Nashville time

Sarah encouraged us that we should see our Nashville family again. She was very grateful for all the help and company we had given her but now she was comfortable how things were going. She knew that her sister and William were missing seeing us. We had not seen them since August 4th.

Friday October 7th  -  And now we were on our way. 2/3 along the way we needed gas. This was my view at that moment. I thought it's clever: "Run in when you run out"

We needed to do a view steps (ha-ha, not the Fitbit thing - our joints!) and I remembered that Sarah had packed two pieces of the birthday cookie the day before. That was nice. For easy packing I had suggested to make "sandwiches" so the sticky writing/decorating would be in the middle. Nice!

Saturday  -  We already had a full program. Helen had a class in the morning and William was signed up for "little lab" at the Science Museum. He loves that and Papa took care of him ... while I did "a little dusting" in the TH (townhouse).

When James arrived with William and his suitcase afterwards I got the biggest and longest hug a grandma ever got. Gosh, that felt good.

We also had a run to the grocery store and had a nice dinner all together. James did some grilling. Und Helen wanted that James to have a birthday cake. Ben provided the photos and VIDEO!

William stayed to spent the night.

Sunday  -  William loves spending the nights. He loves his blow-up bed and helped setting it up. We have to haul it forth and back because Caleb loves it too. No problem since it came with a pump.

He woke up (smiling!) in time for a quick breakfast of a dinosaur bread and egg sandwich. 
Then it was off to their church.
Sunday school (for the children and adults too) comes after the 9 am worship service. William loves it so we stayed too. The adult one was very special this time. A gentleman from a charity to help homeless people gave a presentation. He was the founder. The reason why it was so moving was because the founder had been a homeless person himself for 5 years after having been a very rich man before. He gave an eye-opening talk. Very moving!

The weather was very nice and so we could even enjoy an ice cream outside on the back deck. James and I always marvel that you can do that in October here. When the sun is so strong we are fussy about having hats on. Papa found one for William.

In the late afternoon the three of us took a walk around the neighborhood. William did really well. We had to look at a view things. Some neighbors had done some decorating. That's why our mph isn't any better.

Monday  -  No school today so William could spent another night. But we got up early and packed a picnic. We had an outing planned. We picked Helen up at 8:30 am and were on our way to the 1850s Homeplace in the LBL.

Ha, am I getting better at selfies?

First stop was at a Land-between-the-Lakes Visitor Center. It was right across the road from Fort Donaldson. It was free and we were encouraged to have an at least quick look. The ranger told us about an eagles nest.

We looked for it but couldn't find it. The park was gorgeous though and we were glad for the view.

And there we were at our destination. How many years had it been? 20 or 30? We used to live pretty close by. The Homeplace 1850s is a working farm and living history museum. Interpreters are in period clothing and going about their daily chores. 

When we arrived at the main house they were just sitting down for lunch ... which had been cooked the old fashioned way in that kitchen. Oh my gosh. They try to prepare everything how it would have been and with things they would have raised on that farm including the eggs from the free-ranging hens. Jealous! 

Their lunch smelled so good that we decided to have ours too. We found a nice spot and benches.

It was a long but very good day and William was tired. Next day was a school day. We dropped Helen and William at their home and stopped at the Mexican Restaurant close to our house. Nice end to a nice day.