At home, Ryan's pepper plant continued to produce Carolina Reapers. Corinne stole my phone and took some cute pictures of her feet and her bedroom.
One day during school time, the kids looked so lazy I just had to take a picture to show them.
Connor and Elise got free tickets to go see "Sleeping Beauty" with some church friends at the Glendale Center Theater. It was one of their "Children's Theater" productions, so everyone had a great time.
On the 22nd of September, we set off on our vacation to Tennessee! It was the first time flying for Corinne, and the first remembered time for Elise and Evan. We left super early in the morning, so everybody was wiped out by the time we got to Nashville.
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| The pilot let Evan sit in the cockpit on our way out! |
On our first day, in Oak Ridge, we visited the American Museum of Science and Energy. We could have easily spent two days there, but only had three hours. The main exhibit, of course, was about the Manhattan Project, and really helped me understand how each group worked together - Ryan and I have now visited Hanford, Los Alamos, and Oak Ridge! There were tons of other science exhibits, including a show about electricity, which was only attended by us that day. We all got to be volunteers!
Late that afternoon, we went to the Museum of Appalachia. It's an outdoor museum consisting of authentic Appalachian buildings from the 1800s brought together in one place. It was a beautiful walk as we wandered around to see everything.
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| Schoolhouse |
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| Corinne's Favorite Exhibit |
That night we drove to Gatlinburg and spent the night in a less-than-fabulous hotel room, which Evan thought was the best, because it had stairs. In the morning, we got to eat breakfast at the famous Crockett's Breakfast Camp. We had planned ahead on this one, based on rumors of "deep-fried cinnamon rolls", but even better were their inch-thick pancakes. Can you tell I enjoyed this??
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| Skillet Combo |
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| Deep Fried Cinnamon Roll |
We then went to the Great Smoky Mountains visitor's center, and picked up Junior Ranger books for the three oldest. We did a great little nature walk/hike nearby, where the kids climbed a waterfall and identified trees (Junior Ranger requirement). On the way back, we saw a few people staring at a snake in the creek. It didn't look like a rattlesnake, so I wasn't too worried about it. We took a picture, watched it for awhile, and went on our way. I found out later on the internet that it was a venomous Copperhead!
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| Looking at the Snake |
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| Observation Tower |
On Friday morning, we drove around the Smokies in the rain for a bit, then started our trip west. On the way out of Gatlinburg we passed through Pigeon Forge again. This place is like Vegas for families - crammed with mini-golf and water parks and dinner theaters of all imaginable themes. It was kind of unbelievable.
When we passed though Nashville again, we stopped at Hattie B's for hot chicken. This is the cultural dish of Nashville, and Ryan loved it. He admits he should have ordered it less spicy, though.
We spent the rest of our trip at Nana and Al's home in Dyersburg. My poor, deprived children were amazed by their huge lawn, and spent lots of time rolling down their hill.
On Saturday, we went to Discovery Park of America. It's like an all-purpose history, art, and science museum with outdoor gardens and exhibits as well. The kids' area was Corinne's favorite - especially the tub full of "living sand". While I was watching the other kids on the huge human-shaped slide, she wandered over to the tub, stripped completely naked, and tried to climb in. I guess I can understand her confusion.
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| Inside the Fish Tank |
Outside there was a harvest-themed exhibit that was really cute, along with a historical village. There was a sorghum mill on display, which Connor and Elise thought was cool, after having read Strawberry Girl this summer.
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| More Caterpillars |
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| Elise the Mule |
We ate at a lot of buffets during this trip, but this was the first, and best-named.
Saturday evening, I took Elise to the local LDS branch building to watch the Women's Session of General Conference. It was Elise's first chance to attend since turning eight, and it really made us appreciate how well-established the church is in California. Most of the Relief Society was there, which consisted of about ten ladies. They hopefully asked if we were new, and I had to admit we were just visiting. Elise and I had a really special time, though. When we got back, we saw that Nana had been taking on the other kids at every board game they owned.
The next morning, we went with Ryan's grandparents to First Baptist Church in Dyersburg. It was a neat experience, and a lot of fun to meet all of Nana and Al's friends. Ryan said it looked like Nana was "running for President", with all the handshakes and hugs she got. The warm welcome and friendliness we felt there was amazing. I definitely have a positive impression of Southern Baptists now.
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| Before Church |
On Sunday night there was a lunar eclipse, which we watched from the front porch. You could hear frogs calling from the trees all around, and we even caught one the first night we were there.
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| A very lousy picture of the eclipse. |
On Monday morning, Al took Ryan and the older kids shooting at a friend's property. Elise came back saying that Grandpa Al told her she was "Annie Oakley".
Knowing of our plans to eventually remodel our kitchen, Nana took me to her friend's house to see what they had done. She also invited me to her Bunco club that night, where I was immersed in more Southern friendliness and fattening food! Plus, I won eight dollars.
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| Nana's Friend's Kitchen - It WAS very nice. |
Tuesday morning, very early, we had to leave to make it to our flight home from Nashville. I would have liked to have had more time in Tennessee, but we made a lot of great memories in the week we had!
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