Took a little day trip since it was Grandaddy's last day here...we went to Sewanee and then did the JD Distillery tour.  A little disappointed in the lack of fall foliage yet in Sewanee.   Guess we were just a tad early!   You know how I am about the fall foliage.  Still, we had fun...we visited the All Saints Chapel, had lunch at the University of the South cafeteria and drove around the grounds.   Then, we went home via Lynchburg and  took the Jack Daniels Distillery tour, which is always interesting.

Here are few snaps from the trip:

Statue of Jack

Our tour guide right next to the statue....thought this was a funny capture!

Abby walking the Perimeter Trail in Sewanee

Abby + Daddy

Abby + Grandaddy

She begged me to take this one...

Day Trippin' is tiring!

Relaxing on the grounds of the distillery

My favorite of the day....Abby on the steps of the Cross, getting slightly spun out at me for all the pictures. "Mom....really?  I can only smile so much!"

Right this minute I'm having a little flash back to our 2 month road trip from California to Tennessee. I think it was one of the best times we had as a family. My flashback also includes our "2300 miles" days as well (for those of you remember the blog before the blog). We would pack in all the fun we could handle during the day. Then, after Abby went to sleep, I would scurry off to the corner of the hotel room to process my pictures and write about the days activities so all our family and friends could keep tabs on the adventures.

I have other flashbacks too, but I've been ordered by a court of law from writing about them.

So here I am in our hotel...Abby's asleep, Mike is looking at my pictures from the day and I am here writing to my peeps.

Little Rock, Arkansas...

I know what you're doing right now...you're snickering, aren't you? Don't be dismissin' Little Rock. Just because Bill Clinton is from here doesn't mean that it's not a happening little town. This is actually the 2nd time we've been to Little Rock (you can read about the first time here) and we've decided that we are fans.

Why Little Rock? It happens to be exactly halfway between where we live and Fort Worth, Texas (home of the Grandpapa & the Grandmama), which is where we are headed to. So we thought we'd break up the drive and spend a few days taking in "the rock". We left about 10am this morning and drove 6 hours (not including a stop for lunch and facilities) which gave us plenty of time to check in and hit the pool for some splashing around.





Of course playing in the water always stirs up a hearty appetite...so we hit the River Market district of the city and had some grub at the Flying Fish. A very cool eatery specializing in fried catfish. The ordering process is kind of like Soup Nazi meets Philly Steak shop counter. I can't speak for my familial unit, but my grilled shrimp ka-babs & veggies were fantastic. There was a small little portion of red beans & rice - enough to get you by but not enough to cause problems later if you know what I mean. So yummy.



After dinner we went walking around the River Market district - a very cool section of town on the Arkansas river. The area had very eclectic buildings and architecture, lots of little eateries and shops. We happened to be walking around just as the sun was setting...great lighting for photography (now if I only knew what I was doing!). Of course, my favorite subjects are always willing to pose for the camera. And when they are not hamming it up, they are actually are quite photogenic (in my un-biased, humbled opinion) - don't you agree?

Just a note for those of you wondering if Mike is joining the military. No...he is not. He asked his personal barber (that would be me) to give him a number 1 all the way around. I just do what I'm told, people.





Out of all the pictures I took, this one is my favorite:



Just a little shot to remind us that we ARE actually in Arkansas. Yee haw. I think the guy that drew this line may have been one taco short of a combo plate.

I encourage you to check out more photos from our Little Rock excursion at the Dropshots site.

lovies,
k

ps - Lest you think we just took off leaving Jeremiah to eat the rocks at the bottom of his tank, know that our boy is staying with friends who passed our stringent fish-sitting criteria checklist. Special thanks to The Rutledge family who is dutifully caring for the J-man. Abby said to me yesterday that when she looked over and saw his missing tank it reminded her that Jeremiah was "in good hands". Awwwwww....

Yesterday the fam decided that gas prices being what they are ($1.94/gallon at last fill up) that we could afford to take a nice long drive and explore outside the city limits. We drove south and were delighted at the colors we saw on the freeway alone! I know, I know - shut up already about the colors. It's who I am, love me or don't.



We ended up in this town called Sewanee which is home to the University of the South. Now I have never been back east during the fall, or visited some of the historical colleges that exist. I'm sure those places are breath taking many times over. But I was in awe of this campus! Most all the buildings were done in stone. Of course, there were trees galore to provide a stark contrast to the drab colors of the buildings.

To add to the feel of the day, it was VERY chilly and overcast...I would say about 42 degrees or so. The kind of day that makes you want to curl up by the fireplace with a cup of joe.

Of course in our little 2003 Camry there is no fireplace and no cups of joe...but, there is silliness (ALOT of silliness) and a temperature control. That works for me. This is a picture of my 2 people making silly in the car after lunch. Oh this is just the tip of the ice berg...I can't explain it - it's only something that can be experienced.

For more pictures of our Sewanee Adventure, check out the Dropshots

On another, more money saving note...



Are you tired of this? Please feel free to leave anonymous comments telling me to jam it. But I tell you I love shouting about my deals from the mountaintop of my blog. Here is a shot of today's booty-licious CVS deal. It includes:

* 1 bottle of StIves Mineral Therapy Body Wash
* 1 can of Garnier Fructis Hairspray (Anti-humidity, to keep the 'fro tame)
* 1 bottle of Palmolive w/ Oxy
* 2 bottles of Colgate Total Whitening
* 1 tube of Rimmel mascara.

I had coupons for each item. I paid $4.01 out of pocket and got $10 back.

LOVE IT!

Someday I may post a picture of my hall closet which boasts labeled bins containing neat stacks of my stockpiled booty. Yes, I know. Organization. It's a sickness, really.

love & Sewaneeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

k

SECRET MESSAGE: Happy Birthday!!

This money saving maven has met her match! I had to pay full price for something...MAMA NO LIKE! The city caught me red handed on one of those traffic camera's running a light. In fact, you can see it for yourself:



Mike and I have already watched it about 50 times (one time for each dollar I had to spend get back in the good graces of this fine city) and we laugh our butts off every time. I don't know why the video strikes me so funny - it's just the sight of my little Camry boppin' on through that lonesome turn lane. Let me give you a little background on this right hand turn. There are TWO right hand turn lanes and when the light is green, it's a party and everyone gets to go. Then the light turns yellow, then red - at that time a green right arrow appears for the right hand turn lane. Well apparently the left right hand turn lane has been naughty because it's not allowed to go on the right green arrow light. Only the rightmost right hand lane can turn. I'm not sure if any of that made sense - but, it explains why nobody is in the left right hand turn lane - except of course for me. Bop, bop, boppin' along...

Of course, this little infraction has had its intended effect on me...today I found myself being much more obedient to traffic signs and lights. Not sure how long that will last...

Said in my hearing...
Today I was not feeling so well. So after we got home from school, I suggested to Abby that we have some "cuddle time" on the bed. Of course my idea would be that she brings a few books and reads to me as I close my eyes, rest and hope I feel better. Her idea is that I read to her while she relaxes after a hard day at school (come on, recess IS tiring!). Being the fab mom that I am, I acquiesced. I started to read but found myself unable to muster much enthusiasm in my voice. Abby - using hand gestures that are impossible to document in this forum - says to me, "MOM. You need to read the words with more excitement!"

Jack and Mary BoBo
No, this is not some nursery rhyme that I screwed up! Jack Daniels - as in the whiskey....and Miss Mary BoBo as in...well, Miss Mary BoBo! Two places that we visited with our friend Kathryn during her visit here. I never had an opportunity to write about it so I thought I'd give a little Readers Digest of it.



We drove down to the little town of Lynchburg, Tn. (a wonderful drive with lots of beautiful country scenery). First stop: JACK. Funny little side note, Lynchburg is in a DRY county - that means alcohol is not served or sold anywhere! The distillery can only sell "commemorative" bottles of Jack.



We took a tour of the distillery where Jack Daniels whiskey is made. The grounds are beautiful and the smell of whiskey fills your nostrils as soon as you get out of the car. I knew we were in for a wild ride as soon as we met our feisty tour guide, William. He kept things lively, I'll just leave it at that. The tour is great and we learned quite a bit about the process...we may have even learned more if we understood 1/2 of what William was saying.

After the tour, we went down the road a bit to downtown Lynchburg where 1 pm "dinner" reservations awaited us at Miss Mary BoBo's (MMBB). We weren't sure what to expect, but went at the suggestion of a friend. Turns out, MMBB is a boarding house & restaurant (although no longer used as a boarding house). The bedrooms of the house have been converted into mini-dining rooms where meals are served family style at a large table. Each room has a "hostess" - a local Lynchburg lady - that gets everyone familiar with each other and the food and handles any questions or concerns. We just so happened to be seated in the "Tolley" room with Lynne Tolley herself as our hostess. Lynne is the current proprietress of MMBB (Miss Mary was her mama) - and she is the great-grandniece of Jack Daniels. It doesn't stop there folks, Miss Lynne takes a little time each Friday to imbibe over at the distillery....oh sure....they CALL it taste testing, but we know the truth. Seriously though, she's an "official tester" for JD. They say sometimes it only takes a whiff to tell good from bad. Anyway - if you want to know more about MMBB, just google it and read all the fabulous write-ups about it. There is some fun history to it.


The 3 of us (along with 8 or 9 others) feasted on fried chicken, meatloaf, rice casserole, candied apples (candied with Jack, of course), pinto beans with red pepper relish, greens, fried okra, corn muffins, sweet tea and some fudge pie w/ fresh cream (Jack's in the cream too!) for dessert. I think I missed a dish, but you get the picture. We were so full afterwards that we walked around downtown Lynchburg and looked at souvenirs in hopes of our stomach returning to normal size.



And we couldn't help but take in a few rocks in the rocking chairs that were so abundantly available in front of the shops. NICE!

Well - thanks for hanging in there with me for this lenthy post. I hope you are all well and find yourself more informed about the haps at Club Amaro.

Love and okra,
k

SECRET MESSAGE: "It was the PASTA"