The Douglasses' Day Off

Liam, Amelia and Ben in about 10 years.
Minus the whole part where two of them are dating.

So, Friday I let the kids skip school.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you're probably wondering when I suffered the traumatic brain injury that would cause me to do such a thing. I get annoyed when they have to stay home because they're sick. Keeping them home when they're perfectly well is unheard of.

But it was only a half day of school anyway, and Liam had a doctor's appointment in Nashville, so we all played hooky and spent the day there.

It was a near perfect day.

We made it to the doctor's office nearly thirty minutes early. They took him in immediately, and were done with him in twenty minutes. We were out of there before his appointment was even scheduled to start.

Then we headed to Trader Joe's for high end junk food. Masala naan. Gummy Tummies (from France! Because American gummy penguins wouldn't be as delicious). Chocolate covered potato chips. Baked jalapeno cheese crunchies. You know...the good stuff. Those of you who live in civilized places are probably scoffing at the idea of a trip to Trader Joe's being an outing, but when you live where we live, we have to go to The Big City for our baked jalapeno cheese crunchies.

Not the sort of place you'd expect to find Sheryl Crow or Dolly Parton or
Nicole Kidman, but they're all regulars.

Then it was off to lunch at the Loveless Cafe. It's a tourist spot in Nashville, but somehow it's managed to remain un-touristy. It's just a little cafe in an unsuspecting building. The food is delicious--imagine if Cracker Barrel had a talented chef and used fresh ingredients, the atmosphere is homey, and the fried green tomatoes are the best I've ever had. Also, they make moonshine. A certain family member of mine may or may not have gotten a teeny bit drunk off of it the first time we visited. I come from a very classy gene pool. Moonshine in a mason jar followed by a concert in a barn.

Best biscuits and homemade jam ever.

After we'd eaten ourselves silly we headed to the Opryland Hotel. Have you guys ever heard of this place? If you ever get to Nashville, you have to go look around. You don't have to be a guest. The inside has three large atriums [Google is telling me that's spelled wrong. I'm sure it's supposed to be atria, but that's just seems too pretentious. Atriums it is.] filled with palm trees and water falls and flowers and walkways.

This is INSIDE the hotel. And only a small part of it.
There are acres of this stuff.

The kids initially complained that we were going to go to the hotel. They were sure it would be boring. But when it was time to leave they didn't want to go. Neither did I. I think maybe they pipe nitrous oxide through the ventilation system because I was totally relaxed while we were there. My cheapskate husband even suggested we get ice cream even though it was Hagen Daz and five cups was going to cost nearly as much as our lunch. He would only do that if under the influence of mind altering chemicals. I was even really, really tempted to find the front desk and ask what kind of a deal they could give us if we stayed the night.

But I didn't. We headed back home.

It was such a gorgeous night that we sat on the deck while the kids played in the yard, and then had cereal for dinner.

In the famous words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

You're still here? It's over! Go home. Go!