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Monday, August 25, 2008

Honeymoon

Okay, so forgive me... my pictures are pretty jumbled. They skip around some, just read the captions and it should make sense. Our honeymoon.................................



Anthony and I at the home of the Grand Ole Opry....The Ryman Auditorium. This was a really neat experiance. We really enjoyed exploring the roots of country music.

Anthony... doing his best to look like the tourists we were at The Hermitage (home of President Andrew Jackson). The 1100+ acre farm was beautiful. We went on a horse-drawn carraige ride of the plantation grounds and toured Jackson's home (sorry no pics inside). Anthony is seen here in his driveway, faceing his home.
I am standing in the back of Jackson's home. One of our favorite parts of our honeymoon was visiting these old plantations. In Jackson's home, all of the furnishings were origional...dating back to the early 1800s. The wallpaper in the foyer was coming up on 200 years old and still looked fairly new. It was a great experiance.
Anthony and I enjoyed many great restaurants. Before the Grand Ole Opry on our last night in Nashville we went to the Rainforest Cafe. Neat, but not as cool as the Aquarium restaurant. They did have dancing monkeys and rainstorms... very fun to take kids to.
Anthony and I had a GREAT time at the Grand Ole Opry. Some of the entertainers included Ricky Skaggs, Kellie Pickler, Jim Ed Brown and Craig Morgan.
Anthony and I on the front porch at the Belle Meade Plantation. This was an old thoroughbred horse plantation. Some of America's most famous racing horses can trace their family tree back to the "foundation studs" kept on this plantation. The history was very interesting.
Anthony in front of the main house on the plantation.
Ahh... the plantation owners. :) The small house in the background was the children's play house.
Anthony petting sting rays at the mall in Nashville outside of the Aquarium restaurant. I can't tell you how much this freaked me out. The sting rays are hand fed by everyone visiting, so they just swim right up to you and even come out of the water for food. Needless to say I kept my distance ... happily snaping photos instead.
Inside the Aquarium restaurant. The HUGE tank had everything from tuna to sharks.
FLORIDA--- Anthony and I really wanted to meet our newest family member Alexandra McKay Simpson. Alexandra made her entrance earlier than expected...the day before our wedding. Her daddy Chris (my brother) was unfortunately in Missouri with Taylor for the wedding when Trish went into labor and had baby Alex. Luckily she is a happy, healthy baby and Chris got to spend a few short weeks with his new girl before heading to Korea for a year. Anthony and I enjoyed our time spent with Trish, Taylor and Alex and can't wait to see them again.
Anthony and Alex watching cartoons. (Actually Anthony is watching cartoons...Alex could care less) Funny, who is the kid in this picture?
Alex and I playing on the couch. We had so much fun meeting the newest addition to the Simpson's. Alexandra is beautiful...and so well tempered. Miss you already.
Anthony and I ate at Fudruckers restaurant in Destin, FL. They had a large man-made swamp with over 100 small aligators in it that customers could feed. we also got to touch an aligator's back, side and stomach. Oh yeah, and the food was good too.
This picture was actually taken in Nashville when Anthony and I went bar-hopping. We had so much fun listening to music and going from place to place. We definitely have to go back with friends soon. What a blast.


Anthony and Taylor playing Jenga. Anthony is always so intense... even when playing with a 5 year old.
Okay....so I am pretty special in this photo, but I thought I'd share it with you all anyway. Taylor did my beautiful hair and wanted a snapshot to commemorate the occasion. I know you all are jealous of my good looks. They are definitely what gets Anthony up in the morning. ha.
Anthony is so proud of this picture. Little Alex is a clone of her sister I swear! She was really enjoying laying on my lap and looking around. I'm pretty sure we are watching the olympics right now too. Alex and I watched a lot of beach volleyball together!
Uncle Anthony was great with the girls... Taylor has really warmed up to sharing her Aunt Sara with him. Here they are at the beach discussing seashells.
Okay, so I put my "special-ed" picture in...here's Anthony's for the trip. I told anthony to smile and this is what he gave me. Gotta love him!
MEMPHIS----- Beale Street. Graceland. Civil Rights Museum.
Anthony's "Beale Big Ass Beer" Our first night of our honeymoon was spent on Beale street. I loved the atmosphere...Anthony say's, "it's dirty." We still had fun.

Always the tourist... at the home of THe King...Graceland. Suprisingly, this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. A must see if stopping in Memphis.
On top of the Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis. We are standing in front of the duck mansion built on top of the hotel. As corney as it sounds we watched the duck parade out of the lobby's fountain, follow the duckmaster down the red carpet and into the elevator up to their home. I can't believe we watched this, but I'm glad we did.

Flashback to Florida... the above picture is Anthony (holding Alex) and Taylor. He's such a sweetie. Below, I am holding Alex soon after we arrived in Florida.





Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Honeymoon

We're halfway through our honeymoon, enjoying are stay with Trish, Taylor and Alex. Memphis was a blast...we saw the king. Can't wait to get home and upload are many pictures.