Thanksgiving 2018

This year, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Nashville, TN with Aunt DD and Uncle Rudy, Max and Vivi, and Nana and Pop-pop. We had so much fun! DD worked out a deal with one of their neighbors for us to stay at their huge old house in East Nashville in exchange for looking after their Golden Retriever for the weekend. The house was very cool, in an old neighborhood similar to Lindley Park, just with bigger houses. There was plenty of room for us and the dog was very nice. Since the family has a young child, the girls posed no threat to him at all. 

We spent as much time together as we could over the 4 days we were there. Thanksgiving dinner was amazing, of course. And the kids didn't complain a bit about the food!

 Goofing around with cousins is always a blast.

We took walks to an amazing coffee shop not too far away and a very cool park/playground up the street.

 The best, however, was going down to a park called Shelby Bottoms that runs along the Cumberland River that snakes its way through Nashville. 

We went for a nice walk along the shore and around the park. 

But the kids were thrilled to get back to the big play area that was near the parking lot. 

National Book Awards 2018

Olivia's AHG badges sometimes have odd requirements, but this one was pretty neat. She was working on her Book Adventurer badge, which is all about reading and literature. One of the requirements was to attend some kind of book awards. Lo and behold, the Greensboro Library was hosting a gala and showing of the National Book Awards, so the timing was perfect!

 Mom and daughter went and got matching dresses to mark the occasion.

 They even had a red carpet set up for the evening for them to walk and a little "press" area to get her picture taken like a celebrity.

The awards weren't necessarily as exciting as something like the Oscars, but they ladies had a great time nonetheless.

The Unknown Photographer

I was going through my phone the other day and found a whole set of pictures, probably about 50 or so, that I know I didn't take. I had to scroll through them to solve the mystery of the Unknown Photographer...

Ah. I might have known... I should know better than to leave my phone somewhere that Irene can get a hold of it...😆

Fall colors 2018

 Usually, when this time of year rolls around, we try to take a ride up to the mountains to get a view of the leaves as they change. Unfortunately, as the kids get older and our schedules get more full, it's hard to get that time away.

 Rebecca, however, is super-diligent about taking walks and remembering to take pictures (I'm AWFUL at remembering...), so she managed to snap a few shots around the neighborhood and city.

No question: Fall can be a time to watch in wonder at God's creation!a

AHG Fall Family Camping Trip 2018

 Every spring and all, the American Heritage Girls Troop has a family camping trip and this fall, it was held at Fairy Stone Campgrounds in Virginia. These trips are always a fun time of fellowship for everyone.

 Everyone loves gathering around the campfire for worship and fun.

 and smores, of course!

 The campground was beautiful with lots of rolling hills, woods and water. There were streams and a lake nearby.

 One afternoon, every got together to take a nature hike and explore, looking at and talking about the plants and animals in the area.

 The buddy system is critical in a group like this. Even with all the adults along, it's easy for someone to get overlooked if they step off the path a little way. Fortunately, the girls found friends to pair up with very easily. 

 Ezra took a slip and caught his shorts on a branch. Fortunately, it was just the pants and not him that got hurt. And besides... a little air conditioning never hurt, right?

 On our second day there, we went to a place to look for the "fairy stones" that give the campground its name. They are little basalt crystals that grow in the ground and are washed free by rain and streams. They gave us a sheet that told about the different shapes they come in and how to find them.

 We managed to find bunches of them in the mud beside an area where rainwater runs off the mountain. we found pretty much every shape shown on the sheet. Every had a great time digging through the mud and rocks to find them. 

USS Yorktown Trip

While we were still dealing with the power being out from Hurricane Michael, I took the boys on a field trip with the Trail Life Troop down to Charleston, SC to stay for a couple of nights on the aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown. 

 The Yorktown is a decommissioned aircraft carrier that was built during WWII and saw a lot of action in the Pacific. She was decommissioned after the war, but put back into action right after the Korean conflict and remained active in the Pacific all the way thorough the Vietnam War. She was even used to retrieve the astronauts and capsule from the Apollo 8 space flight! Afterwards, she was decommissioned a second time and donated as a memorial to the city of Charleston and later became a National Historic Monument. She serves now as a museum along with the USS Laffey, a WWII-era destroyer, and the USS Clagamore, a Cold War-era submarine.

 One of my favorite things was that, because we were sleeping on the ship, the adults had free use of the ship after lights-out, so I took a couple of hours after midnight and walked through all the exhibits. No crowds, no kids. It was really cool!

 Because we were there as a group, we gathered each morning for a devotional.

 And then it was off to see the planes and helicopters! The boys couldn't get enough of them.

 There were aircraft from every era that the Yorktown was active, from WWII

 to the 1970s.

 There were a couple of planes inside that they let the boys climb into and play around.

Touring the rest of the ship was fascinating as well. The history of the ship, the other in its class and the US Navy as a whole were really interesting to hear about. 

The boys also got to participate in an environment class where the learned about the ecology of the estuary where the Yorktown is parked. Of course, Ezra loved the turtles. 

They both loved the puffer fish, too. 

It was great when we got done and went outside and spotted a puffer nibbling at the growth on a rope 

and dolphins swimming around the ships! 

Then we visited the Clagamore. 

Talk about tight quarters! Walking down a hallway, my shoulders were rubbing both walls! I have no idea how the submariners didn't go crazy with claustrophobia! There was a story about how one guy was so tall, he didn't fit on any bunk, so he spread two mattresses on a torpedo and slept there!

This was one of the best experiences the boys and I have had together. I'm really hoping we get to do it again next year and get to bring the AHG Troop as well!