Our Anniversary Trip to Memphis!

As I mentioned briefly in my last post with all Kaiya's 4 month photos (which I LOVE), John and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary this month. Many years ago (and by "many" I mean 7) John and I decided that we would not exchange gifts on our anniversaries, but would make an effort to travel, see new places, and spend some time together outside the framework of normal life, when and if finances allowed. Over the years we've been to a number of places, some near and some far. We did Smithfield, VA for our 1st wedding anniversary, Charlottesville, VA for our 4th "dating" anniversary, Costa Rica for our 2nd anniversary and a few day trips during the "leaner" years. This year John was attending a training in Mississippi (that may have been the first time I've ever had to actually spell that out) and since my handsome brother in law and his beautiful wife live in Memphis, a stones throw away from where John was attending his training, we decided to make a little trip out of it and they were gracious enough to take us in.

I had never flown with Kaiya before, and I had definitely never flown with her alone, but I was up for the challenge. Or, at least I thought I was. Our first flight was to depart at 6:30am. I thought I had given us plenty of time to get there, park and get through security. Turns out that in the DC area there manages to be both traffic and tons of people in the security line before 6am. I missed our first flight. Delta was super nice about it and they did their best to get us connected but instead of arriving at 11am as initially planned we didn't arrive until 2pm. If I'm honest though, it could have been way worse and I'm grateful that we arrived safe and that Kaiya continues to be a rockstar traveler.

This girl looks so cute at 7am in the morning!

Just chillin' on the airport floor

When we landed in Memphis we were greeted by John and Bo, who swept us hungry travelers to Central BBQ for some real Memphis BBQ. One word: reallyfreakinggood! It's a personal goal of mine to try all our country's many types of BBQ and while my favorite remains Eastern North Carolina BBQ, Memphis BBQ comes in a close second.

I don't want Sophie Mommy, I want that pulled pork sandwich!

I need to stop here and say that Bo and Leah are fantastic hosts. Not only is their super-cute new home uber comfy, but they knew exactly how to keep John and me entertained: give me coffee in the morning, keep us fed (and with access to the local brew) and show us all your city's "crunchiest"spots. Bo and Leah hit all those criterium and more.

They took us to see Beale St.

I love love LOVE John's expression here. It makes me giggle :)

The Orpheum Theater!

They took us to the Memphis farmers market (which was AWESOME btw) where I bought soap nuts and some long-awaited dryer balls! :

We saw Memphis' pyramid (soon to be a HUGE Bass Pro Shop!):

Lunched at a "hipster" sandwich shop:

Enjoyed a lovely anniversary dinner while Uncle Bo and Aunt Leah babysat:

Did a drive by of Graceland (because you can't go to Memphis and not see Graceland):

And above all else, enjoyed spending time with two of our favorite people while they got to love on sweet Kaiya:

We are so grateful for the time we had with Bo and Leah in their new city of Memphis and are sincerely looking forward to our next visit there. Next time we're hitting up that zoo ;)

Oh! And be sure to check out Kaiya's updated travel map on the side bar! Not too bad for being just over 4 months old ;)