Beale Street, Memphis

We were so lucky to be in Memphis during the Memphis in May Music Festival. Downtown was buzzing with people and activity. We spent the whole afternoon and evening people watching and site seeing. It was amazing! We really were there!!

My two favorite men...

Just a glimpse of the crowd as we entered Beale St. There were thousands of people! Most of the restaurants and shops had carts on the sidewalk selling souvenirs, food, beer, etc.

We got a kick out of this. I can't tell you the joke we made about it, but we still laugh amongst ourselves.

Toward the end of the day, the crowd began heading toward the riverfront. The concert was held in a dome right on the river -- the throng of people you see parallel to the river was the line to get into the concert! Shannon and I walked down through the crowd down the river. We sat and watched the boats, birds and people. It was wonderful...hot but wonderful! We've decided that we need to go back to Memphis every year on vacation!

The boot mystery...solved

Who knew that the great rainboot mystery would be solved while eating the world's best BBQ? We got a recommendation for a restaurant from a nice lady selling pralines just off Beale St. She told us "The Rendezvous" was the best BBQ in town...she couldn't tell us exactly where it was, but that it wouldn't be hard to find. Well, we walked a bit...not really realizing that the restaurant's storefront was in an alley. But, it's a fairly well-known place, so we eventually got good directions and made it there. This is us at The Rendezvous, trying to decide what to eat. Little did we know we were about to enter taste bud heaven.

This was our waiter...and the one who solved our boot mystery. First of all, he was a terrific waiter; we had great food and great service. When we saw MORE women in the restaurant sporting the boots, we finally just asked him. He explained that for the last 9 out of 10 years, it has rained during the Music Festival at the riverfront. So now, women come prepared to get wet... hence the rainboots!! Just as predicted, it DID rain on the music festival. In fact, there were such fierce storms, they had to evacuate the concert on Friday night. Shannon and I had friends and family calling and texting us to make sure we were safe. The storms were so bad, they made the news in Missouri!

Ok, back to the Rendezvous. The food was UNBELIEVABLE!! Shannon had ribs. You can see by the bare bones that he enjoyed every bite! You don't have a choice in side dishes...all they serve are beans and cole slaw...but oh my GOSH, they were so good, you don't care to have anything else. I'm not a big slaw fan, but theirs is amazing.

Memphis has the best sweet tea, hands down. One of the things I loved about the Rendezvous was that the waiter brings an entire pitcher of tea and leaves it on the table. Yes, I drank the entire pitcher. If I could have taken it home with me, I would have!

I had the brisket. It was probably the best brisket I've ever had...as you can see, I also enjoyed every bite. I seriously considered the ribs, but I still haven't quite gotten past my 'can't eat off the bone' food rule.

If you're ever in Memphis, you HAVE to stop in at The Rendezvous! We were so glad we did!

Boots on Beale Street!

Shannon and I took a trip to Memphis in April... we luckily, though unwittingly, were there during the Memphis in May Music Festival downtown. On our second day there (after Graceland, of course!), we went to the Civil Rights Museum, then downtown to Beale St. Wow! What an experience! We saw people of every type, heard great music and tasted some amazing food. We ran into a group of bikers; one of them had a cool shirt on, so I asked to take his picture... Notice his buddy laughing in the background. I think they were surprised that I wanted their picture! They looked a little intimidating and I'm rather vanilla... but they were really nice guys.

Soon, we discovered that a mystery was afoot. (Yes, that's foreshadowing). It seemed everywhere we looked, we saw women wearing rainboots. It didn't seem to matter what they were wearing...dresses, shorts, skirts...they all had on rainboots. We thought maybe it was a Memphis fashion statement that hadn't made it to Missouri yet... Anyway, I started taking pictures...

We saw rainboots in every color and pattern...

Even plaid...

One store had quite a promotion on rainboots...

A dress, leggings and rainboots... seriously, we saw probably a hundred women dressed like this. Finally, we gave up and asked "What's up with the boots?" The answer surprised us... stay tuned.

How we've changed!

I recently (finally!) got a new phone... I found some pictures on the old phone that I had forgotten about. They're so funny...it's amazing how much the kids have grown and changed. This is Roan in 2007...back in the days when he would only sleep in Libby's princess nightgowns. He doesn't do this anymore!!!! Hallelujah!

Libby and Roan... look how little they were!

Oh my... this was one of Roan's first haircuts. There was a day when haircuts were a torturous ordeal...screaming, crying, holding him down... he doesn't do this anymore!!! He sits in the chair like a big boy and flirts with the stylist. Sometimes I wonder how I survived those days.

This is the famous "Snow White dress"...complete with the "tewawa" (tiara). He was so tiny! He wore this dress to shreds, literally. And again, he doesn't wear dresses anymore!!!

Look at Libby! Her hair was so short and curly...and she was so little! She would have been 3 here...younger than Roan is now.

We've all grown so much since we moved to KC in 2006! It's amazing that this chapter in our lives is almost over!

Library Summer Reading Program

Every year, the kids look forward to participating in the Library's Summer Reading Program. Every Monday night, they host a family program. A couple of weeks ago, they had a Magician / Ventriloquist. The kids LOVED it! He called Libby up to participate with the ventriloquist dummy... He called her "Hannah Montana" and she was thrilled!!

Afterward, Roan was really disappointed that he didn't get called up in front of the audience like sister did, so the guy was kind enough to pull out his dummies and let him see them.

He let Roan hold the gorilla...you can tell by his face that he wasn't too sure how he felt about it! They had so much fun, they're still talking about it!

Roan the preschool playboy!

It's no secret that Roan is a charmer. He's the kid everyone knows. I was at the Redbox kiosk the other day and the lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said "You're Roan's mom, aren't you? He just cracks me up!" I had NO IDEA who this woman was! Roan has always had several girls chasing him at once. He's had one girlfriend for several months, now. Her name is Shaylin and they've been in the same class at preschool since last year. It's so funny to hear his stories about her. He calls her his "woman" and tells me how she pulls him around the corner by the bathroom and kisses him in the hallway. "She kisses me on the MOUTH, mom!" She came to his birthday party in February...and according to him, that means they're getting married! So cute. Unfortunately, Shaylin's last day at preschool was last week. Here's a picture of them together: They're pretty good buddies and he's going to miss her a lot...even though he says she's pretty bossy! He ought to like bossy women...he lives with two of them!

This little girl has a crush on Roan...so she made her way into the picture, too. Surrounded by women at age 5...how will I handle this when he's 16?