Fourth of July in Nashville
We started our fourth by donning our nations colors and eating a breakfast buffet at our hotel's restaurant. They were surprised when we said 'table for eleven please' and figured there was nothing else to do but give us an entire conference room to ourselves. It was perfect. A table for all the kids and one for us. We ate french toast, made to order omelets, crepes and all kinds of other things. The kids were in heaven picking anything they wanted and going back for thirds and fourths. The best part was that because we are Marriott Reward Members we got our $12 buffet for $9 and then as nice gesture... they let all the kids ($7 each) be free. Maybe they didn't realize how much our kids ate... but they sure got a great tip.
With full tummies we decided to explore the streets of downtown Nashville. Ryan, put your book away!
We headed east on Broadway. Nashville is definitely 'Music City'. We saw huge guitars, statues of Elvis, neon signs saying 'honky tonk heaven', cowboy hats and bars blinking 'live music' as far as the eye could see... and it was so fun to be there in the middle of it.
Apparently, Nashville is one of the best places to be for Fourth of July celebrations... Lucky us. At the end of Broadway they had the street blocked off and a whole Free Kid's Zone set up with bouncy houses, huge slides and free vanilla ice cream.
Luke in ice cream heaven.
Then we wandered down to the Riverfront Park along the Cumberland River to take in all the excitement of the big country music fireworks show. It was only noon and already the grass was covered with lawn chairs and blankets staking out their place for the big show. We decided against waiting nine hours for a good seat and headed back to the hotel so the kids could swim and Matthew and I could nap. At five we headed out again, ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and wandered the streets having fun 'people watching'. And boy did we find some interesting people to watch.
We wandered down by the river again just as they shot off a series of fireworks. The sound of them reverberating against the buildings made them so loud... almost like gun shots. Then we looked down to see Luke, Leah, Annie and Megan scared to death. We decided we didn't want to be this close when the actual firework show started. Instead we headed back up to a large courtyard, set up our chairs, broke out the glow in the dark red and blue bracelets and sat down to enjoy the fireworks, Nashville style. Two minutes it started to rain. We grabbed our chairs and blankets and set up them against the wall of the courthouse to try and shield us from the rain. 'Ya, this is going to work', we said to ourselves. Then the fireworks started... 45 minutes early. Then two minutes later it really started to rain. I mean buckets of water kind of rain. And so there we were completely drenched, kids crying, adults laughing, fireworks popping, people running for cover in all directions. Thank you Dan for capturing the chaos in the video clip at the end of his post. It's hilarious.
But what could we do. We were already soaked. We watched the rest of the fireworks and then decided to run the seven blocks back to the hotel in the pouring rain.... with Megan and Emily on our backs and blankets over Luke and Matt in the stroller, and running through huge puddles in our flip flops, and Emily thinking that the city was going to flood, and Ryan and Katie saying that this was the best fourth of July ever! And I think I have to agree. It's definitely one we won't ever forget.
With full tummies we decided to explore the streets of downtown Nashville. Ryan, put your book away!
We headed east on Broadway. Nashville is definitely 'Music City'. We saw huge guitars, statues of Elvis, neon signs saying 'honky tonk heaven', cowboy hats and bars blinking 'live music' as far as the eye could see... and it was so fun to be there in the middle of it.Apparently, Nashville is one of the best places to be for Fourth of July celebrations... Lucky us. At the end of Broadway they had the street blocked off and a whole Free Kid's Zone set up with bouncy houses, huge slides and free vanilla ice cream. Luke in ice cream heaven.Then we wandered down to the Riverfront Park along the Cumberland River to take in all the excitement of the big country music fireworks show. It was only noon and already the grass was covered with lawn chairs and blankets staking out their place for the big show. We decided against waiting nine hours for a good seat and headed back to the hotel so the kids could swim and Matthew and I could nap. At five we headed out again, ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and wandered the streets having fun 'people watching'. And boy did we find some interesting people to watch.We wandered down by the river again just as they shot off a series of fireworks. The sound of them reverberating against the buildings made them so loud... almost like gun shots. Then we looked down to see Luke, Leah, Annie and Megan scared to death. We decided we didn't want to be this close when the actual firework show started. Instead we headed back up to a large courtyard, set up our chairs, broke out the glow in the dark red and blue bracelets and sat down to enjoy the fireworks, Nashville style. Two minutes it started to rain. We grabbed our chairs and blankets and set up them against the wall of the courthouse to try and shield us from the rain. 'Ya, this is going to work', we said to ourselves. Then the fireworks started... 45 minutes early. Then two minutes later it really started to rain. I mean buckets of water kind of rain. And so there we were completely drenched, kids crying, adults laughing, fireworks popping, people running for cover in all directions. Thank you Dan for capturing the chaos in the video clip at the end of his post. It's hilarious.But what could we do. We were already soaked. We watched the rest of the fireworks and then decided to run the seven blocks back to the hotel in the pouring rain.... with Megan and Emily on our backs and blankets over Luke and Matt in the stroller, and running through huge puddles in our flip flops, and Emily thinking that the city was going to flood, and Ryan and Katie saying that this was the best fourth of July ever! And I think I have to agree. It's definitely one we won't ever forget.