Happy Birthday, Andrew!

 I can't believe how big you are!  We love you so much are so proud of you!

 You are so thrilled with this knife with the paracord-wrapped handle!  I am thrilled for you, but please, please be careful!

October Field Trips

 October was a super busy month!!

First, we took a short trip with some other families over to Athens, Tennessee to visit the Mayfield Dairy Plant, where we got to do some (fake) cow-milkin',

some (real) ice cream eatin', 

and some cool porch sittin'!

 And don't forget some funny-face-makin'!

 After this, we headed over to the McMinn County Living Heritage Museum to take in some relics from the past...

some old, 

some not so old!

It was a really sweet day

 with friends.

Later in the month, our whole family hit the road for a whole weekend of field trips near Johnson City.    

First, we visited the Gray Fossil Site & Museum.  They had some neat activities for the kids.  It was great to learn about fossils found right here in our own home state.

Next came an unplanned stop, a little gem we found out about as we browsed the rack of brochures when we stopped for lunch.  Just down the road from the fossil site, on the campus of East Tennessee State University, is a cool railroad exhibit.  The George Carter Train Museum contains a very large model train layout which was built and is maintained by volunteer staff.  We were all very impressed by its size and detail.  (And it's free!)  What a great find.



The next day, we headed down the road to Greenville to check out the home of the Constitution President!  (Okay.  I don't know how broadly he is known by that title, but if you're going to choose a nickname as president, it doesn't get much better than that!)

  The Andrew Johnson home offers a lot to see.  From a replica of his birthplace, to his  original (!!) tailor shop, to two homes he and his family occupied during different periods.  A lot of information.  I'm sure the kids did not absorb it all, but we always have fun looking around old homes.




Last, but not least, we stopped at Davy Crockett's birthplace, which is a state historic site.  As you can guess from the picture, this was by far Andrew's favorite stop.  He had the opportunity to fire Davy Crockett's gun!!!!

We enjoyed looking around the historical exhibits and cabin (a reconstruction)... and the kids especially had fun taking every chance to photo-bamb.  :)

Strike a pose!

Andrew Attack!!

Ta-da!

Reagan on the prowl... and not quite sure
what Andrew and Ellie are doing to each other here!

And to close, some wonderful words to live by, courtesy of Davy Crockett himself: