Simply a great weekend

This weekend was a time of reflecting, remembering and just having fun. We have been planning a long weekend to Memphis for several weeks now.

Thursday morning we got up pretty early and headed to TN. Had lunch at Cracker Barrel and stopped several times before making a stop in Jackson to see my old college Union Univ, which was torn up by a massive string of tornadoes just a few weeks ago. Wow! My old dorms have been demolished and there is nothing there but dirt. We talked to a student there and by seeing the campus (which has already had a massive clean up) its a miracle that everyone survived. My heart still goes to all of those out of state students who did not have their family to support them.

We continued to drive to Memphis. We checked into our hotel (Fairfield) and had dinner at O'Charleys. This is very important because this was my favorite place to eat while in college. Seriously, the only thing I have ordered there were the Chicken O'Tenders and you must emphasize the O when ordering. Its a rule. We spent some time chilling out and we had a visitor at the hotel. Mr. Steven (yes the blogging Steven) came and chatted with us while bringing some Aleve for my toothache. We chatted for quite a while about Union, church, blogging and a ton of other things.. We were actually told to quiet down. Can you imagine someone telling me to quiet down? Geesh. To bed we went.

The next day we woke up realizing we slept for almost 10 hours...Wow, that was cool. It was pretty yucky outside. This was the day we planned to do the zoo and so far it wasn't looking good. We got several phone calls from friends trying to organize dinner and we got a late start. Its a really good thing we decided to go to the zoo because it was a PERFECT day for the zoo. There was about 40 people total there and all the animals were out. As you can see from the slide show, Michael took some amazing pics. I had an awesome experience. We walked up to the chimp area and went up to the glass window where my new friend was waiting for me. Seriously. I have never been so close. It rocked. Ok, so I got a bit silly and got on the ground so that I was face to face with this monkey. I was on the ground looking eye to eye with this monkey. The first thing I noticed were his hands and then he started playing. I really thought I was having an encounter with ET. I put my finger on the glass, and he would try to kiss it. Check out Michael's pics. it seriously was a very cool experience.
So Friday night, we went for some Memphis BBQ and went to Corkys. So we got to see old Atlanta friends, Jeff and Val (valfrey), Stevens wife jenny and his 2 boys and my old roommie LeeAnne, her hubby and 2 girls. We spend the time eating, laughing and just truly having fun. Oh I miss my college times.

Saturday morning, we planned a Red Thread meeting at IHOP. Deanna, who was logged in the same month as me and is active in our yahoo group, organized a breakfast with some families. The red thread continued as Michael and Deanna shared about where they were from. One of the ladies started talking about the Ladmans, who are First Friday friends of ours..It was cool.
After breakfast, we went to Tunica for the afternoon. I am not afraid to say that. I was in yucky mood but after getting some sugar, I played for a bit and the we left..It was quite different than what I expected.
Saturday, we waited 45 minutes to get into Texas Roadhouse. Odd experience as Michael had to send his steak back twice but in the end we got a free meal.Back to the hotel we went where Wedding Crashers and Napolean Dynamite was playing.

The plan was for Sunday to go to church with Steven and his family. We didn't go. Instead, we went to Cracker Barrel with Jeff and Val and had a really odd experience. If any lady bug lovers are out there, check out Cracker Barrel..The stuff is too cute!
After that we went to downtown Memphis to find an Asian art exhibit. So before that, we walked around Bealle street and went to the top of the Peabody and saw the awesome view. Back to the art exhibit, one of the China moms told us about it and I am so glad they did. It was a wonderful exhibit and gave me more of a passion for the Chinese culture..Once again, too cool! Boy, it just hit me that this was a really busy day.

After Memphis, we drove to Jackson so see a college professor of mine and her sons Dalton and Jared. You see while in college, I was the primary babysitter for Dalton from age 8 months- 3 years. As I told Jenni leigh, the night I left Dalton the last time, was a very hard night. I don't remember crying that much. HE used to call me AA. We walked in to Chuckie Cheese, and this 12 year old came up saying, AA? He gave me a hug and we just talked. He decided that since I made him dance to Barney, he is now into drama. He said, thanks a lot! We talked about Dino, a stuffed dinosaur pillow that he had to sleep with every day. As we were leaving, he brought Dino out to show me. Oh he is warn out, but I could just picture Dalton a little boy with his "DOH". I was the one who was supposed to have an impact on, I swear I think it was the other way around.

After our Chuckie Cheese Adventure, we headed over the Casey Jones Village to buy some sauce for Michaels dad.

Then we met some more friends at Olive Garden. First was Sara, my most stable friend. Sara is a fun, crazy, responsible lawyer who was a roommate of Valerie (wife of Jeff). We actually stayed with her on a trip.

So towards the end of dinner, Miss Lorrie Spickard came in with her boyfriend. Lorrie has been one of my closest friends of all times. She was in my wedding. I absolutely adore her. We had not seen each other for almost 4 years but dang, it sure did not feel like it. It was just sooo cool to laugh and share experiences with my good friend. We stayed for hours. We love her boyfriend and Lorrie just made me smile. We talked about short term mission trip with Steven and other people, and the fact that we had so many late night talks. This was soooo cool! We have had some trials in our friendship, but we always come out stronger.

Back to the hotel, for some online time and some needed rest. I was afraid we would be sleep until noon, but that lovely sun woke us up.

Pics coming momentarily