Sunday night already?

It's been a fun few days since I last checked in.   We had our last regular season swim practice on Friday and since neither of my kids are doing Championships this year, we're basically done until the party next Sunday.

Of course, Matt isn't doing Championships this week because he is off at camp.  Even though he went to golf camp last month, this feels like his first "real" sleep away camp. See, golf camp was just one town over!  Plus I was already gone at baton camp when Matt left and then he returned just a day and a half after Gracie and I returned home from Knoxville.  I hardly had time to miss him!

But this time he had to cross state lines and change time zones!  At 7 am this morning, they loaded up a 15 passenger van at church and were off to Sugar Mountain, NC.   I know they've arrived safely, but the rest of the details will not come until next weekend.  In the meantime, I will be scanning the photo page of the camp website which they supposedly add to every day!

Meanwhile this was the big excitement for Gracie . . . .

Don't be distracted by her decidedly Southern ensemble of boots and denim shorts (Bless her heart!), but focus on her newest accessory . . . . the glasses!   If you've followed the blog for a few years, you might remember that Gracie had surgery on her eye several years back.  Her vision was perfect (and still is), but she has an alignment issue due to differences in the muscle strength of her two peepers. The result is when she is focusing on things at a certain distance (TV, movies, dry erase boards at school, etc), she has to turn her head to the right to focus.  Although the previous surgery was "successful," the correction was ultimately too conservative.  While she will have to go back to the operating room at some point (and neither parents or doctor think there is a huge rush to do this), it was suggested we consider trying glasses in the meantime.  They are prism lenses only, so they do not correct her vision, but help her eyes to focus better when looking straight on.  We'll see how this goes, but so far, it seems okay.  We'll be back at Vanderbilt for another check up in 3 months...keep your fingers (but not your eyes!) crossed!

As for me, the big highlight for my week was a visit from my sweet friend, Mindy, who I've known for over 30 years.  She came through Nashville on her way back from Savannah, and Heather and I were able to meet her out for drinks on Thursday evening. We ate, drank and chatted for over 3 hours and it was so awesome!  My heart was full --and now I want to know who's coming to visit next!

Camp, glasses and visits from Illinois . . . what could be better?

Note to the cutie in the red dress above:  Happy Birthday, HO!!
 

Spring break continues . . . .

We are continuing to enjoy Spring Break in Nashville.  The weather has been amazing so we are enjoying lots of time outside.   However, the rain rolls in tonight, so we are going to move to a yet-to-be-fully-determined Plan B soon!

On Monday, we were so happy to have my cousin Don, his wife Janice and their daughter Claire over for dinner with my folks.  They live near Kansas City and were here touring Belmont University.   Extra bonus that the weather was so great that we were able to eat dinner out on the porch...which is not only a great way to welcome spring, but it's our biggest table for entertaining! We haven't done spring cleaning on the porch yet, so I did a quick wipe down of everything and ran the vacuum and called it done.   Not looking forward to the day of pressure washing and deep cleaning that lies ahead, but that's a problem for another day. 

Next month.

Bassam and Matt have managed to get out to the golf course three times already, with another visit planned for today.  Matthew is playing in weekly tournaments starting in April and is trying to get his game back in shape for that after the long winter.  Bassam is trying to get his game in shape PERIOD!  :)

Last night we took advantage of the Tuesday night deals that the Nashville Predators offer and took the kids out for the game.    Downtown was bustling with all the St. Patrick's Day fun and frivolity (Seriously, who are all these people who can go out and drink copious amounts of green beer on a Tuesday night??!?) and the hockey arena was packed.   Unfortunately, the Predators lost in overtime, but we had a great time just the same.

In completely unrelated news, I was walking to the neighbors to take care of their dog this morning and noticed Gracie's latest chalk graffiti on the street.  So sweet!

Good advice for today....and every day!

Artsy Friday!

Today the kids and I got in touch with our artistic side with a visit to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.  They have an exhibit on Norman Rockwell right now and it seemed like something the kids would really enjoy.

And they did!

We explored the the exhibit twice.  The first time we did the family audio tour on iPod. The second time they went back and listened to the audio tracks that were on the regular (read: adult) tour. 

Between Rockwell tours, we went to the kids Art Quest area where they tried their hand and different kinds of art. 

Being at the Frist today reminded me of my first visit in February of 2009 when I went with Matthew and his preschool class for a field trip.  Running up to the front door with a pack of friends, Matthew tripped and face planted on the cement.   He got a knot on his head the size of Kansas, plus a bloody lip and nose!  I remember calling Bassam multiple times at work trying to figure out if I should take him to the ER (we rode to the Frist with another mom and several other kiddos).  I don't remember Bassam's exact words, but they probably went something like this, "Let's keep an eye on it."

All's well that ends well, I guess.

 

Wednesday's entry was my 1600th  post here on the blog.   I just happened to be fiddling around on my dashboard and saw that number.  Thanks for all who have stopped by....whether for 5, 25, 100, 250 or all 1600!  I appreciate it!

Country Music Hall of Fame

Played "hometown tourist" today and took the kids to the Country Music Hall of Fame.   Bassam and I had been there for events, but it was actually the first time for the kids and they both seemed to enjoy it!  Gracie loved all the costumes on display and the Taylor Swift Education Center (of course!).

Matthew liked the guitars best and walked around stating he wouldn't be caught dead wearing some of the spangle-y men's costumes.  Clearly, he will not be the next Buck Owens!

Bassam was excited to see the car from Smokey and the Bandit on display. . . .

Weird angle, I know.

and the walls and walls of gold records!

As for me, I really liked it all! Plus the Hatch Print Show had moved to Hall of Fame.  Unfortunately, they weren't printing posters while we were there so we didn't get to see them in action, but the new location has glass along one whole wall, so you can peek in and watch them work! 

Since the kids are still off school for a week, I suspect this won't be our last "hometown tourist" excursion!

Welcome to Nashvegas!

 With school right around the corner, the kids and I are trying to squeeze in as much fun in as possible over the next two weeks.   While Matthew had golf class this afternoon and we all had VBS this evening, the rest of the day was free, so the kids and I headed in to Nashville.

First stop was The Arcade.   No Pac Man or Donkey Kong here.  It's a covered, but open-air (kind of like a covered alley) shopping area right in the heart of downtown.  It houses scads of eateries (so it's hopping at lunchtime, and I suspect a bit seedy at night!), the original downtown post office, art galleries on the second floor and The Peanut Shop, which was our destination.  The Peanut Shop has been around for over 80 years.  They roast all the nuts in house (so it smells super yummy!) and weigh them on an old school over-under scale.

From there, we went to the Tennessee State Museum. Our in-house presidential historian, Matthew, especially loved the exhibits about Andrew Jackson, James Polk and Andrew Johnson.  

 

 

And he also liked this . . . .

 

Gracie loved the quilt display.  She set her sights on a beautiful quilt called a "crazy quilt" and declared that this was the kind she wanted GG to make her.

Looks easy, right?


Next stop . . . STATE CAPITOL!

We strolled around a bit on our own and then joined an "official" tour at the top of the hour.  Let's be honest, having just been in Washington, DC, the little TN state house is a bit of a letdown.   The legislature was not in session, so the building was pretty quiet.  But we enjoyed the tour and even scored some Bill Haslam pencils from the Governor's administrative assistant who watched with a smile as Gracie painstakingly filled out the Governor's guest book in her best handwriting. 

From the capitol building, we strolled down to Broadway, following the sounds of the honky tonks, which even have live music in the middle of the day.  As we did, we walked past the Ryman Auditorium.   The kids very dramatically declared they were too tired to do another tour, but did accommodate me with this lovely picture in front of the colorful stained class. 

Luckily, they rallied for this last shot as we stopped at  Savannah's Candy Kitchen for some ice cream.   Matthew got "Honky Tonk Hash" which was a heavenly combination of creamy vanilla and virtually every kind of chocolate candy they make there.   Delish!

 

In short (although this post is waaaay to long to say that!), we had a great time being  "hometown tourists."   And there's way more to see, so we can definitely do it again!

Museum envy . . . .

For a city of it's size, Nashville museums are decidedly sub-par.

Having said that, I realize I am coming from a completely biased place.   Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, trips to museums meant visiting places like the Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry and the Shedd Aquarium.  They are all a amazing and have something for everyone--from kids on up.  Heck even the 2nd grade field trip to the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in Elmhurst was kind of interesting and it's a museum for rocks. 

Nashville, however, just doesn't have a good museum scene.  For kids, there is the Adventure Science Center.  In the last couple years they did make significant improvements to the  space exhibit and theater.   It's no Adler Planetarium, but better than it was.  As you walk through the rest of the museum, you can't help but think, this place needs a big benefactor.   The exhibits rarely change and it always just seems a little dated and dirty.   I wish it were more like the DuPage Children's Museum which is amazing.   Or the Indianapolis Children's Museum, which blew my socks off. 

I will say that the Country Music Hall of Fame  is pretty cool.  And the Frist Center for the Visual Arts is also nice.   Both cater to pretty specific interests, although the Frist Center has added a pretty cool kids area upstairs.   When we go, we spend the majority of our time there  because it's very hands on.   But if art is not your thing, you're probably not going to go to the Frist.   Same goes for the Country Music Hall of Fame.   You probably need to have at least have a minimal interest in country music or music history to want to take it in.  The Parthenon is probably the coolest museum in town, but last time I suggested it as an outing to the kids they were decidedly unenthusiastic and we ended up doing something else.

All this museum talk does have a point. . . . I promise.

Today, I took the kids down to the Tennessee State Museum to see the Egyptian Relics, Replicas & Revivals: Treasures from Tutankhamun exhibit, which is only here through early September.   One big plus of this museum is it is free.  But quite frankly, it should be.   The museum is in the James K. Polk Center (which on their website they call the "new James K Polk Center" even thought it was built in 1981).  It's a couple floors and supposedly 60,000 square feet --but it's all underground.  And it feels underground.     It's dark and under-lit.    It's a bit on the boring side for the "under 10" set . . . and maybe for the 38 year old set, too.    But I love museums and want my kids to love them, too.  

As it happens, my kids (especially Matthew) love the Ancient Egypt exhibit at the Field Museum and they are nuts about the Egypt exhibit (modern day) at the Indy Children's Museum, so I really wanted to take them.   The exhibit is little sparse, a little cheesy --but we examined every artifact and Matthew happily showed off his knowledge of Egypt (for example, did you know that an Egyptian Pharaoh was the first person to appear on a coin?  I didn't!) as we walked through it.    The museum was quiet (it usually is when we are there, unless there is some kind of family event going on) and at one point, I think the guards out numbered the guests.

It could be worse.  I know that.  I dragged Bassam to the Augusta Museum of History when we were living down there.  Once we passed the section dedicated to the Masters, he checked out.   Okay, it was a little boring.  Augusta used to have small  childrens' museum called Ft. Discovery, but we were pre-kid back then, and unfortunately I read that it closed back in 2010. 

Clearly, some museums are better than none.  I probably shouldn't complain.   But, if I won the lottery tomorrow, I would seriously consider giving a big chunk of change to the Tennessee State Museum and ask them to hire some kind of visionary person who could really make this a go-to stop for tourists and locals.

"Mommy, this was the best day EVER!"

That's what Matthew said to me tonight as he went to bed. Isn't that the coolest thing about being a kid? Every great day is the BEST day! And I'd rather think every day is the BEST DAY EVER rather than fret over a string of crummy days.

But that's a blog entry for another day . . . .

Having said all that, it WAS a great day. We started out at Vacation Bible School at Brentwood United Methodist. They open it up to the public--and since we have a lot of friends there, decided it would be a fun summer activity. My friend, Rebecca, is one of the coordinators and before I knew it, I was also a volunteer for VBS this week. It was a fun, but tiring morning.

But the best part of the day was a visit from friends Tim and Karey Rees and their girls, Tori and Kenzie. Tim and Karey are Downers Grove natives like myself. And while Tim and I have known each other since high school, I've really gotten to know Karey through her blog (which as Tim noted, made for some interesting conversations, as we said things like "Oh yeah...I read that on your blog" or "I saw that on your Facebook!!"). They live in Dallas and are roadtripping up to Illinois and decided to come through Tennessee with stops in Memphis and Nashvegas.

Lucky for us, a stop in Nashville meant we got to have them over for dinner. It is safe to say the kids were FAST friends. Matthew was particularly enamoured with Tori (also 5). Those two played together liked they'd known each other forever. What a blessing it is when the kids can entertain one another like that. Other than a few interruptions for "shows " and Halloween (dress up) parades that came through the living room, the adults were able to hang out and talk!

'

A great evening! And in Matthew's book--the best day EVER!

It's a small world!

Today was one of those crazy busy days --but also one that ended in the best of ways.

Matthew, Gracie and I had our first day of "Mom-n-Me" painting classes at Cheekwood. We did water painting, finger painting and then a funky Rorschach type butterfly. Matthew seemed to enjoy the whole experience, while Gracie was a little hit or miss. She did not take to the finger painting at all. She dipped a couple fingers in the paint and then proceeded to walk around like some kind of sissy surgeon before operating with her hands up in the air, begging to wash off the paint! I am of course not referring to my husband in this description....just the stereotypical stuff you see on TV! I mean, really, I've never actually seen Bassam operate!

Anyway, after class we had to head to the Y so Matthew could have his first swimming lesson of the summer. We are trying the "boot camp approach," of 3 lessons a week for a couple weeks to see what skills he re-learns. Today was promising, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of our busy day--as Matthew also had his standing appointment for Occupational Therapy. He loves his group --and Gracie doesn't even mind going since I started bringing the portable DVD player and she has been able to watch Dora while we wait. Unfortunately, his session ends at 2:45 and Gracie is normally napping by this point, and inevitably, becomes very cranky as we pack up to leave. Today was NO exception!

However, the absolute highlight of the day was a visit from friends from Aiken---actually GRANITEVILLE (important distinction!)-- Tiffany and her two daughters Kali and Taylor. The whole family was actually in town, but Robert and Jaxen were in the audience at tonight's taping of "Nashville Star," so we met up with the Coleman girls at Rainforest Cafe at Opry Mills for dinner. It was so great to see Tiffany and her daughters. And wow, it was such a shock to see that the sweet little girls I once knew are now young ladies. That always sounds corny--but it was so very true. As old friends (and co-workers) often do, we threw around name of students and staff and played the "I wonder what happened to so-and-so" game! Luckily, Tiffany is still at USCA (although as a student---go girl!!), so she knew far more than I did! It was so fun to cach up!

The night was even a bit crazier when Tiffany turned out not to be the only person we saw from our Augusta days. While heading back to be seated at the Rainforest Cafe, we ran into Bassam's friend, Dan, who was a scrub tech at MCG. Dan was also the guy who bought "Pukey" (Bassam's 1979 puke green Mercedes) before we moved. It was uncanny!! We are rarely even at Opry Mills--but to be there with one friend from the Augusta area and to run into another -- a pretty strange turn of events!Here's a picture of Tiff, me and our kids. Wish I had bothered to run a comb through my hair, but alas, with the kind of days I've been having lately, I guess I should be glad I'm showered and wearing clean clothes. But that, my friends, is a post for another day . . . .

Kudos to Tammy for starting her new blog!!