A Sunday in the Garden

Sunday morning we decided to get out and enjoy the beautiful day God had blessed us with by going to Cheekwood Botanical Garden.  It was absolutely breath taking!  The ground were impeccably kept. 

The House that Coffee Built- A History Lesson

Christopher Cheek founded a wholesale grocery business in Nashville in the 1880s. His son, Leslie Cheek, joined him as a partner, and by 1915 was president of the family-owned company.  Leslie's cousin, had developed an acclaimed blend of coffee that was marketed through Nashville's finest hotel, the Maxwell House Hotel. Legend has it that Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the blend "Good to the last drop," which is still a registered trademark for the product. Cheek's extended family, including Leslie and Mabel Cheek, were investors. In 1928, the Postum Cereals Company (now General Foods) purchased Maxwell House's parent company, Cheek-Neal Coffee, for more than $40 million.

With their income secured by the proceeds from the sale, the Cheeks bought 100 acres. To design and build the house and grounds, they hired New York residential and landscape architect, Bryant Fleming, and gave him control over every detail - from landscaping to interior furnishings. The result was a limestone mansion and extensive formal gardens inspired by the grand English houses of the 18th century. Fleming's masterpiece, Cheekwood, was completed in 1932.

Chihuly at Cheekwood

On display in the garden were works of art developed by Dale Chihuly.  Each piece is hand-blown glass created by teams of artist.

 

"It looks like a tower of macaroni!"

Andrew's art interpretation!  

Our handsome boy in his Saints shirt!

Amber Cattails

Andrew was amazing that everything was glass. :)

Enjoying the sweet sent of a Magnolia,

Louisiana's state flower.

The Moon

Slivered Red Bamboo

Smiling through the heat!

Beautiful!

After our stroll through the garden we were starved!  We headed back to Mt. Juliet to check out the only other original eatery in town, Cori's Doghouse.  Cori's is a locally owner and operated Mom & Pop joint which specializes in Hot Dogs!!

I think Andrew's love for hot dog was genetically passed down from his Daddy, they could both live on franks!

The Georgia: Pimento Cheese & Cole Slaw

The L.A: Bacon, Jalopenos, grilled onions, mustard

The Chicago:  Dill Pickle Spear, Neon Green Relish, Fresh Onions, Tomatoes

Drew and I will be eating lots of Chicago dogs over the next 5 days as we are heading to Chicago tomorrow morning!  Yay!

A Curious Saturday

"Well, I just have a question?"

This is Andrew's most frequent statement right now.  Starting kindergarten has his curiosity meter in HIGH gear...and I love it!  There are so many new experiences going on in his life right now and we are so excited that he is embracing each one with such enthusiasm and verve!

Our "Good morning, Daddy!" faces. :)

 

 

Off to check out the Continental breakfast

 

Cinnamon rolls & sausage does a body good. ;)

 

Talking to Brady...

 

Talking to Brady, again!

I think this was the longest conversation I've ever heard Andrew have on the phone.  He told Brady about school, his teach Mrs. Bird, his "second" best friend Jackson, they discussed Mario strategies, and made plans for a sleep over in October.  Definitely one of the funniest convos ever!

 

First Stop:  Nashville's Adventure Science Center

Afternoon showers put a damper on our trip to the water park so we asked Andrew if he wanted to go to the Science Center even though he'd been there before.  He perked right up and off we went!

 

Daddy Day-O & Bud-a-roo

 

 

Car Energy

 

Our Solar System

 

I've got our whole world in my hands. :)

 

Organ Notes

 

He was a little scared to crawl through the tunnel alone...So of course I had to go too!

 

T-Rex!

 

Cheez!

 

Checking for colossal cavities

 

No cavities for us!

 

 

Dr. Day-O

 

 

The Pathology Lab

 

Brain

 

Andrew took one look around and high-tailed it out of there!

Maybe he'll be an engineer instead! :)

 

Making pennies

 

Ice Cream Break!

After our Ice Cream Break, the rain was coming down by then so we went to see Despicable Me.  It was so cute...even Drew liked it. :)

 

Ready for dinner

 

Andrew wanted to play photographer

One of the non-chain restaurants was a Japanese place, Wasabi.  I thought Andrew would love the Hibachi grill experience so that 's what we did! 

 

I wish I would have had the camera on Andrew's face when he lit the grill on fire- priceless!

 

Egg Juggling

"I wanna learn to do that!"

Maybe he'll be a chef?!

 

Andrew's Japanese take on food- Eating french fries with chopsticks, love it!

After dinner we took Andrew to Books-a-Million, which of course is one of my favorite places to go!

After The Great Frog Rescue, Andrew wanted a book about frogs.

 

"A puppet book, just like in Despicable Me!"

 

Do-Dah, the librarian.

 

 

Reading to Andrew is definitely one of my favorite past times.

 

Sweet dreams baby boy.

On a side note:  I emailed Andrew's teacher yesterday to see how his first two weeks of kindergarten have been.  Mrs. Bird said he seems to really enjoy class and participates in all activites.  Yesterday was academic benchmark testing, which is an indicator of a student's current academic level. She said she would have results in a few days.  We are so proud!

Stay tuned for Sunday's activites coming soon...