An Opry Christmas

The Opryland Hotel is one of the more impressive landmarks in Nashville.  At Christmastime, it becomes even more amazing with the addition of thousands of lights and decorations. 

giant tree

When I first learned of my Grandparents and Mom's visit, I immediately looked up when the Christmas displays would open at the hotel as I knew they would all love it.  Luckily, they were set to arrive on opening weekend.  We decided to also add a trip to the Grand Ole Opry to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes.  While my Grandparents had seen the show years ago, it was a first for the rest of us.  We all absolutely loved the show.  I am adding it to my Christmas must-do list for all future holiday seasons. 

outside the Opry

ready for the show

After the show, we walked around the gorgeous hotel and left feeling ready for Christmas. 

A Texas Thanksgiving

Mike and I spent Thanksgiving weekend with our Houston family.  We kicked off our Thanksgiving morning with my first ever Turkey Dash.  Lauren ran the kids 1 miler and wore herself running a speedy 9 minute mile.  She was the cutest thing ever sprinting across the finish line.  I see a future in racing for her ;).  Mike and I ran the 10K and it was the perfect way to kick off a day of eating.

The girls manned the kitchen for the majority of the day and had a lot of fun cooking together.  The boys were in charge of frying the turkey.  Everything came together perfectly and tasted delicious. 

Mil and I were up early (or does 3am still qualify as late night?) for some black Friday shopping.  We hit up tons of stores and found lots of good deals. 

Texas weather was hot and sunny so we enjoyed lots of time outside- swimming and playing with the kids and goldendoodle Daisy.  We captured lots of cute pictures of the day...

It was the perfect holiday weekend! 

Middle Half Marathon Weekend

Last Saturday morning we were up super early to run the Murfreesboro Middle Half Marathon.  I had run this race solo last year and talked the Mister into running it with me this year. 

Our training this time around had gone very well and we were both mostly injury free (for once).  For some reason, the cooler weather we'd been having disappeared for the day and left us in the sixties and seventies with 90%+ humidity.  I was bummed about this but it ended up not feeling too bad. 

race start

The flat course ran the same route as last year (this time without the whole getting lost thing).  The first half winds through fun streets and historic landmarks and includes a few out and backs where I was able to see Mike and cheer him on. 

starting the race

The last four miles or so run along a 4 lane highway and have virtually no spectator support.  I definitely felt a little lonely during these miles and struggled not to let it wear me down.  I knew if I hit the 10 mile mark before 1:30 and didn't completely fall apart from there, I'd be able to beat my previous time.  Luckily, this worked out and I crossed the finish line at my new fastest time of 1:57:14 (8:57 pace- right under my 9 min/mile goal). 

my face shows the pain I was feeling at this point- haha

I quickly found Mike and was so excited to hear about his speedy race.  He finished in 1:46:15 (8:07 pace). 

It was a successful race for both of us and left us excited for our upcoming races and our next half in December! 

finishers

race memorabilia

Our afternoon was spent relaxing at home and playing with a certain someone who was sad she didn't get to run the race despite doing all of the training runs ;)

she's mastered the art of throwing the ball into the door till we come play

In the evening, we made our way to Vandy to watch the Gators play! 

gators taking over vanderbilt campus

The game was a better matchup than we anticipated which kept things exciting.  It was so fun to get to watch them live and even more fun to see most of the stadium decked out in orange and blue. 

lots of orange and blue

go gators!

Our long day was finished up with a work party for M's company downtown at Margaritaville.  Trace Adkins was sitting at the table next to us and we were pretty excited about it (but not brave enough to stalk him for a photo).  Great end to a great day!

*race photos borrowed from here

Philly: Day One

Last weekend we went up to Philadelphia to celebrate the wedding of some of our best friends, Alyssa and Matt.  We flew in late Thursday night, checked into our B&B, said hi to P&E who were staying in the next room and got right to sleep to rest up for our day of sightseeing.  

The Liberty Room at La Reserve B&B

Our tour of Philly started off at the Mutter Museum.  E and I had been before on a past visit to the city but knew our boys would love it.  No photos are allowed but it was filled with medical oddities such as the original Siamese twins, Einstein’s brain, abnormal organs, and drawers full of odd objects recovered from peoples intestines.  It’s a definite must-do in our opinion.  

outside mutter museum

Our next stop was to the new Philly Shake Shack.  I started my obsession with the burgers and custards on our trip to NYC and insisted on taking the group there.  

yuuum.

We walked off our food babies on a long walk along Schuylkill (yeah, try to pronounce that) river up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see the Rocky statue and steps.  

rocky steps at the museum

rocky

Our tour continued back down Ben Franklin Pkwy with stops at the outdoor Rodin Museum, Logan Square, Love Park, and City Hall. 

We completed our afternoon with a stop at Rita’s water ice.  E and I were very excited to let the boys experience the deliciousness of Rita’s.  

We finally made it back to the B&B to rest up and get ready for our evening fun.  Our first stop was Tangier for a “mystery beer in a bag.”  

Unfortunately, they wouldn’t give us one since it was happy hour.  Instead we settled on continuing our obsession with fall beers and tried out Manayunk Yunkin Punkin and Stoudt’s Oktoberfest. 

Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens was our next place to visit.  It’s located on South Street and definitely lives up to its funky reputation.  The entire place is a giant indoor/outdoor mosaic with all kinds of crazy artwork.  We had lots of fun exploring.

We finally met up with our friends for the Rehearsal Dinner at Supper.  The menu congratulated the bride and groom and contained lots of yummy options- all of which were very well enjoyed.  

Popcorn Day

My parents are both from an adorable tiny town in southern Illinois called Ridgway.  Mike and I are lucky enough to be only a 3.5 hour drive from my Grandparents who still live there and we try to make the trip as often as our schedule allows.  Every year on the second Saturday in September, they hold their annual Popcorn Day Festival.  I was very excited when I realized we'd be able to attend this years festivities as M had never been and I hadn't attended the event in at least 13 years. 

Popcorn Day!

We drove up Friday night after work and awoke early Saturday for a eight mile training run through corn fields.  It was quite different from our usual route and we enjoyed the change of scenery and gorgeous weather.

Once the run was out of the way and our tummies were stuffed with homemade apple bread, we were ready to get in on the fun. The first event of the morning is the kiddie costume parade.  The theme this year was Popcorn and a Movie so most of the costumes were along these lines.

start of the kiddie parade

kiddie float

Next up is a bubble gum blowing contest and a popcorn eating contest (also for kids).  These are entertaining to watch, especially while enjoying unlimited free popcorn.

me and gramps

mike and uncle kent

unlimited free popcorn- yes please

The final competition is by far the most amusing and takes place in the "frog pond."  One by one, kids bring their frogs to the center of the circle and try to get them to jump.  The jumps are measured and the longest three win.  My favorite is when the frogs jump like crazy into a frantic crowd and everyone quickly scatters. 

frog mid-air

big frog

After the morning fun, we scoped out the fair portion of the festival and headed back to the house for an amazing granny-cooked meal.  Next, we claimed our spot in the yard to view the "Giant Parade."  We watched all the floats go by and fought some little kids for a few pieces of candy before it was our turn to jump in the parade. 

my aunt and uncles float

My Uncle drives the "corn car" in the parade which is a very long, very bright, old yellow Cadillac. We had lots of laughs as we rode in the back and waved to the crowd.

corn car in the driveway

riding in the parade

The afternoon was spent visiting with family around town and watching the live music. 

When Mike saw a Demolition Derby on the schedule, he made sure we were all planning to attend the event out at the town park.  I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into...

the demolition derby arena

In case you aren't familiar either, the event consists of a giant mud-filled arena and lots of busted cars.  They spread out around the ring and at the horn, begin crashing into each other.  The last car standing after all the others have died, wins. 

pre-smashing

people were creative with their car designs

action shot- yes that is lots of mud flying, yes you get dirty

crashing

there were lots of fires

post-demolition

Our day was finished off with another yummy meal, a little more family time and a fabulous live band back downtown.  As always, our weekend away went by way too fast but we had such a great time experiencing Popcorn Day!