(no subject)
Really should be taking this time to catch up on the sleep debt. It appears I never learn, hm?
Wanted to talk about my trip with the munchkins, before I forgot.
Took both my kiddos on a weekend trip to Nashville to the Southern Festival of Books. Got pointed in that direction when finding that catvalente was this close to my backyard. Reviewed the schedule and saw there was also Katherine Paterson and Judith Viorst. We are a huge fan of the Alexander books in my home (thanks to cc_wolff for introducing me so long ago), and Princess got Lulu and the Brontosaurus as her free book from the Barnes & Noble summer reading program, so Viorst was a must-see, as well. So, we bought copies of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, and Lulu Walks the Dogs, found Princeling's copy of Bridge to Terabithia and hit the road. Hubby had to work, so it was just me and the little folk.
Woke at go-to-school time, cereal bars in the car, much-speedier-than-I-suspected straight shot to Tennessee. Brief stop at the welcome center (I'm a sucker for that first rest stop in every state I visit), picked up some brochures and a map I never used, then straight on into Nashville. Got there early, ate a more substantial breakfast (massive fail on finding not-completely-covered-in-sugar food for the kids, which resulted in an additional meal I wasn't expecting due to children turning up their noses at the fancy-pants cafe food), and got Terabithia signed. Off to the Viorst talk (she's as funny as you would expect, and irreverent, and the kids didn't fidget much at all), and her signing.
And this is where the parenting went off the rails. We walk a lot, me and my munchkins. We walk to school every day. So, I opted for the "park the car once for an all-day fee, walk everywhere" plan. And somehow, my son found out that Nashville had a model of the Parthenon. And who can turn down a child who requests to go to a historical museum? So, I looked up the directions and decided we could walk there.
(Pertinent to the events of my day is that I also managed to kill my phone battery with map searching over the morning, so that the texts from my mother trying to locate me all afternoon went unreceived.)
So, we grabbed a pizza from a downtown restaurant, then set out on the "approximately 2.5 mile" walk to the Parthenon. LONG walk. Worth it, though. Princeling swears the Parthenon was the best part of the trip, and thanked me for taking them. (Awww.) Then, we tried walking to a bookstore to get a second set of the Fairyland books, since the Festival was sold out of the first book, and the kids each wanted their own set signed. Another LONG walk to Bookman's/Bookwoman's (punctuated by my asking for directions from a worker in a postal truck who declared the remaining distance "quite a walk" while eyeing the kiddos--if she'd only known how far we'd already been, she may have called child protective services!) with a strikeout on the books, but Bookman's does allow any kid coming in to select a free book from a rack, so they were thrilled anyway. (Their affinity for freebies of any sort marks them genetically as definitely mine.) ;)
Now, Princeling had made the call on the next stop as well--Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. He was dead set on this. So, library on 5th Avenue to Parthenon on 26th Avenue, to Bookman's on 21st, to Hard Rock on 1st. Stopped at CVS for a phone charger for the car, stopped for hydration, then onward to dinner. Most of the walk to and from the Parthenon was punctuated by the Vanderbilt family weekend folks at the parks and on the streets, and by the folks going to the Vandy football game, so we were never alone on the streets, and the foray into downtown Nashville nightlife by the Hard Rock was no different. We ate dinner, and then were treated to sidewalk musicians, lots of live music streaming out of the bars, and stragglers from a local zombie walk of some sort. (My only complaints were the zombie child out on the sidewalk with no shoes and the zombie young lady who apparently believes pantyhose with no underwear is enough coverage even when your skirt only covers the top half of your backside. *shudder*)
Princess fell in love with Nashville and declared that she wished we could move there and never leave.
So, by the time we made it back to our car, we had walked (I've checked Google Maps on this) over six miles. I think I've nearly run another hole through yet another set of FiveFingers.
Drove up Highway 31 over an hour to stay at my brother's house in Kentucky for the night, with stops at the grocery for breakfast and at the Books-A-Million for Fairyland. (Thank you, Hendersonville!) To bed after 10, up again at 7:15. And.... back to Nashville!
Sunday was Bicentennial Mall Park (because I got us up ungodly early for the time we actually needed to be in town, since the Festival didn't start back up until noon, and that was Central time, and I was still operating on Eastern). Then to catvalente's talk (kids got a bit fidgety due to the panel discussion--sorry!) and signing, then back on the road for Krystals (which we can't get at home) and the long drive back up scenic 31 (another Princeling request--I didn't realize how much of the itinerary my boy dictated this time around) to home in time for showers, lunch packing, tooth brushing, and clothes choosing prior to bed. Started the second Fairyland book together, which is the first time I've read aloud to them in a long time.
So, exhausted, but feeling very close to my little folks. It was a good little mom and kid mini vacay. Now if I can just recover enough to make it through the week to the next weekend for some SLEEP.
Night, LJers!
Wanted to talk about my trip with the munchkins, before I forgot.
Took both my kiddos on a weekend trip to Nashville to the Southern Festival of Books. Got pointed in that direction when finding that catvalente was this close to my backyard. Reviewed the schedule and saw there was also Katherine Paterson and Judith Viorst. We are a huge fan of the Alexander books in my home (thanks to cc_wolff for introducing me so long ago), and Princess got Lulu and the Brontosaurus as her free book from the Barnes & Noble summer reading program, so Viorst was a must-see, as well. So, we bought copies of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, and Lulu Walks the Dogs, found Princeling's copy of Bridge to Terabithia and hit the road. Hubby had to work, so it was just me and the little folk.
Woke at go-to-school time, cereal bars in the car, much-speedier-than-I-suspected straight shot to Tennessee. Brief stop at the welcome center (I'm a sucker for that first rest stop in every state I visit), picked up some brochures and a map I never used, then straight on into Nashville. Got there early, ate a more substantial breakfast (massive fail on finding not-completely-covered-in-sugar food for the kids, which resulted in an additional meal I wasn't expecting due to children turning up their noses at the fancy-pants cafe food), and got Terabithia signed. Off to the Viorst talk (she's as funny as you would expect, and irreverent, and the kids didn't fidget much at all), and her signing.
And this is where the parenting went off the rails. We walk a lot, me and my munchkins. We walk to school every day. So, I opted for the "park the car once for an all-day fee, walk everywhere" plan. And somehow, my son found out that Nashville had a model of the Parthenon. And who can turn down a child who requests to go to a historical museum? So, I looked up the directions and decided we could walk there.
(Pertinent to the events of my day is that I also managed to kill my phone battery with map searching over the morning, so that the texts from my mother trying to locate me all afternoon went unreceived.)
So, we grabbed a pizza from a downtown restaurant, then set out on the "approximately 2.5 mile" walk to the Parthenon. LONG walk. Worth it, though. Princeling swears the Parthenon was the best part of the trip, and thanked me for taking them. (Awww.) Then, we tried walking to a bookstore to get a second set of the Fairyland books, since the Festival was sold out of the first book, and the kids each wanted their own set signed. Another LONG walk to Bookman's/Bookwoman's (punctuated by my asking for directions from a worker in a postal truck who declared the remaining distance "quite a walk" while eyeing the kiddos--if she'd only known how far we'd already been, she may have called child protective services!) with a strikeout on the books, but Bookman's does allow any kid coming in to select a free book from a rack, so they were thrilled anyway. (Their affinity for freebies of any sort marks them genetically as definitely mine.) ;)
Now, Princeling had made the call on the next stop as well--Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. He was dead set on this. So, library on 5th Avenue to Parthenon on 26th Avenue, to Bookman's on 21st, to Hard Rock on 1st. Stopped at CVS for a phone charger for the car, stopped for hydration, then onward to dinner. Most of the walk to and from the Parthenon was punctuated by the Vanderbilt family weekend folks at the parks and on the streets, and by the folks going to the Vandy football game, so we were never alone on the streets, and the foray into downtown Nashville nightlife by the Hard Rock was no different. We ate dinner, and then were treated to sidewalk musicians, lots of live music streaming out of the bars, and stragglers from a local zombie walk of some sort. (My only complaints were the zombie child out on the sidewalk with no shoes and the zombie young lady who apparently believes pantyhose with no underwear is enough coverage even when your skirt only covers the top half of your backside. *shudder*)
Princess fell in love with Nashville and declared that she wished we could move there and never leave.
So, by the time we made it back to our car, we had walked (I've checked Google Maps on this) over six miles. I think I've nearly run another hole through yet another set of FiveFingers.
Drove up Highway 31 over an hour to stay at my brother's house in Kentucky for the night, with stops at the grocery for breakfast and at the Books-A-Million for Fairyland. (Thank you, Hendersonville!) To bed after 10, up again at 7:15. And.... back to Nashville!
Sunday was Bicentennial Mall Park (because I got us up ungodly early for the time we actually needed to be in town, since the Festival didn't start back up until noon, and that was Central time, and I was still operating on Eastern). Then to catvalente's talk (kids got a bit fidgety due to the panel discussion--sorry!) and signing, then back on the road for Krystals (which we can't get at home) and the long drive back up scenic 31 (another Princeling request--I didn't realize how much of the itinerary my boy dictated this time around) to home in time for showers, lunch packing, tooth brushing, and clothes choosing prior to bed. Started the second Fairyland book together, which is the first time I've read aloud to them in a long time.
So, exhausted, but feeling very close to my little folks. It was a good little mom and kid mini vacay. Now if I can just recover enough to make it through the week to the next weekend for some SLEEP.
Night, LJers!