Tennessee

In mid-October, we were able to spend a week in Tennessee visiting with Ryan's grandparents.  It was a wonderful trip - visiting the South is not something either of us has done much, and we enjoyed all the local food, as well as picking cotton from a field and attending a tiny branch of our church in Dyersburg (tiny branches are pretty common in the South.)  On one of our first days Grandpa Al, Ryan, and Connor were able to go shooting in a friend's field.
   

   
We braved the very claustrophobic St. Louis Arch Tram to get a view from these tiny windows.  It was actually pretty cool.
   

    
We were able to visit the graves of some of Nana's family, including her mother, Helen McCracken, and saw the house where she lived.  (We also got to see where Grandpa Al grew up in Kentucky.)
   

  
On our way out of St. Louis, we stopped at the Science Center, where the kids had a blast.  Connor decided he wanted a marble run for Christmas.
   

  
We were able to visit Shiloh, the Civil War battle site, which was amazing.  The kids even seemed to learn something.  Here they are pretending to be in a "battle".
   

   
On one of our last days there, we stopped at Reelfoot Lake, which was full of these crazy cypress trees, and supposedly is crawling with rattlesnakes.
    

   
Nana and Al were such incredibly kind hosts!  We had a great time in the Tennessee area, we'll definitely go back someday.  Oh, and on our way out to the Nashville airport, we had to get a picture in our favorite-named town wearing our new Camo Snuggie.