Thanksgiving in Nashville
We decided to do something different this year; we went to Nashville for Thanksgiving. We stayed in the Gaylord Opryland Hotel Resort, had Thanksgiving dinner with a Pam Tillis concert, strolled through an Ice village, took a lunch cruise on the General Jackson, went to the holiday craft fair, caught the last few minutes of the laser light show and went to see the Radio City Rockettes Christmas show. Too much to do and not enough time!
The hotel is absolutely fabulous! If you're ever in Nashville over the holidays, take a stroll through the hotel, even if you don't stay there. It is truly something to see & experience!
Our first afternoon there, DH and Katelyn wanted to go straight to the room and take a nap. Codah, on the other hand, was ready to explore the hotel and wanted to take pictures. So off she and I went while the other two napped. I don't know where all we ended up, but we walked for over two hours and still didn't see it all. Then DH called because he and Katelyn were hungry and going for ice cream and wanted us to join him. So Codah and I got a map of the hotel, found the ice cream parlor on the map and proceeded to head that way....or so I thought! Codah insisted that she knew the way and remembered passing the ice cream parlor earlier during our stroll. Thirty minutes and four phone calls later, we were still wandering around and Codah was still swearing, "Trust me Mom; I know what I'm doing!" By the time we finally found the ice cream parlor, an hour later, DH and Katelyn were sitting on the atrium stairs and wanted to know why we walked to Memphis and back before meeting them. And let me tell you, my feet sure felt like they had walked to Memphis and back!
We went to the Pam Tillis dinner concert that night and then managed to get back to the fountains for the last few minutes of the laser light show. The girls wanted to go see the dancing in the lounges area, so we headed that way and let them watch while DH smoked a Monte Cristo cigar and I sat and watched all the lights. We barely got into our hotel room before the girls were out cold. I think all the walking finally wore them out!
The next morning they arose with their normal bickering over the bathroom, hair supplies and mirrors. I'm talking about teenagers here! I thought they would outgrow all this stuff by now! I finally announced "We are going to breakfast now. If you are not out that door in 2 minutes, you will go without." They went downstairs with us and managed to eat with minimal chaos until it was time to leave. Then the bickering and teasing started again. When DH did his infamous "That's enough!" growl, they turned on him! Nobody was immune to the horsing around at that point, not even our waitress! I finally stood up and announced that we were leaving and if one more person touched another person or said one single word before we got back to the room, they were going to contend with me. I got them out of the restaurant before they started again. Now I have to preface here that it's usually Katelyn and DH whom I must watch and threaten. They just can't seem to avoid picking at each other and are known to have wrestling matches and frogger competitions in public. So rounding the corner of the hallway, I warned both of them to "chill" and kept my eye on both of them. I THOUGHT I was doing well and was so proud that this older couple that we walked past smiled at me....at least until we passed them. Then the man started howling in laughter as DH stumbled forward and then jumped back around and started fussing at Katelyn for tripping him. Then Katelyn started fussing back that DH had stepped on her pant legs and tried to trip her. Both denied adamently that they had touched each other. The older man shook his head and continued to laugh and then winked at me.
Hmmmm, was he telling me that he felt sorry for me having to be out in public with these two? I would have never known for sure had he not been seated next to us a few hours later while waiting for the bus to the General Jackson. He then commented that he got such a kick out of "that little one of yours...she was quite a hoot this morning." What?!? Codah?!?! My quiet, good child?!? My Ms. Southern Belle?!? He proceeded to tell me, much to Codah's dismay, about how amused he was when she came up behind Katelyn, stepped on her pant leg and then skipped across behind me, raised her leg up behind her and caught DH in the back of the knee, tripping him and then non-chalantly skipped right back over next to me as if nothing had ever happened. He then commented that he had always wanted daughters but had only sons, but figured this morning that he really might have been much safer with boys.
Then the same couple were seated with us at lunch on the General Jackson. He continued to tease Codah about being the instigator of the family; and Katelyn and DH were sucking it up and trying to convince me that it was really Codah all along who created the chaos those two always manage to get into when we're out. Codah quietly complained about the cranberry sauce being scooped into a peach half on her plate. She wanted the peach but not the cranberry sauce. I told her to just take her spoon and remove the cranberry sauce. She was trying to be polite and sly about it but caught the peach with her spoon instead of the sauce. The peach flew up in the air and landed in the lady's lap across from us; and the cranberry sauce flew across my shirt and into my lap. Again, the man was howling; and Codah was hiding her face in her hands, laughing so hard that she spit food across into Katelyn's plate which created an entire chain of events similar to an Animal House movie!
The rest of the afternoon was the normal routine, Katelyn and DH having their froggie contests, tripping each other and wrestling everywhere we went, with me threatening to behead them if they didn't stop. This time, I was keeping a close eye on Codah! Then that evening we went to the Rockettes. Guess who sat down behind us and patted Codah on the head and informed her that she had to be good because he was keeping an eye on her? Yep, that same older couple again! Katelyn jumped in to tease Codah with "Yeah, Codah, you be good!" Codah punched Katelyn, and the rest is history. I had to jump in the middle of them and threaten their lives again. Then toward the end of the intermission, Codah commented about her drink cup and said "Isn't it cool how these things are recycled?" I asked "How do you know that?" (Why did I have to even ask?!?) She proceeded to explain how you can press your thumb on the side of the cup and tell...... Then her cup exploded with a loud "pop", sending the lid and straw flying over and down into another girl's hair below us, the drink went into my lap and the cup flew up and behind her into the man's lap. Now, the entire section of the Opry House was howling. The girl with the hair even returned Codah's lid and straw to her while the man was handing her cup back to her. I sat there shaking my head in utter disbelief and shock.
I've decided that I can't take anybody in this family out in public. And apparently, Codah has now caught the "chaos virus" from DH and Katelyn. I'm doomed!
The hotel is absolutely fabulous! If you're ever in Nashville over the holidays, take a stroll through the hotel, even if you don't stay there. It is truly something to see & experience!
Our first afternoon there, DH and Katelyn wanted to go straight to the room and take a nap. Codah, on the other hand, was ready to explore the hotel and wanted to take pictures. So off she and I went while the other two napped. I don't know where all we ended up, but we walked for over two hours and still didn't see it all. Then DH called because he and Katelyn were hungry and going for ice cream and wanted us to join him. So Codah and I got a map of the hotel, found the ice cream parlor on the map and proceeded to head that way....or so I thought! Codah insisted that she knew the way and remembered passing the ice cream parlor earlier during our stroll. Thirty minutes and four phone calls later, we were still wandering around and Codah was still swearing, "Trust me Mom; I know what I'm doing!" By the time we finally found the ice cream parlor, an hour later, DH and Katelyn were sitting on the atrium stairs and wanted to know why we walked to Memphis and back before meeting them. And let me tell you, my feet sure felt like they had walked to Memphis and back!
We went to the Pam Tillis dinner concert that night and then managed to get back to the fountains for the last few minutes of the laser light show. The girls wanted to go see the dancing in the lounges area, so we headed that way and let them watch while DH smoked a Monte Cristo cigar and I sat and watched all the lights. We barely got into our hotel room before the girls were out cold. I think all the walking finally wore them out!
The next morning they arose with their normal bickering over the bathroom, hair supplies and mirrors. I'm talking about teenagers here! I thought they would outgrow all this stuff by now! I finally announced "We are going to breakfast now. If you are not out that door in 2 minutes, you will go without." They went downstairs with us and managed to eat with minimal chaos until it was time to leave. Then the bickering and teasing started again. When DH did his infamous "That's enough!" growl, they turned on him! Nobody was immune to the horsing around at that point, not even our waitress! I finally stood up and announced that we were leaving and if one more person touched another person or said one single word before we got back to the room, they were going to contend with me. I got them out of the restaurant before they started again. Now I have to preface here that it's usually Katelyn and DH whom I must watch and threaten. They just can't seem to avoid picking at each other and are known to have wrestling matches and frogger competitions in public. So rounding the corner of the hallway, I warned both of them to "chill" and kept my eye on both of them. I THOUGHT I was doing well and was so proud that this older couple that we walked past smiled at me....at least until we passed them. Then the man started howling in laughter as DH stumbled forward and then jumped back around and started fussing at Katelyn for tripping him. Then Katelyn started fussing back that DH had stepped on her pant legs and tried to trip her. Both denied adamently that they had touched each other. The older man shook his head and continued to laugh and then winked at me.
Hmmmm, was he telling me that he felt sorry for me having to be out in public with these two? I would have never known for sure had he not been seated next to us a few hours later while waiting for the bus to the General Jackson. He then commented that he got such a kick out of "that little one of yours...she was quite a hoot this morning." What?!? Codah?!?! My quiet, good child?!? My Ms. Southern Belle?!? He proceeded to tell me, much to Codah's dismay, about how amused he was when she came up behind Katelyn, stepped on her pant leg and then skipped across behind me, raised her leg up behind her and caught DH in the back of the knee, tripping him and then non-chalantly skipped right back over next to me as if nothing had ever happened. He then commented that he had always wanted daughters but had only sons, but figured this morning that he really might have been much safer with boys.
Then the same couple were seated with us at lunch on the General Jackson. He continued to tease Codah about being the instigator of the family; and Katelyn and DH were sucking it up and trying to convince me that it was really Codah all along who created the chaos those two always manage to get into when we're out. Codah quietly complained about the cranberry sauce being scooped into a peach half on her plate. She wanted the peach but not the cranberry sauce. I told her to just take her spoon and remove the cranberry sauce. She was trying to be polite and sly about it but caught the peach with her spoon instead of the sauce. The peach flew up in the air and landed in the lady's lap across from us; and the cranberry sauce flew across my shirt and into my lap. Again, the man was howling; and Codah was hiding her face in her hands, laughing so hard that she spit food across into Katelyn's plate which created an entire chain of events similar to an Animal House movie!
The rest of the afternoon was the normal routine, Katelyn and DH having their froggie contests, tripping each other and wrestling everywhere we went, with me threatening to behead them if they didn't stop. This time, I was keeping a close eye on Codah! Then that evening we went to the Rockettes. Guess who sat down behind us and patted Codah on the head and informed her that she had to be good because he was keeping an eye on her? Yep, that same older couple again! Katelyn jumped in to tease Codah with "Yeah, Codah, you be good!" Codah punched Katelyn, and the rest is history. I had to jump in the middle of them and threaten their lives again. Then toward the end of the intermission, Codah commented about her drink cup and said "Isn't it cool how these things are recycled?" I asked "How do you know that?" (Why did I have to even ask?!?) She proceeded to explain how you can press your thumb on the side of the cup and tell...... Then her cup exploded with a loud "pop", sending the lid and straw flying over and down into another girl's hair below us, the drink went into my lap and the cup flew up and behind her into the man's lap. Now, the entire section of the Opry House was howling. The girl with the hair even returned Codah's lid and straw to her while the man was handing her cup back to her. I sat there shaking my head in utter disbelief and shock.
I've decided that I can't take anybody in this family out in public. And apparently, Codah has now caught the "chaos virus" from DH and Katelyn. I'm doomed!
posted by Senati | 6:59 AM
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