Our trip to the South

During the first week in June I packed up the kids and headed to Southern Indiana for a visit with our families.  The trip was actually a combination visit/kid drop-off because Derek had a conference in Nashville that started on Sunday.  The plan was for the kids and me to drive down to visit my parents Thursday through Sunday then I would leave for Nashville to meet Derek.  My parents would keep the kids overnight and then would take them to Derek's mom's until Wednesday when Derek and I would drive back from Nashville to Evansville to pick them up.    I know it sounds like a complicated schedule, but we managed to pull it off and everyone had a great time.

Before heading down to Nashville to meet Derek I spent a few days with the kids and my family.  We took advantage of the nice weather on Saturday and headed to French Lick for the kids' first train ride.  Adalyn loves trains and was very excited to climb aboard and be able to look out the window.  The train departed from French Lick and was scheduled to travel to Cuzco, Indiana and then we would go back to French Lick from there.  Basically Cuzco is a tiny town near Patoka Lake and has been deemed by the French Lick Railway as an ideal turn around point for their train rides.  There isn't much there besides a small general store/cafe and three porta potties for train passengers.  After boarding at Cuzco and starting for French Lick we traveled for a few miles and then come to a screeching halt.  Our engine had broken down and we had to sit on the train for about an hour waiting for the back-up engine to come rescue us.  Needless to say being on a stopped train in the middle of a cornfield with my children and many other restless young children wasn't exactly ideal.  But, it does make for a good story and interesting memories of Carter and Adalyn's first time on a real train.

All Aboard!

Riding with Papaw

Sunday morning I headed to Nashville on my own.  It was very odd driving all that way by myself with NO car seats in the car.  I hadn't driven that far by myself in quite some time.  I met Derek at the Opryland Hotel and then we took off to go see Hermitage, which was Andrew Jackson's home.  Although it was a record breaking heatwave in Nashville, we enjoyed seeing the grounds and the interior of the home. 

The Hermitage



One of the atriums from high above



Lots and lots of water

I made Derek pose in front of a few waterfalls

The fountain right outside our balcony. 

For the remainder of the trip to Nashville Derek was very busy with his conference and meeting with clients, so I basically worked around his schedule and spent time with him when he was available.  I had lots of time to myself, which I enjoyed.  I spent that time exploring the huge hotel, taking pictures of the beautiful gardens, doing a little bit of shopping, and relaxing poolside.  Derek also made sure that I took advantage of the hotel spa.  I had a massage and facial on Tuesday, which was wonderful and made me feel very spoiled!  I really enjoyed walking and checking out the various gardens at the hotel.  They also have many shops to browse and I also made my way to a great Nashville Mall.

Across the street from the resort was a museum owned by Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard  and a wax museum owned by Willie Nelson.  Since I have an hour one afternoon I went to check out the cheesy tourist spots.  At least I got to see the real General Lee.  I know, I know...you're so jealous!

Believe it or not, this place was very crowded!

I didn't even watch the show, but I know this car is famous!

 I joined Derek for dinner most evenings and was able to attend several of the evening receptions.  The food at the recpetions was very good and the first one we went to was actually a whiskey tasting.  The last reception was a concert for the attendees by Clint Black.  I thought for sure that I would know at least one Clint Black song.  Well, I didn't know a single one, which shows how much of a country music fan I truly am.



Despite not being big country music people, after the Clint Black Concert Derek and I headed to the Grand Ole Opry to try to get tickets for the 9:30 show.  I was interested in going because a lot of big names were performing that night--Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Darius Rucker, Lady Antebellum, the Oakridge Boys, and some other people I hadn't ever heard of.  I had tried to get tickets throughout the day over the phone but they were sold out.  The ladies at the ticket office told me that since we were staying at the Opryland Hotel and were co close we should ride the shuttle over and try to get tickets just before the show started.  So, that's what we did and to our surprise there were two great seats available when we got to the ticket office.  The show lasted until midnight, which was a bit past out bedtime, but we were so glad to have experienced the Opry. 

The Grand Ole' Opry

The conference ended on Wednesday, which was great timing because the CMAs were later that week and the place was beginning to get a bit crazy!  Before heading to Evansville to pick  up the kids, Derek and I planned to go to Franklin, TN for a bit more sightseeing.  Franklin is a small town about twenty minutes from Nashville and was a site for a civil war battle.  We toured a house that was in the center of the battle and another house that served as a hospital for the Confederate Army.  Normally I'm not a huge history person, but touring those houses was really interesting.  I would highly suggest anyone making the trip to Nashville to make a side trip to Franklin.  It also has lots of cute shops and restaurants in their downtown area. 



Damage from Civil War bullets



Carnton Plantation--used as a Confederate Hospital in the Civil War.

Such a history buff

After we got our fill of Civil War history we headed to Derek's mom's house to pick up the kids.  We missed them very much and even though I'm sure that they missed us, they were reeling from all of the fun stuff they got to do with their grandparents.  My parents had taken them to Chuck-E-Cheese's and Toys-R-Us (just to look) on Monday and Grandma Freihaut took the kids to the mall to play on the playground and ride the train and to eat at McDOnald's and Chik-Fil-A.  To say that we had to put the kids on serious detox when we got home on Thursday is a serious understatement.  I'm writing this post two weeks after the fact and I think they're still coming down from the high of being super spoiled!

Showing off her new Cowgirl hat from Nashville