Trip To Tennessee

Last weekend Hailey and I traveled to Tennessee for my grandmother's 80th birthday and a family reunion. Unfortunately, Ryan wasn't able to go with us this time but we still had a blast with family.
Hailey and I traveled to Charlotte Wednesday night and spent the night there so that we were ready to wake up early and ride with my mom to Tennessee. It is so much easier making a long drive with Hailey if there is someone else to drive so I can entertain. Hailey did awesome on all of the car rides this trip! The best she's ever done...I was so thankful!
Here is Queen Hailey enjoying her snack of grapes in the car.

As soon as we got to my grandmother's house we were given a bushel of green beans to string and break. We grew up doing this every summer so I don't really mind it, but it was interesting to do with a 2 year old wanting to explore. Luckily, my cousin Chole was there and really helped with Hailey a lot. Hailey even got to help a little!

We broke beans pretty much all afternoon and night and then guess what we did the next morning?...break more beans! Hailey even helped fill the jars to can them!

We are going to enjoy those beans all winter long!
It was unusually chilly and rainy the whole time we were there. I threw in  jacket and pair of leggings for Hailey at the last minute and was so glad I did. She ended up wearing them a few times! Like when she woke up and was begging to go to the "farm" and see the horses. (Now, if you couldn't tell from the previous pictures my grandmother and extended family live in the country...like don't need to lock your doors, more cows than people, everyone has a garden country. And we love to visit...I knew Hailey would be so excited to see the animals so I was a bit disappointed that the weather wasn't exactly cooperating. But we made the best of it.)
So when there was a break in the rain we went to my aunt and uncle's house to see the horses and whatever other animals we could find. Hailey was hilarious wherever we went because she would get SO excited when she saw a cow...which was all.the.time. She would scream "LOOK COW! MOOOO!". When we got to their house Chloe took out one of the horses for us to pet. His name was Bad News.

Hailey LOVED him. She kept trying to feed him grass. She was even more excited when BJ came out and let her sit on him. I'm pretty sure this was the highlight of her trip. She keeps saying, "I ride Bad News Mommy. Go back ride again."

 Then we went in the house and saw the kitties and puppies and fed them too. The real treat was when Gretta offered to let us feed the goats! Hailey was SO excited and kept making her goat noise. Gretta even let Hailey "drive" the car up the driveway to get to the goat pen.

All was perfect until a goat nipped at Hailey's finger. Then she was done. But it lasted for a good long while. It was a precious sight too...little girls feeding goats and dogs animal crackers, sometimes sneaking one for themselves ;)

(Again, please ignore the outfit...it was a lot chillier than I anticipated...)

That afternoon after naps, I had two little helpers while I made chicken and dumplins for dinner. They were delicious!

My dad, sister and her family arrived the next morning so Hailey was excited to have more play mates.Then we went to the reunion and I didn't get a chance to take one picture.  I was too busy chasing a little girl who was excited to be outside and see wide open spaces. ;)
After it was over we took the kids to feed the fish in my cousins pond, in his front yard...I told you we were in the country. Hailey loved seeing the giant fish and telling them to "come eat fishy ". All was great...until it started raining...like pouring. So we had to high-tail-it back to Granny's house. It wasn't that far, we were just a little wet when we arrived. Someone tried to catch the raindrops on her tongue as we were running. Crazy girl.

The next morning, Sunday, we packed up while Trey occupied the kids

and headed back to Charlotte. We rode back with my dad (because my mom was staying a few extra days). Hailey was super excited when Das let us stop at Bass Pro for a stretch break. She loved playing on the boats, seeing the fish and the other fun toys.

We got back to Charlotte Sunday afternoon and I wasn't planning on coming back to Raleigh until Monday. I just didn't want Hailey to be in the car that much. But as soon as we got to Charlotte Hailey started asking to "Go home and see Daddy". So that night, around bedtime, we drove back to Raleigh. Of course Hailey stayed awake the whole way and was so thrilled to see Ryan when we arrived. It was so cute. He took her out of her car seat and she just layed her head on his shoulder and hugged him for a solid 5 minutes. She missed him. Love!

I was so excited that we got to visit family in Tennessee this summer and that Hailey got to experience country life for a few days. Looking forward to the next trip!