three-year-old who doesn't realize he really needs to go to the potty until we're back on the road for about 2.4 miles). Nonetheless, we made it to our destination.

The Wyndham Nashville is a brand new resort within a mile of the Grand Ole Opry, Opryland Mills, and many other popular attractions. There are pools, a playground, and many family-friendly activities to do throughout the week. The unit we're staying in is GREAT. Between 1100 and 1300 sq. ft, with two SEPARATE bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, dining, living area, balcony, jacuzzi tub--we really like it. We rolled in about 7 PM, checked in, grabbed some dinner at the nearby Caney Fork Fish Camp, and then settled in for the night.

A funny story about the Caney Fork Fish Camp experience...its a pretty cool place with lots of stuffed animals, an indoor fish pond, etc. The food is great--steak, seafood, and other goodies. While we were waiting for our dinner to arrive, I took Cole over to the fish pond to check out the indoor aquatic life. It was apparent to me that these fish were used to being hand-fed. So, when a large, albino-looking catfish came swimming up, I touched my finger to the surface of the water and he swam up to us with his mouth open wide. That sight instantly freaked Cole out (who promptly jumped into my lap) and he began to scold me for sticking my finger in the water. In a panicked voice he said, "Do you see how that little boy is just watching? Don't stick your finger out, Dad, just watch!" It was quite amusing to me, although I did my best to laugh only on the inside.

Today we just doodled around the resort most of the day, although we did tour the Opry Mills Mall for a bit this afternoon. Tomorrow we play to visit the church of an old friend and former youth minister I interned under (James Waugh). We'll have lunch with him and his wife and then do a little sight-seeing in the afternoon. Monday will start the big fun.

By the way, if you want to keep up with all the places we're going in Nashville, check out the Google Map embedded in our blog.

Music City Here We Come!

Well, we're finally off on our summer vacation to Nashville, TN! We are so looking forward to some time away from the daily grind. Tonight we're staying in Memphis at the Doubletree Hotel ($50 on Priceline.com!) and will finish the trek to Nashville tomorrow afternoon. I'm hoping to blog each day and keep you posted on our exploits. Not sure when the pics will be added. I've got to figure out how to get them out of the camcorder first! Anyway, I hope everyone is well. Look for an end-of-the-day post tomorrow.

Wow, February 6th...really?

Promises, promises. OK, still bad bloggers here. But, for the record, one of the contributors to this blog (who will remain unnamed) is off for the summer. So, who should the blogging responsibilities fall to? I think you know. On behalf of our family, I apologize to our one remaining fan out there in the blogosphere. We'll 'try' to do better.

A quick funny for you from Sunday. As parents, we're trying to teach our kids the importance of giving to God, both at church and in our lives. So, we do like many parents do--when its time for the contribution plates to be passed, we give our kids some change to contribute. As my wife was retrieving the change from her purse, I noticed she was a little low. There were only two coins, a penny and a nickel, to give to our son. Upon receiving the change, our son looked at the six cents in his palm and said, "This is all I get?" (If you want to hear me wax theologically about the whole incident, check out the staff blog I'm a part of. There's a link on the right.)

Hope to write again soon!