nashville III

Monday took us to downtown Nashville. We spent the day looking around at all the cool things around town. Because of Micah's love for guitars, we went in a really cool guitar shop. Apparently, they have a $300,000 guitar that was owned by Johnny Cash there. It's in a vault. You have to be famous to even see it... not that we asked.

We also spent a lot of time in the Country Music Hall of Fame. That was a really cool place. The only bad thing was that they don't let you use a flash on your camera when you take pictures, so most of our pictures are really dark and fuzzy from inside the museum. My photoshop savvy husband has a special way to make them not fuzzy, but I don't know how. Sorry, JJ- I took a picture with Elvis' gold car and piano just for you...

After that, we ate dinner at the Wildhorse Saloon. I think this was my favorite place that we ate the entire time we were there. It had a very fun atmosphere, and great food. They do country line dance lessons every hour, and when we went this time, John Mark line danced with Kelly. And then things got interesting...

As most of you know from reading this blog, John Mark has a knack for having unusual pooping incidents. I think this one may take the cake. We had all finished eating and I had John Mark sitting on my lap... he was dancing to the country music. I looked down at my jeans and I thought- 'I don't remember spilling anything...' and then I realized- I didn't spill anything. You guessed it- John Mark pooped ON ME. So I take him to the bathroom to change him. Do they have a changing table? NO... I guess they don't expect people to have babies in places with "saloon" in the title... whatever. So I have to lay down burp rags and clothes to change him. I open up his diaper expecting to see a huge mess. What do I see? Basically nothing... he straight up pooped OUT of his diaper. None on the inside of his pants or on his legs... just what he got all over himself from being in my lap.

You might be a redneck if you've ever changed your baby on the floor of a saloon... or you let your baby wear a coonskin cap.

nashville, day 2

Our second day in Nashville was Sunday. We went to church with the Callison's at Long Hollow Baptist Church. It was a great service. And of course being in Nashville, the music was incredible! We ate lunch at their neighborhood restaurant. Any place that has a chocolate fountain is a great place to eat!!

That afternoon, the boys relaxed and played video games while Kelly and I went shopping. Since we were going to a George Jones concert that evening, we decided that we needed big Nashville hair. If you know anything about Kelly and me, you know our hair is anything but big! We also don't really know what we are doing when it comes to making big hair... but we tried!

The George Jones concert was downtown at the Ryman Theater, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. It was a very cool place. When we got there, a tour bus was parked out front. We stood there for a while, hoping to meet George, but that didn't happen. But what happened a little later definitely made up for it!!

The concert was awesome. I mean, it's George Jones- how could it not be awesome? I think Micah even secretly had a great time! During the concert, Lee Ann Womack, Joe Nichols and Tanya Tucker made guest appearances. Kelly rushed the stage to get pictures, and Joe Nichols waved at her. She was pretty excited about that...

After the concert, we walked around downtown a little. We decided to go into Tootsie's Orchid Lounge- a famous bar where a lot of people got their start. It was a little tiny place, so we just kind of walked through and started to leave. As we were leaving, I thought I noticed the shirt that Lee Ann Womack had been wearing. I started screaming to Kelly that it was her, but she was ignoring me... I finally got her attention, and we ran after Lee Ann Womack. This is our picture with her.

As we were leaving, apparently Joe Nichols walked by us. Kelly and I were too starstruck to hear Chris tell us that. We were walking down the alley, and we saw another bus. Chris says, "I think that's Tanya Tucker." Sure enough, it was!! So we stood outside her bus, waiting for her to step out and we got a picture with her too.

So, that concluded day 2 in Nashville. It was a pretty good day, if I do say so myself.

nashville, part 1

Well, we made it back from Nashville late Friday night. We had an AWESOME time in music city. Let me tell you- the Callison family knows how to show off a great city!!

We left our house here in Edmond at 10:00 on Friday night. I had the brilliant idea to drive at night so John Mark would just sleep the whole way and not be confused about day and night. A beautiful plan, if not for one small hitch- John Mark's very loud hatred of the state of Arkansas. It's true- my sweet, perfect child screamed from Fort Smith all the way to Memphis. Once we crossed the Mississippi River into TN, he fell sound asleep.

We arrived at the Callison's house around 7:00 Saturday morning. Micah was a machine and drove pretty much the entire way. We only stopped for gas twice. Of course, he had a screaming baby to help keep him awake... We spent that morning and most of the afternoon resting. Kelly and I did get to shop at the Kroger, which if you listen to country music is a pretty big deal.

Later that afternoon, we visited the Opryland hotel. That place is beautiful and HUGE! I've been to Vegas, and this could easily be on the strip. We took a river boat tour of one wing of the hotel.

And of course, we had to go shopping at the Opry Mills Mall. Micah got to spend some time in the Gibson guitar showcase. He even found the guitar that he sold to buy my engagement ring. He was sweet enough to tell me that it was definitely worth the trade. :o)

The last thing on the agenda for Saturday was our introduction to Nashville's amazing food. Seriously- we didn't eat one bad thing the entire time we were there!! This is our family portrait in the giant rocking chair at Cock of the Walk. We had some great catfish, shrimp and FRIED PICKLES. Fried pickles and sweet tea are definitely on my top 10 list of the greatest things about Nashville. That, and meeting Tanya Tucker... but that's another story I'll save for tomorrow!

congrats to kelly & wehunt!

Chris & Kelly got engaged on our trip to Nashville!

movin' and shakin'

John Mark went to his very first state basketball tournament this past weekend. He wore his basketball shirt and hat. :o) He did great... he loved looking at the kids who were sitting in front of us and he found a favorite new toy- mom's hand lotion bottle. What is it with babies? We spend all this money on fancy schmancy toys for them to play with and what do they want? Empty water bottles and hand lotion containers...

This is John Mark's new trick- he can push himself up to sitting from laying down. So this is how I find him most mornings and after his naps- sitting up in his bed, clawing at the wall, "talking" to himself. He is becoming quite the little talker- "bah bah bah" and "dah dah dah" are his favorite things to say. We were at the mall the other day, and that's what he did the entire time we were there!

He is also becoming quite the scooter- in fact, he moved up to the creeper room at church. He is figuring out the crawling motion, and I'm sure by the end of the next few weeks he will be into everything- more so than he already is!

Well, we're about to head out on a vacation. Hope everyone enjoys their spring break! There will be tons of pictures from Nashville when we return!

mini-micah

seriously... does it get any cuter than this?

we have a tooth!!

John Mark got his first tooth this weekend while spending the night with BB & Big Poppy! You still can't see it very well, but it is definitely there! I can't wait to see what he looks like with lots of little teeth in there!

Oh yes, we went to the zoo last week for John Mark's first trip to the zoo. I think he was definitely more interested in all the people walking around than the animals. :o) He did really well until the very end when he got sleepy. Thanks for taking us, Julie!

This weekend we went to a wedding for an old friend from Central High. John Mark got to meet yet another girlfriend... Austyn Olivia Nease. I went to high school with Austyn's daddy, Owen. Micah didn't get to go with me to the wedding because of Big Weekend.

Which brings me to the last first for John Mark in this post. He survived his first Big Weekend and a house full of sophomore girls. Of course, he did great. Considering he's used to a house full of boys playing their video games and screaming all night long, girls were nothing! They all wanted to play with him. He played in the lobby of the UCO wellness center during the session. We put him in a t-shirt box and pulled him around for a while. He had fun doing that. All in all, it was a great weekend!