Andrew was off of school for MLK Day, which was one of our holidays. But instead of him traveling so much on his long weekend we decided to fly to Nashville. I took off of work Friday and Monday so we could all spend the weekend together.
Thursday is snowed in TN! I couldn't wait to get there and see snow for the first time all year. Of course it was almost gone by Friday, but none the less I saw snow! Andrew was off of school on Friday for a snow day which worked out great for us. We first went to meet his teacher, Mrs. Floyd, at his school for a parent-teacher conference where she went over Andrew progress so far this year. He is of course doing great. He's on a third grade math level already and is above the standard in reading also. She even asked Drew if he had any mathematicians in his family, lol! Math is in his blood so I wasn't very worried about that, but he just doesn't like to read very much so I was worried about how he was doing in that area. She put our worries to rest and told us to keep doing what we're doing when he's with us. And we went over a few things we could work on this summer. Once we went over his score we were talking about his love for math and that he loves word problems, which is funny since he doesn't like to read. She said Andrew says when he's reading about math, it's NOT reading. Then Mrs. Floyd said, "I think he's going to do big things. I'm betting on him being a chemist." Drew and I busted out laughing. And she was like, "What?" Then Drew told her my degree is in chemistry. Made my day!
She said he's a happy boy and while he takes a little while to warm-up to new people he eventually does and is very outgoing. I asked her if she had any other kids in her class who have a blended family and one of his friends he tells us about, Ethan, is also from a blended family. She said they talk about what's different in their families with each other ie two Christmases, their parents are better with different people, etc. I'm so glad he has someone he can talk to that is his age, so he doesn't feel alone or different. Drew and I are very thankful and relieved Andrew has a teacher who is very dedicated to her students, who took time to meet us on a snow day, and who was very supportive of our situation. We asked her how we could support her classroom from Louisiana and she gave us some great ideas! We loved her!
Then we went and pick up our little man to start a fun-filled weekend!
We started with grabbing some hot dogs at Corey's Doghouse in Mt. Juliet. I definitely recommend you stop there if you are ever in Nashville. Then we went to see The Adventures of Tin Tin, I loved it! And Andrew was pretty excited that there is going to be a second Tin Tin movie. Then we went back to the hotel to relax before dinner at one of Andrew's favorite restaurants, Los Compadres. After dinner we played board games that Drew and I had brought with us. Daddy kicked my butt at Battleship.
Andrew made his Dad a first place ribbon, for winning! :)
My boys. I love this picture!
Saturday we Saints geared up for the game and headed over to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
I can't wait until Music City is finished!
Chet Atkins' guitar collection.
We found some Louisiana influence, the Hackberry Ramblers from Hackberry, LA.
We saw Webb Pierce's Silver Dollar Convertible and Elvis' Solid Gold Cadilac.
Tons of gold and platinum albums from all of our favorites. Andrew loved listening to the interactive records.
One of my favorite Dolly songs, Jolene.
Andrew asked us to read about every guitar in the place! He loved Alabama's double-necked neon guitar.
I can't wait for him to take lessons this summer.
"Hey that's Daddy's guitar!" Sure enough a Gibson Les Paul.
I loved the floors in the Hall of Fame room, if you look close you may be able to figure out what it's made of: It's the end of wooden beams.
My all time favorite country singer, Mr. Johnny Cash.
Then we went to the Big River Brewery to watch a heartbreaking Saints game...but we still had a blast.
Trading "Wet Willies" during the game. :)
Then we surprised Andrew with tickets to the Predators vs. Philly Flyers for doing so well in school. He was ecstatic! We had a great time at the game.
Smashville!
Andrew wanted our picture taken with the Gnash blow up.
Geaux Preds!
Preds won 4 to 2, whoop whoop!
Sunday we headed over the the Opryland Hotel. It was beautiful!
Gorgeous stained glass in the lobby.
The gardens were splendid!
My handsome boys!
"I wish you and Do-Dah lived in TN." wishes.
(Happy and sad tears.)
After the hotel we headed over to Dave and Busters for some arcade fun! Drew and Andrew had a blast and I laughed by behind off at the two of them. Sunday night we ate dinner at Andrew's other favorite place Buffalo Wild Wings. And Monday we spent the morning loving on each other watching cartoons. Then went for a drive in the countryside.
It was a great weekend filled with, as usual, great memories. It was nice to visit and do some of the things he does on a regular basis with him, so that hopefully when he's there again he'll remember the times we were there with him. I miss him so much, but we'll be seeing him again in 3 short weeks!
