Happy New Year!!

I'll keep the narration short and let the photos do the talking...
Henry, Pete and I flew down to Memphis on Friday. It wasn't Henry's first plane trip, but it was the first time he got his own seat! It was also really the first time he knew that he was on a plane and that the plane was going "uppina sky!" Fortunately, for all of us, the trip is a short one.
Jeff picked us up at the airport and took us back to their house to wait for Amber to come home. Their house is adorable! We waited for a call from Matt and Lisa and then drove downtown to meet them for barbecue at Rendezvous. The place was great and the ribs were awesome! They even had some meatless rice and beans for Lisa.
After dinner we took a quick trip to The Peabody Hotel. We went up to the roof to see the ducks in their penthouse. It was a gorgeous night and we got a great view of the city.
The next day was Amber's birthday. Henry helped Jeff make a grasshopper pie.
Lisa and I got some knitting done in the cute family room.
Henry played a lot of "uppide down!" with Matt.
We braved the rain and went down to Sun Studios. Amber had driven Pete and I past when we visited about 5 years ago, but we had never done the tour. This photo is in the actual studio. Aside from all of the photos on the walls, I gather the place is still pretty much the way it was when Elvis, Johnny Cash, et al. recorded there.
Henry got a hipster button to go with his hipster denim jacket.
We had a late lunch at Gus's Fried Chicken. It looked like a dive, inside and out, but the place had the most amazing chicken I have ever eaten! So amazingly good. I also had my first taste of fried pickles! We washed it all down with some Budweiser out of plastic cups.
Our waiter overheard me say "birthday" and brought out a brownie with a candle in it. Several waiting patrons joined in the singing.
We got back just in time to watch the Hawks. The outcome of the game was not a happy one, but we didn't let it get us down for long. Henry helped Amber make pizza crust for dinner.
Then we sat around and played the super-fun famous-people guessing game that I learned from Cari.
December 31st was warm and lovely in Memphis. So while Lisa and Matt went to Graceland, Amber took Pete and Henry and I to the zoo. (I've seen Graceland and Henry's not quite old enough to fully enjoy it yet) The Memphis zoo has two pandas on loan from China.
There was also this adorable giraffe family.
Once home Henry napped and the rest of us took turns preparing for the evening dinner and relaxing. I enjoyed this scene of the gentlemen keeping busy in the kitchen...
...while the girls played Scrabble. Lisa kicked our butts.
We must have sat down for dinner around 8 PM. The steaks were perfect and Henry couldn't get enough of the vegan lentil loaf. Amber had made bread, eggplant and delicious green beans. Matt had us all set up with the perfect wine pairings throughout the meal. (Henry had a little La Croix while the rest of us had our pre-dinner champagne.)
About midway through dinner Henry decided it was time for jammies. He said his goodnights and went to bed.
Amber put the apple tarts in the oven...
...and snuck in some cleaning when she thought we weren't paying attention.
Finally, with the apple tarts in the oven and our bellies already full, we retired to the family room, where more wine may have been poured.
We mixed up the couples to play Cranium. At some point Jeff got fancy with a tiara and Pete put someone else's pajama pants on.
There was much documenting of the events this weekend. Keep an eye on Amber's blog, she may be updating as I type! Thanks so much to Amber and Jeff for hosting us, and to Matt and Lisa for being cool friends! Happy New Year to everyone out there!