Nashville Tour!

Maybe because we don't live at the beach anymore (I'm not calling you all shallow, I'm just saying), but we have not had as many visitors since our move to Nashville, so far.  It could also be that we've only lived here for a few months and have been REALLY busy too, but I'm sticking with the beach theory.  So, last weekend when Mike's Dad, step-mom and his/our (do I get to claim them as my own friends now that we're married, I've always wondered this?!) friends came to visit, we had big plans!  Call it over-zealous, but we aimed to fit a lot of fun stuff in to just over two days and boy did we make it all happen! 

Mike's family arrived on Friday afternoon and we all enjoyed a nice, relaxing evening cooking out and admiring the Lloyd.  Around 11p Brian and Peggy arrived from Michigan (we love them for driving 10+ hours each way to come and see us!), and we caught up a little before heading to bed in preparation for Saturday fun-day. 

Saturday, we made the most of the BEAUTIFUL weather and spent the day mostly outdoors drinking (not me, but you get the idea).  We visited the Franklin Farmer's market, had lunch at "The Factory"/did a little shopping, and then headed to Arrington Vineyards for an afternoon of wine sampling outdoors.  It's a beautiful vineyard, owned in part my Kicks Brooks (yes, that's really his name) of Brooks & Dunn.  After our afternoon out, we re-grouped at home before heading to Whiskey Kitchen for dinner (so delicious!) and then Broadway for music & bars.  I don't know if it's always this way at 10:00p on a Saturday, but WOW Broadway was packed!!  The city was having a busy weekend, but geez people were out in full force!  We enjoyed listening to "The Eskimo Brothers" at The Wheel before calling it a night around midnight, after what I have to say was one of the most adventurous days we've had in Nashville so far! 

Whiskey at Whiskey Kitchen

Peggy & Brian!

Cowboys at The Wheel

 And then, it was game day!!  We headed downtown to LP Field for the 12:00p kick-off of the Lions Vs. Titans game, and again were in luck with perfect weather for a Noon game.  Anyone that has met Mike can attest to his love of sports, particularly his Michigan teams, so it was really exciting that the Lions were playing in Nashville this season!  We went in to the stadium early and enjoyed watching the team warm up before finding our seats in time for the start of the game.  I don't know if all of you watched this game, (family in England, it's like rugby but they're wimpy and wear padding ;-) )  but OMG it was crazy.  Things were not looking so good for the Lions (down two touchdowns with 76 seconds to play), so we conceded defeat and slunk out of stadium, much to the "well wishes" of the Titans fans.  In the three minutes it took us to get out of the game, the Lions scored not one but TWO touchdowns to tie the game with six seconds left to play!!  It was an intense few minutes in overtime, but unfortunately the Lions ended up losing by a field goal-total heartbreak. It was a quiet car ride home, that's all I can say. We made it home in time to cook out again and ended the evening with a fun game of "Compatibility" (if you visit, we'll probably play it) and strawberry & rhubarb crumble (fresh from the Farmer;s Market).

Go Lions!

Warming up

Ready for the game!

It was a wonderful weekend, full of so many fun things!!  We couldn't have asked for better weather or company, we love you all for visiting!! :-)

With my love and his love, The Lions!