Nashville

Audrey and I broke up the mononity of every day life and took a little girls trip to Nashville last week. Brett's mom put together this amazing festival for children's choirs around the country and since Brett couldn't get off work, Audrey and I decided to head east to show our support. Of course, no girls trip is complete without a little shopping and thanks to the Opry Mills Mall, we were not disappointed. I decided to stop first at Build-A-Bear, hoping that Audrey would be so excited about her new bear, that she would sit quietly in her stroller the rest of the afternoon and let me do a little shopping. I know, I know, quit laughing. I knew it would never happen... but it COULD. Anyway, Audrey picked out her bear (with a little guidance from mom- seriously, $22 for A BEAR?) and off she went...

(sorry for the weird lighting) Audrey "meeting" her bear and putting a little button in the hand that says, "I love you, I love you." I can't tell you how many times I heard that during the day.

Her favorite part- giving the bear a bath and brushing her hair. Even after the bear was named and clothed, Audrey wanted to go back and continue to bathe the bear.
The finished bear. Audrey named her "Addison," which is what my sister is naming her baby. I thought it was sweet. Audrey luuuvs her aunt, Hashey (aka Ashley), and I think the arrival of baby Addison is going throw Audrey for a loop.

Next, we headed to the carousel. Have I told you how much I hate carousel's? Well, I do. I get nauseous just thinking about them. But try to explain that to a 2 year old and it's like talking to a wall. No sympathy, whatsoever. So, being the good mom that I am, I bought 2 tickets because I knew 1 ride was never enough. She rode her horse (and I tried to not throw up- do they really need to go so fast??) and as soon as it stopped, Audrey said, "Ok, eat pizza." Seriously?! I should of just threw away that stupid $2 ticket, but since I hate to waste things, I made her ride it again. Doesn't she look thrilled???

After pizza, we hit mommy's stores. And we hit them fast. Turns out Addison Bear and pizza do nothing to sway a 2 year into being good in a store. Oh well. That afternoon, we met up with a friend of mine from high school. We hadn't seen each other since high school so it was really fun to see her and catch up a bit. She has an adorable little girl who's just a few months older than Audrey so we decided to go to the "Rainforest Cafe" thinking maybe they would be entertained while we talked. Audrey loved the large fish tanks at the front-and all the animals- from a distance. But oh my word, she freaked out when the "thunner" (thunder) started and she would not loosen her grip around my neck. She finally begged to go, "Ni Ni," and so I stuck her in her stroller thinking that she would never in a million years sleep there, much less in the middle of a rainforest filled with "thunner." I guess there is a first time for everything because within a couple of minutes, this is what I saw...

Out cold! I have to admit, it was quite nice to just sit and talk without worrying that Audrey would end up on top of a monkey or swimming in the waterfall. After dinner, I got to enjoy the incredible concert with my sister in law while Audrey played with her cousins back at the hotel.

Sidenote: Audrey is sitting next to me as I type this and every time she looks at the above picture of her sleeping, she says, "Audrey not like thunner. Scary."

The next day, Audrey woke up bright and early (and in my face saying, "Momma! Get up. Ready for fun.") so we got up and ate breakfast and explored the hotel while we waited on Brett's family to get ready. After weeks of sitting outside and being eaten alive by mosquitos, I sure enjoyed the feeling of being outside with the comfort of being inside.

We then took a little boat ride around the hotel with Brett's family. I think Audrey looks more like them than any of the other cousins.

So beautiful. We ate lunch at that little restaurant before I left.

It takes about 3 hours to get home and I was hoping Audrey would sleep most of the way home since I left at nap time. I got 30 minutes of peace and quiet before she woke up- and stayed awake the rest of the way home. Thank goodness for DVD players but they can only entertain for so long. Unfortunately, Audrey is not a child who will sit and watch movies for very long. She much prefers to play. Outside. Alllll day long. So, I gave her my old camera and she took pictures the rest of the way home. It really started because I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that she was watching a movie with her blanket on her head and I just had to get a picture of it. But then, Audrey felt like she needed to take some pictures so I thought I would share a select few from the series of about 50.

I kept hearing, "Say cheese, truck." "Say cheese, trees." "Say cheese, cwouds." "Say cheese, toes." And after each she would look at the back of the camera and say, "Awww, cute." She just cracks me up. I decided that I'm definitely taking that camera with us to Florida. 12 hours in a car with a 2 year old, we're going to need all the distractions we can get. I'm so glad that Audrey and I got to go to Nashville together. I hadn't planned on taking her but I am so glad that I did. It was fun to spend that time with her away from every day life at home and spoil her a little bit. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year!