TOP TEN TENNESSEE TREATS

I enjoyed a great week in Tennessee packed full of wonderful memories to keep me going 'til next time! Pete joined us after spending a few days in Chicago staying with his sister Charlotte and attending a urology conference. Charlotte happily exposed her little brother to some of the cultural highlights of Chicago. They tried to see a baseball game, but it was rained out:(

Thanks David, Marilyn, Eliza, Parker, Michael, Grace, Peter, Katherine and William for the ROYAL TENNESSEE TREATMENT!!!!

#10. Grace's First Grade Musical Program: singing about the alphabet--how EXCITING is that! Grace enthusiastically put her whole heart into her singing in support of the letter "N."

Michael hunkers down in the aisle to get a close-up photo of his cute little sister.

#9. Playing Scrabble with Eliza, Michael and Grace. (Michael slipped in an x-rated word, but changed it when he realized his boo-boo).

#8. Garage Saling with the whole crew: a "new" old sewing machine for Grace which she put into immediate service stitching together a patch-work pillow top, after a few minor adjustments to the machine by her dad.

#7. Family yard activities: planting flowers, mowing and trimming lawn, sweeping, raking, general clean-up--everyone helping, spectacular results. Their yard is like a beautiful park.

KK dancing with her daddy.

#6. Visit to the Bays Mountain Planetarium and nature preserve--very cool. Not so cool: Katherine being bugged by a bug in her car seat and SCREAMING all the way home--very sad. (The night before she had been bitten by an ant, so you can understand her fear!)

Time out with Grandpa along the trail.

#5. Afternoon at the Netherland Inn Historical Park: face painting, old fashioned penmanship practice, Grandpa winning the Cake Walk cake, live Bluegrass music--great event, lots of fun.

Peter and Grace meet up with the "walking scarecrow."

Eliza, Parker, Peter and Michael have that "old fashioned" look with hats from the past.

Grandpa joined Eliza, Grace, Michael and Parker in the Cake Walk--the odds of our family winning the cake were pretty good! Grandpa generously shared his cake with all of us and the left-overs turned up as part of servin's.

#4. Eliza's private flute concert in the living room featuring selections from "Phantom of the Opera"--WELL DONE!

#3. Wonderful Meals: lots of delicious homemade wholewheat bread, mouth-watering rolls, yummy preserved jams and apple juice, baked sweet potatoes, Swedish meatballs, Morning Moos Milk, fresh garden greens salads, Eliza's amazing egg rolls, molten lava cake with ice cream, pizza & pop--we were WELL FED!

#2. Hanging out together: conversations on the deck until dark, sharing nightmares, reading stories--loved every minute of it. Peter and Michael snuggle up to baby William.

#1. William Henry's blessing by his father at Church--VERY SPECIAL!!!!

Baby William is ADORABLE and hardly ever fusses or cries--of course, he has lots of helping hands to comfort him.

A Sunday afternoon walk around the neighborhood with Marilyn, Katherine, Grace and Peter.