The time has come! Our first baby is a legal adult! Sometimes I wonder where the time went. I pulled out the baby scrapbook that my mother, Shannon, and I had made her. To see little baby K was such a trip. We were all very different people then. So many memories.
I am grateful to these girls who helped her celebrate her special day. I love all of them. Kate requested a catered Chick Fil A meal after they went to the lake together and before they watched a movie in the basement. Hubby and I were more than happy to oblige. My favorite part was overhearing them laugh together. We built this house with children in mind and now those children are turning into grown ups. Here's to being old enough to vote and beginning her senior year next month!
Kate actually celebrated early because Hubby and I joined Danny in Memphis for his last out of state tournament. We had never been to Tennessee before and it was the week before our anniversary so we cashed in Southwest points, Marriott points, and Hertz points to make the trip seem almost free. After a grueling experience getting settled (our flight was delayed 3 hours, meaning Hertz was closed, which led to our hotel refusing to let us in since we got there past 2am), we had a wonderful time. We tried to do the most Memphis things we could think of. Number one on my list was The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel. This place did such a wonderful job explaining many different aspects of the movement and helped us connect the dots on several famous events. It felt like a great way to honor amazing individuals and pay respect to the one and only MLK Jr. Afterwards we crossed off Hubby's #1 priority by eating Memphis style BBQ at Central BBQ right next to the museum. We love this kind of food. Afterwards we had some time before Danny's first game of the tournament so checked out Beale Street before heading over. It was hot outside so there were not a whole lot of people around but we got the idea and could picture it when we learned about the birthplace of Rock and Roll later.
One thing I can say about this level of basketball: it's never boring. In fact, I think my watch should give me credit for my elevated heart rate while I sit there and fret over my son while he's on the court.
The next day we journeyed to Graceland and had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. For me, I thought we just had to go to the house but omg, that place is a full day excursion. There was so much to see that we ended up sending five hours there! I loved learning about the history and understanding why people were so obsessed with Elvis. I get it now! I even came home and listened to Priscilla's book, Elvis and Me, to learn more. And yes, I may have been listening to his music after coming home too. I soaked it all up but I think Hubby could have left an hour or two sooner than we did. lol. He did come home with a great quote, though: "Life is too short to drive boring cars." We also stopped by the Bass Pro Shop before watching Danny's second game of the day. He was understanding when we explained we missed the first game because there was way more to see at Graceland than we expected. He understood once we explained that the place was so big it had 3 restaurants to choose from at lunch time.
Danny's coach decided to play a trick on him and when the team ate at Benihana, his coach told the waiter it was Danny's birthday. He was totally surprised and loved the joke. He even got free ice cream!
Day 3 found us going up to Henning to visit Alex Haley's boyhood home and museum because that would have been my dad's number one priority if he had come with us. He loved the book Roots back when it came out and he and I were lucky enough to have the book signed by Alex Haley himself when he came to Iowa City back in 1990. I had never read the book but was able to get the abridged 15 hour version from Libby before we went. I would have been lost without doing so but Hubby still got something out of going even though he did not listen to the book like I did. The tour guide was great and I'm really glad we went. We got to see a little bit of the country side, farms growing cotton, soybeans and corn, and drive by where a lot of sugary stuff like Charms suckers and Tootsie rolls are made, along with the Unilever ice cream factory that had signs for things like Klondike Bars on the side of the building. Hubby was sad there wasn't a place to buy ice cream like when we went to Tillamook in Oregon. But we did find a great taco shop in Covington that was delicious before heading to what might have been his favorite stop of the trip: Sun Studio. Our tour guide was amazing (you could tell she loved the music) and we loved the way the tour was set up to play you music as you learned about different moments in the creation of Rock N Roll. Hubby also appreciated that it was a guided tour that last less than an hour vs the wandering around we did at Graceland. lol
Danny got to visit the Bass Pro Shop at the Pyramid too before they were done playing in their tournament. The last game was insane! At one point our boys were down 20 points and then they came back to win in overtime! Such an exciting way to finish the tournament!
We are so grateful Danny got to play on this Titans team this spring and summer. He is in love with basketball again and created wonderful memories while getting good practice and experience in with a coach he felt lucky to play for. Big thanks go out to Coach Evan for the passion, wisdom, and the smiles he brought to this team.
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