walking in memphis

this past thursday, chase and i left out of here in the sleet for a mini-vacation in memphis. it was so good to get away for a few days. the last kidless trip that we had been on was in november of 2006 when we went to disneyworld with my brother and sister-in-law. which, by the way, was too much fun. it was great to be able to experience the whole disney thing through adult eyes (although we all agreed that it will be so much more fun to see our own kids' reactions to the parks). that's not to say that we didn't run around that place acting like kiddos ourselves b/c somewhere i have a picture of zeb riding a stick horse around the wilderness lodge! and yes, i was pregnant at the time, and every ride has a sign that says, "do not ride me while preggo." luckily, the two resident physicians were able to read the description of the ride or ride it and then decide if it was ok for me to ride. only two rides in the entire place got the thumbs down from them. it's amazing what you learn in med school, isn't it?? all that to say that it was about time for some time away without all the kid gear!

anyway, we shopped, went to the movie, and went to a brad paisley concert. i saw him a while back at the dixie national rodeo (yes, i'm a redneck....i know you were thinking that, mandy) when he was just starting out. he has come a long, long way since then. it was really fun, and it was a whole new experience for chase. except for all the hoochie-mamas running around in their cut off skirts and cowboy boots, i think he really enjoyed himself. the dancing, drunk guy in front of us made for some good entertainment as well. but, the highlight of our trip was definitely eating. every single day was planned around food. i'm serious, we had every meal planned before we even left the house. we had so many recommendations from friends of places that we HAD to eat that we had to plan it all out in order to make it to all of them. one morning we didn't eat breakfast until around 9am. we ate at brother juniper's (if you're going to memphis, please do yourself a favor and eat breakfast there....rachael ray agrees with me), and we walked out stuffed. so when lunch rolled around a few hours later, neither of us was a bit hungry, but we had to eat. so, eat we did!! every day went pretty much like that! and, we did go bowling one night (basically, that was just so we could push supper back for an hour or so). i'm so bad at bowling! i actually got lucky and won one of the three games that we bowled, but i never could find a ball that was light enough for my satisfaction. the lowest i could find was a 12. i needed one that said "wimp" on it. anyway, by the end of the last game, i could barely pick my ball up much less heave it in the direction i wanted it to go. eating sushi with chopsticks is pretty tough when no muscles between your elbow and wrist will work.
(*sorry....no pics. it never even dawned on me to bring the camera.)

back at the homestead, william and wes were hanging out with honey. they were all still in one piece when we got back, so i consider that a success. and, she wanted it made known that everybody got a bath every single day (i think that is success in her book)! either way, she's welcome back for another round anytime! honey, what are you doing this friday? :)