It's been in the 70's and 80's here this weekend and is supposed to be in the 90's on Tuesday. Can't believe it, but happy! The terrible winter we had makes me appreciate this great weather so much more. and the garden is bursting with spring color and leaves. love love love this time of year!
What's different this year is that I now have a one year old to go to the playgrounds with and make myself get out and enjoy the weather (not just think about going outside, or only going outside to do yard work). Lucy is in playground heaven, we have one a block away we go to almost every day, and then we go to other ones around town and the surrounding towns to meet up with our friends. It makes me so happy I am not working and can enjoy this time. happy, happy, joy, joy!
Lucy is one lucky kid. we had cake with her on her birthday, then Julie's mom's group celebrated her day (with a yummy elephant cake) and they got her some AMAZING play food. Then finally today, we had her official party. it was small and just family, her Godmother Andrea, Her Grandma Allen, Omi & Opi, and Patrick's Godmother Hana and Robert. Lucy had a ball with everyone in the house playing with her. She walked around in her party dress with her balloon and spent time with each of us. She was very intrigued with the cards and each gift she opened. She got more play food (YUMMY! where is our play kitchen to store it all in?), an outdoor garden toy, monkey's in a barrel, cool (designer!) clothes, a bead maze and a very cool and somewhat challenging stacking toy. We also got her a play tent for inside and out, some dominoes, and a bunch of books. I don't think she'll be bored for a while, especially since we have been spending so much time at playgrounds now that it's nice out.
I made another cake, and tried (unsuccessfully) to decorate it again. I think I need to take some classes or something, it's getting embarrassing. She was very excited when we sang to her, and looked at each one of us with joy. I think she's used to this whole cake thing and knows she's getting sugar! All in all it was a wonderful way to celebrate the last year. I still can't believe how much she's changed! Thanks to everyone who's sent their birthday wishes, and given such wonderful gifts! She is lucky to have so many people love her :)
Since I would rather spend my Sunday mornings scoring at a flea market and Patrick would rather spend his drinking coffee and reading the paper, we are not going to church these days. I have even fallen off the Unitarian train for a while now, oops. I kind of wanted to bring Lucy to church this easter, but when I thought of naps being messed and fancy (a.k.a. fussy) dresses I decided we'd have a mellow morning in our living room. Here is Lucy's first experience with an egg (she thought it was a rattle) and me 33 years ago doing the same thing!
later we went over to my mothers house for a scrumptious ham dinner. mmmmmmmm..... what diet?
I can not believe it has been a year. I was in labor for so long and it started the time warp and whirlwind of the past year. We are so amazed at how much she's changed and grown it truly is an unbelievable thing to be a part of. I wish her sister could be witness to this all to, but for now I'll try and look at the positive side and appreciate all the one on one time I get with her.
ok, no more sap.
Lucy is a "big girl" now, a "toddler" I don't know about those labels but she can now ride facing forward in the car and boy is she happy about that! or maybe it's me who's happy, now I can see her too!
we were pretty lazy today, went to Grandmas and shopping and played a lot. Grandma Allen got her a giant musical card. Lucy was dancing to it and it became a toy in it's self. Grandma also got her a fabulous tricycle that she has been riding pretty much ever since she got it.
I made her a pretty cool cake and let her have a whole slice. she never gets sugar so she was on a crazy sugar high making a mess and then a sugar coma after the bath. We played some more with Uncle Fletcher's cool gift (I think this one was more for me than her, at least for now).
We will celebrate her birthday again with a proper party on the 18th so more family can participate.
anyway, here is a short slide show of the mess she made and fun she had!
We had arrived Thursday after a VERY early and cramped ride on a crowded tiny 'puddle jumper' plane. We were exhausted but couldn't check into our hotel for another 4 hours. we decided to hit a park for Lucy and luckily one of Julie's fellow bitchin' mama's had suggested one. It's really called Fanny Mae Dees Park, but everyone calls it the 'dragon park'. Why? It has a few nice playgrounds around this huge and beautiful mosaic dragon sculpture. Lucy liked not being on a small plane, and we liked the super warm and sunny weather. ever hour we stripped off another layer. NO MORE COLD NEW ENGLAND WEATHER DOWN HERE! we then hit a few vintage (pre to post modern) and record shops (Grimey's), at a yummy meal at Sylvan Park, and finally checked into the hotel and all took a much needed nap.
when we woke up it was torrential rains, a fantastic thunder and lightening show, and tornadoes. we were held up in the crummy hotel room for a while and then when danger passed went out to eat at a BBQ place by Vanderbilt.
Friday we woke up early, checked out of our nasty hotel and took off to the famous Loveless Cafe. The owner is known for her several TV appearances and the place is known for the biscuits. I was really wanting some BBQ so for breakfast I had a hearty serving of grits and two soft poached eggs over an enormous heap of BBQ pulled smoked pork. mmmmmm, I think I ate 1/3 of it before I felt like I was gonna blow. Patrick ad the famous ham and Lucy ate most of my grits. Took the gift shop by storm and then headed down to Memphis.
I have never in my life experienced so many truckers and wide loads on a road in my life. we seemed to be stuck behind every one of them. somehow we broke free for a bit to only get a massive speeding ticket. oooops, that's not a souvenir we wanted.
while waiting for the Alleruzzo/ Taylor clan we stopped off at the Ornamental Metal Museum. This is Lucy's second sculpture park and she had a good time. It looks out over the Mississippi and Arkansas. it was really pretty with bright sun and blooming flowers.
Next stop was Graceland! yay! so we knew it was gonna be great, but we had no idea. We got some special/extended tour passes through Andrea's work and had hours upon hours of full on Elvis memorabilia indulgence. the tour of his house was awesome, grounds, even more awesome, and the planes were awesome to the third power. grab a cup of coffee for these pix, there are a lot of them...
That night we ate some BBQ at the famous restaurant Rendezvous. You now it's gonna be good when a place that is down an ally is packed.
Saturday morning we asked our hotel where a good place for breakfast was. they said Denny's up the street. or if we wanted local (we smiled at that thought) go down the street to Arby's and McDonnalds. uh, local? we walked up to Denny's. our hotel was right across the street from the baseball field and it was opening day, so it was pretty crazy. oh, and did I say the Cardinals were in town? After breakfast we went to The Peabody to see the duck march. the Peabody is one of the oldest, (and most luxurious) hotels in the south. Ducks live on the roof and every day a man walks them to the elevator. they head down to a red carpet walk to the fountain to play the day away. It's a big spectacle and Lucy had fun watching them.
then we had to get ready for the wedding at Graceland's 'chapel in the woods'. Lucy took a nap while I helped Andrea with her hair. these are my lame-ass amateur pix of the wedding, more formal ones exist, but this is my blog and I think these few are pretty great and want to share them with those of you who appreciate cute weddings. After the wedding we went to dinner at an Italian place. Lucy was dead tired by then end, as were the rest of us. CONGRATULATIONS ANDREA AND ADAM!!!!!
We spent most of Sunday hanging out with the new Mr & Mrs, went to Sun Studios, some record shops and a and an amazing vintage shop, Flashback, The Stax Museum and yummy BBQ. Children under 5 can't do the Sun tour, and Andrea and Adam had already done it the day before, so Andrea and I stayed in the soda/gift shop while Patrick and Adam did the tour. we got free shakes and snack! The staff is unbelievably friendly and this place is very cool. Lucy had fun dancing to the jukebox. The Stax Museum was a truly amazing experience and was way better than any of us had expected. There were no cameras allowed so we don't have many pictures. In one section they had a dance floor and a floor to ceiling screen with a movie of people dancing projected on it. Lucy got down and danced on the dance floor. She also liked looking at all the gold records. Julie Loved a display of 45's and wishes she could find a picture of them. As far as the vintage shops, many were closed due to it being a Sunday (damn religious respect) but Flashback was open and is a recommended stop for anyone visiting Memphis. It definitely got the vintage shop stamp of approval from Julie and Andrea (the later of which dropped a lot of dough on some amazingly beautiful 50's lamps with very rare and extremely cool shades) We had to hit the road just before dusk and got stuck in some nasty traffic going back to Nashville. took us WAY longer than expected, but over-all it was a good day.
On Monday, before check out, we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was really amazing, and again, better than we had expected. Of course Julie loved the guitar and western wear displays. The architecture is very cool, everything is a symbol, like the windows/facade are supposed to be a piano keyboard, the stacks of disks on the left represent the kinds of records (45's, 78's etc.). Patrick and Julie were also amazed at Webb Pierce's convertible.
we tried to hit up a few more shops, museums, and stuff, but were unable to get to them due to the unseasonably cold and rainy weather. I guess on Monday's a lot of places are also closed. We did get to Pied Piper, a cute restaurant in East Nashville. they had a great (and cleverly written) diner like menu, kid play area, and the best fried pickles I have ever had. ok, so I had never had a fried pickle before, but these were some serious deliciousness! A lot of driving around following our will-only-get-you-there-if-I-take-you-through-the-ghetto-GPS with little success on finding new things. Decided to go to the airport super early so at least we could tire Lucy out and let her walk everywhere. it was a good thing because apparently Nashville's airport staff is very strict and anal about everything. I understand it's their job, being airport security and all, but really, I had to take Lucy's socks and diaper off! oh, and they took one of her stuffed quacking toys because they thought it was "suspicious"
Flew to Chicago in another small "commuter"plane. at least in this one we could stand up. We got luxury to Boston on a big, almost empty, plane. The lovely ticket lady gave us different seats so Lucy could have her own. Of course, this was the time she fell asleep on me. pooped all over the place and made a big mess.
home at last. glad we went, glad to be back. Thanks to Adam and Andrea's families for delicious dinners, and thank you to my best friend Andrea for giving me an excuse to get down south! And more importantly this trip would not have been possible if not for the generous 'trip fund' gift given to us from my mom for Christmas. THANK YOU!
