Nashville~Part I

Howdy you'll! We made it to Nashville!

FRIDAY

The kids and I flew in while Matt drove down. Nate loved the airport and getting to see the planes. But he especially loved the luggage cars. We had some time to wait for our plane and enjoyed a little shopping too! I was so nervous about how the kids would do on the flight that I forgot how I don’t like to fly. Or maybe I just realized that. During the take-off I was doing my deep breathing so I wouldn't pass out. Audrey noticed and thought that I looked funny. I probably did! But it didn’t make it any better when she smiled and said, “It feels like we’re falling, mom!” From the airport we hopped a shuttle to the hotel and started to find a place for lunch. I hate being someplace and not knowing where to find food. Nate was on a steady diet of McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin, M&M's and Doritos's. He doesn't eat very well when he is in a new environment. After Matt arrived, I had us checked into the hotel. We threw everything in our room and headed out to the mall and stopped for dinner.

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SATURDAY

In the morning we headed out early to take the kids to the zoo. It was Audrey's choice for a non-LPA event. I thought that it was an important thing to do since this was our family vacation too. Not fair to make it all about him. We had a great time but could have done without the humidity. We saw Giraffes, Elephants, Lorikeets, Meer Kats, Tigers, Lynxes, Clouded Leopards, Alligators as well as amphibians, reptiles, fish and spiders. We even saw bats which Nate screamed at and started to cry. He didn't like that they flew. Guess it's better when animals don't move! We played on their big play scape and hit the gift shop before a little sprinkle of rain showed up. Happy to get to the air conditioned car, we were hot and sweaty. Since Nate wasn't eating to well, we swung through McDonald's for some chicken nuggets (which he ate one) and headed back to the hotel. Time to hang around and bump into some familiar faces. We finally found Kim and Preston! I also ran into Katie and Bill from The Little Chocolatiers. I talked with them for awhile. Later we left for dinner and ste at Rippy’s BBQ on Broadway. Nate finally ate a PB&J sandwich!

SUNDAY

Sunday came fast. Happy 4th of July!! We ate some breakfast and then tried to spot some friends. Yeah, finally some Facebook and blogging friends were found. We had a quiet morning at the hotel and Nate was getting sleepy. Matt headed down to the 4th of July festivities at the waterfront with Audrey. I took Nate to Panera Bread for another PB&J and a yogurt smoothie! After we went for a walk and found Walgreen's which was closed. Thank God there was a Dollar General across the street and I shopped there. Got a few munchies for the room. On the way back to the hotel Nate fell asleep and I took him straight to the hotel room for his nap. By the time he woke up it was a race to get him ready and head out for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory with our POLP's. I wasn't expecting to wait 30 minutes for an elevator and by the time we walked over to the restaurant it was already 5:30. We were to be there at 5:00. There were 9 more of us left to be seated and they wouldn't let us till 6. That really sucked because everyone else was in the first seating and all the kids got to hang out with each other. They were ready to head down to the fireworks while we were eating our dinner. We thought about going but after we got outside and saw the massive crowd I knew Nate wouldn't do well. I was having a hard time getting the stroller through the crowd. I gave up and headed back to the hotel. Plus, I forgot ear plugs and that wouldn’t have gone very well. I figured we watch them on TV, after all Detroit's fireworks are televised. I watched NY City's beautiful fireworks on TV instead because they don't televise Nashville's. Big bummer!

MONDAY

Today was a busy day! We started by driving out to the Loveless Cafe for breakfast. It was really good and the homemade preserves with biscuits were to die for. Then we rushed back to make it for Nate's first doctors appointment (appt). First appt was with Dr Yahner a nutritionist. I get concerned over my kids eating habits but Nate is normal. I did learn that his portion size needs to be really small. Boy can that kid pack it away some times. Next appt was with Dr. Jallo a neurologist. I had him examine Nate and then look at his MRI. All good news and it is very unlikely that Nate would need decompression surgery! So we are done with neurologist. We did the free hearing screening in which they said Nate didn't pass on his left ear. We see our ENT in August and will talk about it then. After some lunch Nate had his last appt with Dr. McKenzie an orthopedist. He checked him head to toe and after answering some concern we were giving a clean bill of health. So unless anything of major concern comes up the next National will be more social. Trying to fill in the blanks, my memory has escaped me. I can’t remember what happened after Nate’s last appt. He probably napped and then we headed someplace for dinner.