In the month of July, we took a family road trip to Nashville to visit Brent's sister and family and our good friends that recently moved there. The long drive up took about 12 hours, but I don't have a lasting memory of it being too terribly difficult. Perhaps blogging about something nearly three months after the fact might make my memory a little hazy though! :) The kids did great, and we took about four stops along the way to help break it up and stretch, including a road side picnic lunch. Harper LOVES her cousins and her friend Marin, so there was much excitement and anticipation!
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| Harper, Eve and Eli playing Candy Land -- her cousins are the SWEETEST kids, by the way. No wonder she loves being around them so much! |
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| Faith doing bedtime books with Harper...being there felt like an actual vacation, at least as far as Harper was concerned, because she was so occupied with her cousins, and they played so well with her! |
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| Harper has a special bond with her oldest cousin Faith, who is seventeen. While staying with Amy's family, Harper slept on the floor on a sleeping bag in Eve and Faith's room. However, we woke up one morning to find Harper and Faith sleeping in the same bed together. Too sweet! |
For the 4th of July, we went to nearby Cookeville, Tennessee. Several members of one family have land out there on a farm, and every year the whole town is invited to come out and have a great time on the 4th. We have a connection to this family through Amy and Patrick, as well as an ACU roommate connection. The weather ended up being SUPER rainy (we did not pack for this possibility!), so we didn't get to enjoy all the usual activities (homemade boat races down the creek). But it was still lots of fun to see everyone and eat tremendous food.
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| Aunt Amy and Owen in their patriotic red |
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| Before the rain really became a downpour, the kids did get to play in the creek awhile. Eve caught some crawdads in a net and Wesley is holding a frog here -- great "kid" fun! |
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| Perhaps one of the most unique traditions of 4th of July on the farm in Cookeville is roasting an entire pig underground (plus some other meats)! Everyone watched as a group of men began digging it up. Harper is in red standing next to her cousin Caroline. |
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| Jack pot! |
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| The pig was so massive and heavy it took about seven men to LUG it out and move it. |
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| The farm provided the barbecue and buns, etc., and everyone else who attended brought a dessert or side. The food was delicious and way more choices than could ever fit on one plate. The rain hit really hard just as it was time to eat, so everyone was huddled under umbrellas and large canopies that were set up over the picnic tables. |
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Although Harper had a good time playing in the creek before lunch, I think by this day, a couple of nights of sleeping on the floor and waking up early had caught up to her.
She was very emotional (Harper has big time reactions to mosquito bites, and the itching creates much drama for days when she gets some--and she had a lot). She actually crashed while sitting in Brent's lap during lunch. This NEVER happens in the middle of the day! |
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Faith and Harper (feeling better after her catnap)...
After lunch, those who stayed headed to one of the houses to hang out where it was dry. Somewhere Harper found some dress up clothes. :) The kids also took turns pushing each other down a flight of stairs on a mattress. Again, such great "kid" fun! |
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| Cousin group shot |
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| We learned on this trip that the good folks of Tennessee are CRAZY about their fireworks! There are no laws banning individual fireworks within the city limits, like in Texas, and it seemed that the whole town of Nashville had purchased their share. We heard nightly fireworks going off even a WEEK after the 4th! The Sturgeon kids look forward to their traditional firework package every year and were very excited to get out and set them off. Harper enjoyed the sparklers and the little caps you throw down and make pop. |
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| One day we took a hike with Brent's sister, Isaac, Eve and Eli around a lake. Eve is creative and artistic and had our camera taking pictures the whole time. She took this scenic picture of the lake. |
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| And she took this one too! |
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| Owen was happy in the Bjorn. |
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| But we hiked in the morning during his nap time, so eventually he was out! |
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| That same day, we went to a park to play in the evening. Faith was now at camp. I love how much Harper loves her cousins! |
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| Before we left, Eve put her sweet and crafty creativity to work and sewed this little pillow for Harper. She self-taught herself to sew and did all the buttons and everything. It meant a lot to Harper. |
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| Isaac actually built a fire pit in their backyard, so on the last evening we made a fire and roasted marshmallows outside. We made sure to cover Harper in bug spray! :) |
As mentioned, we also spent two nights with our good friends. Harper and Marin had their usual screaming/squealing greeting. It was SO good to spend some time with this family, and Tobin was super nice to host us even while she was third trimester pregnant!
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| The girls can hardly contain their excitement anticipating a sleepover in the same room that night! |
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| Playing hand bells |
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| One thing that is so cool about Nashville is the large green backyards with no fences. This definitely promotes more neighborliness, I think, and Marin has this awesome swing and playscape, which the girls enjoyed. Actually the playscape belongs to the neighbors, but Marin and Parker can play on it whenever. You can see the kids playing through the kitchen window, so we felt okay staying inside sometimes while the girls played outside--great setup! |
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| I love this scene. Parker tucked in Harper's sleeping bag, Marin's big yawn and pregnant Tobin reading bedtime stories. We gave it a good college try to have all three girls sleep in the same room, but eventually we had to put two-year-old Parker in Krister and Tobin's room, as it did not seem that sleep was going to take place! This did the trick, and finally, all little tykes were asleep. |
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| How sweet is Marin's little hand on her Mommy's tummy?! |
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| On Saturday, we all went to the Nashville zoo... |
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| Sweet friends holding hands |
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| We had the chance to give the birds some food. I think we were all less than thrilled with several birds at once landing on us and crawling around. Here is Krister, the Bird Man. :) |
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| Happy and drooling! |
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| Checking out the elephants on Daddy's shoulders |
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| How cute are they? |
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| Looking at the meerkats through the viewing tunnel |
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| "I see you!" |
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| Marin in back, Soren in front :) |
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| Worn out from all that walking! |
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| After dinner and baths, the girls got to have pop corn and other treats and watch a Tinker Bell movie on blankets in the living room. |
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| Owen snuck in a few frames before heading off to his earlier bedtime. |
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| A very fun night for all three girls! |
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| Sunday morning Pancakes and Piano |
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Singing their hearts out...love them!
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Here are two videos Brent made to get an even better idea of our trip...occasional trip meltdowns not included! :)
