The alarm went off at 7am....

Why?

I don't know, because Mike set it for that not knowing about my diet coke induced insomniatic toss-fest. Ok, I don't even know if that made any sense, but that is what it felt like.



YAY - our baggage arrived at the front desk! All except our car seat....oh, that's ok. I just loved the thought of another day driving around with my baby girl sitting in that death-trap booster that American Airlines loaned us. Ok don't blink or you might miss me getting over that.

Today we got to see the city in the light of day.

We were excited about going to visit the World Outreach Church which is a potential place of worship for us if TN is to be our home state. We asked Abby if she wanted to stay with Mom & Dad or go w/ the other kids to their "children's worship". Amazingly, she chose to go to children's worship - I was amazed by that...especially because she didn't know a soul there. She marched right up to the 2 teachers waiting at the door. She wouldn't have even said goodbye had I not started throwing a tantrum on the floor. KIDDING. I did call her back for a little goodbye hug.

The worship & message at WOC were awesome! Mike and I loved it....Abby loved it. After church, we went back to the hotel, changed and took a trip to Target (wow - now that's really doing something new!) for a few odds and ends, then went out to lunch at "Don Pablos". Dear Lord, please do not let Don Pablos be representative of all Mexican food in Tennessee, Amen. OY! They referred to the children's quesadilla as grilled cheese on tortilla. Ok, well, technically that's what it is, but come on people. The only thing that rivals that is Mike's roach coach lady at his old office complex asking him if he wanted cheese on his quesadilla! It wasn't so bad - but I was really missing "the Tap" back home.

Today, I started my "man on the street" interviews....you know, grab someone, ask them questions about the area. Everyone is so obliging and friendly - and everyone has nothing but good things to say about Murfreesboro. The only thing I could have gone without hearing was, "the heat? Oh, today is a really nice day - just wait until July/August - you'll die". Those that know me will know that when that mercury goes above 72, Kristin is grumpy. Today was 90....if that's "a really nice day", I wonder what "you'll die" is.

Our waitress at Don P.'s takes the cake - she was so sweet - sat right down with us at our table (I'm surprised she didn't start partaking of the chips and salsa since she made herself so at home) and chatted with us about some "good country drivin'" we might like to do.

So.....we decided to do a little country drivin' this afternoon....you know - just take it all in....never mind we have no idea where we're going. I mean, we had a map, that makes us experts. There are so many dang numbers around these parts. The freeways are numbered, they have "routes" and "pikes" and exits - they are all numbered! You can take the 40 to the 24 and exit 78b to route 231 and be right back where you started...thank goodness for Rand McNally. After awhile, Abby had a little too much country drivin and decided to start informing us that she'd like to go back to the hotel and take a nap. That got the big "sure bubs" from us...but it was evident that she'd had enough so we headed back. Not before stopping off at "Krogers" grocery store for some breakfast items for in the morning.

Naptime at Crestwood Suites.......for Dad anyway. Abby and I laid on the bed and she told me all about the 10 commandments and Moses. It was the most precious thing. Every word that came out of her mouth made me less and less aggravated that she wasn't napping. After Dad woke up, we decided that it was time to let Abby have some good country park-time. And boy, was she in for a treat.

Old Fort Park is the most amazing park I've ever seen. It wasn't new or anything, but - it had this "castle" (not sure what else to call it) that was GIGANTIC and maze-like. It looked like a castle or fort and it had activities all around. It's a kidnapping waiting to happen is what I say, but I could not deny that if I was a 4 year old I would be in play structure heaven. Abby was beside herself...she had THE best time. The only thing that was missing was some play buddies. In case you were wondering, she was NOT happy about leaving. BUT before leaving the fort - we did get to see some LIGHTNING BUGS! None of us have seen them before, but they weren't hard to miss! They are SO cool. Mike and Abby went off to get a closer look while I did another man on the street interview with a toothless grandma there watching her kids. She said Murfreesboro was like Mayberry a little bit - everyone is friendly and it's a great place.

Hunger pangs set in...time for dinner. Of course, we are on vacation time - so it's like a little before 8pm. We decided to look for some chow. So, for about an hour we got lost driving on roads with no lights, then we pulled up to a restaurant called "O'Charley's" (ok - that was the readers digest version and as Forrest would say, that's all I have to say about that). As we entered, my mind wandered a bit thinking of what horrible parents we are for coming to eat at 9pm with a 4 year old. I felt like mentioning to each table we passed, "we're on California time...it's ok..." Good chow, excellent service from our wait named "Trace". No man on the street interview from Trace - he was a little too wound up...

Back home to the cozy confines of the crestwood suites...of course, tonight for dinner I drank water.