Nashville and Everything Else

After the white coat ceremony we decided to let Chris be our guide and hit up the famous Broadway street in Nashville, which, surprisingly, is just about 5 miles down the road from Vanderbilt. Who knew? Broadway is the street that has all the famous country bars where country singer wannabes pay their dues and get discovered.  It is definitely one of those things you just have to do while in Nashville.  And according to TripAdvisor.com you also have to get some ice cream at "Mike's."  Which we did.  For dinner!  I had something called "Take That" which was like eating a Take 5 candy bar mixed with a treasure chest.  Every time I took a bite I was finding something new; pretzels, chocolate, caramel, fudge, whoppers, a doughnut hole, flan, some skittles- it was an extremely tasty treat to eat while people watching.  And by "people" I mean mean "thousands of single ladies in short shorts and cowboy boots ready to go clubbing."

We didn't go in or eat there, but it's a giant guitar with Stark Tower in the background!  

It begged to be photographed.

So we basically walked around, went in some shops, listened to all the live country music coming from the clubs and I finally got a hand-painted Christmas ornament in this store:

COTTON EYED JOE's!!!

(The DJ in me couldn't resist)

Here is a lovely photo of the Cinderella-esque carriage you can rent on Broadway.  Right in front of the open air, two-story bar we dubbed "The Great And Spacious" Saloon.

And now for everything else I didn't show you, in completely random order:

Brian's apartment complex pool...

There is nothing cooler than getting to catch fireflies with your dad :)

Here is Brian rocking out while playing the Olivia guitar....

I had seen this place both times I had been to Chris and Molly's previously. It always made me laugh and wonder.  Well, not anymore!  Trueloves' Pizza and Grits- you are mine!

I have no earthly idea why pizza and grits is a combination.  By all accounts it makes no sense. Other than a publicity stunt to get people to spend money finding out for themselves.  Well, it worked!  Here is Jacob eating the grits in question.

I think they should be called mexi-grits. Tomatoes, peppers, chiles, cheese- not a bad way to jazz those things up a bit!

Here is an excellent photobomb by Ana...

Here is a sign from the Pizza restaurant:

(Just for some background, this town is obsessed with mules.  Yes, mules.  They have mule days once a year, with mule floats and mule parades.  Need more proof?  This poster is hanging in the pizza restaurant, remember?)

The cousins about to hit the pool... 

Sadie let me borrow a headband for church.  I was feeling pretty stylin' with my straight hair.  Yep, straight hair in July.  That just shows the amazing weather we had for our trip.  It was cool at night, low humidity during the day and we only had one day of real cloud cover.  Heaven! Jacob and I even got up three days in a row and went running through the neighborhood.

Cindy loved getting to hold Sadie and Ana's rabbits.  Here she is with Flopsy.



This is the inflatable slide that provided hours and hours and hours of cousin fun :)

And here is Uncle Jacob showing Luke and Wyatt the secrets to becoming Plants vs. Zombies masters...

Here is Luke wearing Sadie's hat...

Me and Cindy with the incredibly happy Olivia.

And finally, here is a little fun we had with the camera and the trampoline.  

I present our version of Vadering:

It's ALWAYS a party when Aunt Kelly is there :)