Nashville, TN - Part 1

The first stop on our road trip to Mississippi, was actually to Radford, VA for a night, so that we could visit the VA Tech campus the next day. It was early move in at Tech so we weren't able to get a hotel room in Blacksburg, but Radford was close enough. Since it was crazy on campus we had to park and walk to Lee Hall, so that we could show Mykenzi where we used to live (rooms 369 and 111, and the room next to that which was where we met, 109 I believe?). It was neat to show Mykenzi exactly where Mommy and Daddy first met, but it was also really special showing her room 369 where Kelly and I first lived together, since we were on our way to spend a few days at her house. Even though Kelly has lived in MS since before Mykenzi was born, we have seen her several times and keep her a part of our lives through daily conversations and pictures, now also the blog, so Mykenzi very much knows who Kelly is and Kelly is very special to her, she never forgets her (or anything really), and often argues with me that she's my sister. So it was neat to show her where we met too. After a few hours in Blacksburg, we got on the road and headed to Nashville.

We stayed in a very nice hotel, the Hilton, thanks to Nana (Jonmark's mom)! Camden was looking through the railing down into the lobby/atrium area. When we first arrived, we were greeted by a woman playing a clarinet in the atrium and we felt very out of place, but the hotel was very nice and we enjoyed our short stay there. The indoor pool though was awful, like ice cubes, so we were disappointed there. We always get hotels with indoor pools as a means to wearing Mykenzi out right before bed, but this particular night it didn't work because she couldn't stand to be in it for too long.

Mid sentence, mouth wide open -- This is how Mykenzi often looks because she never stops talking! We're actually in the elevator here, which looks out in the atrium so I'm sure she was telling me about something she saw or asking where we were going or something!

The Grand Ole Opry House is located right next to the Opry Mills Mall, and we came back the next day to wander around there area (a few pictures will be in Part 2).

The Aquarium Restaurant was the reason for our visit to the Opry Mills Mall. I had researched places to visit in Nashville prior to our trip and this seemed to be the most interesting and best reviewed restaurant that would be entertaining to us all. Mykenzi has always loved fish (thanks to Pop, my dad, who put an aquarium screensaver on his computer years ago and got her hooked). She even has a fake aquarium that lights up on her nightstand, and she turns it on every night before she goes to bed, and we have to turn it off before we go to bed. Camden has loved going in there to stare at the fish as well, so I'd been looking for one for his room, and in Alabama while visiting Kelly and shopping, I finally found one that hooks on the crib. So cool! Is it any wonder why these kids love fish? Daddy majoried in Fisheries Science.

I was trying to get a picture of them in front of the big aquarium as we were going in, but Camden was mesmerized.

Waiting patiently for dinner!

Mykenzi was super excited. Not only was there this huge floor to ceiling aquarium to look at while waiting for dinner, but we were at a seafood restaurant. She LOVES seafood! Camden doesn't seem to like it as much as she does, but I don't think I introduced seafood to Mykenzi this young. We first realized how much she liked seafood when she was 2 1/2 years old, and tried to eat all of Jonmark's fish at dinner one night.

This picture is pretty dark (using flash, shooting in auto), but you can see that the aquarium was floor to ceiling.

Here's one of the huge stingray that Mykenzi loved to watch swim by.

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Nasvhille, TN - Part 2 coming soon!