The Grand Ole Opry (12 Year Wedding Anniversary)

So it took us 12 years, but I finally got to take my lovely bride to the Opryland Hotel for an anniversary.  We actually visited the hotel in our first year of marriage and later that night stayed in a scary part of Nashville that I had booked online...and wished that one day we would be able to stay at the Opryland Hotel.  So here we are and we had an atrium view of the Garden Conservatory.  The fountains and gardens were great, and we give it two thumbs up.  We quickly got ready for our fun night at the Grand Ole Opry, but first stopping by Macaroni Grill where Magan and I are both in love with the fresh mozzarella.     

I had a surprise for Magan, that I had gotten 4th row seats at the Opry.  And these seats were amazing.  10 steps to the stage to take any closeup pictures, but close enough to not have to move either.  We were so close that during one pause in the show, Vince Gill waved at Magan.  And Darius Rucker smiled at us as he was singing.  Maybe it was just the fact that we were the only couple under 50 in a sold out crowd.  But I still don't think it appropriate for Vince to send his phone number out with an assistant to Magan later.  Not cool Vince...not cool.  

Minnie Pearl addressing the Opry crowd (How-DEEEEEE)

Maggie Rose "I ain't your Mama"

Bobby Osbourne and the Rocky Top Express.  Can you guess what their signature song was?  :)  Apparently the bassist for Diamond Rio was a nephew of Bobby Osbourne, so they had some fun with each other.

Charlie Pride

Elizabeth Cook

And lots of pictures of Vince and Darius Rucker (Wagon Wheel, It won't be like this for long, ??that other country hit he has)

Another fun surprise that we were not aware of was that they were filming scenes from an upcoming "Nashville" show.  Deacon and Scarlet were there from the show, but as I don't know much about the show, I will just assume they are both pretty major characters on the show.  Scarlet (played by Clara Barton) was performing for her first time in character on the Opry, so the director told us to clap and give a standing ovation if we could, and we did.  So maybe Magan and I will be on TV applauding our favorite character from the show...I guess.

Like I guess many TV shows, one take was not enough, so after the opry was over, they brought Clara Barton out for one more take.  The picture below shows the cameramen that were moving around her strategically for the shots for the show.

And after the show we met with Maggie Rose.  She is a cutie!  And we are so old, we told her that we were from Birmingham, and she told us that her band would be playing at the "Tin Roof" soon.  Magan acted cool like she knew the place.  "yeah, I know that place".  It was so funny, because I was thinking that 23 year old Maggie just doesn't know that the Grand Ole Opry is where Magan and I go to be cool.

So note to future Sam, Davis, and Belle...After 12 years, it's great to get a night away every once and awhile to be with your best friend.  And MaMag and Pop will gladly watch the kids for you, as Nanny,Granny and Granddaddy did for us.  

Barons at the NEW Regions Park

The NEW Regions Park in downtown.  And we choose one of the coldest days in the month after it had been raining all morning.  But the rain stopped, so all we had to deal with was the 10 mph chilly winds.  :)  I think Magan was going to kill me.  Magan had her umbrella positioned to block the wind, and then later had to borrow my socks (I think there is a cute picture below of her in my brown socks).  The kids had fun though and we actually made it through a full ball game.  The Barons won, and we caught a foul ball.  The boys got to get a glow-in-the-dark Barons ball, and Belle of course picked out a pink ball.  There were very few people in the crowd, which somewhat made it fun as we had the place to ourselves.  I love this picture above because one of the first blogs we ever wrote was when Davis was about 5 or 6 months old and little Sam had a big grin and holding up a ball he got at the Baron's game.

Day out with Thomas 2013

We almost missed it, but again found ourselves in Calera for the Day out with Thomas.  I think it will be sad when the day comes that we miss this, but the kids still love it, and it seems to work out every year for us to go.  This year we got there a little late as i had run a 10K that morning, but here we are for our 7th annual visit.  

I just loved this picture below of Belle.  She just jumped right in with all those boys playing trains.  She is used to having to barge in and play.  I also loved the scene below where Davis was trying to get his train back from a little toddler.  I could tell Davis was not real happy, but had no idea how to deal with this situation where the toddler would not give him back his train.

And lunch was finally bought after we realized that everything required cash as this place, and the only cash we had was at the van.  Did I mention I had to park the van back out at the highway coming into Calera, about 1/4 mile, and my knees were already sore?  Oh well, at least the kids had fun jumping and playing while I treked it back to the van.  Davis always seems to like the story time, and this lady does a good job with the kids, Belle stayed outside playing in the sand, and Sam played with the bubbles.

The picture below is Belle looking at Sir Topham Hatt.  This is about as close as we have ever gotten to him.  There is always such a big line.  So Magan and I get the award for bringing our kids to this event, but never letting them stand in the line to see this character and never forking out the money to let them ride Thomas...I mean seriously it is a long line, and Thomas is $20/person!  We just ride the $3 train.  Oh well, their faces look pretty happy to me.  :)

After finishing the day and getting there stamps at the 4 required areas (or Mom and Dad getting the stamps as they played), the kids all won the prize.  A book of stickers and a a couple of Thomas MegaBlocks.  The celebration picture is below.

Around The House

Just a few from around the house.  How bout those school picture proofs?  Pretty nice.  

Sam Earns his Wolf Badge

Sam earned his wolf badge at the last pack meeting.  Since I had the kids all to myself, Davis was my photographer and did a good job.  Belle has a great friend at these scout meetings...Bella.  We will sure miss the Thompsons as they move away to North Carolina this summer.  I know Belle will miss her Bella.  The boys then later got to "roll" their den leader.  

Scout Campout at Tannehill State Park

Another campout, and this time it was only for one night, so no problems right...unless you forget pillows and  blankets.  Arrghh... Sam and Davis love camping out, and I enjoy taking them.  They are troopers, and we are getting used to coming home with a tick or two.  

We began our hike picking up trash on a nearby trail.  It is really funny how excited these guys get when they see trash.  When there is some competition, trash collecting is fun!  We also took some time up on the top of the ridge to sit, be quiet, and listen to God.  It was a good time of quiet and I think the boys did really well just listening to the sounds of the beautiful creation around us.  Tannehill State Park is a really nice place, and it was a very pretty area.  

After some hot dogs for supper, we went on a night hike...which was pretty fun, but difficult as there were many puddles all around us, and hard to find the right spot to not get too muddy.  Sam just walked off and left me and Davis most of the time...He's not scared of too much.  The hike was fun but it was also 3.5 miles, and did I mention I was walking with drama boy Dave.  yeah, I started getting informed about his knees and back at about mile 1.5.  But we made it and had a good time.  Even visited a civil war era graveyard on the night tour.  Spooky.

The night was rather miserable for me as I bought the boys some pillows from the dollar general, but thought I could tough it out.  Plus, it was a lot colder than I was thinking it would be, so hard to sleep.  Wake up every hour thinking it was morning, only to realize I had more cold to suffer through.  Plus a train that was non-existent during the day, yet sounded often at night.  Sam just snored through it all...I think the scouts is a good fit for him.

The next morning we had a fun scavenger hunt for clues all over the camping area.  Then it was time for pancakes.  In talking with the boys later about our breakfast, I said "I had two pancakes with syrup, then two pancakes without syrup"...Sam matched me and said "I also had two pancakes with syrup, and two pancakes without syrup".  Davis then said "Well I had two pancakes with syrup, then I had two MORE pancakes with syrup".