Monday, July 26, 2010

McKenzie's Birthday Trip

This past weekend we went to Memphis for a couple of nights for McKenzie's birthday trip.  Again this year McKenzie chose to go on a family trip instead of having a party.  (Yeah!)  Her first choice was to go to Nashville, but the flood changed our plans and she picked Memphis instead. 

Our first stop was The Incredible Pizza Company on Germantown Road.  That was at the top of McKenzie's list for the weekend so we decided to get that out of the way first.  I'm glad we did.  There were two bus loads of kids there but we still had a lot of fun playing the games and eating pizza. 

Next we checked in at the Doubletree Hotel downtown and went straight to the pool.  The pool was outside on the second floor, which was pretty neat.  The kids and I swam for a little while and then we headed out to find a nearby bakery for a snack.  We walked a few blocks and found this bakery that I had found on the Internet.  Unfortunately, it closes at 3:00 and it was 3:15!  Oh well, we made the loop and went to the Peabody Place.

The Peabody Place has gone down in recent years and doesn't have much left in it.  It does still have two awesome places to snack in, though!  The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Maggie Moo's Ice Cream.
These are three of the six chocolate covered strawberries that I got.  The RMCC has the best chocolate covered strawberries I have ever had!  The only reason I only got six is because that's all they had!
Betty got some ice cream and McKenzie got a chocolate milk shake from Maggie Moo's and Matt got a chocolate covered marshmallow with sprinkles.  Matt ate a few bites of his and then wanted to eat some of everybody else's snack.

The plan for Friday night was for Matt and me to go to the Redbirds game and McKenzie and Betty to eat a nice supper, go watch the ducks at the Peabody and then relax by the pool or in the room.  Our plans were changed by a flock of doves.  Apparently that is what caused a blackout in downtown Memphis for about 3 1/2 hours.  McKenzie and Betty's supper never came and the Redbirds game ended up being canceled.  We ended up going to see our friends at Target for a while.  I'm sure everyone there was happy to see Betty again!  We got back to the hotel just after the power was restored about 9:15.  Thankfully, we didn't have to go searching for another room!

Saturday morning we went to Miss Polly's on Beale Street for breakfast.  They have excellent waffles and potatoes.  Here's McKenzie's breakfast of eggs, bacon, grits and toast.
Lunch was at the Arcade, which is the oldest restaurant in Memphis.  The food is great and the atmosphere is really cool.  It was also frequently visited by Elvis - but he didn't show up that day.  We did sit a couple of tables away from his usual table, though.  We rode the trolley to and from the Arcade which thrilled Matt!

We got to see the Peabody ducks Saturday.
We hit a few stores Saturday afternoon and then went to eat supper at the Side Porch Steak House in Bartlett.  On the way back to the hotel we saw the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile downtown!!!
Saturday night we decided to take a tour of downtown on a carriage ride.  The carriage we picked happened to be driven by a guy who is originally from Grenada!  Small world!  We all had fun riding around seeing the sights of downtown.
This is the driver's dog, Sonny, who looked dead or asleep when we got in the carriage.  Once we got in and he realized that Betty "Dr. Doolittle" Cummings was riding, he came alive and actually jumped over the divider between the driver and the carriage and sat down in Betty's lap!  He didn't want to budge and the driver had to practically pick him up and put him back up front.  The driver kept apologizing and saying that Sonny NEVER does that and he didn't know what got into him.  We told him not to worry, it happens all the time to Betty.  Animals just love her!  At least the dog didn't jump on her head like the squirrel did!
The kids were glued to the seat opposite Sonny after his display of affection for Betty.
The Redbirds' ballpark was right across from our hotel, so after the carriage ride I went over and caught the last three innings of the game Saturday night.  The shot fireworks after the game and we had a perfect view from our hotel room!

Sunday we ate breakfast again at Miss Polly's before we checked out.  Our last stop of the weekend was in Southaven to watch the movie Ramona and Beezus.  It was a sweet little family movie and a good way to end a very fun birthday weekend for McKenzie and us!

1 comment:

Bebe said...

~~sounds like y'all had so much fun,even with the power outage. I would have freaked.~had already heard the dog story,which is hilarious. BA,I remember Mo had a "fondness" for you also~and we'll leave it at that! You were at one of my very fav. places to be,and that is the Peabody Lobby~or my living room as I like to call it when I go. ~so glad y'all had a good trip.I guess your b'day is now officially over,McKenzie,but you went out with a bang for sure.
love,
BettyWard