Oh my gosh! Our boy was here, and we could barely stop hugging and kissing him long enough to go do things. But we did…even if most of them had to do with eating and getting anywhere inside to beat the heat.
In this case, pictures really DO do the trip justice, as most of them include our Rudebega boy!
A joyful reunion! Ugh, after waiting all day to see our precious baby, the moment was finally here! How does he seem so much taller after just four and a half weeks? I just love this picture so very much. If we could have melded into one being physically, we would have… We were also so incredibly happy to see Bonnie and Phil, but no one was there to take a picture of it!
Dinner at 5 Points Diner with Uncle Caanan, Lisa, Nay Nay and Dr. Phun!
Saturday morning hike at Shelby Park. Rudy pretended to be an Australian trail guide, named Peter Dookiekins. He, sadly knew nothing about nature, but everything about comedy, so it was a hilarious hike.
Mexican brunch for the win at Cinco De Mayo.
Too bad we have to hang out with such fuddie-duddies….(seriously, we love you guys)
Dinner at Boston Commons Pub after a thirty-minute walk. At this point, we would have eaten anywhere. But we were lucky to find a place with no wait, cold water, fresh salads, and a quiet atmosphere!
Monday morning donut run from Donut Distillery. Aren’t these the cutest little treats?
Buy one, get three… I mean, “When in Nashville”…
Some back seat giggles to stave off the sadness of saying “goodbye”.
A little blue, but we’ll see you in 2 weeks…
Some of the things that weren’t documented with pics were Bonnie and Phil’s bus tour of downtown Nashville, several video game battles, a serious wrestling match between Rudes and me, so many kisses, movies watched, whiskey drank…and drank…and drank, a full illustrated interpretation by Rudy to one of CS’s songs, swing time, a TikTok video made, hugs upon hugs upon hugs, a zoom interview Champagne Sunday did for a college class (our good friend, Dr. John Saunders teaches communications at the University of Alabama, and was doing a unit on music in the media, so he interviewed us on Zoom in front of his class), neighborhood walks, more Frothy Monkey for dessert, porch visits, couch visits, and an overall amazing time. We also took Rudy downtown on Saturday afternoon, after our hike. It was like a swarm of bees, an infestation of college-type, college-adjacent, college frat wannabes, college drop outs, and several people who had probably spent all their money so their kids could go to college…and end up here. It was like Mexico during spring break, or Vegas…anytime. It was nuts. We had all the windows down so Rudy could really get a sense of the place. After about ten minutes crawling down Broadway in traffic, Rudy said, “Thank you. I’ve had enough. I prefer the suburbs.” Hahahahaha!
We will never be able to thank Bonnie and Phil enough for all they have done for us to make this whole tour so doable for me and Jared. I know our son is one of the coolest, easiest, most fun humans to be around, and anyone should be so lucky to have him…but it is not lost on us the love, effort, devotion, energy, and time it takes to take care of someone else’s child for seven weeks, no matter how wonderful they are. But Bonnie and Phil have tackled it with grace and joy, never making us feel like he is a burden or like they are over it in any way. Then, on top of that, they made the trip out to Nashville so we could all be together for Mother’s Day and Jared’s birthday… My mom used to tell me, “You never know who your angels are going to be.” Well, I truly believe we do now. Nay Nay and Dr. Phun are two of the most amazing angels, and there aren’t enough tributes I could write to immortalize them, our profound friendship with them, or our shared love. Thank you over and over again, from the bottom of our hearts.
I love that you all got to spend time because your love for each other knows no boundaries!!
It was a lot of fun hearing the stories of their trip.