REVISED Year End Wrap Up - Part Cinq: Nashville

Oops!  I accidentally posted this before I was done - sorry about that!

Part Cinq (for real), okay, let's do this!


The weekend after Thanksgiving we packed up and headed to Music City, AKA Nashville, Tennessee!  One of Jim's best guys, Ryan, was getting married and we were along for the ride.  Actually, to be totally accurate, the "Dallas Morgans" (us), the "Lubbock Morgans" (Jim's parents), and the "Fernihoughs" (Jim's sister and her family - guess that one didn't actually have to be in quotations but it just followed the pattern so well) all went along for the ride.  You see, the in-laws graciously agreed to come to Nashville so that we'd have a babysitter for little man.  Then since it seemed like it would be such a fun city and none of us had been there before, it turned into a family trip / part of our Christmas present from the Lubbock Morgans.  FUN!


We flew into Nashville on Thursday evening and totally lucked out because Blake and Lindsey (Jim's childhood best friend and his wife - my sorority sister and fab friend) were on our flight.  This was Clay's second time to fly but his first time to fly without his own seat (eek!) so Lindsey sat with us so that Clay would have 3 seats to play in and 3 adults to entertain him.  He was pretty darn good (and Lindsey was AWESOME) but had trouble settling down to go to sleep (not like him...okay, peeps, I am using a literary device there known as "foreshadowing" so just tuck that little nugget away).


Friday morning we woke up and took some family pictures before heading out for the day.  Then we went in search of true southern food.  My MIL had done her research and found this place that offered the traditional "meat and three" - that means you get your choice of meat and three sides for set price.  Unfortunately, we didn't get there in time (blame it on the novice baby peeps who still haven't quite mastered flying in late night and then getting up and around at a reasonable hour with all baby gear packed up - we're trying though).  We ended up eating elsewhere and headed to the Nashville Gaylord Hotel.   There we got to do the "ICE!" exhibit (a tented exhibit, "heated" to 9 degrees where scenes from the claymation movie Santa Claus is Coming to Town were carved into dyed ice.)  It was very cold but very neat!

Granny and Poppa with the grand babies (Clay, Lauren, and Joseph)

The babes at the entrance to ICE!

The snow monster checking out his hands.

Clay and Daddy inside "ICE!"

My uber wonderful nephew, Joseph, and my super sweet niece, Lauren.

Us in our ICE! issued parkas.   I know, you're jealous because we look sooooo fashionable!

This room was at the end of the exhibit and it was AWESOME!  There were four slides made completely of ice that you could ride (Clay was too young so he didn't partake but his Mama and Daddy did!)

There I am!

Joseph!

Here comes Trouble (aka, Jim)!

The Nativity carved in ice.  Pretty amazing!

After The Gaylord and dinner with the fam, we headed back to the hotel to get Clay ready for bed.  Then Granny and Poppa came back to watch little man so that we could go out on the town and meet up with the groom.  The Nashville bar scene was very neat.  The bars all had live music and with being Music City, the music was g-o-o-d!  It really is amazing to think about how much talent AND history is in that one town.  We had a great time in Nashville and enjoyed catching up with Ryan (who we [I] refer to as my Houston son, he was one of Jim's fraternity brothers and roommates in college.  He went to medical school in Houston at the same time we were in Houston so we got to get together regularly with him and some of our other college friends [the Hinkles].)  We also got to meet Ryan's fiance, Sarah, who was very nice - they really seemed like a great fit. 

Well, after our night of fun, we headed back to the hotel and got a text from Granny just to see where we were.  Not a good sign...  Little man apparently never calmed down that night and had cried for a very, Very, VERY long time and couldn't be consoled.  Luckily we were just about to pull into the hotel.  The whole crying thing, not really something that's true to Clay's personality so we were all a bit perplexed.  Once we were back in our room, I still had a bit of trouble calming down the baby.  One time when he was crying a saw something in his mouth, put my finger in there to see if it was what I thought it was and.... BINGO (think back to that foreshadowing earlier), the baby, who wasn't himself that night and wasn't himself on the plane was cutting a tooth.  That's right, he was getting another bottom tooth (the far left incisor to be more accurate).  Ahhh, cue me feeling like an awesome mom.  So we gave little man some Tylenol and he magically slept much better that night.

The next morning we got up and again headed into downtown but this time the whole family was in tow.  We went to this HUGE dance hall / restaurant (all bars are required to serve food in Nashville - and it seemed like they were open 24 / 7 and had live music at most places at all times - makes sense since so many peeps are trying to make it there). 

After lunch we headed to the Ryman - the original home of the Grand Ole Opry.  It was here that we met up with college friends (and Ryan's other Houston "mom") Shannon and Nathan Hinkle - it is important to mention that Ryan is just 9 months younger than Shannon and me.  It's also important to note that he's a competent adult - I don't really know how that whole mom thing came about but it did.  Okay, so back to the story.  It was at the Ryman that Nathan and Shannon finally got to meet Clay - hooray!  The Ryman was amazing and really beautiful inside.  I highly recommend visiting it if you're ever in Nashville.

Nathan, Shannon, Jim, Clay, and me (and it wasn't until we were looking back through pictures that I realized that we'd hooked Clay into the baby Bjorn improperly - please don't call the authorities).

On stage at the Ryman - so cool!

Jim and Clay in the balcony (The Ryman was originally a church, it eventually became home to the Grand Ole Opry and people would come with their picnic dinners and watch the radio show live.  Another factoid is that the balcony where my guys are photographed was added after completion of the building - there was a reunion of (I think) Civil War soldiers and there wasn't going to be enough room so they added the balcony.

In the hall - the building had beautiful windows and since I am a sucker for neat architectural details, I wanted a family pic!

Our gracious hosts, Granny and Poppa

That evening Jim and I went to wedding and it was beautiful.  It was a very intimate wedding on in the stable and carriage house of the old Belle Meade Plantation.  Ryan and Sarah won a contest and their wedding will be featured this fall in (I believe) the Southern Living Wedding magazine.  The couple were happy, relaxed, and beautiful.  The ceremony, complete with truly beautiful vows that they wrote, was in the stables where the decorations had magnolia branches and blooms along along the sides of stalls.  The yummy food (mac and cheese bar, passed horderves, veggies, pita, chips, dips, and a carving station) was set up in the porch that connected the stables to the carriage house and there were bales of hay with blankets and decorative pillows around that made for a loungy feel.  The reception itself was in the carriage house.  There was a live band that sang acoustic music during dinner and then rocked all different kinds of music when the dance floor opened up.  Also, I was obsessed with their centerpieces (a tree trunk with hydrangeas, oranges, pomegranate, and moss with multiple votives in hollowed out tree branches, and tall cylindrical vases filled with pine cones.)  Another thing that was great at this wedding was the wedding cake.  The trick here is that there was NO CAKE!  It was a dessert bar with cupcakes, candied and caramel apples, cookies, and other sweet treat - GENIUS!  It was a great night! 

The next morning we drove out to Loveless Cafe (another Nashville, or rather just outside of Nashville, must).  Home style, southern food!  What more could you want?  After a late breakfast, we headed to the airport and flew home.  Clay did great on the flight!  We did have one funny / awkward moment.  About the time they turned off the fasten your seat belt sign, Clay needed a diaper change (read: WAY stinky, dirty diaper).  So, I pull all of the diaper changing gear together and am just about to pass the baby off to Jim when we hit major turbulence and the captain asked the flight attendants to take their seats and said no getting up.  Since leaving Clay in the dirty diaper felt harmful to Clay (and those around him), we had to stealthily change him in our chairs (luckily no one, surprise, wanted to sit next to a baby so we had three seats to ourselves.).  I won't go into the details but I will say, I am pretty impressed with Jim and my arial baby changing skills!

It was a great trip and we will definitely be going back to Nashville to explore even more of the city.  I am so glad that we had the opportunity to go because I don't know that I'd think of making that a vacation destination otherwise.  So that takes us through weekend 3 of our 9 week odyssey, more to come "soon"!