Nashville

Cross another off my bucket list!

My BFF Tammy and I headed south and visited the city of Nashville. Tammy only lives 4 hours away and I flew on a puddle-jumper into Music City. To be honest, I actually liked the smaller plane. Nothing was different than a large commercial plane except the wait to get on and off. Went much quicker with only 20-some people.

We stayed at the Hutton Hotel. It was such a great place. I think they thing that stood out the most to me about this hotel was the staff. They were all so helpful, kind, and fun. They even gave us slippers!

Day one was spent settling into our hotel and then we hit downtown Nashville for Sushi for Tammy and chicken for Lee Anne. This man saw us trying to take a picture of ourselves and he stopped with his wife to offer to take it for us. Although that picture turned out horribly, the one his wife took of all three of us turned out pretty good!

Of course the highlight of the weekend was the Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw Brothers of the Sun concert we went to. We ran into someone that had been to the concert in Miami three weeks prior and he told us the concert started at 4:30 and ended after 11:00. That is a lot of hours! Considering it was almost 100 degrees and the concert was at LP Field which is an outdoor stadium, we opted to skip Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and Jake Owen. We shopped a bit and then headed down to the field around 5:00.

Luckily, after walking and walking trying to find how to get to level 2, we entered two glass doors into air conditioning! Unbeknownst to us, we had seats in a club level with carpeting, eating places, tables, and cool air! It was heavenly. We sat and ate a snack and watched Grace Potter on the TVs they had there.

We had planned to get seats in the shade which was such a good move. Even though it was incredibly hot, the seats were fine. Not uncomfortable at all. I felt bad for those in the sun.

Tim McGraw started the show.....

Even though we were about half way (so half the people were closer, and half the people were further away) we still had a great view with the large screens.

Tim gives a great performance. He makes sure the songs sound like they are supposed to, which I appreciate. Nothing worse than going to a concert and the songs sound nothing like they do on the radio.

The highlight of his set was a little visit from his wife....

I knew the minute he started singing "I Need You' center stage, we were in for a treat...

There was also a visit from the Tennessee Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck who came out and threw some footballs. I only caught him from the back.....

After about a 30 minutes break, it was time for Kenny.....

Kenny started in the middle of the field, which was closer to us. He then road in a swing to center stage....

Kenny's performance was totally different. He spent a lot of time talking about each song, interacting with the crowd, and running around like a crazy nut. I think his shirt was drenched in sweat, front and back, within 15 minutes of being on stage.

Both guys sang for about an hour and a half each. No special guests came out for Kenny.

After about a 20 minute break, they both came out together and sang four songs.

Boy did we get our monies worth! It was such a great show!

We also visited the Country Music Hall of Fame...

Every stage set-up from Taylor Swift's last tour was there. It was really neat to see. There was a story for each set which was interesting to read about.

Our last day there we toured the Grand Ole Opry...

The tour included video of people actually being invited or inducted into the GOO and those were really neat to see.

Such a fun trip! Thanks, Tammy, for having Nashville as your #1 pick for places to go and spending some girl time with me!

Smooches,

LB

Light the Nights

JC park now has lights!

Due to the fact that Noah's team is coached by two baseball board members, the team had been featured in most ceremonies having to do with this fund raising effort.

When the BIG NIGHT finally came, they planned it around one of Noah's games. It was kind-of neat as they fed all the people, played music on large speakers before the game, had TWO umpires for the game, sang the National Anthem, and brought in all kinds of bleachers for extra seating.

Many, many people spoke at the ceremony. I felt a little bad for the visiting team. I am sure they just wanted to get on with the game!

The Atkinson's own Taco Johns and they were the baseball fundraiser this year. The baseball association makes an amazing amount of money thanks to their generosity.

Mike is also on the baseball board this year. Luckily he didn't have to speak!

Ray Tuelson gave $25,000 to this effort. Amazing.

After the singing of the National Anthem.....

It was time to play ball!

Doesn't that light shining on my boy look pretty?

LB

Summer, Glorious Summer

Here we are! We have made it to summer. I am settling into the long lazy days of this lovely season, each year patting myself on the back that I chose the perfect profession. How do people work all year round and past 3:00? I can't imagine.

Summer brings with it one thing......baseball. We spend two nights a week and most weekends at the ball park. This year the kids' schedules conflict and they have baseball on the same nights. Not a good thing. With Noah traveling it makes for some very interesting scenarios. Thank goodness for my parents. They are saving us this weekend by taking Noah to his away tournament as neither Mike nor I can bring him (saving that big news for later).

Two weekends ago Noah had a home tournament. It was 100 degrees and brutal. Thank goodness for the wind, as that saved us. It was super hard for the boys in the sun all day though. You could see it on them. They were exhausted.

They ended up taking second place!

Today I decided with the ungodly heat, the kids needed to be in the pool. I offered for them both to grab their neighborhood buddies, I would fix them all lunch, and they could hang out in the pool for a few hours.

After pizza, strawberries, chips, and carrots....they were ready for some competition.

They play this game where they throw footballs between the pool and the trampoline. When you miss, you have to switch locations. I am not sure, but I think there is some kind-of rule about the ball touching you and then you are out. Sounds boring, but they ALWAYS play it so it must be fun.

This goes on and on. No wonder they eat constantly and are little scrawny things. Ahhhh to be a boy.

I have been very busy. On Pinterest. For hours. Looking at the educational tab. Getting sucked in. It's an addiction. So bad.

I leave Friday for Nashville to be with this woman......

Man, anytime I complain about my hair growing slowly have me take out this picture from a year ago!  I have been growing it out for about 7 months and it's about 4 inches longer than this.



I am very excited to see her. Not so excited to fly alone. I don't like maneuvering airports alone, and this time the only straight through flight (because I can't handle switching airports) was a little 26 passenger plane. EEK! I looked up some info about that type of plane and I should not be worried. But, I am.

We are going to see them.....

I know. Be jealous. Jason Aldean is opening for them too!

And the rest of the five days, lots of shopping and wine drinking. We are staying at a nice place (love being able to split the bill) that serves wine for FREE every afternoon. Hmmm....may never leave the lobby.

Summer + older kids was supposed to mean more time for me to do stuff. I remember thinking, "Oh my kids are little, but once they are older....I will have all kinds of time to do all kinds of things!"  Um, yeah not so much. I feel like all we do is run here and run there and I never have time to take a picture, let alone blog about it. My camera can be such a hindrance as I am not in the moment when I am behind that thing. It's heavy and tough to carry around all day, so mostly I don't. But, I am going to try and start being better about it.

My goals this summer:
1. Paint my bedroom and nice creamy white. It will make my bedspread pop.

#2. Make a plan for my classroom using all the inspirational stuff from Pinterest. No more manufactured posters. It's all going to be student centered and things we add to as we learn. I am excited about it! I have a new room for the first time in 15 years and I figured this was the year to start fresh.


#3. Finish Downton Abbey so I am caught up when season three starts. I am going to probably get this one done first as I am taking it on the plane with me in a few days.

#4. Get certain closets and cupboards organized once and for all. Even if it means throwing stuff away and purchasing pieces to keep those areas neat.


#5. Take and frame pictures of my kids. Why are all the frames in my house filled with pictures of my kids when they had baby teeth? Considering the equipment I have, I should be so much better about this. I will get this done!

I hope your summer is starting off well. I am off to do laundry and pack!

Love,
LB

Owatonna Girls Day

Every once in awhile the girls I went to high school with get together and hang out. Our most recent get together was in Excelsior and it was extra special because Tammy was in town from Indiana, and Lisa came all the way from Fargo.

We started the day at Maynards on the water, and ended it shopping in the little boutiques in that area.

Allison and Lisa.......

Did you know you can have cocktails at an 11:00 brunch? That it isn't not too early to start? Well, you can. We are living proof.

Stacy and Julie.....

Shelly and Tammy....

Kristin and Stacy (again). Sorry for the blurry.

I highly recommend this area for a girls get-together. There are the cutest little shops and restaurants down there. Reminded me a bit of Stillwater.

We certainly missed Cindy who was packing for a move, and Lisa Sizer and Lisa Peiser who are both near Chicago. We did a few texts back and forth to try to let them know we missed them. But, a great time was had. Can't wait for the next one!

LB