Visit with Abbey, Kim, Cady Lane, and JoJo, v. 2

Sunday of our weekend with the girls was just as action-packed!  Corey and Peter had some adventures on their own that day (and sadly took no photos) while I took the girls for a tour of the post-flood Opryland Hotel.  We gawked and marveled at the sheer size and ostentatious features of that wild place.

Photo op in the Cascades lobby!

We found some more of the kooky horses (like the ones at the Wildhorse Saloon in downtown Nashville).  Cady Lane and Charlotte fell in love.

Charlotte declared the girl horse to be the most beautiful in the world.

Lounging in the Delta shopping area.

We took a boat tour of the Delta river, and Charlie Jo cuddled with her Grandma JoJo.

There are tons of waterfalls in this crazy place.

We tried to reenact the previous night's line dancing escapades.

Watching the fountain show down below the little restaurant where we ate lunch.

Charlie Jo is getting to be such a big girl!

Cady Lane and her baby posed by the little waterfall too.

Before we left, we stumbled upon an arcade and couldn't resist.

Back at the hotel, Charlotte and Abbey Skyped with Abbey's boyfriend.

Then, we went swimming of course!

After dinner, we walked around downtown Franklin and had ice cream.

It was a nice way to end the weekend and send Abbey off to college. After getting groped by Peter, Abbey was certainly ready to get out of town!  Hee hee.

Good luck in college, Abbey!  We hope to see you for IU's Homecoming in October!!

Visit with Abbey, Kim, Cady Lane, and JoJo

We were lucky enough to get a whole weekend with my cousin/sister, Abbey, on her way to moving in for her freshman year at Indiana University!  She, her mom (my Aunt Kim), and her little sister (Cady Lane), drove to Dallas from California, and then they kidnapped my mom and all drove up here for a visit.  We started the weekend with dinner at Pie in the Sky on Friday night.

Mom and Aunt Kim are hiding somewhere behind that toppings caddy!

Abbey helped Charlotte make all sorts of cool things with the pizza dough the restaurant gives out for kids to play with while waiting for their pizza.

Peter and Cady Lane played peek-a-boo!

The next morning, we headed to Cheekwood to see the train exhibit and the art museum.  Cady Lane and Charlotte were great buddies right from the start.

Trains!!!

All three of the little kids were exceptionally excited whenever Thomas whizzed by.

Frameworthy!  (At least Abbey and I are smiling . . .)

We walked around outside a little, but the heat and humidity drove us indoors soon after to see the art collection in the Cheek mansion.

At lunch afterward, Peter entertained himself (and the rest of us!) in the mirror behind the seat.

While Petey napped, the older girls swam with Aunt Kim and Abbey in their hotel's pool.

We're pretty sure Cady Lane is part fish.  That girl would swim all day, every day, if she could.

Then, the girls snuggled up to watch "The Wizard of Oz".  I can't believe Charlotte was able to watch all of the scary parts!

Poor Abbey resorted to the old toothpaste and band-aids method to deal with some nasty mosquito bites she got while strolling by the Mississippi River in Memphis a couple of night before.  Amazingly no one else was bitten.  Abbey must taste extra sweet to bugs.

Back at our house, Abbey and Grandma JoJo entertained the howler monkeys . . .

. . . while Cady Lane cooked us all dinner.

That evening, Aunt Kim, Abbey, and I went out on the town for some line dancing and sight-seeing.  Someday when Abbey is 21, we'll have to do it again and hit the honky-tonks!

Here is the obligatory shot with the weirdo horse statues at the Wildhorse Saloon:

Whew -- that was one fun, action-packed day.  It makes me tired just writing about it.  The fun didn't stop there though.  We spent all day Sunday running around too, but that's going to have to be a whole other post.

Poor little girl

Last week, Charlotte and I got a terrible stomach bug.  It passed quickly, but we sure had a rough night.  Corey came down with it this week and had an even tougher go of it.  I refrained from documenting any of his pain and suffering, but I couldn't help but take a shot of Charlotte after her night of terror.  She was one pitiful little customer -- at least until she declared she wasn't sick at all and that her barfing was over.  Then it was business as usual, with a side order of cranky.

Scenes from the Williamson County Fair

A vision of the future

The marching band tradition is strong in our family.  Corey and I both had musical grandparents, and BOTH sets of our parents met in marching bands (Corey's at Rochester High School and mine at Arizona State University).  Corey and I each had siblings in marching band and colorguard, and anyone who knows either one of us even casually probably knows that Corey and I are both high school and college marching band alumni.  It's not a matter of whether Peter and Charlotte will be in a band.  It's only a question of woodwind versus brass.  (We're not sure we are ready for a percussionist, though we are not completely discounting the idea.)

When Charlotte received a cool collection of dress-up clothes handed down from Corey's cousins, there was included an old marching band jacket that apparently Corey's mom and aunt had purchased at a school rummage sale.  The other night, Charlotte decided she needed to wear it while she and Peter tooted on Corey's ancient baritone horn.  They can get surprisingly good noises out of it, and then they giggle like maniacs.  I don't mind this early introduction to brass, but please oh please let one of them be a woodwind player!

Petey wants to join the band too!

It may be hard to actually march until she is strong enough to hold the baritone.  For now, it has to sit on the floor while she honks.

Peter looks a little disturbed by the sounds emanating from that monster.

One of Charlotte's big heros, her buddy Madison's big sister Mia, plays the tuba, so low brass may be in CJ's future.  I can picture Peter as my little saxophone player, can't you?

Mallrats

Like I said before, it was HOTTT in Texas.  We resorted to the ultimate in suburban entertainment on our final day there -- the mall!  Shopping is getting more and more challenging with Petey as he seems to prefer racing around as fast as he can (all the while making "vrooming" noises like a car, of course) regardless of direction.  Then, he has to be carried kicking and screaming out of each store.  After visiting only one shop, we were exhausted and needed some lunch.  Peter's two-fork technique was, well, nauseating to watch.

Charlie Jo thought she was hot snot drinking all of her juice box and most of her brother's.  We feared the results as she was on this shopping trip wearing her big girl underpants.  Good thing she's usually pretty enthusiastic about going potty in public restrooms.

Petey got tired of waiting for Charlie Jo to finish her trip to the potty.

He perked up when we hiked across to the kids' play area.  It was beautiful and cheery.

I'm not sure why bellowing is necessary while sliding, but Petey seems to enjoy it.

Charlie Jo spent a lot of time on this caterpillar thing.

She copied a bigger girl and tried some trick riding.

Now how did she get up there?  I gotta try some of that too.

On the way home, we spotted this correctly-spelled restaurant!  Next time we're in Texas, I feel the need to patronize this bistro to support whoever this Niki is.  Do you think I could get a free appetizer or something?

Last bits of fun with Great Grandpa Chuck

Peter and Charlotte both loved Great Grandpa Chuck.  We're pretty sure Peter thought he was just one great big stuffed animal to cuddle, and Charlotte loved that Great Grandpa Chuck wasn't always running off to do something else and would sit and listen to her long flights of fancy.  I'm still in awe that my 83-year-old grandpa is more than happy to fly clear across the country all on his own to see his great grandkids.  He is visually impaired and thus needs to call a special needs access van to transport him to the airport, arranges for a skycap to help him navigate the busy confusing airport via wheelchair, puts up with the discomfort of a really long flight from Seattle to Dallas, and then repeats the process in reverse a few days later.  I used to whine when I traveled without Corey because I had to put my own bag in the overhead bin.  People tell me I'm brave for driving two tiny kids 685 miles on my own, but I don't think I have anything on Grandpa Chuck.

Like I said, Peter considered his Great Grandpa to be a big cuddly "buh-buh".  He kept wandering over and climbing up in Grandpa's lap.  He also seemed to have an obsession with finding Grandpa's belly button and was always yanking at Grandpa's shirt to locate it.

Charlotte didn't quite get that Grandpa Chuck's vision is extremely limited.  She brought a new puzzle over and asked for help, which Grandpa was more than happy to attempt to provide.

Working together, they were able to finish the puzzle!