Roaring into the 20s!

We can't get enough of Ramsey's! We went again for breakfast with Granddaddy before he had to go to work on New Year's Eve. There's never a bad time for Ramsey's pie! 

 

While Granddaddy was at work, we drove to Frankfort to walk my old stomping grounds from my first job. The museum was closed, but we found our brick that my co-workers gifted to us. My office was right behind that front window display.

 

I'm so happy that Poor Richard's is still here and even the creaky attic with the vintage books... you still feel like you have to walk carefully or you may fall through! You can see the corner of the museum where my office was through the window, as well as the old location of Gibby's. There were only a handful of tables inside, but I'd often pick up a chicken parmesan sandwich to go (disdainfully removing the pick spear from the box, but keeping the peppermint).

Surviving the frozen tundra of Kentucky... They dipped inside a cozy shop and wouldn’t come out. They were so cute the owners asked to take a photo and they posted it on their social media pages.
 

Exactly 20 years ago tonight I rang in a new millennium in Lexington with this piece of eye candy... Tonight we roared into the twenties together back in Lexington as parents of a teenager, a tween, a feisty fourth grader and a (forever my) baby boy. In another 20 years we'll be drowning in grandbabies (fingers crossed!!). Crazy how time, it keeps a marchin'...

My old stomping grounds! Carigan is literally paralyzed by the cold. Poor 'lil Florida thang. On the way home, we stopped by the house on Williams Lane. It’s the first time I’ve ever driven up this driveway when it’s not been home. But it was so wonderful to see children playing in the yard again. It’s like Andy got a new kid. I met the new owners. They are sweet. She offered to let me come in and look, but it's a little to raw for me. Maybe next time.

 

Granddaddy went to bed two hours ago, but 2/3 of the Rogers family partied in the guest bedroom all the way to midnight. The other third of us is currently living in the previous decade in Nashville.

 

Carigan & Tate fighting each other for the final kiss of the decade. 

 

I had to immediately text Anna Kate and greet her from the future.

Camp Friend Surprise Reunion

Wesley and Anna Kate’s camp friends have continued to be a big part of their lives and a huge blessing. I'm thankful that with the help of Melanie Peden and Carrie Oliva, we were able to pull off a huge surprise and deliver Wes and AK to Nashville after Christmas. They’ve had the time of their lives these past few days - undoubtedly the highlight of their Christmas.  Anna Kate's friends started plotting months ago to pool their monies and try to fly her to Nashville over Christmas break.  When I heard of their plan, I told Wesley and Anna Kate we'd just drive them there. The Peden kids knew they were coming, but they managed to surprise everyone else.  We dropped them off at the Pedens on Saturday, and they put a big bow on Anna Kate's head and waltzed her and Wesley into church Sunday morning.  Carrie sent me a video of the surprise.  So very sweet.  Their Christmas gift from the Pedens was a photo puzzle with pictures from their Disney meet up in October.  It was a fun way to kick off their visit.

Bryant, Ellia, Anna Kate, Ava and Wesley reunited!  Ava cried.  Melanie and Carrie both texted me pics from church - they all sat together on the front row.  Makes my heart happy.

They got to do a lot of fun things while we were in Kentucky - They were in awe of the Christmas lights at the Opryland Hotel.

Avery, Ellia, Ava, Anna Kate, Wesley, Everly & Bryant

They also took them to The Crag to try their hand at climbing for the first time.  Pretty impressive!  This time Macy joined the crew.

They wrapped up their trip with a New Year's Eve party at the Olivas.  They all got to ring in 2020 together and then the girls stayed for a sleepover.  Can't think of any way AK would rather ring in a new decade.

Everly, Lily, Ava, Anna Kate, Ellia, Wes, Bryant, Doodle & Gus.^ Thank you to Melanie and Carrie for all the photos, and for your hospitality!  What a blessing to have such special friendships so rooted in Christ.

Where It All Began

Road trip! All Wesley & Anna Kate wanted for Christmas was to go see their Tennessee friends, so we drove all day on the 27th and crashed at Mimi & Grandpa's place in Chattanooga. We delivered them to Elia & Bryant promptly on the 28th... such a joyous reunion! Wesley was so excited he forgot his clothes bag, so I had to do some shopping online at Target and poor Melanie had to go there to pick up  jeans and underwear. He's going to be wearing Bryant's t-shirts. 

 

The rest of us drove on to Lexington. Carigan is loving life as the oldest child... she even got to move up from the back:

 

Granddaddy was finishing up his shift at Home Depot, so we killed some time before heading to his new place. We took the kids to Lexington Green and our Hilton, where I lived for about a month when we first moved to Kentucky back in 1989, and where Michael and I spent our wedding night. Since we had time to kill, we actually walked inside the hotel for the first time since our wedding night in 2003. We saw the restaurant where we ate our first meal together as a married couple (breakfast on March 9th), and we even went up to the top floor and found the Governor's Suite, where we spent our wedding night. It's the only "special" room in the hotel. I'm glad it's still there! When we were there you had to use a key card on the elevator to get to the Governor’s Suite, but we were able to go right up with the kids. Like walking into a memory walking up to this door! Carigan and Tate were explicitly unimpressed by the historical significance. And they have swans swimming around in front of the hotel! I don’t remember if there were swans or not, but either way I’ve decided it’s prophetic!

Carigan got to pick out a book at Joseph Beth. I was exactly her age when I lived next door at the Hilton. I remember walking here to read books. The kids section was downstairs  like it is now, but Joseph-Beth hadn't taken over the whole mall yet, so it wasn't in this exact spot. I remember there was a large carpeted platform like risers with stuffed animals where you could climb up and read. Now they have bourbon barrels and fiberglass thoroughbreds. 

I made Michael bring us to Joseph-Beth back in 2002 so I could consult the Farmer’s Almanac in setting a wedding date. He was annoyed that I cared what the weather would be. He was all, “Isn’t marrying me enough?”  Laugh if you want, but we got married just a couple weeks after a catastrophic ice storm, on a sunny unseasonably warm day in early March. My best friend got married two weeks later (also in Lexington) and it was cold and rainy. I stand by my Farmer’s Almanac!

 

Church at Southside with Granddaddy & Uncle Corey, and Granddaddytown for lunch. They've waited all year for this!

Granddaddy's place is so cool! He found all of our old toys in the basement of the house on Williams Lane and set them up in the basement of his new place. I can't tell you how happy it made my heart to see my kids playing with my old Barbies! He even found the old harvest gold telephone that hung on the wall of our kitchen in the house on Budd Court in Longmont. I still remember meticulously trying to dial a number on the rotary dial without messing up. If you messed up you had to start all over. I even remember our phone number... 772-5351. I had to memorize it for my first-ever homework assignment in second grade. 

Bethany met us at Ramsey's for dinner. It's been a couple years since she's seen the kids. They kept her entertained. Tate was practicing writing his name in cursive and was eager for Bethany to praise him.