The Summer Tour of 2006

Wow, has the month of July been one big whirlwind! I feel like a washed up rock star coming off the road from a 10 city southern tour (my brother-in-law, Tate, would reference Three Dog Night in '76). We only spent 3 nights in our own beds during the first half of this month - and even those nights were spent tossing and turning, thinking about the preparation for the next leg of the tour.

We kicked off the month by heading to East Tennessee (a.k.a. God's Country) and the beautiful Watts Bar Lake for fun and frolic with the whole Mitchell gang. It has been tradition to gather with the extended Mitchell family in reunion style every 4th of July - we have been doing so since the early 80's. My Aunt Patty has always been so gracious to open her home to all - whether it was in Nashville or Rockwood - for a celebration of family and country. But because life gets crazy and unusual circumstances arise, the celebration was canceled for this year. My Dad couldn't bear giving up this time with his children, so he booked the Terrace View on the Lake for our immediate family to carry on the tradition. Thanks Dad!! What a fun time we had fishing, swimming, boating, and cooking with my parents, and my brother and sister and their wonderful families!

Some of the highlights:
On Sunday, we attended my Grandmother's church in Rockwood. My Grandmother is now in a nursing home and unable to attend, so we went to honor her. Afterwards we all went to visit her - the whole clan. Although unable to communicate with words, I believe she was overjoyed by the visit. Four generations in one tiny room!
My sister-in-law, Sherry and I got up early every morning and walked and talked and even cried. She is such a blessing to our family, and I always enjoy one-on-one time with her.
My brother-in-law, Tre and my sister, Marcy made the most delicious homemade chocolate heath bar ice cream. I am certain that my brother ate 4 large servings, though he claims it was only 3.
All of the siblings and their spouses were treated to a sunset cruise - boat and babysitting compliments of my fabulous parents. We cruised along the lake watching the various fireworks displays and chatting about life. Does it get any better??

Then it was back home for 3 days before the next leg of the tour, the Roberts' family vacation at St. George Island in Florida. We traveled caravan style with Tate, Laura, and Elizabeth, arriving in Florida Saturday evening after a Friday night layover in Birmingham (thanks Thompsons). The trip was longer than we anticipated based on the mileage - too many backroads and red lights. We even survived the question! It is estimated that Richmond asked "How many more minutes?" 450+ times. He even began demanding that I look at the map to give him a more accurate answer. Despite his eagerness to be out of the car, he was a trouper - and Knox, too!

We were greeted by Richy's parents and the Hagood's (minus Heather, Paul, and Mark who were sorely missed), with Brian arriving later that evening. The next day was lovingly referred to as "Piggly Wiggly Day". We spent most of the day on our Pig Wig excursion - hoping for no return visits during the trip, as it was about 10 miles from our house. For the most part, we succeeded. Of course, we had to make a 6pm run to the beach later that day - we had been there almost 24 hours and had not yet fully ventured to the shore for some fun and sun. We ate dinner around 10:30pm that night, which set the stage for many post 10pm meals to come. But hey.....we were on vacation, so who cares?

The next day Beth arrived with the "stinky cousins" from Carrollton. Taylor rolled in with his clever quotes from the Cars movie. He's quite the comedian at age 12! At the tutelage of his cousin, Richmond can now quote (and will do so about 25 times a day and it makes me laugh everytime) the line from Mater, "Boy, I'd drive my tires 'cross a mile of busted glass just to see that picture right there......dadgum!" And Barrett, the quintessential Pied Piper of the younger children, arrives on the scene to provide entertainment and joy to Richmond and Elizabeth.

We enjoyed our time with family - the early morning walks on the beach, the late afternoon lounging by the ocean, great food, and lots and lots of blueberries. It was like the scene out of Forrest Gump with Bubba, but substitute blueberries for shrimp - blueberry cobbler, blueberry cheesecake, blueberry danish, blueberries in salad, blueberries in cereal, blueberries on vanilla ice cream, and even blueberries for the babies. It was noted that blueberries somehow pass through the digestive system of babies and become whole again......thanks Laura!

On Wednesday night, Richy and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary at the island's only restaurant, The Blue Parrott. We enjoyed some delicious baked oysters topped with parmesan cheese and stuffed shrimp while sitting right on the gulf shoreline with a great breeze. I guess if you're a fundamentalist, we were celebrating the 10 year anniversary of our rehearsal dinner. The actual day was Thursday, which we spent driving back to Nashville. I hope to blog later on the whole 10 year anniversary subject......

Thursday morning it was time to pack and say our goodbyes, as we departed earlier than the rest of the group so that I could attend my 20 year high school class reunion. Richmond stayed behind with the family to enjoy the extra days at the beach, thanks to his very gracious Grandmommy, Aunt Laura, and Aunt Beth. We arrived in Nashville around 10:30pm, went to bed, woke up and packed again, and it was off to Knoxville.

I met my dear friends, Carey and Martie at the Marriott in Knoxville and sent Richy and Knox to spend the night with my parents. We had planned a girlfriends reunion for Friday night, skipping out on the "family night at the pool" portion of the class reunion. A unanimous decision was made based on the fact that chasing very young children at a pool in your bathing suit with your classmates that you haven't seen in 20 years sounded worse than a root canal! We were joined by two more dear friends, Angie and Lynette, and it was off for a manicure/pedicure and then a delicious dinner at Oodles in Market Square. We were directed to a place in the Old City to listen to some tunes from the 80's, but instead found it to be hip-hop night. So we played a round of darts and then......darted! Back at the hotel, we checked out the yearbook - trying to study the faces of those we needed to remember in order to avoid as much awkwardness as possible. We laughed - mostly at the hair - the big, bigger, and really big hair of our time. We saved some laughs for the fashion faux paux that was the 80s. Oh my........ Then it was off to bed, or was it? Carey and I were trying to snooze while Martie and Angie were trying to remember just a few of the gazillion boys that they dated. Occassionally, they would try to reel us into the conversation by mentioning a few of our interesting dates as well. Jay Johnson? Yes, I told him I was recovering from mono to avoid the homecoming date kiss. It seemed like the thing to do at the time.......

From Knoxville to Jefferson City to pick up my date for the reunion (that would be my husband) and then on to Gatlinburg for the big event. We checked into the River View Terrace and dressed for dinner and dancing. I was fortunate to be a part of a very cool, very close-knit class, and it was great to catch up with everyone. I have to say that the JCHS Class of 86 looks pretty darn good 20 years later. Lots of laughs, lots of stories, and lots of memories.........

On Sunday, it was back home, and thus the final leg of the 2006 Summer Tour had ended. OK, maybe it wasn't very rock star-ish, but I still felt like the lead singer of Three Dog Night after the Summer Tour of '76 - which I imagine translates as - very, very tired!