U.S. Space & Rocket Center

We were joined this weekend by Cameron's friend from home, Dan. He and Cam are huge motorcycle enthusiasts. And so Cam went BACK to the Barber Motorsports Museum, accompanied by someone who shares his passion......and that could hang for 7 hours!!!!! I went shopping " ) The next day, we drove a couple hours to Huntsville and checked out the Space and Rocket Center. It was really neat. There was a ginormous rocket inside the museum, among other NASA memorabilia. We also watched a couple 3D movies on the sun and Mars. They were sorta lame but sorta cool. I couldn't decide. Overall, Cooper did pretty well. There was a moment of misery and extreme fussiness that drove us all nuts, simply because Coop had a hard time taking his much need nap.....sorry Dan. On the way home, we picked up some of my favorite pizza...Hungry Howies.....mmmmm, cajun crust. Anyway, that concludes our Alabama adventure....next stop, Michigan.

To Four Years

Cameron gave me a card that made me cry...first time I ever cried reading a card. Then he took me on my favorite kind of date, dinner and a movie. It was great! Happy Anniversary, babe. I love you.

Picnic Pics

Today we had a picnic lunch. It was hot!

Nashville

Cameron's work sent him to an ethanol fuel conference in Nashville, TN. I tagged along and we were put up in the absolutely beautiful Opryland Hotel and Conference Center for 3 days. It was incredibily breathtaking. There are over 2800 rooms that surround 9 acres of gardens, waterfalls, and rivers. It's all inside the hotel! All the rooms have balconies that overlook the gardens, and they keep it air conditioned, so it was really relaxing to listen to the sound of waterfalls and watch people go by. Just walking the paths and exploring the area could easily take an hour. There were also restraunts and shops in amongst the gardens. It was an awesome experience, because typically we wouldn't be able to afford to stay at such a luxurious place.

While Cameron was attending the conference, I went exploring the city of Nashville. It's a really beautiful city with lots of old brick buildings, karaoke bars, and beautiful parks. Coop and I checked out the Parthenon. You read correctly...the Parthenon. Not THE Parthenon, of course, but a full scale replica.
It initially went under construction in 1897 and was officially completed in 1931. Inside is a 42 foot tall statue of Athena. It's open to the public and you can hang around the pillars. A big group of people were playing football in the field next to it.Afterward, we relaxed by a pond in the same park and passed the time people watching. There were lots of people fishing, feeding birds, relaxing and walking the path around the park. It was nice.

Before we left for "home", Cameron joined me for a little more exploring of the city. We found another beautiful park, Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. It's located in the shadow of the State Capitol in downtown Nashville. It's 19 acres of park that has several monuments and war memorials. In the top left picture are pillars that have bells that go off every half hour or so and play songs. We heard Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" while walking around. There is also a longwall engraved with a timeline of national and Tennessee state history....from the time it became a state in 1776 to its 200 year celebration in 1996.

The Many Faces of Cooper

Roxbury Lullaby

"Baby Don't Hurt Me" from the Night at the Roxbury Soundtrack has never failed to calm a crying Cooper the second we start playing the song, and only this song. So far, we are 8 for 8. It is hilarious!!! He is definately Cameron's son, because that is one of Cameron's favorite CDs.

Roxbury Lullaby Continued...

Atlanta, Georgia On My Mind

This weekend we went to Atlanta, Georgia and did some fun touristy stuff. Cameron had friday off of work so we decided to go check out Stone Mountain Park that day, stay the night since the drive is 2 hours, and check out the Coca-Cola Factory and the Georgia Aquarium on Saturday. Stone Mountain Park was cool. It's a giant rock that sticks out of the Georgia landscape. The rock itself is only 1% of the actual mountain that is exposed above ground. It's 1683 feet above sea level. We took the sky ride up to the top. You can see the Atlanta skyline, trees, trees, and more trees. Also at the park was the Antebellum Plantation, which is a collection of original buildings from around the state built between 1783 and 1875. They were chosen for their authenticity and historical value. Each building was moved from its original site and relocated to Stone Mtn Park. There were 18 building total, including a market, a doctor's cabin, slave cabins, a barn and farmyard where you could pet the animals, a schoolhouse and some homes showcasing how various classes lived 200 years ago. They let you go into each building, which I thought was neat. How would you like to have that for a bathroom (look up). I found myself very grateful for air conditioning, running water and showers. After that, we saw a really cool lazer show displayed on the side of the mountain. There were lots of other things we did at the park, but those were the highlights. It was a really hot and sunny day in the high 90s. The humidity only made it feel hotter. Poor Cooper couldn't take naps in the heat. He was a champ for staying up all day when he's use to 3 naps a day. On Saturday we went to the Coca-Cola Factory. I highly recommend this attraction. We got to see the history of Coca-Cola from decade to decade and all around the world. We watched how they bottled the beverage and even got to taste over 60 different Coke products from around the world. After that we went to the Aquarium. It was super crowded. It was not easy getting thru the crowds with a stroller. It pretty much sucked. The Denver Aquarium is much cooler. For dinner we went to Underground Atlanta, which is 6 blocks of the original streets of Atlanta where you can shop and eat dinner all underground. It was nice to get out of the heat, but we were in ghetto. I'm sure it used to be more interesting, but it has become really rundown and dirty. Overall, it was an exhausting yet fun weekend and Cooper did great considering his daily sleeping schedule was thrown out of whack.