traditions

I am a huge fan of traditions.  As the boys have gotten older, we've let some things go, and some things have continued.  Last night was one such time. 

Todd called me early in the day and asked me what I thought of something fun for us all to do that night.  Every year for the boys' birthday, they ask to go eat at Texas De Brazil.  We used to do one kid at a time, but when that got too complicated, we just started taking them all at once.  Last year, Todd purchased a VIP card that gets half off each meal, up to twelve meals at a time.  (It's a use it once thing and then you're done.)  Because of that VIP card, we let them invite friends.  Unfortunately, we cannot pay for all of these friends, so we talk to the parents and ask if they can come with us, and then we give them an amount to send that includes the tax and a good tip. 

So that's what we did last night.  They each invited some friends, and we took two vehicles and made the trek downtown.  (Graham was one of the drivers.) 

I have a few favorites here: the salad bar with the delicious lobster bisque soup, the little rolls with cheese in the middle, and bacon wrapped grilled chicken.  I could just eat that and be done, but I do try a little of everything. 

I took a picture of part of our table on the sly. 

Four of us were not pictured.  We had eleven with us.  (Those boys get every dollar worth of food they consume.  Us girls, maybe not so much.)

We all ate until we were stuffed (but some of us stopped short of that--me), then we walked over to The Peabody Hotel.

I'm pretty sure every year we have an argument over whether or not they're going to jump in the elevator.  They are never allowed, because a few of us are terrified of elevators (Drew, Noah, and me).  We love going up to the rooftop.

And got up there just in time to see this.  It's so pretty!  I love the Memphis skyline.  You can see part of the bridge on the right, and that's the mighty Mississippi you see, as well.  The kids walked all around while we were up there, but I stood right where I was and stared at this view.  I think partly because all my food had finally settled and I was miserable all of a sudden. 

I used to love going here with this one, back in the days before we were married.

I love the fact that now our kids love it here, too. 

We stayed up there for at least thirty minutes, then we rode the elevator back down to the mezzanine level.

It's really a beautiful place.  The kids walked around this level and Todd and I sat on one of the couches.

There are these old phone booths they still have on this level, and they love using them to call each other.  Jonah walked around trying to find a haunted hallway, but I don't think he found one.  (That makes me laugh.) 

We finally left and walked back to our car.  I turn into a pumpkin at ten every night, and it was fast approaching.  It was a really fun, totally unplanned night.  We've noticed that in our family, at least, those are always the best nights.  We can never replicate them when we try, but we always love spending time with our boys, and the few extra make things more fun. 

Another night that is always my favorite is when we celebrate our birthdays with my in-loves.  We are both December birthdays, and we always celebrate on the night of Todd's birthday, which is the twenty seventh.  It's always equally as fun, because we always go downtown again. 

If you're reading this and are local to me, and have never taken your family downtown to explore, you really need to do this.  It's so much fun to walk around and see new things, and it is beautiful.  And most of it is free, so that's pretty hard to top.  I knew a family once whose kids had been all over the place on vacation, but they'd never been downtown, and when they saw a parking meter, they had no idea what it was.  That's always sad to me.  Get out and get to know the city you live in, or the big city you live near. 

I hope we keep this tradition forever, even when our kids are grown and have families of their own. 

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.