We went to Tennessee earlier this month to visit my grandma, aunt, uncle and cousins and had such a great time. Grandma totally spoiled us. She laid out a tasty breakfast each morning, complete with clementines (which Patrick is now referring to as "Sweeties" instead of "Cuties") and pastries from Panera's. She also planned fun (yet non-stressful) outings during the day, such as hanging out in the 60-degree weather in her darling neighborhood (think DayBreak, but smaller and more centrally located), a picnic in the Smoky Mountains, lunch on the Clinch River, a morning at the Oak Ridge Children's Museum and chocolate shakes at the old-fashioned drug store in town. Oh, and there were many Scrabble games. And a few sinful pieces of Grandma's chocolate cake. Mmmm . . .




(Shittiest Scrabble hand EVER)
We also got to spend some fun times with Uncle Matt (who we referred to as "Bad Matt" to avoid confusion with our own Matt, who is "Nerd Matt"), my I-Hate-Brad-Pitt's-New-Facial-Hair Aunt Laura, agreeable tween cousin Sam (can tweens be agreeable? aren't they supposed to be total a-holes?) and my youngest cousin, the gravely-voiced spitfire named Will.



And, finally, let me just say that The South gets a really bad rap. I mean, I love The South - after all, it's the region that gave us
Britney Spears! And though Oak Ridge, Tenn., put itself on the map in a
very unique way, it is still innately southern. Where else can you get an ice cream cone filled with whipped cream? Or sit in an old hickory rocking chair in the airport? Or see a 300-pound mulleted woman in overalls cut the tag off her new WalMart faux leather boots with a hunting knife?* No where except Tennessee, baby. We've gotta get back there in 2010 for more adventures.


*I don't have a photo of this experience. I reeeeeally wanted to take one so I could submit it
here, but was scared that I would get my ass whooped if anyone caught on to what I was attempting to do. My friend, Angela, is Queen of taking
camera phone photos on the sly - I think she needs to give me a lesson.