Coast to Coast 2012: Alllllll the Other Stuff

1) Our first meal stop of the day was notthatfar from my house, at Loretta Lynn's Country Kitchen in Hurricane Mills (south of Nashville).  It was definitely "country" food and it was really good!  If you ever go, make sure to getcha some of their green beans.  And, believe me, you will probably NEVER again see me recommeding green beans.  These were that good!

2) My daughter gets carsick.  It.was.bad.  She did okay when she had Dramamine.  When she refused to take her Dramamine?  Well.  Let's just say I ended up throwing away my purse at a gas station on the North Carolina/ Tennessee line due to her christening it with her carsickness.

3) I firmly believe that Cracker Barrell is the state restaurant of Virginia.



4) We got in lots of cousin time!  My nephew, who is two and a half, called both the boys "Kyan."  He was more partial to the real Kyan but loved to pal around with both of the boys.

5) Karis was NOT a fan of her cousin.  In fact, she ran and hid whenever he came in the room.  She wouldn't have anything to do with him and I took to calling her Regina George (a la Mean Girls).

6) We found men in uniform in DC!

Say it with me now: HUBBA HUBBA

One more: COME TO MAMA

6) As the picture above evidences, my cousin Alison learned not to ever utter the words "I dare you" to me unless she REALLY wants me to do it!  I will totally catcall a group of young sailors.  Oh yes I will.

7) Something we else we saw in DC?  This guy:

He hung out on the fence, very close to us, not leaving us alone until . . .

My brother offered him a sucker.

DC squirrels . . . ain't skerred.

8) My scalp totally got sunburned on our DC day.  Do you know how bad it hurts to have the top of your head burned?  YEOWCH.

9) Eating dinner Saturday night, the whole group minus ME:

10) I took this picture at the Fredericksburg Battlefield.  Orbs?  Rain? Overactive imagination on my part?

The foundation outline was of the Stephens House -- according to legend, the lady of the house did not flee as the Battle raged on outside her front door and, in fact, tended to wounded soldiers.  She's buried on the land now.

11) We stopped for the night in Cookeville, TN on our way home.  We ate at the Steak and Shake with the ABSOLUTE MOST INCOMPETANT STAFF in the history of ever while we were there.  Gah!  We did, however, get a cute pic or two while we were there.  ;)

Do I look tired and like I'd lost my shit with kids approxomately 23483292 times that day?

Yeah.  Thought so.

I'll have one more post next week but this was, pretty much, our trip!  It was a good time.  As MawMaw kept saying - it was the trip of a lifetime.  I can't wait to take my kids back to DC one of these days.  I can't wait to go myself when I can enjoy the American History museum and the Arlington National Cemetery a little more.  It was a great time.

Coast to Coast 2012: Wet 'n Wild

My kids went to DC.  Saw a TON of history in Virginia.  Traveled to three states they'd never stepped foot in before.  But, hands down, their absolute favorite part of the trip was the day we spent at Wet 'n Wild.

I was NOT excited about this part of the trip.  I mean, I was because they kids were excited.  But I was also afraid it was going to be . . . chaos.  Not very fun for me.  In the end, though, it made me wish that Memphis had something like it!  Karis spent most of her time hanging out with the grandmas and that freed me up to do stuff with the boys . . . who had an absolute blast!

The kids area was amazing!  Karis could play in it without someone having to be right on top of her the whole time.  They had swings for babies and slides that were the perfect size for the boys.

The boys both said their favorite thing was the wave pool.  I've always been a fan of the wave pool at places like this too . . . just notsomuch when I'm holding a four-year-old and a ginormous wave knocks us both down, skinning my leg from foot to butt.  :/

Even with my tumble(s) in the wave pool . . . and even with the fact that the place was crawling with 17-year-olds who knew not of such things as cellulite and stetch marks . . . it was a pretty great day!  Hey, Wet 'n Wild!  Come to Memphis!

Next up: Final trip wrap up!

Coast to Coast 2012: Onto North Carolina!

My cousin and his family live in North Carolina, about four hours from where my brother is, so we knew we had to make visiting with them a part of our trip.

I gotta tell ya'll.  I LOVE North Carolina!  The state was beautiful.  The weather was fab.u.lous.  You can buy wine in the grocery store.  The people were friendly (we decided that for Virginia to be considered a southern state, the people there sure do act like Yankees!  Not so for North Carolina) and I loved the way they talked!  I grew up in Arkansas and I've lived in Texas and Tennessee so you know I have me an axe-sent but the Carolinans have a different drawl.  I want to move there.  So far, however, my husband isn't on board.  Ass.

We had dinner at East Coast Wings in Greensboro.  I LOVE WINGS and these were good.  Even better than the wings?  Their ranch dressing!  It was so so so so so so so so good.  Like, I wish I could've taken home a bottle.  Or thirteen.

Kyan bonding with his cousin Katelyn -- I'm not 100% sure but I *think* this was the first time they met!

My cousin is the manager of a movie theater so we got free admission to Madagascar 3, much to the delight of one very excited five-year-old.  (The four-year-old was cool with it too).

Since going to a matinee runs at least $30 for our family - and that's before popcorn and drinks - a movie in the theater is a rare treat.  This just so happened to be Miss Kare Bear's first ever theater movie.

She lasted all of five minutes.  She wouldn't keep her glasses on and thought it would be more fun to try to climb under the chairs or run down the aisles than actually, you know, DO WHAT SHE WAS THERE FOR and watch the movie.  She and I hung out in the lobby for a while where she bonded with her cousin Austin (he's only one and was also not quite ready to experience the movie theater).

Next up: Wet 'n Wild!