Getaway to Louisville

Brandon and I at the rehearsal dinner.

This weekend, I had the pleasure of a weekend getaway with just my husband. We enjoyed it so much! Brandon had to be in a wedding in Louisville for an old high-school friend. We decided that rather than drag our children off on a 5 hour car ride where the hi-lights of the weekend would be sleeping 4 (and a half if you count Rhett) to a king size bed, we would leave them here with mom and dad and spare them the torments of wedding dinner rehearsals and ceremonies. Brandon and I took advantage of our time together and enjoyed the weekend very much. I have lots of pictures, surprisingly since it was just the two of us, but we had some super friend volunteers who took pics for us. Brandon's parents and sister even came up and met us on Saturday and we got to spend some time with them. Rather than blog about everything and then post pictures at the end, I'll post a picture, telling about it and then move on to the next. We did lots of stuff in a short period of time and there are so many good pictures that I expect this will be a long blog...

Friday night after the rehearsal dinner, Brandon and I headed out to 4th Street Live. We had heard a little about it but really didn't know what it was all about. Before even walking on to the street they asked to see our ids (which I had left in our hotel room of course). They looked down at my belly very non-discreetly and said I could go on in--that they didn't think I would be drinking anyway. Ha. So, we walked down the street and listened to some of the music. Unless you were in and out of bars, there wasn't much to do so needless to say, we didn't spend very much time there. Still it was neat to see all the lights and hear some music.

This picture is actually for my brother! On 4th street, they had a bowling alley called Lucky Strike. I had Brandon take a picture for J! When J was in college he was hypnotized at one of the school functions. They told him he was in a horse race and asked him what the name was of the horse he was betting on. In a very slow, country accent he said, "Luuuucky Striiiiiike". When I saw this I immediately thought of him. This is for you, J!

After we had enough of 4th street, we walked to a little park with water fountains all around. It was right down the street from our hotel. We stopped for a few pictures before heading in for the night. The weather was perfect and it was a very pretty place!

Saturday was full of wedding festivities. We arrived at the church around 12:30 for Brandon to be in pictures. The wedding was in a Catholic church and the detail in the church was unbelievable. It was beautiful!

After the wedding, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the reception. This is Brandon's family. I thought it was a really good picture and it was a nice bonus to get to see them and spend some time with them, and although I know they wished we would have brought the boys, we enjoyed our time without having to share them! :)

This is Brandon and a big group of his buddies. When we first started dating, each visit to Inez brought in a whole new group of friends, it seemed. His house was always full of his friends! Now that they are older, and most are married or dating, they don't get together like they used to. I know they must have enjoyed seeing each other again! They weren't exactly thrilled about all the pictures I took but they were good sports and humored me! I think Brandon will be glad he has these one day!

One of the funniest things on the trip was the car ride from the reception! I had ridden (is that a word? It sounds weird...)with Brandon's parents and sister to the reception. We didn't think about all of us having to pile in the car on the ride home from the reception! We were a car full. Luckily, I had my camera to document the moment! :) Mandy and her parents squeezed in the back with her parents (I discovered being hugely pregnant has its advantages as I enjoyed my cushy, air-conditioned seat from the front!) and I was there to snap the pics! :)

These are Brandon's buddies and their wives. We enjoyed getting to hang out and spend some time together this weekend.

We parked at the Louisville Slugger Museum. I wish we would have had time to actually visit that. I think I would have enjoyed it. But, this is the world's largest bat and it sits right outside the museum. Becky, you need to show this to Carter! :)

After changing clothes after the rehearsal dinner we took a drive across the river into Indiana. I had never been to Indiana before and unfortunately, I don't have the pics to document my excitement, but my sister-in-law does! :) We drove across the river to a small park where you can see the Louisville skyline. It was very pretty from there as the sun was going down. You can see Louisville behind us in this pic.

After our trip to Indiana we finally sat down to eat supper around 10:30 eastern time! We went to one of mine and Brandon's favorite places: Joe's Crab Shack. We had tons of crab legs and were even given these stylish bibs to wear!

After a late night Saturday night we slept in a little that morning--all the way to 8:30! Ha. We drove past some old historic homes of the Louisville area that were breath-taking! We headed to Churchill Downs--a dream of mine! One day I will get to the Kentucky Derby with my fancy big hat! :) Until that day, this will do. I at least got to see it and it is beautiful!

Such exciting things to cram into one short three day weekend! Overall it was very hectic and rushed but very fun and allowed Brandon and I some time together without having to referee, feed and chase two very active little boys around. But, man oh man, were we ready to see them on Sunday! They were, of course, excited to see  us too. It was good to come home to such sweet hugs and kisses! A huge thanks to my mom and dad for looking after them. They enjoyed their weekend with you and we are so blessed that you two help us out the way you do! Thanks so much for helping make our getaway possible!