Blissful on the Bayou: TENNESSEE TRIP

J and I left last Wednesday, the 12th, and drove northeast towards his hometown of Columbia, Tennessee. Columbia is about an hour south of Nashville. A majority of his family members (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) live in Middle Tennessee. As always, the trip flew by and we wish we could have had a few more days to spend with everyone. Friday we drove 90+ miles from Columbia, Tennessee to Clarksville, Tennessee and spent the day there. We got to have lunch with Madison (J's best friend friend from high school and best man in our wedding) and then spent the rest of the day visiting J's Dad's side of the family... some of them anyway. It's a big bunch since J's Dad has 7 siblings. Can you imagine raising 8 children? Whew, wears me out just thinking about it. So anyway, we got to visit with Uncle Hilary, Grandma Anitra and Grandpa Ed. In true Anitra fashion, J's Grandma had gone all out for our visit. It doesn't matter if you tell her you've just eaten, she prepares a feast anyway. There was so much catching up to do that I forgot to take pictures while we were there. Saturday was spent with J's Mom's side of the family. It was Nana's surprise birthday party at my in-laws! J's Uncle Art & Aunt Carolyn were there, along with his Aunt Kathy all the way in from South Carolina. We were hiding on the deck in order to (safely) shock Nana when she came outside but she showed us all by peering out of the blinds before coming out. Oh well, we'll get her another year. J and I truly had a wonderful long weekend away. The gorgeous fall weather, nightly happy hour with Mr. Terry's homemade wine, and laughing until I cried moments made for a great trip! A few pictures below.... (note that my mother-in-law isn't in a single photo since she was busy being photographer extraordinaire)