Aunt JJ is back!

I initially wrote this post on December 14, the day Jamie returned from Tonga. Right before I posted it the computer I was working on decided to shut down, and I thought all was lost. I just went back to re-write about this and found that a draft was saved. Yay! So here ya go...

Today was a big day that our family had been anticipating for a long time...Jamie is back in the States! It's been just over 14 months since we dropped her off at the airport to begin her 27 months of Peace Corps service on the Pacific island Tonga, so to say we were ecstatic to see her would be a huge understatement!
Yesterday the girls and I drove to Scottsville and today we were all up bright and early to go pick her up at the Nashville airport. We arrived at the airport around the time her plane was set to land and tried to figure out where to park and where to go. I'll avoid the frustrating details around our parking, but let's just say the security guard working near the 10 minute parking area we were in was extremely frustrating and in full rent-a-cop mode! When Jamie came down the escalator where we were waiting, Mom and the girls were the only ones inside (because Dad had I had been asked to drive our cars around the airport circle and re-park...seriously) but sweet Ella was crouched down at the bottom of the escalator holding one half of a "Welcome Home Aunt JJ" sign, and Jamie said she wished she could freeze that moment when they first saw each other and Ella whispered "that's JJ!" to Mom. When Jamie left last October Kendall was 6 months old and Ella was 3 months shy of 3 years old, so they have changed a lot since she left! I made it inside soon and we all exchanged lots of hugs. Then another security guard made me go back outside with my unattended car, since Dad standing next to it with his car wasn't enough. I'll go on and mention that I greatly dislike the Nashville airport! Ella was so excited to see Jamie, and kept saying "Can JJ ride in our car? I missed JJ. I like JJ's suitcase." ha ha.
We went to a nearby Dairy Queen for breakfast since Jamie had insisted on her "first meal" being a Blizzard. Unfortunately her stomach was upset from ice cream at the LA airport the day before, so she stuck with biscuits and gravy. From there to mom and dad's house she rode with us. Ella talked a million miles a minute, and Jamie was cracking me up as she readjusted to the country. When we drove by the Sonic in Scottsville she said, "Oh my gosh SONIC!!" I said, "Do you want me to stop and get something?" She said, "No, I just FORGOT about it! Ahhhh I can't wait to get a cranberry limeade!" ha ha! Oh the little things! Tonight mom made her favorite, meatloaf, and lots of veggies, and I thought Jamie was actually going to lick her plate clean.
Ella hasn't left Jamie's side since we got to mom and dad's house. Poor Jamie is so jet-lagged. She flew to Fiji and had a 12 hour layover, then to LA with a 12 hour layover, then to Chicago for a 2 hour layover before finally arriving in Nashville. So Jamie is exhausted but Ella has been glued to her hip. She is currently sleeping in her bed with her. As you can see in the pictures below, Ella is holding her hand. Ella usually insists on sleeping on a little cot we make in Travis's room, but tonight she wanted to sleep with Aunt JJ. I initially told her no, because Jamie needs a good night's sleep and Ella is a crazy, toss and turn sleeper, but she started bawling and Jamie insisted it was ok.

Dallas - Part 2

So I just realized that I haven't had one single post in December. Slacker, anyone?? I did make a post when Jamie came home and had pics uploaded and everything, but as soon as I was ready to post my parents' computer decided to just shut down and all was lost. Frustrating! As much as I want to write about Jamie being home and all the fun times we had at Christmas, I feel like I can't move forward until I finish talking about Dallas. Yes, I realize that it was a month and a half ago, but we had so much fun I have to finish talking about it. So here we go, part 2 begins with Saturday.
Saturday morning we woke up and felt like exploring. My friend Erin used to live in Dallas and had given us a few recommendations of places to go, so we decided to check some of those out. The first place we went was a neat little place called Mockingbird Station. If you are familiar with Louisville, I would compare it to Westport Village. It has lots of shopping and dining. We would have probably done a lot of shopping there, but since we flew to Dallas we were limited in how much we could take back (and any space we had was pretty much gone after we shopped at the Pro Shop in the stadium!). After we left Mockingbird Station we ate at a mexican restaurant she recommended called Desperados. We were excited when we arrived and saw a sign saying that it was the "official caterer of the Dallas Cowboys." Fun! I'm sure they aren't the only restaurant in town that claims that, but it still made us excited! Our food was really good, even though we were initially scared that it might be "too" authentic for us picky eaters! We then drove by American Airlines Arena, where the Dallas Mavericks play, then decided to head back to the hotel. We were excited to get to meet up with some of Ronnie's family. His cousin Emily and aunt Cindy came by the hotel and picked us up and they drove us to where his uncle Steve, aunt Bonnie and grandma "Granner" live. Granner then took us all out for a delicious dinner at Red Lobster. We had a great time catching up with family that we don't get to see very often. After we left Emily & Cindy drove us all around Dallas and showed us places where Ronnie lived, played and went to school when he was young. They moved around a lot as kids, and Ronnie has very little recollection of his childhood. I think it was as fun for me as it was for him. As they would drive by a house Ronnie would say things like, "I remember that house, it has the huge tree in the backyard!" or "That house has a park nearby, right?" It was really fun and I think he regained a lot of memory on our tour!
The next morning was the big day, game day!! We woke up so excited and got our jerseys on. The weather was beautiful. Highs were in the 70's...I got to wear shorts to a football game in November! As we were getting ready to leave we were watching the coverage on the TV in the hotel room. All of the sudden Ronnie said, "They're on the field!! We have to go!!" So we quickly made our way to the stadium, walking amongst tons of fans...mostly Cowboys but some Bills also. If we thought it was amazing being on the field during our tour, it didn't compare to being on the field on game day! We immediately saw our favorite players on the field, Jerry Jones was walking around. One of the reasons we could see this so well is because I'm an AMAZING wife and bought ROCKING tickets. We were on the 30 yard line, 8 rows up. It was incredible. And don't ask me how much I paid for the tickets...I made a vow to never tell anyone and I'm sticking to it. :) We found out after the game that we were sitting four rows above and a few seats over from DeMarcus Ware's wife!! I had his jersey on and his wife was sitting right by us!
We had fun watching the players warm up. Ronnie and Dez Bryant had a little "exchange." It was so cool! He threw a ball that accidentally (I think...) hit a kid who was on the field in the head. Ronnie yelled out sarcastically, "Nice one, Dez!" Dez turned around and looked directly at Ronnie and pointed at him. OMG!! Then Rowdy the mascot walked in front of us and when I got out my camera he posed for me. The people sitting around us were awesome. That's always a slight concern when you are at a big game. Thankfully they were loud and energetic like we are! The guy sitting next to Ronnie siad, "Ok, do you high five? Because I high-five." Ronnie was like, "Dude, I'll be all over the place high fiving everyone!" It was pretty funny. Shortly before game time we decided to go on and get some food. We obviously didn't want to do this during the game, and we didn't want to do it at halftime beacuse they had one of those cool card things going where we had to hold up colored cards to spell something out. So off we went. Unfortunately this caused us to miss the big fire show on the field when the team runs out onto the field. :( This happened because I insisted on walking further around the concourse looking for something I saw during our tour, which we never found. Woops. However, we did walk right past Roger Staubach on the concourse. I didn't recognize him, but after we passed Ronnie said, "AHHHH!! That was Roger Staubach, that was Roger Staubach and I FROZE!!" Pretty cool to be so close to Cowboys hero!
The game was amazing. We've decided that I'm good luck at Cowboys games. I've been to two and both have been Cowboy blowouts. The Cowboys won 44-7. We were so excited to see a good win! They pretty much played perfect. It was awesome.
We had a great time in Dallas. I would love to make it a trip we make every few years. It was fun to relax and enjoy time with each other, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to see Texas for the first time. We had a nice flight back (I was ok...much less stressing for me!) and we were really excited to see the girls. We gave them their presents from the stadium. We got them a Cowboys Mr. Potato Head, and Ella specifically told me she wanted me to get her chapstick on our trip, and I ended up finding Cowboys chap stick. Yay! Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for taking such good care of the girls! Here are a few pictures:

Walking to the stadium

Dez warming up

My handsome husband!

Me!

Go Cowboys!

Romo...literally right in front of us!!

Post-game celebration!

Couldn't resist!

Emmitt Smith, Ronnie's favorite Cowboy of all time!

In front of the stadium

Dallas - Part 1, the Stadium tour

Last weekend Ronnie and I had our first vacation since the girls were born - we spent a long weekend in Dallas, TX. For his 30th birthday in August I surprised him with tickets to the Cowboys/Bills game. A lot of people don't realize, but Ronnie lived in and around Dallas until he moved to Kentucky when he was 11 years old. I had never been to Texas but was super excited to go there for the first time! We had a busy weekend so I'm going to do two posts about this, to not leave anything out.
Lucky for us my mom and dad were able to take Friday/Monday off work and watch the girls. We had an early start. Our plane left Nashville at 8 a.m. Friday morning, so we were up bright and early (well...dark and early!) to head to Nashville. Travis even got up and rode to the airport with us and Dad...I think Dad bribed him with breakfast! Not gonna lie, I was a nervous wreck before our flight. Flying has never bothered me before, but this was the first time I'd flown since we've had the girls, and I was certain our plane was going to crash. I watched way too much September 11 anniversary coverage. :( Halfway through our flight I finally loosened up and began talking again. Seriously. I think I said maybe 5 words the entire morning before our flight...two of those being "oh no!" when Ronnie sat next to me at the airport with a plate full of greasy breakfast food that I was certain would make me throw up if I had to see it. He went somewhere else eat, ha ha. Once we got there we got our rental car (a beige Malibu, of all things!) and headed towards our hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton in Arlington. We were so excited when we pulled up and saw it sitting right next to both Cowboys Stadium and the beautiful park where the Texas Rangers play. We were giggling like little school girls! Check in time wasn't until 3 p.m., and it was only about 11:30 a.m., but they had a room ready so we were excited to be able to go on and get settled in. Our VIP tour of Cowboys Stadium was set for 2 p.m., so we went to a nearby Sonic and grabbed lunch, then went back to the hotel and began the walk to the stadium. The stadium is AMAZING. Even if you aren't a Cowboys fan, or even a football fan, if you are ever near Dallas you have to tour the stadium. I promise you will not be disappointed! We got there early so we hung out in the massive pro shop. It was huge, and they had any and everything Cowboys that you could imagine. Needless to say we were on cloud 9!
Finally it was time for our tour. We were so excited! They took us everywhere. We got to go inside Jerry Jones' suite on the 50 yard line where he watches the game. They gave us tons of information and fun facts about the stadium and how it all came together. While talking about the huge videoboard they told us several fun stories. One was about the Jonas Brothers. They were one of the first concerts to perform after the stadium opened. One of the things they requested was to play Halo 3 on the videoboard, so they got it all set up and the Jonas Brothers played Halo 3 on that huge screen. How funny! We went inside the Cheerleaders' locker room, and even the players locker room! They told us that the players lockers are made out of this rare, expensive type of wood from Africa (only Jerry Jones would do this...ha ha). It was so fun to be in the locker room, where we often see the players interviewed after games! After the locker room we were able to walk the same route the players do as they go from the locker room out onto the field. Then we were able to play on the field for like 30 minutes! Ronnie immediately slipped off his shoes to have his bare feet on the grass! We had lots of fun and took tons of pictures. According to their website, my camera wouldn't be allowed because the lens was too long, but thankfully no one said anything so I was able to take lots of pics with my new camera! Here are a few:

Texas Rangers park, how beautiful is that?!

Inside the stadium, and the huge videoboard!

A kid in a candy store!

There are so many cool artsy pieces in the stadium...love the football shaped lights!

Best elevator ever!

Inside he Cheerleaders locker room...

In the players locker room...

Romo's locker!

D-Ware!

Love this star! The 'boys run under this light as they run out onto the field.

On the field!

50 yard line

In the endzone

The star!

We had an amazing time touring the stadium. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience! Next up - visiting with family and the Cowboys game!

Ella Bella Ballerina

One day the girls and I were at Half Price Books and we stumbled upon a book called "Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella." I thought it was pretty funny, since we've always called Ella "Ella Bella", and Ella was (and still is) in the middle of a princess phase. So we bought it. We read it tonight before bed, appropriately, since tonight I really had an Ella Bella Ballerina...it was her first night of dance class!
Last month I bought a Living Social (love living social...and groupon...and try it local...and all those awesome deal sites!) deal for one month of dance class at Jennifer's Academy of Dance...which happens to be 3 minutes from our house. When I told her about it she was waaaay more excited than she ever was for wee ball or soccer or anything else. It's easy to see that Ella's current interests are in music, singing and dancing. Maybe the sports will come, but as for now we are just having fun watching her be excited about dance! We went to the Zappos outlet in Shepherdsville on Monday and were so excited to find both ballet shoes and tap shoes in her size! ($7.50 for ballet shoes, $16 for tap shoes...boo yah!) Her class is one hour long, the first 30 minutes being ballet and the last 30 minutes being tap.
All day she anxiously awaited class. Thankfully she took a nap beforehand and was well rested. She was so excited when we arrived and she saw all the other little girls running around in leotards and tights. (We found tights, a black leotard, and a silver tutu at Target, all very reasonably priced.) When it came time for class the girls were led into a room without parents. I wasn't sure how that would go, especially since two youngers girls had full blown, screaming melt downs right in front of her. I led her into the room, and the instructor said I could stay in the room if I needed to since it was her first time. I hung out by the door for the first half of class then worked my way back into the room with the other parents. But I had such a great time watching her...my only disappointment was that parents aren't really supposed to watch. I understand why, because it distracts the girls, but it is so cute and I want to watch!! :) For the first five minutes or so she didn't really participate, just watched very closely, sizing it all up. But after that she jumped right in and fully participated. She did great! One of the other moms who was hanging out in the doorway said that she was doing great for her first time. She smiled the entire time...which was a nice change after literally having to force her to stay on the soccer field this fall! Here are a few pictures of our Ella Bella Ballerina...

It's 33 degrees...lets go run 13.1 miles!

Yesterday morning I completed my second half marathon. I ran my first one in April, and really enjoyed the experience, so Toni, Ashley and I decided to sign up for the Big Hit 1/2 Marathon and Beth signed up for the 1/4 marathon.
It was coooooold. The race began at 7:45 a.m....and the high at 8 a.m. was 34 degrees. Once you get warmed up it's not so bad, but it certainly makes for a chilly start! None of us trained as much for this race as we have races in the past. That became very evident for me at mile 10, when my legs literally felt like lead. By mile 12, usually when I would speed up and run as fast as I can to finish that last mile strong, I was barely able to move them. It wasn't until we entered Slugger Field, and I saw the finish line at home plate, that I was finally able to speed up and finish strong!
My time ended up being 1:50:44...exactly 20 seconds faster than my time in April. I was very happy with that, and hadn't expected to beat or really even be close to my previous time since I hadn't trained nearly as hard for this one. But it is really nice and really motivating when you are running with friends. Thanks, girls!

Here we are before the race: Beth, Ashley, Toni and me

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday the girls and I decided that we need some pumpkins. So after dinner we headed to a pumpkin patch at a church near our house. They always have a really nice pumpkin patch set up but this is the first time we've ever stopped. We picked out three pumpkins...one of each of the girls to decorate, and one to make into a jack-o-lantern. The girls had a lot of fun running around and climbing on the pumpkins, then we made a trip to Michaels to find stickers and other fun things to decorate with.

Ella is such a goofball!

Ella concentrating on her pumpkin...

Ella's masterpiece!

Kendall's masterpiece!

In the next few days we'll carve the jack-o-lantern!

Puddle Jumping!

Last week we had a few cool, dreary, rainy days. One afternoon before dinner time Ella said, "Let's go outside and play in the rain!" Why the heck not.

 

The biggest puddle we could find...

It was cold...we didn't last long! But we had fun running around in the rain and getting out of the house for a few minutes!

We're going to the mountains to see sharks!!

So a couple of days ago we returned to our first Pridemore family vacation. We went to Gatlinburg, TN for five days and four nights and had an absolute blast!
This trip originated when we were in Bass Pro Shop last year helping Jamie buy a few outdoorsy things before she left for Tonga. BPS is associated with Bluegreen Resorts, and they were offering really cheap two-night packages in Gatlinburg if you sat through their timeshare presentation. We also got $125 in BPS gift cards added in...sah-weet! We thought this fall would be a good time for a trip like that so we did it. Mom and dad also bought the two-night package, but they took their trip last year and decided to go on and come back this year while mom was on fall break. So we had two nights in the hotel they put us in, but I just checked in, put a "do not disturb" sign on the door, then we stayed with mom and dad in their bigger, nicer room that was kind of made like a duplex...we had half and they had half. Much better than the hotel with two beds and a TV.
Ella has been anxiously awaiting this trip, especially after I told her that we were going to the aquarium. Before we left she told everyone that we were going to the mountains to see the sharks. She got some interesting looks, ha ha! We had a lot of fun walking around Gatlinburg, eating good food (but Mom...we never got ice cream!!!!), and enjoying the beauty of God's creation.
The aquarium was amazing. If you know my husband, you know of his recent money-burning obsession with his salt water fish tank...I mean the THREE salt water fish tanks that are currently in our house. So as you can imagine, he was like a kid in a candy store. They have a big tunnel that you walk through and sharks swim all around. We happened to be there during feeding time, so we got to see the sharks attacking the dead half-fish they threw into the water. (Thankfully Ella didn't seem to really notice what they were eating...that could have gotten interesting!) She was so excited when we first saw the sharks, then became pretty quiet. It definitely made her nervous! She kept saying, "I don't want to get in the water!" We kept telling her over and over that she would NOT be getting in the water! What I thought was the coolest part was the "penguin playground." They had a tunnel that kids could crawl through, then they could pop their head up in this chamber thing and it was like they were in there with the penguins. Ella loved this!
One day we were trying to find something fun and active for Ella to do, and a man told us about a place in Pigeon Forge with lots of rides and activities for smaller children. I wish I could go back and give him a big tip, because the place was awesome! I think it was called The Track...or Kids Country...I saw signs that said both. Anyway, they had a big go-kart track, and tons of fun rides for little kids! The girls had a blast on the merry-go-round, ferris wheel, swings and Ella even rode a ride similar to the spinning teacups...except spinning boats! She seems to take after Ronnie and can ride things like that...the guy operating the spinning boats kept giving her extra spins and it made me queasy just watching! Though she did not enjoy the go-karts...poor Ronnie was driving as slow as he could, even allowing himself to be passed by teenage girls, but Ella slumped lower and lower into the seat until all you could see was the top of her blonde head! But after that we rode some more rides and she was great again!
We had such a great time. Ronnie and I were talking about our favorite parts and both realized that we've reached the point that more than anything we enjoy watching the girls have fun...that's the most fun to us! We plan to hit up a beach next summer (and maybe some slopes this winter?!), so we are excited about all the fun new vacations to come! Here are a few other highlights from our trip:

- Kendall now pronounces Grandpa "Poppy"...it's really cute.
- We had a family photo session with my camera and mom's camerawork. It was slightly painful, with Kendall constantly pointing at things and Ella making all her crazy new facial expressions. But we survived!
- The girls enjoyed riding the trolley....also called the "charlie" by Ella.
- Flapjacks has a great breakfast.
- The treadmill at Mountainloft SUCKS.
- Visit the Nike Clearance Store rather than the Nike Outlet at Tanger. (Thanks for the tip, Ashley!) We got some great deals!
- Ella slept on a pull out bed and Kendall slept next to her in the pack n play. They both slept GREAT the whole trip. I was surprised, since Kendall can barely move in that pack n play! By next summer they can share a pull out bed!
- Ella got to watch salt water taffy being made. The man gave her a piece. She chewed about 3 times and said in a serious voice..."I like it."
- If you say, "Ready...Set..." Kendall says, "Go!!!!" pronounced "Doe!!!!" Grandpa taught her this at the resort's playground.
- Ella proves on a daily basis to be the adrenaline junkie her father is.
- When I checked out of the hotel we DIDN'T stay in, the lady said, "Did you enjoy your stay?" Maybe I was being paranoid, but I think she knew I spent a total of 30 seconds in their hotel.
- We bought the timeshare. Well, it doesn't really work like a "timeshare" anymore...we can go whenever, wherever, provided availability. This is something we wanted to do when Ronnie was done with residency. We have lots of travel plans and it's a great long-term investment. We're excited!

Here are some pictures!

We're here!

Aquarium!

My, what big teeth you have!

Ella watching the sharks, slightly concerned.

Kendall loved the vibrating fish!

Ella hanging out with the penguins!

The family

The girls in their Halloween dresses

My wonderful parents!

Merry-go-round! Who is having more fun...the girls or Grandpa/Poppy?!

Ella NOT enjoying the go-karts!

Such a big girl!

On the trolley

The view from our balcony