More Nashville time

Thursday
William spent the night with us and woke up smiling at us.

He likes Omi's breakfast ... homemade applesauce (with carrots and prunes) mixed with cooked oats.

We thought it was going to be another very hot day so James found on the internet that there is a Tennessee State Museum. It is actually in the TPAC building. It's quite big, three stories and it's free.

There are lots of interesting things. This is a wagon settlers would have moved west in. For example there were those flip things questioning what they would have taken with them. Hands on!

Helen would have liked this quilt corner with several antique quilts in the next room. I have to write a separate more detailed blog for my "threads site".

Back home for lunch and then playtime.

In the evening we all want to go to Cheekwood. We pack a picnic and drive over to pick up Ben and Helen. William falls asleep just before we reach their house. We let him sleep though and all 5 of us continue on our way.

We like Cheekwood Botanical Garden. We visit it every time we are here. James found on the internet that Thursday evening is family entertainment.
We didn't quite know what to expect but we were there in good time and had an excellent parking spot.

The special sculpture exhibition was still there (saw them in May) like the treehuggers. I think they are really cool.

People all around us were very friendly and William had a good run around.
The music was nice but nothing really special. I think it might have been some of the equipment. But it still was fun. I took a VIDEO!
William wanted to dance. Helen took a VIDEO of that.

Friday
William was scheduled to get a vaccination shot to be ready for kindergarten. He requested that Omi and Papa come too. We were supposed to pick them up at 10:30 but then got a call to come earlier. Helen had discussed the shot with him and he felt that he could endure it with a new monster jam (car) in his hands. So we made a quick stop and Omi was happy to pay the 3.88 plus tax. It did help. And the whole thing didn't take long.
After that we made our way to Mt Juliet to the shopping mall. First lunch at Olive Garden. We have our traditions. Shopping was not really a success except for the last stop at Aldi. William was not happy at all when we dropped him and Helen off at home. He sobbed that he wanted to spend the night with Omi and Papa. Well, tomorrow.
We didn't do much after that but decided to have a quick walk in the neighborhood before it gets dark. We were almost caught by the sprinklers on the golf course.

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Saturday

It was around 9 am when we were on our way to pick up William. First Saturday of the month Helen takes him to Home Depot for a workshop. It is an excellent program and totally free. Every time it is a different project. There is a sign-in desk in this corner and they have a kit for every child and tools and workspace. Parents and child work together.

Yes, got a VIDEO!
And another VIDEO!

Helen is training Drifter to be a therapy dog just like Silvi was (who has retired) so they were walking the aisles since this is one of the few stores which allows dogs.

William has finished his project, a chalkboard door hanger.
After finishing the children should look for "Homer". William went back to the sign-in desk and whispered into the ladies ear where he found "Homer" and gets a treat. They were out of balloons.

We went home and had lunch. And we played the rest of the day all sorts of things and had a lot of fun. Papa and William also read several books.

William found Omi's new Tilley!

Ben and Helen came for dinner. William and I wrote on the chalkboard door knob hanger "Welcome Pops + Mom" and hung it on the front door. I should have taken a photo.
I tried a new recipe: meatloaf in the crock-pot. I had searched and found it on the Internet. James says it's a keeper and suggested slight improvements. It was very easy and I like that. I made "Opa Heinz potatoes" which from now on might be called "potato pizza" because that's what William called them. Helen said that he never eats potatoes. Well, he ate those.
It was a lovely evening. We found all sorts of things to play with. It took William 2 minutes to fall asleep when he was in bed.

Sunday

William woke up at 6 and wanted to clime into our bed. I took him to the bathroom and look what happened then! Snoring in the middle of us.

 

Breakfast done. Ready for church in a new shirt. Taking a picture for Mommy.

 

 

Church with William is quite an experience. For a 5 year old he is very well behaved but ... he thinks he has jobs to do and he is very serious about it. I was a bit nervous about it. We sat in the second to last pew. The lady who carries the cross in and out is so sweet and lets him "help" her. He has his hand on it too and marches with her. He knows when to stop, when to bow, when to turn etc. It's really cute. He also helps with the offertory. Nobody minds. Today they had a reception for the organist who is moving away. So he had a cupcake.

After church into play clothes. Papa is really into it. I love listening to them ...

 

 

... while I did a little kitchen duty for once. It was really necessary. All play and no work is not good, ha-ha. And as I said, I enjoyed listening to "the boys".

 

 

 

 

I think he had a good time with us because he wants to spend another night. We were invited to Ben and Helen for dinner which was very nice. They even had hung up the chalkboard which William had made yesterday with a new message.

 

 

Big plans for tomorrow. Better have a good night's sleep.

 

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Nashville time

Friday July 24 ... early alarm and off we go doing our routine like first cup of tea in the car and stop for breakfast after about 2 1/2 hours. Picnic stop for lunch at the Tennessee Welcome Center. The guitar building across the highway is a clue to where we are.

Helen had to call us every so often because William wanted to know where we were. He probably drove her nuts. She told us that she had to drive over to the TH when we were still one hour away because he wanted to wait looking out the window. It is nice to be loved that much.
We had brought a new child carseat with us which needed to be adjusted right away. That is his Mommy's job.

We all had dinner together at a favorite Mexican restaurant close to their house meeting Ben too. William was happy.
William wanted a haircut and had an appointment Saturday. Papa, Helen, William and I drove together to Smyrna. He knows the place. We have to wait a little.

He picked the locomotive this time.

We made a VIDEO for Caleb who so far still doesn't like haircuts. William says: "Caleb, it doesn't hurt".

Then we had to walk around the corner to CeCe's which reminds William of Sweet Frog in Virginia.

After that William rearranged our living room slightly to show us his somersaults. Yes, VIDEO!

Helen went home and William stayed. We had promised him that he could sleep over. He was very sweet, good having a bath and having his hair washed and going to bed. Asleep in a few minutes.
We put a guest room mattress on the floor in our bedroom which he calls "his bed". He sits up in the morning when he wakes up and smiles at us.
Service at Helen's church starts at 9:30am and we met her there. William is so eager the help the crucifer to carry the cross forward (and bring it back at the end) and help with the offering at the outside aisle. I love that nobody minds his "help".
I love the quilted wallhanging.

In the afternoon Helen and William bake cupcakes in my kitchen for Mops, his other grandma. They are going to visit her tomorrow to celebrate her birthday.

Since Helen and William had plans anyway it was perfect for James and me to drive to Paducah, the town where we used to live for about 30 years. We had an appointment for 10 am which we made in good time.
After that we had to visit Grace Episcopal Church of course. We still have ties and feel connected. We had been very involved. Judy the organist happened to be in the office and it was a big hello. Had to visit my father (Vati to me and Opa Heinz to the girls) in the Memorial Garden too.

After going back to our car in the shade we still had time to stop at the Quilters Alley to pick up a Row by Row pattern (the strip with the four boats) for Helen. More hellos there because the owner Pat and I go back many years when I was very involved in the lace guild.

We had arranged to meet our friend Sara at Kirchhoff's for lunch ... and said hello to more people we know who were just leaving. We had a great time together which was much too short. Together we also popped into the Market House office where Barb was working ... and where we met more people we know.

I must say that it was wonderful to cross paths with so many people who seem genuinely happy to see you. It does the heart good!
Our last stop was the National Quilt Museum. I had seen in an email that there was a special exhibit and I wanted to see it. I thought James was going to have a coffee somewhere but he too paid the entrance and came to see it.
Of course photography is never allowed which is a shame because all the things you see are such inspirations. I found some photos though on the museum website.

I googled on "Caohagan Island quilts" and got to THIS LINK
It shows some of those of which I really would have loved to take a photo of! Yeah! Get to see a photo after all!

The 2+ hours drive back were easy and thanks to the cell phones we were told to go straight to Helen and Ben's house. We were invited for dinner. We had a great time there. William told us about Mop's birthday. He so much loves her and his great grandma GeeGee too.

Ben is such a great and fun Dad.

Tuesday
Helen had to work and it was William's last day at Glen Leven. Papa had promised to pick him up. We picked Helen up and went. When we arrived at the school the sky looked very ominous and we were almost blown into the school by a strong wind. Bye-bye to his teachers.
We went to a Popsicle place to celebrate. It must have really stormed when we where in the school because many tree limbs were down and ambulances and police on the roads.
The popsicles were quite delicious.

Wednesday
Where could we go for William to have fun? Helen knew. There is a huge church with an indoor playground. Non-members are welcome.
Helen is signing us in.

If I wouldn't have seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it. I had to take this upwards panorama photo to get all in the picture. A maze of at least 4 levels. He was a bit shy in the beginning. A lot of the other children had come with siblings or friends and older ones where quite wild.

He liked it when I waved at him and I suggested this or that to explore ... and waved. Soon he was running all over the place.

Eventually it was time to put the shoes on again and leave. On the way back we stopped to buy Ben's birthday cake.

Helen went home to go out for dinner with Ben. James did some grilling for us and William. We were quite surprised that it was working without any problems because we have not used the grill in a long time.

After their dinner Helen and Ben came back to celebrate a little.

And then William spent the night again going to bed happily.

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