Family Photos Fall 2021

I was glad that we could have our family photos taken before we went on our vacation.  We were able to take them before the leaves officially changed color completely.  Peak season as they say here.  But our photographer did a fine job of still making them look nice.  

A fun thing about these photos is that they were taken on our latest real estate purchase.  An abandoned, let-go, run-down (etc. etc. etc.) farm.  

The back of the barn made the perfect photo backdrop for the girls.  Any higher and the camera would have picked up that the entire back of the barn is literally missing.  It's gone.  :-) 

Fun fact 2: The railroad tracks run through the farm! So while the rails do not belong to us, it's fun to have them there and hear the trains.

Fun fact 3: The farm has a creek as well.  It's dubbed "mud creek", rightly so, since near the bridge, it is very very murky and brown-looking.  

Fun fact 4: Dan has gotten several breeds of wildlife so far on it!  

Venison for the freezer...

Fox pelt because...well, they're fun to hang up and because there are a million foxes around here.  

And still others...which Dan caught on trail cam photos, but has yet to see in real life.  Hunting season ends on Saturday, so the last opportunities to see him are less and less.  There's always next year though!

 

So there you have some of the photos from our family photo shoot as WELL as some significant news!  Hope you all enjoyed a lovely Christmas with your families.  I'll be posting about our Christmas at some point...but I still have lots of fall news to catch up on.  :-)  Keep posted!  I'll make every effort to post again in the next week.    

Vacation to Tennessee 2021 Part 2

After we left Lake Tansi on Friday at noon, we began the drive up north a few hours to where the Ark Encounter is in Kentucky.  The road we were on "happened" to be the same exact road that Alvin C. York's home was on!  *Sidenote to say If you've never watched "Sergeant York", you should!* 

We didn't have time to tour it or explore the grounds since we were hoping to do the Ark on Friday and the Creation Museum on Saturday.  I just took this quick photo by York's home and then we were on our merry way again.

I absolutely loved driving thru the mountains of TN and Kentucky.  

We got to the Ark Encounter much later than I'd hoped (about 4pm), so I couldn't justify paying the full amount (it's not cheap per se) just to stay for 2 hours.  We got free admission into the grounds (just not the ark) for that evening.

It's absolutely HUGE!

There was a petting zoo, and camels to ride.  Gwen and Lucie both had a camel ride together.  

The playground there was one of the best I've ever seen.  I laughed with Dan because since having kids, we felt like we spent the majority of our vacation at playgrounds.  :-)  But hey, they're free and the kids love them.  

This one was complete with fun stuff to climb on, tunnels, interactive equipment, and even small ziplines and swings!

The following morning when we woke up, we went BACK to the ark to actually go inside.  I had been debating whether it was something we should go do or not since our kids are so small.  I'm glad we went though.  It was powerful!  The last floor was mostly reading, but there were still neat things for children.  Dan and I split up on the floors (there were crowds of people so staying together was kinda tricky).  He took Lucie and I had Gwen and Eliza.  

Here is Gwen, by the massive ark door. 

I got lots of pictures of the inside, but most of them are incredibly blurry.  When we came out, it was late afternoon (probably about 3pm).  The girls were begging to go back to the playground, so we took them there and they loved it so much.  

When we were finished at the playground, Dan suggested we eat at the restaurant there.  We managed to get in just before they closed, but wow, it was a fantastic buffet!!!  While we were there, my choice of foods has changed so drastically from when I was a child that I couldn't help but laugh.  Of all things: my favorite dishes to eat there were spinach casserole and brussel sprouts!!!!  If you'd known me as a child, that would make you laugh like it makes me laugh now.  I was the world's pickiest eater.  

For anyone like me, wondering "Wonder if its worth it to take little kids to the ark?"...etc. GO!  It was really awesome.  For nursing mothers, there are lovely nursing stations on each floor of the ark.  There are drinking fountains all over.  We were allowed to bring in our own sack lunch of PBJ's.  The zoo was vey neat and they have a kangaroo area where you can walk in and be WITH the kangaroo's.  You can't touch them (naturally), but they walk (hop?) on the grass right beside you.

We were staying not too far from the ark at a church property that hosts pastors, youth groups etc.  They had a large facility where we stayed which was very very nice.  The next morning was Sunday.  We went to the Sunday School service and morning services there at the church, and then left after church to continue driving north to Columbus OH.  

We stopped for lunch at a cute, fun place called Fleisch's "Big Boy".  The girls loved it there and thought this little "big" boy was cute.  

We went to a church in Columbus OH that evening where the people were so sweet and kind and the pastor was an encouragement!  More news about that in the next few months! :-)

We stayed the night at the cheapest hotel I could find that said it served a full, hot breakfast in the morning.  *insert eye roll*.  It was in a bad neighbhood where Dan and I spent most of the night listening to the men next door screaming at each other, and the other part of the night fearing for our lives.  Also, there were cigarette burns on everything.  

You get what you pay for!!!

We survived the night, went down to get "breakfast" and there was nothing... 

The lady at the counter said "Oh, let me go fill the breakfast bar up for you."  

She left and came back with 3 granola bars and put them in a bowl by her computer.  

haha!

Dan took all of them and I said they really should change their website since there wasn't even a semblance of a breakfast there.  

Ahh well.  Again, I got what I paid for.  Lesson learned, Virginia.  Don't be a cheapskate!

We left Columbus, and headed northeast.  Since Kidron wasn't far off the beaten path, I asked Dan if we could stop there.  My mother loves Lehman's store there and I thought perhaps I would as well.  I did!  The free samples of food were a lovely touch, and the place reminded me a lot of the Vermont Country Store, which is a huge favorite of ours.  The girls ESPECIALLY loved the toy section.  

While we were there, Dan bought me a big, non-stick pan!  Wow...it cleans so well and is lovely!  I am being careful not to mess up the finish!

We left Kidron in the pouring rain and drove up to Erie.  When we got to Erie, we stopped at this lighthouse and went out to the lake for just a couple minutes.  By this point, Lucie was getting very fussy (I attributed it to being in a car too long). 

Then we drove the rest of the way up to Niagara Falls where we were staying the night at an Airbnb.  Our airbnb host was kind enough to lend us his umbrella since it was absolutely POURING.  It never really let up and rained non-stop all night and the following day.  

We woke up early the next morning and drove home the rest of the way.  Boy was it good to be home!  It was the longest vacation we've ever had. Granted, at least 4 days of it was driving alone, but still.  

Lucie and Gwen came down with a nasty case of hfmd, which I also contracted.  Eliza had a mild case, an Dan was unscathed. I assume they picked it up at the petting zoo or the playground most likely. 

We all healed just fine though and are none the worse for the wear.  

And THAT was our 2021 vacation!  

Vacation to Tennessee 2021 Part 1

 It's been some time since i last posted.  My main reason for that has been that I was dreading uploading all of the photos I'd want to put in this post!  I was just going to make one post about our vacation, but it was a doozy of a trip, so I figured I'd better split it into two posts: for my own sanity as well as your own.  

When we were searching for a place for our vacation this year, we really only had a few stipulations.  

1. It had to be a place that wasn't covid-crazy. 

2. It couldn't be in PA in the Poconos, since that's where we've gone the last two years.  

We used the same vacation rental/time share/ministry leader discount that I've mentioned in years previous.  The catch with their program is that you have to check their website CONSTANTLY because the inventory changes daily.  Some days in March/April, I was checking it daily and the only places fitting our desires were in TX and Nevada.  

Finally, one place opened up in TN.  Resort looked to be older, and not in the best of condition, but I booked it after we called them and they told us their policy regarding Covid was chill.  

Our trip down south began Oct 14th.  We drove down to PA where we stayed one night with my parents.  Then we continued our drive the following day.  

We stopped at Cyrus McCormick's home and the place where he invented the harvester in VA.  As we pulled up to the exit, I told Dan I was craving fried chicken.  He was in the mood for barbeque though.  How awesome was it that the exit had a truck stop with both of those things at their restaurant!? 

We took our meals to eat on the grounds at the McCormick farm. 

 

Then we explored the old buildings.  

Stopping there and one other time caused us to make it to TN when it was already dark.  We managed to find our resort "home away from home" even though the office was closed when we got there.  

Like we'd already expected, it wasn't anything fancy, but it was clean, welcoming and warm.  So that's all I cared about.  

The kitchen

Island and dining table

Living room

The next morning on Saturday, we woke up, ate breakfast, and then of all things, stopped at a yard sale, where the lady told us about a town we should go see, as well as invited us to her church's fall festival that evening.  

We drove to the town, Dan dropped me off at a church thrift store while he took the girls to the park.   

Then after perusing for a bit, I walked to join them. 

Then we drove to the fall festival and enjoyed listening to Gospel music, and seeing the vendors and old cars (they had a car show).  

That evening, we went back to the resort and made dinner.  

On Sunday, we went to two different churches.  One on Sunday morning and a different one Sunday evening.  It was appalling to me how many Baptist churches there were even in the somewhat remote area where we stayed!  

On Monday morning, I went for a morning jog down to the lake, which was very pretty.

After breakfast, we set off on our adventure for that day! 

We first went to a mini golf place.  

The girls rode on this little train and enjoyed it even though it only went around and around in circles.  :-) 

Eliza and I

The Hydrangea were beautiful and reminded me of our wedding!

The little golfers and Dan 

I thought it was pretty neat that at each little hole, there was a plaque with Bibl verse on it.  The whole place gave the gospel clearly.  We later met the owner.  

We went to a state park after, for some hiking.  

Dan took Lucie and I had Gwen (and was carrying Eliza) and were went different ways.  Gwen kept sitting on every rock asking me if I wanted to take her picture. :-)

The bridge also served as a dam, which I thought was neat!  All built by FDR in part of his "new deal", we later found out. 

That evening I made supper again at our resort.  

Tuesday morning: 

We went to the model train club to see the awesome scenes they had set up.  The men there were super helpful, fun, and easy-to-talk to.  They even brought out this cart for the girls, so they could see better.  

On the sides of the displays, there would sometimes be little buttons to push that made different trains go or helicopters fly.  The girls loved it.   

Walking thru the mall, Gwen asked if she could ride the horse.  

Honestly, I havent seen one of these in a long time!  First time ever, but I let her ride the thing.  The amount that it moved was pretty pathetic, but she enjoyed it.  :-)

Then we went to this historic tower.  It's funny, but the history there in TN didn't date back very far.  This was the only historic landmark near where we stayed, and it was from when FDR made his "new deal" and built 200-some houses for low income families.  This tower was built at the same time and of the same materials.  200 or so of the houses were still standing, so Dan and I had a fun time pointing out the houses we thought were part of it.  

Since it was right by a school and school had just finished letting out, we spent some time on the playground. 

Dan, reading to the girls.  

Wednesday: 

We woke up, ate breakfast, and got an earlier start to our day.  Drove to the Ozone Falls and hiked to it. 

Then drove to a scenic overlook.

Then we went to another playground.  

I was so happy to see that the asian buffet was open (we haven't eaten at a buffet since 2019 because NY state has basically killed them all).  We went there for lunch and it hit the spot!

Happy Eliza

We went to two churches on Wednesday evening.  One at 6PM and one at 7.  :)  If you couldn't tell, we like to visit as many churches as we can in a trip!

Thursday: 

In the morning after eating, Dan went to the main office and did our laundry (since we'd be checking our Friday morning).  I took the girls for a little walk in the rain down to the lake, where they enjoyed collecting nuts and throwing them in the water for "the fish to eat".

Then around lunchtime, Dan's brother, his wife and kids, and my mother-in-law arrived from driving up to see us from GA.  It was nice to spend time with them!  We ate lunch, went to a park, then that evening it stopped raining just long enough for us to go to the campground where they were going to stay and have a bonfire/dinner.  

It was very nice.  

The rainbow after the storm. 

It was a great week in Tennessee!  

Knowing Dan, he will probably want to try somewhere different next year, but I would go back!  I didn't get photos of everything we did, but the main office of the resort also had a large indoor pool that the girls and Dan used, and also a library, mini golf course, and foosball and lots of other fun games.  We played those all one day too.  I just forgot photos.  

Well, stay tuned for Part 2 of our exciting adventures down south!