Sara's Uncle Mike, Aunt Mary Ann, and cousin Shane still live in the area, as well as Sara's cousin, Shannon, and her new husband, Perry. Shannon and Perry were married on October 1st and we were fortunate enough to make the trip and see them begin their new life together. Sara's parents, grandmother, and Uncle John also made the trip from Michigan.
It had been 3 years since we had seen Uncle Mike, Aunt Mary Ann, Shannon, and Shane. They visited us in Michigan the summer after Carson was born. Before that, we had seen them several times at our grandparents' house in Florida. But it had been 11 years since Kevin and Sara had been in Memphis. Way too long! So we were excited to be back. And we were excited to show Carson the place where his Mama grew up and take him to do some things that Sara remembers doing as a child.
We decided to drive down to have a little more flexibility with our trip. So we loaded up the car and left at about 4:30am on Wednesday morning. This was Carson's longest road trip yet, so we weren't sure what to expect. He did fantastic. Not one complaint or fuss the entire time. He actually quite enjoyed it. He spent a good deal of time coloring, doing mazes, practicing writing some letters, reading books, playing on his computer or his alphabet apple, or just looking at things out the window. We really are so lucky he has always been such a great traveler!
We got to Shannon and Perry's house around 5:30pm local time (we gained an hour on the way there) and had a nice evening. Kevin, Sara, Carson, and Great Grandma Jackie stayed at Shannon and Perry's house. Nana, Papa, and Uncle John stayed with Uncle Mike, Aunt Mary Ann, and Shane. But we all met up over at Shannon and Perry's for dinner and visiting on Wednesday night. It was so great to see everyone! Of course, Carson became great buddies with Shannon and Perry's husky, Sadie. Their other dog, a cavalier king charles spaniel named Penny Lane, was a little shy around Carson, but Sadie loved hanging out with him.
On Thursday, we headed to the Memphis Zoo. Sara hadn't been there since she had moved away, so just about everything had changed, but it is still an awesome zoo! It is the best zoo we've been to... and we've been to quite a few. Carson was so excited to see the panda bears. We got to see both of their pandas, which he loved. He also loved all the fountains and wading pools around the zoo. They were perfect on a hot day (it was 89 degrees when we were there)! And he liked hearing the lions and tigers roar while we were having a snack in the late afternoon.
On Friday morning, we met Nana and Aunt Mary Ann downtown to see the famous Peabody Ducks march. The Peabody Ducks are a long-standing Memphis tradition, have been on many different tv shows, and are known around the world. These ducks don't march like the old ducks did... they bolt! As soon as those elevator doors opened, it was clear that the ducks had one thing in mind.... the fountain. :) I was lucky to get the picture I did... which I thought was going to be a test shot since I was just sticking the camera out in the aisle and not aiming at all. :)
We headed to the roof of the Peabody after we watched the ducks swim in the fountain for a bit. Unfortunately, the Duck Palace was under construction, but we did get to enjoy some nice views of the city and the Mississippi.
Next, we headed to Beale Street for some souvenir shopping and lunch. After lunch, we walked over to Main Street to see the old-school trolleys and the pigeons. We had wanted to head over to Mud Island still, but Carson was getting tired, so we decided to skip that. We got back in the car and drove across the Mississippi River so that Carson could see how big the Mighty Mississippi is and so he can say he drove across it. He was quite impressed and was intrigued to see how muddy it is. He was excited to be in a new state... Arkansas. But he found it quite boring and fell asleep pretty fast. ;-p
Friday night, we headed over to Perry's dad's house in Germantown for the Rehearsal Dinner. We had a great time and enjoyed meeting Perry's family. Perry's dad has a beautiful backyard... although what do you expect when your son owns a landscaping company? :)
Saturday was the big day for Shannon and Perry! They wanted a small, simple wedding in Perry's mom's backyard in Mississippi. And it was beautiful! Everything was perfect! I think the only glitch was the cold front that moved in overnight and really cooled things off. But it was still warmer than Michigan. :). Shannon looked absolutely gorgeous! Perry, Uncle Mike, and Shane all looked so handsome in their suits. Shane did awesome through the wedding holding the rings. And it was a beautiful ceremony.
The food and drinks that followed were awesome, as well. Oyster shooters, fried green tomatoes, crab/crawfish cakes, potato dumplings, beef wellingtons.... all were so delicious! Sara finally tried an oyster shooter and discovered she actually likes raw oysters. :) The main course was equally delicious... crab stuffed beef tenderloin, roast turkey, salads, a mashed potato bar and a mashed sweet potato bar. Yum! Even Carson loved all the food.
We all had such a great time at the wedding. Carson felt so special to be invited - when we got the invitation, he danced around, clapping, saying he was so excited to go to a wedding. And we feel so blessed to have been able to make the trip to witness Shannon and Perry's love for one another and see them get married. We wish the two of them a lifetime of love and happiness and can't wait for them to visit us in Michigan!!
We took it easy on Sunday and went over to Uncle Mike and Aunt Mary Ann's house for the afternoon. We went to Collierville's historic town square for a bit to take some pictures in the park and on the trains and to browse in the art galleries. Then we headed back to the house to cook a nice dinner, which included oysters again.... although this time they were cooked and even more delicious (I'm seriously going to have to make them at home now!). It was Uncle Mike's birthday, so we sang Happy Birthday and cut into the Groom's cake from the wedding for dessert.
Carson and Shane had so much fun playing together. They had a blast playing hide and seek, kickball, looking for bugs and critters, swinging, and just playing. They really formed a great relationship and bond on our trip. They were so sweet to one another! Carson wants Shane to come play at his house for a week next time. :)
We packed up to head home on Monday morning. Carson was an angel in the car again. We got home just after midnight and were glad to get home after the long car ride and to see Jet and Denver. Jet got into a little tussle with some wild animal one night while we were gone, so we were anxious to see how he was doing. He is healing nicely and was so happy to see us!
It was a great trip, though a little short. Carson got to see four new states.... Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi (he's up to 11 states now - MI, OH, IN, IL, WI, AZ, CO, KY, TN, MS, AR... although we can't really count MS and AR since we didn't see much of either). It was awesome to see some family that we hadn't seen in a long while. And it was great to meet Perry and his family finally. We were all sad to leave - saying goodbye really stinks! But we were so happy to make the trip to see Shannon and Perry get married. We hope they will visit us in Michigan soon and we hope to be back in Memphis in a couple of years, too!
2 comments:
Whew. Finally just made it through your whole post :P Sounds like it was an awesome trip!
Pandas would be neat to see.
How cool that you got to see the duck parade! I've seen that on tv once...can't remember what I was watching.
I've never had oysters either. Although maybe I'll have to now :)
The wedding was beautiful.
Hopefully Carson is old enough now that he'll remember this trip. Sounds like he already loves to travel.
It is kinda cool to see a panda... but they're pretty boring, really. All they do is sleep or munch on bamboo. :) This was the 2nd time Kevin and I had seen pandas... we saw them at the San Diego Zoo when we went there in 2001, as well. They're cute bears, though!
We used to go to see the Peabody ducks whenever we'd have visitors when we lived in Memphis. Seems like Peabody ducks, the zoo, Graceland, Libertyland (which is now closed), Mud Island, and feeding the pigeons were what we always did whenever family would visit. I'm bummed we didn't get to do Mud Island, but we did everything else that Carson would enjoy (he's too young for Graceland yet) from the things I remember so well from living there.
Definitely give oysters a try! I always thought they'd be gross... but they were really good.
I hope Carson remembers the trip. He still remembers our trips to Colorado and Arizona and the trips we took this summer really well. I hope he continues to always remember all the trips... but I'm sure memories will fade a little. Although I can still remember a few big things that happened when I was 2, so who knows.
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