Fort Worth to Memphis and Memphis to Knoxville

HIP HIP HOORAY! - We are almost at our new home state of Virginia! We had a lot of fun in Fort Worth. Spent a few days there and was hard to leave.. Once out of Texas we looked forward to Memphis and Graceland.

We found several gems along the way and took some shots to document. We were pretty fortunate to not hit any nasty weather. We were right behind a storm and only got puddles! yeah puddles!

The trip to Memphis was tough for the little ones.. (Thank God for headphones and loud IPODS) they are getting sick and tired of the mini van and are not afraid to tell us how they feel. Sari typically screams and whines NON-STOP when she wants to pull over. ;) Steven Quote of the Year.. 'I can't take this car ride anymore!'.

To calm and rebuild morale and to detract from some sort of mutiny, we found a chuck-e-cheese' to make up for the pain and suffering we caused. Here's some irony.. The favorite attraction at CEC after the eternal screaming and whining road trek from Fort Worth to Memphis, seemed to be some sort of automobile ride.

Perhaps they're training for taking over the ship somewhere in Knoxville... Go figure. ;)

Joey hits the jackpot

After a good nights sleep in Memphis we headed for adventure and were off to Graceland!

We wanted to visit our cousin Elvis! ;) - Not sure if anybody knows this but awhile back Marie did her family tree through one of those ansestry sites and discovered that she's actually related to ELVIS!.. third cousin.. or somethin' like that.. which means that my second batch kids are cousins of Elvis... hmm 'Cousins of Elvis' That sounds like a great band name or song title..

Sari trying to pick the lock - cousin Elvis wouldn't mind

After Graceland we visited the Cafe next door to enjoy some Elvis favorites.. Deep fried foods! - fried peanut butter and bananna sandwich..umm good!

After a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who'd pay the tab, we were off to Knoxville!

quick hello

Going to Memphis

YEP! we're going to Memphis to see cousin Elvis!.. tis Wednesday morning-ish and we're packing up and headin out to rainy Graceland!

We spent a few days here in Fort Worth and had a blast visiting our friends Roger, Julia, Marry and Abby. They are the coolest family and have been such a blessing and encouragement to me and my family!  They have a beautiful home in a beautiful neighborhood.. they even have a replica mini version of their home Julia's dad built complete with furniture, electricity and AC!.. How cool is that!

I'm thinking.. if we can't find a home in Virginia maybe we can ask Julia's dad to build us a mini house and fed-ex it to us!

We so-much wish we could stay (for ever) but we still need to find a home in Virginia.

Roger and I had the chance to record a rockin' hymn in his studio! - He was gracious to let me do the vocals.. watch the quicky video i slapped together on my netbook below!

who's the fat guy on the left?

 

On our drive to Rogers and Julia's one fine day we GPS'd a nearby park to let the kids run wild for a few:

We also had a chance to visit Marie's Grampa Calvin and hook up with Mom and Don and Chris. G Calvin is looking so good. Last time we visited he was in the hospital.. God is good! G Calvin gave an early birthday card to Joey and Joeseph was sooo excited!

We got to eat at our favorite joint.. the Texas Grill in Fort Worth with G Calvin. He out ate us all! - He slammed down this giant burger in record time.. quite amazing!

The Texas Grill is a hidden gem inside a strip mall somewhere in Fort Worth.. it's D'licious! They have 2 free rocking horses that the kids LOVE!!! ahh the simple pleasures of a kids life.

that's some fancy ridin' pardner

Thanks Grampa Calvin, Roger, Julia, Mary, Abby and Texas for your hospitality! - we love y'all!

Short Drive to Dallas/Ft Worth

YEAH! Halfway point ahead! - After our wonderful stay at the Tornado Inn we got up at the crack of 10 and hit the road.. I should mention that we ordered some questionable take-out Chinese food the night before so i was expecting alot of unexpected bathroom breaks.. I was pleaseantly surprised that we all survived the local cuisine.

Today was a big day because it marks our journey to our halfway point. It's also a day we'll see some friends in Fort Worth. Our plan is to stay 2 or 3 days to rest up for the last leg of this adventure.

Thanks to our tour guide (Garmin Nuvi GPS) we found a cool little food joint called the Whistle Stop along the way.. I think it's after vernon tx..

The food at the whistle stop was awesome! Home Cookin' at it's best..plus it was Really Cheap! 'It's a winning combination!' (ed2go inside pun :) - The folks inside this 'very local' place seemed to be checkin us out the entire time.. a little strange, but I guess we kinda looked like the circus coming to town.. Another thing that threw us for aloop was the massive over-powering tobacco aroma the second we walked in.. man o man! - it's smelled like a 70's vegas hotel room.. none-the-less, the food and atmosphere was awesome!

Sari liked it so much she did not want to leave and refused to get in the mini-van.

After convincing 'the princess'  back into the car we were off to Dallas/Ft Worth. We hit a little rain but all in all it was a very easy and quick drive. btw - There are so many beautiful green rolling meadows off of the interstate here in Texas it's ridiculous! If i had deep pockets i'd be buying land like a champ!

Arrival

As soon as we arrived in Ft Worth we hooked up with our buddies at our hotel room followed by a nice dinner at a local mexican joint.. It was really cool hangin' out with our friends. Our first day in Fort Worth was great and look forward to hangin out more, seeing the sites and resting up for the trip to Virginia.