T-Time

Tania left day before yesterday, but everywhere I look around the house, I see reminders of her time with us. This is a good thing.

She dealt with flight delays on both ends of the trip with good spirit…and knitting.

Here are some of the highlights of our visit:

Our first full day was very relaxed, we hung around the house for the morning, then decided we had to go to The Red Lion Thrift Store/Consignment Shop. (Tania loves thrift stores, too, so I didn’t have to twist her arm to get her to agree.)

The females had a great time strolling around finding our various bargains. The Buster retired to the car after a quick look around and telling me, “There is nothing here of interest to me.”

A partial list of purchases included: A set of doll furniture, 18 new wine glasses, 4 bottles of finger nail polish, many glass jars/vases, a glass pitcher, new stuffed bear, and a wooden doll cradle. All were tickled by their treasures, and the store owners couldn’t have been nicer. Tania and I got to visit with Chris and C.J., Father and Son, and Yessa had her first opportunity to bargain. It was excellent.

Back at the homestead, Tania brought out the knitting needles and yarn she brought as gifts for everyone. Yessa was the first to learn, and she was quickly knitting on her own.

We made easy meals together, and since T enjoys coffee as much as Buds and I do (Okay, maybe more. Actually, definitely more.), there were many, many, many, many cups of coffee consumed each day.

I was second to pick up the knitting, then Yessa and T convinced Buds it was his turn.

Friday night is Family Movie Night, and the children gave Tania several movie options to choose from. She picked Brave, which she had never seen before. It was a big hit, once again, for everyone.

Then on Saturday, we had big plans. Tania and I went to a class at the Y in the morning. That was fun to do together. Then, in the afternoon, we headed out to see Frozen. Bless Tania, she’d been listening to us sing the soundtrack for her whole visit, then she sat in a theater surrounded by children, and she even bought our tickets! Much conversation ensued about the drawbacks and merits of the movie.

Then, on to dinner at Pucketts before heading home.

I slept in the next morning, and I awoke to find that Buds and Tania had been practicing their latte art, as well as cracking each other up with repeating the line from Frozen: “Woo hoo! Big Summer Blowout!” It cracked them up every single time.

I left for choir practice, then the rest of the crew joined me at church later. It was a great service, especially to share with Tania, and gave us much to discuss about Evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design.

Then, we waved good-bye to Buds and Co. while they headed home and we headed to Nashville. Lest this be the most boring vacation in Tania’s history, we had to at least get some time downtown.

We toured Broadway, going in where we pleased, watching people, listening to the musicians on the street and in the bars, going up on the walking bridge, and talking about life.

Our first choice for lunch was Etch, but it was closed.

Second choice was Merchant’s, and we both loved it.

After lunch, over which we lingered for at least 1 1/2 hours, we trotted back up Broadway to the Frist. They were installing a new exhibit on the first floor, so it was a short tour through the Rockwell exhibit, then on to our next adventure.

On the way home we decided to stop at McKays since we both love books, and Tania had several suggestions for ones she thought the kids and I would like. We picked up a bunch of knitting/crocheting books, as well as East of Eden, and My Side Of The Mountain. My ‘Mountain was Tania’s favorite book as a child, and Monkey and I both devoured it the day after she left.

Oh, and McKay’s has the coffee camper out front, so we got to have more coffee. So many wins!

It has been such a very, very long time since I’ve gone out with just a friend and me, not having a time deadline for being home, and I enjoyed myself so much. We got to talk about whatever we wanted to, and then it was such a pleasure to head home to see what Buds and the kids had been up to. The kids all enjoy Tania’s company, and especially Yessa loved giggling and talking with her. T’s last night here she and Buds had Yessa cackling so hard she almost upchucked. Good times.

Still many, many touristy parts of the town to show Tania on her next visit, but we got a great start. Thanks for making the journey, Tania!