Tennessee Holiday Pictures

As promised a week ago (sorry English family), here's some pictures from our Tennessee holiday. As soon as we got back I had a work event in Cincinnati so I've not had time to write much. I hope captions are good enough for now :)

Nan & boys. She kept them amused for 12 hours and deserves a BIG trophy.

Our cabin. Air conditioned with full kitchen and bath. I'm too old and knackered to crawl round on my knees in a tent for a week! Plus, we had a fridge for the wine :) 

Danny, Yogi and cool dude Jack

Danny on the peddle cars

Jack on peddle cars.  The blue inflatable water slide was a major source of amusement for all of us.
My descents were erm,  unladylike at best! 

8 hours of swimming, sliding & bouncing

Father's Day bedtime story "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!"  

Jack at Gracelands

Luke at Gracelands

How handsome was he!

Gracelands

Meditation Garden at Gracelands

Jack at Gracelands

Luke at Elvis's car museum. 

Don't step on my blue suede shoes

Hay ride with Yogi.  Danny wasn't touching that experience with a barge-pole! 

Boogie on down on Beale Street

Tupelo, Mississippi

Elvis at 13

His dad Vernon paid $180  for materials to build this two-room cabin with no water or electric, but it got re-possessed when Elvis was three and they moved out (Vernon had just spent 8 months in prison for writing a bad check for $4). Elvis bought this house back the same time he bought Gracelands and visited it often.
One month before he died he spent an hour alone inside. 

At Tupelo

Elvis's mum Gladys bought him his first guitar from here for $7 as a birthday present.
He wanted a  bb gun. Good choice Gladys! 

Danny doing his thing

Luke finally conqueres the piranha

Jack & Danny made friends with two boys Ashton (10)  & Luke (8)  and the four of them were thick as thieves every day, well into the night. The two boys were from South Dakota and just great lads - well mannered and friendly. The four of them reminded me on The Goonies - only they were off exploring for the ghost cat with a flashlight each night.

The King

The Mighty Mississippi

The Peabody Hotel, Memphis

Duck parade at The Peabody

Danny & his dad on Beale St.

Jack & his mum on Beale St.

Captured on Beale St. - the most luxurious transportation for Pugs I have ever seen.

Bike night on Beale St. 

In Nashville. My favourite holiday picture

Jack - Hello Moose!
Danny - Pow pow pow!

At Johnny Cash & June Carter's house in Hendersonville, just north of Nashville. They lived there 35 years, from 1968 to 2003. Anyone who's ever watched "Walk The Line" would get how special this place is.
The mailbox was empty by the way  ;)

It's such a nostalgic place and so sad that it burned down in 2007.
We spent a long while there, outside the wood and stone wall fence. It was deserted and felt like a ghost town, but had signs up  saying security cameras were watching, so we resisted jumping over. 

The Cash/Carter property and the ranch house over the street (his mum's house where he spent his last days) are both for sale.  I should probably buy lottery tickets. 

Johnny Cash & June Carter's gravesite at the Memorial Gardens in Hendersonville.
The cemetary also has the graves of all the Carter family, the Cash family, and Luther Perkins

Craig took his family to The Grand Ole Opry

So there you are. A fabulous holiday. I wish I had photos of the fantastic fun we had on the blue water slide and of Luke at Sun Studios and the Gibson guitar factory. Also, Luke got to go up on stage at the Nashville Palace and played his own song one night but we had already gone back to the cabin. Doh! How cool was that. There's still lots to do with the family so I'll be posting again. And I am currently nurtering about 6 little Mimosa trees that I took from the perimeter of Johnny Cash's garden. If I can have a tree in my garden, that came from his garden, then I'm going to be one very happy woman.

Tennessee Hols

I try to post on here most days but two things have happened on my hols this week - the Internet connection at our campsite was too slow to do anything on the computer that involved pictures and I also forgot to bring my camera lead, so will have to do a big photo post when I get home.

Memphis was great. The campsite was perfect and the boys made friends with neighbouring boys aged 8 and 10. Their mum was more than happy to offload them onto me for a couple of days but they were nice kids so that was ok. The boys played every day on the big inflatable water slide and Craig and Luke played like teenagers too. Even I went down it a couple of times, but it was a VERY unladylike descent! The kids met Yogi Bear, played in the pool and just had a blast.

Our tourist stuff included Sun Studios, the Gibson Guitar factory, Gracelands, Beale Street and Tupelo (little town in Mississippi which is Elvis's birthplace). My favourite by far was Tupelo.

Beale Street

Today we left Memphis and came up to Nashville. Craig took his family sightseeing while I took the boys to the hotel pool. I've been to Nashville a few times so I'm not going to do some of the stuff that the others do but I do really want to go to the Hermitage.

So now we are off to Nashville Palace for dinner and some music.  Maybe we'll bump into some famous singers!

One last one, for Cody

It's been a rough week after we lost Cody. The day after he died I found his collar in my bag at work and completely lost it. Then I lost it when the pet cremation man rang me to discuss details because he said "let me know when it's convenient for me to bring your boy home".

The pet cremation man brought his ashes to my house today. We now have a very nice box, engraved with Cody's name. We are absolutely NOT ready to even think about scattering ashes.

When I got home tonight Craig met me at the door and told me that a sympathy card had come from our vet, Dr K. We got one after Tutz died and also a little plastic card with the Rainbow Bridge poem included. So I expected the same, but Craig warned me that I was going to cry. I thought he was exaggerating.

Look what they did at the vets. They did his paw print. It has bloody destroyed me. I love them for doing it , I really do, but it has just done me in.

Letting go of our boy

Today we took Cody to the vets for the last time. In hindsight we probably left it about a week too long but it was so hard to let him go. It is beyond sad that we have lost him and it's going to take a while to get over. What a good boy he was. He was the most perfect dog.

Goodbye our gorgeous boy Cody
Adopted September 2003 ~ June 2012

Getting Ready for Visitors

I meant to get so much more done this weekend, especially since I took Friday off. But alas, I've still got a big 'to do" list before our English visitors (Craig's mum and dad and nephew Luke) get here on Thursday.  Not that I was idle though, as we went strawberry picking, to the pool 3 times, to the library, to Jack's t-ball game and we got some of the guest rooms semi-done.

T-ball, or 1.5 hours of torture as I like to call it

Most importantly, I got all the kids toys stored in the laundry room so that I could free up the whole basement room for Luke. So now he has an en suite room with a pool table and gaming system. We might not see him too much when we are at home! Jack's already asking if he can play down there with Luke but I've told him he has to get an invite and to leave poor Luke alone. Craig's been filling his head full of funny stuff like "Luke LOVES Justin Beiber!" and "Luke LOVES to play with crayons too!" Poor Luke will be pestered to death and will need his little place to hide I reckon.

I did have a horrible thought today while getting the basement room ready. Tutz used to have her litter tray and food & water in the laundry room and we had to fence it off to make sure the dogs didn't get in there. It was a pain pulling the gate across each time but now I am  able to leave the laundry room open. I can also leave the pool table uncovered, knowing that it won't get covered in cat hair (for some reason she loved to sleep on there). So I guess that's two things I don't have to do anymore. I then thought about not having dogs and what it'll be like when the kids have flown the nest and I envisioned a cold, sterile and empty house. Tidy & cold.  So I'm going to try and not stress about mess too much because the alternative sounds horrible. This is a good attitude to have since Ben's had the trash out every time we've left the house this weekend.

Two from the Pool

Geronimo!

Popcorn at the Pool

Jack's Mohawk!

I promised Jack that seeing as he did so well at school he was allowed to have a Mohawk for the summer. I'm pretty sure we call them Mohicans in England. That's odd how we call them different things.


Anyway.  Here's the "Before" .....

 During ....

And after!

He's been getting loads of comments from people and he's getting a bit shy about it, bless. I keep telling him he looks cool and not to worry.  Talking of worrying, I drove to the nearest shop afterwards and bought factor 85 suncream for his head.

A Glimpse into the Future

When I was putting Danny to bed tonight he held my face in his hands and said "You're my mom in the whole wide world!" It would have been nice if he'd have added "best" instead of just stating the obvious but I'll take what I can get. He's so loving right now that I'm soaking it up.  I think I have done Daniel an injustice in the way I have portrayed him sometimes. People at work ask me how the little terror is, but in fact he isn't a little terror. What he is is independent to the extreme. Happy to play by himself and not a mean bone in his body. But he sometimes wants his own way so much that you can't win. For example, after using the potty (he insists on going by himself, won't even tell me ahead of time unless we are somewhere outside of the house) he'll yell "mommy I can't put my pants on!" so I'll go and help and half way through he'll yell at me "Mommy stop! I can put my pants on MYSELF!"  Can't bloody win I tell you.

I cannot wait for Dot & Harry (in laws) to get here from England next week. I know they will just eat him up and they are catching him at such a great time in his life. He has a lisp for goodness sake - what is more adorable than that? He asked me for something last week and I retorted back at him "Daniel - say pleath!" What a muppet I am sometimes!! I'm just so used to him pronouncing it like that that I copied him.  He also says Lelomade (lemonade) which makes my heart melt.  Maybe once Dot & Harry get here Jack will pester me a bit less, allowing me to devote a bit more time to Danny. That would be nice.


Lastly - I looked at this photo that I took of my boys this past week and thought "Oh my God. They look like two young men, strolling along the street, chatting as they walk".  It is like a little snapshot into the future. Very strange.

Okay, I'll get the beer, you get the gyros...

Goodbye Sweet Girl Tutz

We lost our cat Tutz today. She got ill late Saturday night and rapidly declined to the point where our vet made the gentle suggestion today that we put an end to the suffering. It was awful and of course both Craig and I cried. It was hard for me not to think about the fact that I'm going to have to do the same thing soon for Cody, which probably made things worse. It was very quick and the vet was so kind but there's no getting away from the fact that the deed itself is just God awful.

She was only 12 (the same age that our other cat Frank died) so I'm a bit paranoid about why she passed so young but whatever it was was quick and catastrophic. A stroke or blood clot maybe he said. We brought her body home and buried her next to Frank. Jack helped with that.

I never did tell her story on here, like I did with Frank and Cody. I feel bad about that now but life just gets so busy and you always think you have time.

We got her at our neighbourhood supermarket! In 2000 we were shopping at a local Krogers and they announced on the speaker system that they had found a kitten in the toy section and was there anybody in the store that could take it to a vet or rescue place. They gave her to us in a polystyrene cooler and I remember the young cashier telling us that we needn't take the cooler back. She's the assistant manager of the store now and I still see her every week. My friend Sue just arrived from England for a visit and I have a picture somewhere of her holding Tutz, who was just 6 weeks old and fit in one of those big pint glasses with a handle on the side. She was a feral cat and throughout her whole life she was terrified of people but she would sometimes come and sit next to you if all was quiet.

Her defining character was that she was a sweet girl, with a tender heart. She didn't like noise or being handled too much but she loved to sit next to you and she'd purr her little head off when you tickled her chin. I'm going to miss her a lot and it's very sad that our two cats, Frank & Tutz, that started this "Great American Adventure" with us, have now passed away.

RIP Tutzy Girl
2000-2012

Jack's T-Ball Team

There's always one. And this time at least, it isn't mine. 

Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee

Yesterday we went to a friend's house to party with about 60 other Brits for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It was the quintessential English garden party, complete with bunting and a glass of Pims each. We even had a game of welly-throwing. Jack had a go and did great! Some of the older, more excitable Englishmen got a little too ambitious and the welly ended up in next door's garden on several occasions. They also had a raffle and Maureen won but gave Jack an English teddy bear that he's been carrying about ever since.

A rare moment outside of the bouncy castle. He bounced for 4 hours without food, water or a wee.

Everyone took English food. We took Cornish pasties, egg butties and fairy cakes with cute little rice-paper Union Jacks on the top. The pasties were gone in less than a minute! You knew it was an English spread because there was no salad dressing and the cake table had about four Victoria sponge cakes and an "adult" trifle! I had some and nearly fell over from a sherry overdose.

A new English friend, Jules. Mad as balloons &  I loved her!

One of the older ladies dressed up like the Queen, complete with mask, and did a quick round of the garden, giving us the royal wave.

Speeches and a chorus of Jerusalem

We were last to leave of course but then I get on really well with Maureen and she's become quite a close friend so we had a natter and a laugh. I met some great new English people, including a woman from Manchester called Sarah that put an idea in my head about visiting England with the kids (fly to London, have 2-3 days there with the kids before going up to visit everyone in the north-west, then fly out of Manchester back to OH).

Maureen & kids

There was the token odd couple that of course I got stuck with (I swear I am a magnet for the weirdos) but I learned at least to avoid the pair of them at future events. She's American and he's English and they were very pious, conservative and bigoted - you know, just my kind of people.  Craig stuck by my side the whole time and admitted afterwards it was just so he could watch my reaction to their spewings. I pride myself that I was polite to them, but as soon as they left I put their business card in the bin.

Brits in Ohio! Katie, Maureen, me, Lynn, Sharon & Jack

Today we had a lovely time watching the Flotilla then we went to the pool for an hour.

We do appear to be having major animal issues. Tutz is ill and I'll have to get her to a vet tomorrow. Cody has not had a good day and I am on the verge of taking Ben back to the shelter. The chewing, pooping, and digging continues. Today again we got back from the pool to find complete destruction. Sigh. I can't bring myself to take him back but I can't take much more either.  So I was laying in bed this morning and thinking that it's very probable that by the end of the week I could have no pets at all, after having three in the house.  The fish got given away last Friday but don't tell Jack. He hasn't even noticed that they've gone and been replaced by a vase of garden flowers on the sideboard.