Road trips, Nashville with the Wee Boy, Free music, and an alligator.

Last night I cooked a dinner, and two of the dishes had only one ingredient. It was completely amazing. Don't get me wrong, I like Thanksgiving food. I like it a lot. It's comfort food (i.e. the Kids' menu in adult portions), and it tastes delicious. We ate Thanksgiving food or road trip food or takeout-because-we-didn't-want-to-mess-up-our-kitchen-for-the-Airbnbers food for at least week. Macaroni and Cheese is amazing, but it is not a vegetable. Last night we had curried quinoa, roasted butternut squash, and Brussels sprouts. I could feel every cell in my body thanking me with each bite.

Anyone else still hungover from Thanksgiving? We had a fun holiday. We traveled to Arkansas and spent 5 days with David's family in a condo. My introvert self was a little freaked out by the close quarters, but the company was good. The Wee Boy had an absolutely blast playing non-stop with his cousins, yelling to wake everyone up as early as possible, and eating sugar all week. He also pet an alligator, which you've already seen if you follow me on Instagram:


We also learned that he inherited our weak stomachs for car rides. The boy is an amazing traveler on planes and trains, but take this boy on a car trip and yikes! I lifted my screen-time rules and let him watch the iPad about 30 minutes into our journey, and he puked EVERYWHERE shortly thereafter. I ended up reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz aloud to him to kill time, which was, honestly, mostly delightful. He really liked it, particularly the Winged Monkeys and "the soldier with the green whiskers."

I got a little accidental down time yesterday, when the horrendous driving weather forced our hand. We stopped for the evening in Nashville, exhausted and ready for bed. After a swim in the hotel pool and a little alone time, I felt reinvigorated and wanted to show the Wee Boy a honky tonk. I had never even thought about it, but it turns out that most of the honky tonks on Lower Broadway are all ages before 6pm. We wandered to the Second Fiddle, danced, clapped, tipped, and eventually settled in at Robert's Western World for some comfort food and some comfort music. The Wee Boy, of course, is no stranger to live music, but he was still mesmerized. We left just before it turned 21+ and pretty much went straight to bed.

I'm now plotting the next time we can get down to Nashville for an entire day of honky-tonkin' with the Wee Boy. I don't know why I had never thought of that before.

Speaking of country music, it's time again to start forcing you to listen to my Hanukkah music. Here's a free download or listen to "Blue Dreidel No. 9" from a Christmas Compilation (I know, I know, ironic?):



Also: Louisville parents: Bring your kiddo to Mama's Hip on Wednesday morning for Family Music Jam! 10:30am, drop-in, lots of fun. $10/family. Pretty please?? We have so much fun there.

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