under the magnolia tree

Last week we headed to Nashville for our annual Chinese Reunion.  I look forward to this reunion every year.  We decided to break the trip up and stop in Louisville for a night.  The kids were so excited that we were going to stay in three different hotels.  We dropped off our bags as soon as we checked in and headed to the Louisville Slugger Museum on foot.  What a cute little city and we LOVED this museum!

Afterwards we walked to a restaurant I had read about called Hillbilly Tea.  Lots of iced tea and delicious farm to table kind of food.  The kids devoured the food then we headed back to the pool for some swimming!

The next morning we headed over to Churchill Downs for a walking tour.  

We all found this fascinating and learned so much about the Kentucky Derby.

We got to see the two resident horses who stayed in their little house trying to stay cool.

The museum inside was equally fun.  They had real starting gates in there and Magnolia loved pretending to be a horse ready for the race.  It was pretty cute to see!

Next we head to Wagner's Pharmacy for lunch.  This place is a Churchill Downs institution that's been around for years.  It has been and still is a place for jockeys and trainers to hang out, have lunch at the old fashioned soda fountain, and pick up a special ointment for their horses.  We had Derby sandwiches and cold cokes then hit the road for Nashville.

We arrived to a pool party where all of the girls were reunited!

I just love all of these girls.  I can remember each one being placed in their parent's arms.

The next morning we headed to an indoor playground where the girls and their siblings got to run around like crazy and be silly.

That night we head out to dinner before going to the Grand Ole Opry all wearing their Chinese Reunion t-shirts.  We had a great dinner at a restaurant that had a lot of history from the Opry and  Karoke where some of the employees came up to sing country songs while we ate.  The girls loved that part.

All of the girls sat together at a table and ate and chatted.  It was wonderful, they were so good!

Afterwards in the gift shop, we all bought them red Grand Ole Opry hats!

Then we headed over to see the show!

The three girls in the back, Lily, Natalie, and Jenny are getting so big.  They were seven when we were in China and really remember that day as well.  They are such sweet girls and Georgie took to them in no time!  He said Natalie is "really butiful!"

And here we go!  Bags of Kettle corn in hand, we headed in!

While I don't know that much country music I do know Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees and it was super fun to see and hear him!  Oh, what a voice.  Magnolia is still swooning over him.  We youtube it a lot!  :)  Georgie meanwhile declared him a "bad guy."  Maybe it was the long grey hair and dark mustache???  I don't know but he was in such rare form driving back to the hotel that night.  We were reminiscing about China and George, who hates to hear stories when he wasn't born yet, asked if he was there in China.  We said no, you weren't born yet.  Without any inflection in his voice or any emotion in his body language, he sat back in his car seat and said "I will (s)mack your bottom if you say that one more time."  I have never laughed so hard, I'm still laughing about it.  We have never (s)macked his bottom or ever said we would.  I have no idea where he came up with it but it was just out of nowhere and makes me laugh so hard every time I think of it.

The next day we all got on a huge tour bus and had a private tour of Nashville.  One of the first stops was 2nd street where I learned the definition of Honkey Tonk!  And, of course we had to find a boot store where Magnolia could get some cowgirl boots!

Boot Country it was.  Magnolia was in heaven.  Both she and George got a pair.

Later that night she dressed for the party working around her boots.  When she was all dressed she looked in the mirror and said to herself "See! Even China girls can wear cowgirl boots!"  We laughed and told her she can wear whatever she wants whether she's Chinese or not!

We headed over to Anna Grace's family church in beautiful Franklin/Brentwood.  Since her family was hosting this reunion they treated us all to a catered dinner from the Loveless Cafe and lots of sweet tea!

The older girls organized a mini Olympics.  We headed outside to watch the races.  George wore his cowboy boots and drank lots of sweet tea!

This is Emma, Olyvia's little sister.

Here's Elise.

Anna Grace

Olyvia

Mia

One of the Olympic races.  This looked pretty tricky!

Back inside to cut a Gotcha Day cake for our upcoming Gotcha Days!

Lots of hugs knowing this was the last time together until next year.  

It was hard to say goodbye.  We all had such a good time.  We all share such a special bond and it's so nice to see all of the girls together again and watch them pick right back up where they left off last year.  Even our super shy George who clings when his cousins come around is extremely comfortable around this group of Chinese girls.  This was the second year in a row where we saw him fit right in with no reservations and no shyness.  And it was so relaxing for us to have a lot of adult conversation while the kids played without coming to us for hours at a time.  I should also say that our kids were excellent travelers and our newly potty trained George didn't have one accident, even on the long drives.  They were so good we decided that maybe we can really start traveling again!

Next year it will be Chicago.  We already have a lot of fun stuff in store!