Dinner with Harry, Dylan, and Zita

We met Harry, Dylan, and Zita in Smyrna (halfway between Nashville and Murfreesboro) at Cheddars for dinner last night. Huge fun. Zita bought the kids book lights and Goofy String. While most of the Goofy String action was appropriately confined to the parking lot, a slight misfire in Zita's indoor demonstration for the kiddos landed on the back of a nearby patron. Fortunately, said patron was either completely unaware of the incident or admirably cool and collected - the string quickly fell to the ground and we left soon thereafter. :)

Will the kids be traumatized by the nature lesson in the Cheddars' fish tank? Big fish swallowed smaller fish, almost. Picture below shows smaller fish's posterior hanging out of bigger fish's anterior. Eww.



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The kids give Embassy Suites high marks

Between the swimming pool and the amazing breakfast spread, it was a given that the kids would enjoy Embassy Suites. A fun bonus was the bird cage in the middle of the atrium - with two cockatiels who seemed very happy to get attention. Their names were Johnny and June (Cash), very sweet.


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Stones River National Battlefield, Murfreesboro TN

This was a very interesting place! From December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, the battle here was a major turning point for the Union in the Civil War. Tens of thousands of men died, 30-40% of troops on each side. The kids are working on their badges and patches for becoming Junior Rangers - they'll continue working on it when we get home and we will mail it in when they are done. It takes a lot of effort to become a JR!

We sure have learned a lot on this short trip to middle Tennessee. History is awesome!! :)































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The Parthenon, Nashville TN

And, they really enjoyed the Parthenon and especially, the statue of Athena. Josie was naming all the gods and goddesses like a champ. Thank you, Rick Riordan. :)

Alan LeQuire, who did the huge, gold leaf sculpture of Athena (1982), was an artist-in-residence at Maryville College a few years ago (in the old FAC). Neat!











































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Tennessee State Capitol Bldg

The kids enjoyed touring the State Capitol building. We saw the Representatives' chamber and the Senators' chamber. We also saw the murals in the Governor's front office, and the kids signed the guest book outside his office.






























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The Hermitage, Nashville TN

We're taking a short trip to Nashville as a precursor to our DC trip coming up in May. We went to the Hermitage yesterday and learned about General (and 7th U.S. President) Andrew Jackson. What a complicated man. Certainly not all good, but not all bad, either. I'll leave a complete analysis on him to the historians, except to say that our evolution as a civil society seems to be incremental. Jackson played a huge role in establishing rights for poor white men (which served as a model for others to follow to demand their rights), but he also is responsible for the Trail of Tears. Jackson is a study in contrasts, at best.

We toured the mansion, the garden, the slave cabins, the acreage where the crops were - the kids were able to relate what they had learned in class to what they saw. Mitch remembered seeing pictures of slave cabins in books at school and talking about how many people had to live in one small space - he said what we saw yesterday looked just like what was in the books. Sam remembered about Harriett Tubman and her role in helping slaves escape. Josie remembered details about the Civil War - when I asked her which side was for slavery, she said "the Confederates, because all of their wealth depended on slaves".




Sweet lady offered to take our picture; I didn't have the heart to tell her it was not in focus or to ask her to take another. I need to work on my assertiveness.







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