Memphis: Sunday

Josh is the pastor of a Lutheran church downtown, so we were their visitors on Sunday morning for the 10:30 service. Our kids give a top rating to the toys in the nursery. Afterward, while Josh was being pastoral, we wandered the delightful little garden in the church yard.

Miles is wearing his fabulous Memphis outfit.

After church, we took a car tour and got to see the Lorraine Motel, where the world lost Dr. King in the spring of 1968.

After this somber visit, we lightened things up and dropped in at Sun Studio, home of Sun Records, the label that discovered and cut records for Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash.

Miles got to go in; he's a big fan of the guitar!

I have no pictures of this, but following this tour we ate lunch at the home of Josh's parents. We had a traditional Southern dinner including ham, green beans, homemade macaroni and cheese and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. I had two tall glasses of sweet tea. Yum! We were so grateful to be treated like family on out visit.

But that wasn't all. In the mid afternoon, we dropped over to the Children's Museum of Memphis, where our hosts are members. Our tickets came courtesy of Melissa's family. Southern Hospitality is a real thing.

 CMOM is similar to Rochester's Museum of Play, and just as awesome. Probably better suited to Miles' taste for this age, as it featured more climbing apparatus and fewer large walking characters.

Miles' favorite part by far: fishing.

This guy was scared to go down the slide, but climbed to the top of these high-rises by himself!

There were plenty of things for babies to do; indeed, there was a whole baby/toddler room!

Melissa enjoys August's block prowess and sweet smile. We did too!!

Miles launches a paper rocket.

Grandma Tree played guessing games with children; Miles recognized "yes" and "no" on buttons.

Obviously, there was a section for kid to be rock and roll stars on a green screen.

"Backstage"

Adele had such a blast at the baby room. She climbed up and "accidentally" fell down this slide like 20 times.

As if all this weren't enough, we were treated to a gorgeous rainbow on our drive home.

Each evening after kids were down, Jon and I were treated to a good old visit with our friends and actual grownup talk. And we didn't even need to get a babysitter!

Give me Memphis, Tennessee

We have owed our old Maryland friends, Josh and Melissa, a visit to their new home in Memphis for quite some time. But we weren't sure if, practically speaking, we could manage it this year. Well, after hemming and hawing for a few weeks, Mission Command of our family (Pater & Mater Familius) made the call: we all needed a vacation!

We set out at 6pm on Friday for the 625 mile journey. Logistically, this is the best way to take two little kids on a 9+ hour drive, since they sleep through most of it. And since Jon was willing to break his lenten fast from caffeine in order to keep us alive through the night, we had a fairly successful drive.

Adele tries to prove she can drive the next leg. We were charmed, but unconvinced.

Just over the border in TN. I enjoyed the spelling of this rural store.

For the first time, Jon and I crossed a time zone together! So it was 3:30 am central time when Josh let us in and, unlike our trip to Rochester in December, we were able to get everyone back to sleep for at least a few hours before morning.

Melissa & Josh love their city, so we got in as much sightseeing as was possible given the constraints of time, space, and 4 young children between us. This involved a lot of car tours and a lot of trips to kid-friendly places, but it was pretty awesome to tour Memphis even so.

First stop: public library.

Thomas & Miles pose in front of the Memphis Library.

Miles says "WOW" to the colorful, imaginative childrens' section.

Adele found her favorite view!

Clowns were posed all over the section. I want all their rainbow clothes. And now I sound like a weirdo who steals clothes from clowns...

Love this sign; it reminded me of Sesame Street

Stained glass house IN the library!

Miles & Thomas played in the courtyard outside.

From the library, we moved on to a car-tour and then stopped to take in a view of the Mississippi River! I don't remember seeing it before, or at least, not this close up!

This little guy was pretty excited to be out of the car.

Family shot at the Mississippi

And before going out for a delicious Mexican dinner downtown, we made a trip to Graceland, just to look at the outside.

This is Elvis' plane for his daughter. It says "Lisa Marie" in script on the side.

Graceland.

Sunshine! 70 degrees! In MARCH! It was the absolute perfect time, in my opinion, to visit Memphis.

This is only day one of four so.... if you don't like looking at pictures of my kids in Memphis, better skip the next few updates :-)

Transportation

We've finally gotten out to the Virginia Museum of Transportation, as a number of people have be recommending that we do for a couple of years now.  It did not disappoint!

The general favorite was probably the enormous Lionel Model Train Layout. It was so classic, with dozens of little scenes, shops, people, animals. There was even a Mill Mountain Star!

Oh, also, there were several trains which, if you ask Miles, he will tell you excitedly "Go all by demselves! Around and Around!"

Adele is also a huge fan of vehicles of every sort. She's just started saying train and making whistle sounds.

Adele hugely enjoyed the hot wheels, both the displays and the play table.

Can't stop taking pictures with my Tiny.

Brought the Ergo. It didn't really get used, though. Meet Toddler Adele.

Loads of those displays to put your face up close to and disappear.

Dewey, Cheetum & Howe! I thought this was in Cambridge, Mass!

I'm always trying to decide what it is about tiny town displays that I find so tranquil and attractive.

I think it might be memories of Mr. Rogers. I can almost hear jazz piano...

A large showroom contained a number of antique cars. They were neat. I'm.... not the person for commentary about cars, though. Sorry!

Jon said his West Coast family has one of these Model Ts.

The Bug was my favorite on the lot; it's about the only car I get a bit excited about. From 1970.

Look, a car!

"I was told to stand here."

Miles is on the phone, in front of something he doesn't recognize as a phone.

Dressup experiences were provided in one room....

Why we have no pictures of the trainyard, I do not know. There were scores of trains of every sort. The kids and Jon were delighted. I was happy that they were happy. I think my favorite part of the trainyard was the platform, however. There's just something aesthetically romantic about them; one feels as if one ought to be involved in a dramatic farewell or reunion of some sort.

We spent considerable time outside, considering the February-ness of the day. They had a brilliant little playground:

Both kids got a kick out of sitting in the helicopter, for rather a long time. This might be the longest Adele was still!

Miles' social skills are coming along. He's discovered that people are often willing to talk to him if he walks up and smiles and says, "Hi, I'm Miles. My sister is Adele. What is your name?" He did this probably half a dozen times today. One woman responded, "I'm Ashely." And he shocked me by saying, of his own accord, "Hi Ashley. It's nice to meet you." He made friends in this way with a couple of little boys on the playground and they had a good old time, especially when this real live train went by...

We have got to go back there!