One Day at a Time...: The Mobley's Road Trip ~ Summer 2012 ~ Part 1

In June, we took a road trip - Mike's family holds a reunion every three years, and this summer it was in Fall Creek Falls, TN. So, we decided to take a week off work, leave the weekend before the reunion, and make a family vacation out of it. It was SO MUCH FUN! The kids were great (much better than I had anticipated!) and it felt so good to just check out for awhile - we left everything behind and just enjoyed being a family for a solid week. Here's a rundown:

Saturday (June 16th) - we left Keller and headed to Memphis about 7am. I said the kids were great, and they were - that's largely in part due to the fact that we rented a suburban for the trip. Neither of our cars are really suited for a solid week in the car, so we decided to get something ~~the kids wouldn't be able to kill each other in~~ we could spread out in. It was a new, fully loaded model - three rows, DVD players, memory seats, sun roof, etc. etc. etc. I packed each kid a box of stuff for the car - coloring books, games, etc. They really honestly were fun to ride with!

We got into Memphis Saturday afternoon, 3-ish. We were right in the heart of downtown, which was fun, but our hotel was a dump. Mike checked us in anyway (we wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt) and we headed up to our room, but it was TINY. The whole place just felt kind of crummy, and we had noticed a much nicer newer hotel when we driving to ours...so, we checked out of ours and into a Marriott! MUCH nicer, like by a landslide. We got a king suite with a pullout sofa and there was plenty of room for all of us (quick note - we had planned to stay in one room until the reunion, where we were trying to get two adjoining rooms, so we could spread out a little).

After we checked in and got settled, we went to this cute little fountain across the street - really, besides the kids wanting to throw pennies in the fountain (which they all did and Rylie made a wish but wouldn't tell us what it was), I think they just appeased my attempts to get some good photos.

Then, we went to Huey's, in downtown Memphis for dinner. It was fun, pretty good food, and the best part was that the ceiling was covered with those little toothpicks with the plastic cellophane stuff on it (the premise was you were supposed to shoot a toothpick through a straw to get it to stick; we never could!). Mike and I both bought a t-shirt (Mike's new hobby - buying t-shirts at out-of-town places we go) and then we headed back to our room. We both ordered a drink from the bar and then just relaxed in our room...it was a fun first day!

At the fountain
6/16/2012

Dinner at Huey's in downtown Memphis, TN.
6/16/2012

Worn out after the first day - Zoe in the bed; Josh & Rylie on the floor
6/16/2012

Sunday (June 17th) - we woke up ready to go! We found a place right across the street for breakfast and fueled up. Then, we went to Mud Island - it's a really cute little park that was right across the street (almost) from our hotel. When you first go in, you ride a trolley (or whatever those things are called that are like a train, but the tracks are on top and you ride in the air...). Once we got to the other side, there were museums to walk through (that didn't last too long for the kids!) with some really cool history, then there was a scaled replica of the Mississippi river - they even had what I would assume is a best seller in their gift shop - rubber ducks that you could float from one end to the other (great marketing!). So, we had to buy ~~one~~ three and let the kids float it down. Zoe (who else?!) fell in the water but all the ducks finally made their way to the end. We rode in paddle boats and then headed back.

After some swimming in the hotel hot tub, and then some down time in the room, we met up with Pops, Honey, Jackie, Cooper and Arden for dinner on Beale St (they were stopping in Memphis on the way to the reunion too). The restaurant we ate at was not that good (the best gumbo in the world was NOT the best gumbo in the world) but they had live music and the kids had fun. We hung out front for a little bit after and they had some guys doing flips (literal flips!) all the way down the street.

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel and decided to hang out on the patio for awhile... the kids ran around, and bought some candy with their OWN money from Pop-Pop and Nana, and we just relaxed. Pretty soon, one of those horse-drawn carriages came around...they had been all over the place, and were fun to look at - some were really elaborate (completely decorated with lights, ornaments, etc). The woman driving (do you call it driving??) this one was very nice and let the kids walk up to the horse (Nell) and pet her...they were really excited about it, and Mike and I looked at each other with that "should we?" look - we agreed it would be fun, and it would be a great memory for the kids. So, we hopped on and as soon as we got settled, Rylie belted out "ohhhhhhhh....wishes really DO come true!!!". Mike and I both turned into mush - that moment, right then, was worth whatever it was going to cost us (which, actually, turned out to be pretty reasonable). On a roll, Rylie decided to see how long her good luck would last - she then said "my other wish was that I would get $200!!". We laughed and taught her the "not every wish comes true" lesson. :)