April is one of my favorite months. So many things to be happy about--warm weather, flowering trees, daffodils and tulips, Derby Festival, outdoor picnics, and our anniversary! This year Jeremy and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. Caleb turned seven months old the day after our anniversary. Mom agreed to watch the kids on our anniversary weekend months ago, but I was undecided about what to plan for us.Originally, I thought we would go to a Weekend to Remember conference in Indianapolis. It is a Christian marriage conference that I've wanted us to attend for awhile. Even though we have a great marriage, I think that there are always ways to grow closer to one another and to God. So that was our original plan until about a month before our anniversary and we realized we weren't looking forward to our trip. We really didn't want to be stuck in a conference hall listening to lectures about marriage when we have so little fun time alone together. So, we more or less decided, "Nah, we're good. Let's do something fun instead!"
Since we needed to drop off the kids at Mom and Dad's, it was a logical choice to keep heading south to Nashville. We wouldn't have to back track and it was just an hour away from Bowling Green. Neither of us has spent much time in Nashville. I grew up just an hour away, but in high school I was too young to take road trips there with my friends. My facebook friends gave us great ideas for lodging, restaurants and things to do in Nashville. We wanted to stay downtown, but when I started looking for hotels a couple of weeks before our trip everything was booked! I finally found a lovely bed and breakfast in Franklin, TN called Butterfly Meadows Inn and Farm. The reviews of the place were wonderful and they had one more room left for our weekend. We quickly snatched it up!
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| Butterfly Meadows Inn and Farm |
Our B&B was about 8-10 minutes from downtown Franklin and 35 minutes from Nashville. We stopped in downtown Nasvhille Friday afternoon on our way to Franklin. We toured the Ryman auditorium, checked out Hatch Show Print (an awesome old letter press facility), and soaked up the energy of downtown. We headed to Franklin to check in and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Red Pony in downtown Franklin that evening. Our suite was clean, spacious, and comfortable. The owners were kind to let me have a small refrigerator in our room so that I could conveniently store the mama milk! I pumped about four times a day. It worked out fine although it will be so nice to get away and not have to worry about pumping. I guess I'm thankful for the breast pump even though I was kind of hating it by the end of the weekend.
On Saturday and Sunday we had the most delicious breakfasts! Drinking coffee and juice during a relaxing, uninterrupted breakfast--what a treat! Best of all, no preparation and no clean up afterwards! We met some other nice folks at the B&B. We met two young married couples in their twenties, an older couple from Gallatin in their 60's, a couple in their 50's combining business and pleasure, and a family with three teenagers that were relocating from California to Franklin. They actually bought a house in Franklin during their trip! Everyone was kind, considerate, and a pleasure to talk to. I think meeting new folks at the B&B adds a nice balance to the alone time we shared on vacation. As much as I love having Jeremy all to myself, it is nice to socialize with others, too.
We spent Saturday morning shopping at downtown Franklin's charming shops. We had lunch at a seafood market, browsed the farmer's market, and shopped the Factory at Franklin (a 12 building complex built in 1929 and former home of Dortch Stove Works.) We rested up during the afternoon at the bed and breakfast. That evening we headed to Nashville to check out the Rosepepper Cantina and Jeni's ice cream in East Nashville. Jeni's ice cream lived up to the hype. The Rosepepper did not. I don't think Nashville has anything on Louisville when it comes to good independent restaurants. Louisville is a great food town! (Just ask Southern Living where we have been listed as one of the South's tastiest towns for several years running!)
Sunday morning we had time for another fabulous breakfast and quick morning hike on the property of Butterfly Meadows. Then, it was time to head back for the kiddos. Emily was so happy to see us! So was Caleb. He kissed me over and over again! We left Nashville/Franklin feeling a bit more rested and reconnected to each other. We definitely wanted to see and do more. A concert at the Ryman is next on our list!
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