This is an email I just sent to our extended family…. we sure did have an awesome time!! You and I are beginning to really love our adventures together!! I love that!! You are my navigator, and together we figure out where we want to go!! We ended this trip with the BEST ICE CREAM IN NASHVILLE – I think the world actually. We both had “Savannah Betterment.” YUM!!! I love you Peanut Butter!!!
We just got back from a week long trip to Nashville with a quick trip to neighboring Kentucky. Madey and Jim were with Maya and me until Thursday. Maya and I stayed a few days more and came back Sunday.
Sunday-Tuesday – Mammoth Caves National Park in Kentucky, short cave tour and horseback riding. Slept at an organic farm run by Mom and 3 daughters – collected eggs each day (that we ate for breakfast) and fed all the animals. 100 adult chickens, 40 babies, 3 bunnies, 5 dogs with puppies born the day we arrived, goats, a chameleon, bird, fish… awesome experience. We laid on hammocks and jumped on a trampoline; shopped in an Amish store, and I thought about Dad and Mom a lot! You would LOVE this place!!
Tuesday – Thursday – Stayed with the person we call “Best Friend Dave” (Jim’s best friend) and his wife AnnMarie and their beautiful 2 children – Jacob (3 years old) and Sophia (5 years old). They used to live in Rochester (Dave was Jim’s doc student), until Dave took a job at Vanderbilt. We hadn’t met Jacob yet, as he was born in Nashville. We made art at the Frist Center, ate at Nashville icons, went to an amazing botanical garden called Cheekwood that reminded us of “Meijer’s Gardens” in Bianca and Mark’s neighborhood (a must see if you haven’t yet!!). We collected frogs at varied stages of their life cycle in a pond and saw an incredible organic vegetable garden in bloom.
Thursday-Saturday – Maya and I went to her first conference – National Science Teachers Association annual meeting. We had a BLAST!! Fun toys, games, stickers, movies, demonstrations all over, and everyone loved engaging a fun kid like Maya. Maya was great about going to sessions that were more talking-based as well (she made movies on her iPad from past home movies we had taken). We met amazing scientists doing fascinating work on patterns in nature and the coexistence of various animals that would appear to be competing for scarce resources. Cool, hip, creative, fun, articulate young scientists.
Got home at midnight on Sunday to a crazy house – ALL of our first floor (including fridge, washer, dryer, piano… you get the idea) was moved out to our garage so our floors could be redone. They looked great, but wow!!
So, Jim took me to a spa. We are at Mirabeau – a beautiful place about 90 minutes from Rochester – a place we go about twice a year for “marriage improvement.”
It must work because today we celebrate our 8th anniversary. 🙂
