I have much to talk about and not a lot of time, so let us get to it, shall we?
NUGGETS AND TIDBITS #1 - Roxie is graduating in 16 days, so there will be many busy days and nights preparing for that major milestone event.
This is my third graduation, and while you would think it would be a piece of cake, it is very different.
And I am not feeling as prepared as I thought I might be for the "third time around."
NUGGETS AND TIDBITS #2 - Josh has finished his last class at Wallace and will be receiving his Associates Degree in Criminal Justice. He decided he did not want to walk for his diploma, and he would rather celebrate his graduation from the Academy when that time comes.
It is against my nature to NOT celebrate each and every milestone (big or small) in the kids' lives, but I am assuming he knows what he wants, and we are looking forward to the Academy graduation in the future.
I will just take twice the pics I would have taken at the Wallace ceremony.
Don't ask.
In my mind, this makes perfect sense.
NUGGETS AND TIDBITS #3 - Mike and I saw The Avengers this past weekend, and it was worthy of the name "blockbuster" in every sense of the word.
RANDOMNESS #1 - We spent Easter with Mike's family this year... which means we were around small children!
Love holidays with little kids... and bigger ones!
I took this pic of Roxie and Mikie before we headed to Oxford... before they changed out of their Easter frocks.
Lauren immediately crawled into Melia's lap to "catch up."
Mackenzie, Amber and Jared looked wonderful in their Easter garb.
Fun fact for you... Amber is having another baby this month. We don't know when and we don't know what, but we are very excited to meet this new little one.
Matthew.
Lauren.
Austin and Melia. This was their first Easter together as a married couple.
RANDOMNESS #2 - Mike had a business meeting in Memphis a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to tag along.
And when I say "I decided," I mean I begged him to take me with him.
And he did.
We stayed at the Peabody (which was a first for both of us), and there were ducks, ducks, ducks everywhere.
Duck soap in the bathroom.
Of course, ducks in the lobby.
And even ducks in the elevators.
While Mike was in meetings all day Thursday, I made plans for just me.
I did the research, and the things I was interested in doing by myself included:
1. The Memphis Zoo and Aquarium
2. The Botanical Gardens
It all came down to the following...
The Gardens were 8.7 miles from The Peabody.
The Memphis Zoo and Aquarium was 4.3 miles away from The Peabody...
And I only had to make two turns total from the hotel parking lot.
And it was in a safe part of town.
I know. I am not a brave chick when it comes to exploring unknown cities all by myself, and I should be ashamed...
But the Zoo won.
And I had a fabulous four hours wandering around.
As soon as you walk through the entrance, there is a wading pool full of toddlers cooling off with young mommies sitting on the edge.
Brilliant idea.
My main reason for wanting to visit The Memphis Zoo in the first place was to see the pandas up close and personal.
As luck would have it, they were practically the last exhibit I saw before heading back to Mikie.
This is the girl panda. She was so clean and ladylike eating her bamboo.
She did not disappoint.
And then I walked to the next enclosure.
As you can tell, there was a pretty big difference between the girl panda and the boy panda...
One being his lack of a clean, shampooed head, and the other being his poor table manners while cramming bamboo into his mouth.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed him, too.
And then there was the elephant exhibit.
There were three or four elephants, but one of them was very active.
We had chicken and waffles for the very first time at Miss Polly's Kitchen.
At one time in my life, I thought chicken and waffles did NOT go together.
Obviously, I was very, very wrong.
Mike and I took several selfies on top of The Peabody.
Some were better than others...
Obviously.
We like to try to find a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives restaurant whenever we go to a different city.
The Elegant Farmer was our choice for Memphis. We had a really delicious "farm to table" meal on the patio.
And before we left for home, we ate at the world-famous Rendezvous. It was our first time, but not our last.
RANDOMNESS #3 - My sister and I went to Pepper Place Saturday morning, and after we dog watched, bought tomato plants and wandered in and out of all of the booths, she suggested we go to a nearby store called Frontera.
She kept calling it an "iron place."
I had no idea what she was talking about, but when I walked into the store, I was happy.
You're probably thinking it is just a place to buy the odd iron goat or chicken, but it is so much more.
Inside are some beautiful dining room tables and unique chairs, signs, chandeliers...
And outside the store is a whole other world of items like iron gates and rusted wedding candelabras and funky bird feeders and votive holders.
You really need to just go there yourself, because I cannot really do it justice.
Needless to say, I will be going back...
Probably to purchase the blue iron goat.
And I shall name him Percy.
Spring Pic Race
Since Easter was here and there this year, everyone came over the Tuesday after Easter to collect their baskets... or in this case, buckets.
And we played the game I made up, but I tweaked it just a little bit.
Before the guys could even come in the house, I handed all the couples (Austin/Melia, Josh/Courtney, Hunter/Roxie) an instruction sheet. The team that had the most "correct" pictures from the sheet won two free car washes.
Can we just say, everyone was pretty competitive.
I made Couple Easter Buckets and I used Dollar Tree plastic items in orange and green as a color scheme. Since the event took place two days after Easter, I decided to go with Spring colors, and I skipped the Easter pastels.
Hunter and Roxie won the race, but Josh, Courtney, Austin and Melia took the disappointment well.
And when I say "well," I actually mean no blows were exchanged.
SPRING PIC RACE
READ EACH TASK CAREFULLY. LEAVING SOMETHING OUT CAN RESULT IN LOSS!
YOU HAVE 35 MINUTES. DO AS MUCH AS YOU CAN IN THAT AMOUNT OF TIME, AND THEN RETURN TO THE HOUSE. FOR EVERY 5 MINUTES YOU ARE LATE, I WILL DEDUCT 1 POINT.
APPOINT A PICTURE-TAKING PERSON.
1. YOU WILL RECEIVE 1 POINT FOR EACH AND EVERY EASTER FLAG YOU FIND STILL FLYING. TAKE A PICTURE!
2. YOU WILL RECEIVE 1 POINT FOR EACH AND EVERY GREEN HOUSE YOU FIND. (THE HOUSE ITSELF MUST BE GREEN. A GREEN DOOR OR GREEN SHUTTERS ONLY DO NOT COUNT!) TAKE A PICTURE!
3. YOU WILL RECEIVE 1 POINT FOR EACH AND EVERY CROSS YOU SEE IN FRONT OF A CHURCH. (TAKE A PICTURE!)
4. BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A TULIP BED OR A BUNCH OF JONQUILS. TAKE A PICTURE OF ONE OR THE OTHER ANY TIME DURING THE RACE. (YOU ONLY HAVE TO FIND 1.)
BEFORE YOU GO TO NUMBER 5, YOU MUST HAVE AT LEAST ONE PIC OF A FLAG… A GREEN HOUSE… A CROSS AND A TULIP OR JONQUIL BED. AT LEAST ONE!
YOU CAN KEEP TAKING PICTURES OF MORE OF THESE ITEMS AS YOU COMPLETE 5, 6 AND 7!
5. PULL THE CAR OVER. SOMEWHERE IN THE CAR, YOU WILL FIND A $5 DOLLAR BILL. BEFORE STARTING TO DRIVE AGAIN, TAKE A PICTURE OF SOMEONE HOLDING THE DOLLAR BILL.
6. GO TO WALMART AND USING THE $5 YOU HAVE JUST FOUND, PURCHASE 1 EASTER ITEM. YOU HAVE TO USE THE CHANGE FROM THE $5 TO PURCHASE SOMETHING ELSE LATER ON, SO LOOK FOR SOMETHING CHEAP! IF ANOTHER TEAM HAPPENS TO PURCHASE THE SAME ITEM, IT WILL CANCEL BOTH TEAMS OUT, AND NO ONE WILL RECEIVE THIS POINT.
7. GO TO CHICK-FIL-A AND BUY A SMALL/KID’S SIZE “FEATURED” SHAKE OR A SMALL/KID’S SIZE FROZEN LEMONADE. PARK THE CAR AND DRINK THE SHAKE UNTIL EMPTY. EACH MEMBER MUST DRINK AT LEAST ONE DRINK FROM THE SHAKE. (TAKE A PICTURE OF THE EMPTY CUP.)
8. HEAD BACK TO THE FAULKNER’S FOR DINNER!
That's all I have for today. There are a million and one festivities planned for the month of May (Mother's Day, Graduation, Cinco de Mayo, etc.), so i will gather any and all useful information and try to hop back on the blog before too long.
Take care, and I'll talk to you soon.
Sincerely,
The Enchanting Belinda
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