Tennessee

I was able to go to Tennessee last week, to see my brother, thanks to my mom! She bought my ticket, and away we went.
We kept it a secret from my brother. He knew my mom was coming, but not me and the baby. I was the surprise! We kept it secret for about 3 weeks. That was hard! But worth it to see their faces when we came off the plane. I recorded it, so I will post that later.

We had so much fun there. It was so nice to see my brother; I miss him and wished he lived closer. I had never been to Tennessee before, so it was a nice experience.

Tennessee has way too many letters, bytheway, so I will hereafter refer to it as TN.


We went to a nature preserve and walked along the TN river/lake. That was nice, but buggy, and TN bugs are unusual and scare me. I spent a lot of time on that walk jumping out of my skin.

They just bought a house, and it is so cute. This is there kitchen, they are about to remodel it. I loved being able to see his home, so I can imagine him there and feel closer.


We ate. A lot. TN has the most restaurants per capita in the US, I think, and it certainly appears that way. There are eats everywhere. PJ had talked up the food a ton so I was excited to eat! We ate some yummy southern bbq, which is my fave. I love pulled pork. We also ate lots of goodies, not good for the waistline. Here is a picture of our cupcakes. Glutenous, I know.

The bugs are scary, but the vegetation is gorgeous. So many flowers, so much green. The magnolia trees are amazing; they get huge and have lovely enormous blossoms that smell wonderful.

We went on a riverboat cruise that included lunch. There was an interesting (horrible) entertainer singing to recorded music while she played the keyboard. We were supposed to sail at 1:00. They were having problems with the generator that would give us electricity while we cruised, so we departed late. Honestly, the only thing they wanted the electricity for was so that the annoying entertainer could continue, so I am glad they couldn't get it working! She was funny though; while we were eating and waiting to go, she was singing (loudly and poorly). She struck up one song, and we all started to laugh. We had to agree, we were sitting by the dock of the bay, and we were wasting time.

Here we all are, my mom, Jackie, PJ, me and Corrine. Corrine was so good the entire trip. She wasn't fussy much, and slept pretty good, for her. I knew I would enjoy seeing my brother, and getting a chance to spend time in adult company. But what I didn't anticipate was how much I enjoyed having just Corrine. Her little personality was much more apparent without all her sisters around. It was really fun to spend time with just her.

Me and litte Corrine.

Right before we were getting off the boat, Corrine threw her bink overboard. It was funny, and oddly sad to see it floating off all by itself. PJ was laughing at me, but it felt like a symbol of her babyhood, slowly fading away. They just are not little long enough.

We said "bye bye bink", so Corrine started waving bye bye!

We also went to the TN history museum, which was interesting.

Here is PJ trying to buckle Corrine in. We were all laughing at his attempt, even Corrine. Her little grin seems to say "Silly Uncle Paul, its just a little buckle!"

On the last night, we got some yummy steaks and scallops and ate on their back porch. That was very nice. After, we played games and ate smores.

Lest you think all we did was eat, (you would be right) we did walk A TON and one morning I went for a run with PJ. I liked that; PJ, if you lived closer we could run together and bike more often!

Here is a picture of all of us in front of their house. We stayed for 5 days, and it seemed like 2. I wish we could have stayed longer, but my mom had to work and I had to mother! It was a really nice trip, and it wouldn't have happened without my mother's generosity and my husbands willingness to hold down the fort in my abcense. TN is so far away. Thank you PJ and Jackie for having us, we miss you!