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Sunday, September 29, 2013

From the 14th onward

Finally, finally getting a chance to post again!  It has been an unbelievable week.  More on that in the next post. :)  Also, this is a very long post, so get comfy.  You've been warned.

A couple weeks ago, we took a weekend trip to Middle Tennessee.  On Saturday the 14th, we spent the day shopping and site seeing in Franklin, a small town outside Nashville that's famous for it's Civil War history!  

~The 14th was also Mom's birthday, and this was how she wanted to spend her day.  I'm so blessed to have her as my mentor, teacher, friend and spiritual guide.  Thank you, Mom, for all you do for me and our family and so many others.  I love you so much!!~

These are some of the shops in the Franklin factory.  



One of Mom's favorite things.  Happy Birthday!! <3

The swiveling display :)


After spending the day in Franklin, we drove to Nashville and went to the Opryland Hotel.  We came here 3 years ago, after the Vision Forum retreat in Georgia, and it was fun to come back! 

All indoors, there are 3 huge atriums with waterfalls, rivers, islands, and all sorts of dining and shopping.



"Oh, I could hang here, I could hang here!" ;)


Impromptu water show


Saturday night, we drove to Centerville and spent the night at the Field's home.  It was such a blessing getting to know them!  On Sunday we attended Christ the King Church again.  We were blessed to be with a great fellowship of believers. :)

The Field family, their friend Susanna, and us.
(photo credit goes to Elizabeth Botkin)

On the 21st, our family went to Knoxville to do some shopping.  Mostly we went to furniture stores, but I got to spend some time in a large book store too!  We shopped at Costco (finally!!) and went to Earthfare.

Libbey loved the furniture stores.

Photo by Delaney

This was her favorite set by far.  Anyone surprised?

Craigslist and in-store shopping simultaneously 

After dinner, we went to sweetFrog!  They have delicious frozen yogurt and lots of great toppings.  F.r.o.g. stands for Fully Rely On God.  Cool right?

The saddest picture

Almost as sad as the last picture

Delaney wanted credit, so here it is.  She took the middle picture. ;)

Sunday afternoon, we took a long boat ride (about 15 miles) and had a picnic in a park.  There was a splash pad with fountains, and the girls had a great time!!  It was a blast just to capture the moments.


Look out!



This is the life. <3

Last Friday we checked out of our rental house and spent the day in Kingston.  Dad worked in the car and we ladies spent some time in the library.  Then we walked over the Fort Southwest Point.  The frontier military post, built in 1797, was a working fort up until 1811 when soldiers were no longer needed there.  At it's peak there were over 625 soldiers stationed there.  We got a free tour from a very friendly guide (he let us touch stuff!  Yay!!  I just hate not being able to touch things).  

Eating lunch in the parking lot.  Mr. Duck didn't get any, no matter how much he begged.

The two stubborn creatures facing off


The view from the Fort.

A Cherokee cabin.  And we thought they lived in tepees....



Mom really liked this chair :)


One of the reconstructed barracks


Part 2 coming soon!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Day 112:  Behold, the vase of flowers

We were given this plastic vase by our Grandmother.  It was purchased in France and it sailed around the world on my great-uncle's sailboat.  And now, here it sits on the kitchen counter.  Well, one of the kitchen counters.  But I'll save that for another post.

Day 113:

Anybody up for a little buckdancing (a more relaxed form of clogging)?  There was plenty of that going on at the Smokey Mountain Fiddler's convention!  We attended that last Saturday in Loudon, TN.  It was an outdoor event with vendors and contests all day long.  We brought our lawn chairs and joined the crowd to watch folks play their guitars, mandolins, banjos, dulcimers, and of course, fiddles.  Aside from that they had harmonica players, buckdancers and cloggers.  

This guy's all set to go

People were jamming all over the place, and some just played to their heart's content wherever they pleased

He could play a mean harmonica

That guy in the straw hat gets the prize for coolest hat :)

Red hat, guitar, all set to go

This little gal knew how cute she was

Young musicians of the future

Bluegrass band



Classic buckdancing :)

He was pretty neat to watch!

"All this fast music is just so enthralling and entertaining, I can hardly contain myself"





Day 114:  Living out of a suitcase no more

Even with a (ahem) limited amount of clothing, living out of a suitcase gets annoying.  Thank goodness for houses with closets and dressers (and hangers!!).

Day 115:  My newest [and oldest] treasure

I found this little book of Miss Landon's Poems at an antique sale in Loudon.  The copyright of this edition is dated 1845.

Day 116:  Big splash aftermath

The girls are the dark shadows under the water :)

"Hi-yah!  Take that!  And that!"

"Oh, hi Chase who is watching me on Facetime.  How are you?  I'm fine, just relaxing in the pool."

"Look at how the water defies gravity when I drag my hand across it."

Inspiration--Pinterest
Level--pretty good

The ugly apple pie that tasted fabulous.  It's hard to make beautiful pies with limited utensils.  I rolled out the dough with a glass because their's NO rolling pin and peeled and cut all the apples by hand (let's just say I prefer that peeler/corer/slicer thingamajig we have at home).  I DID learn a new trick though!  To prevent apples from browning, I put the slices in a bowl of  cold salt water for about 5 minutes, then drained and rinsed them.  Just 1/2 t. of salt per 4 cups of water.  Voila, never a brown apple again!

Here is a link to a web album of more pictures....this time of the new house we're staying in.  Enjoy!