Munchkin Invasion

We've been busy with company the past week. First came Matt & Mandy and the Munchkins. (Franklin & Ellie). The first order of business was to get the two little ones acclimated to their life jackets. Surprisingly they wore them without any objection.

Ready for the pool.

The temps have been in the low 90's here and humid making the swimming pool a real oasis when two small children are on the boat. Since it was early in the week we pretty much had the pool to ourselves.

Pool Time.

At ages two and three these two are in the Go position all the time. It didn't take long for them to discover the water slide.

Don't let that innocent face fool you. A little flirt resides just behind it!

Franklin was a bit cautious going down the slide but enjoyed it none the less. Ellie on the other hand after one slow trip down decided to just lay back on the life jacket and rocket down the slide and fly off into the water. Both would come up spitting and sputtering and ready for more.

Franklin trying to talk GramPam into going down the slide.

One afternoon we rented a golf cart and drove into town for ice cream.

Craig's Dairy. The ice cream was good but the server was less than happy to be there. Seems we interrupted her texting. What were we thinking?

Of course no visit to Grand Rivers is complete without a visit to Patti's. There's no way to describe Patti's other than to say it's a tourist trap that serves a whopping sized pork chop and a variety of other tasty dishes.

Riding the horse. Still only a quarter at Patti's!

Patti's 2" thick pork chop.

The kids love turtles and they weren't disappointed during their visit. They swim right up to the back of the boat every day. We became even more popular when the kids started feeding them crackers.

Turtle feeding time.

They found even more turtles under the Commonwealth Yacht Club along with the resident geese.

Before any day could get underway it became a ritual for the munchkins to watch the DVD, Despicable Me 2.

Pacifier.

I even got trapped into watching it. Thank God for Animal Crackers! 

We spent another afternoon at the pool and one day we took Tourist out and anchored in a nearby cove where the kids wore us out.

Taking a trip around the boat. Ellie in true priss fashion spent the time looking at herself in my sunglasses.

 By mid afternoon it was time to head back in to get ready for dinner at The Catfish Kitchen in nearby Benton, Ky.

Country dining at it's best!

Friday morning the troops were up early and on the road back home. Pam immediately went into clean up mode determined to get every smudge and fingerprint erased as well as the bedding cleaned and back on in time for our next guests to arrive. Friday afternoon.


Our second set of visitors, Pam's sister Barb and her husband Bill arrived Friday afternoon. So what did we do with them? We put them in our car and drove back to Paducah to get groceries and have dinner.

Saturday we lazed around in the morning and decided to take the boat out for an overnight. Still hot outside, it didn't take long to find the water once we were anchored.

Diaper dipping.

Barb peeking over the transom.

Snack time!

Followed by nap time.

Before dinner Bill gave Pam a lesson in playing Cribbage after letting her win the first game (his story). Pam was excited to be playing anything since I'd rather listen to my arteries harden than play board games or cards.

We had steaks on the grill for dinner and watched highlights from the Johnny Carson era of the Tonight Show before collapsing into bed.

Sunday Pam made a great breakfast before we pulled the anchor and took a little ride through the Barkley Canal into Kentucky Lake. Once we returned to the dock we got cleaned up and went to dinner at the Commonwealth Yacht Club.

We made a stop at the bar before going to our table and were greeted by one of the rudest individuals I've encountered in quite awhile. We no sooner took our seats at the bar next to this guy when he starts screaming at the soccer match on TV. I might expect that in a sports bar but not here and certainly not right in your ear! This moron carried on for the remainder of the match and at one time slammed his stool so hard I thought he'd broken it. He was the only one there watching the game while everyone else just looked at him and what an ass he was making of himself. Everyone was glad to see him leave.

We were happy to find our table!

Monday all of us jumped in the car and headed to Nashville.

We're in Tennessee!

Our landing place in town was just off Broadway. Our interest for the day was to explore the  haunts along Broadway. We started with lunch at Rippy's and then off we went.

Lunch at Rippy's.

Looking down Broadway.

Been there for years!

Tootsie's Orchid Lounge with the Ryman Auditorium behind.

Inside Tootsie's.

Inside Legends Corner.

Broadway is lined with bars featuring live music at all hours of the day.

A few of the clubs along 3rd street.

We stumbled into Coyote Ugly where we had to drag Barb & Pam off the bar.

Dancers!

Our walk took us into Printers Alley which years ago was the late night spot to be but is now a spattering of strip clubs.

Still historic but not what it once was.

Not all of Nashville is dedicated to music.

We even found the replica of the Parthenon in Centennial Park.

It was a fun day walking the streets of Music City and listening to the variety of musicians hoping to be discovered.

We made the drive back to Tourist and had baked ziti for dinner.

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at Docker's before saying goodbye to Barb & Bill.

Dockers Bayside Grill.

On the road to home.

It was fun having company for a few days and provided a nice distraction from the variety of chores we have on our list for the summer.