The Simple Scents of Life

So much has happened in the past few weeks that I don't really know where I should begin. The family drove down to Tennessee for our annual Presbytery meeting where we had the opportunity to meet new people and spend time with old friends. This is one of the highlights of our year and we're already eagerly looking forward to next year!

After the festivities came to an end, Jess, Melissa, Caleb, a friend from church and I went on a four day journey with our very dear friends, the Hectors. Brown signs marking historic markers were spotted and we stopped several times to see so many different things. Among the highlights were the Kentucky Derby, a knife store, Wilbur Wright's birthplace and last but not least, the Creation Museum. There was so much to see, and so little time. Picking out pictures to blog proved to be a bit difficult, and I hope the selection below isn't too tiring. :) With so many people taking pictures, I honestly don't know who took some of these, or I'd give photo credit...but without the joint effort, we wouldn't have them. :) Enjoy!

There was quite a bit of cooking to do and we were more than happy to help out the breakfast team.

I had a lovely time meeting new friends...

...and catching up with old ones. Don't ask how many pies some of them consumed...

A evening of dancing was the highlight one night.

I honestly can't think of a caption for this one... :)

The Grand Ole Opry was our first stop on our way out of Tennessee.

The McD children.

A Titanic pose was in order.

Jess and Meli inside the Grand Ole' Opry Hotel.

Caleb too...he was too cute not to post. :)

The Smokey Mountain Knife Works Shop or mall or museum...a.k.a. the most impressive knife shop I've ever been in...okay, so maybe it's the only one too... :) I can't believe we left the place without getting one shot of the person who was responsible for our trip there...

Lions, and tigers and bears, oh my!!

Of course John Wayne would be at a knife shop...

Hehe, and what kind of world would this be if Deputy Fife were not around?

Yeah, the knife place had some interesting antique masks...

Too bad we didn't buy them...kinda cute, eh? ;)

I believe Ben's comment was something along the lines of Padme meets the Aztec Empire.

Melissa doesn't look too impressed.

Melissa finds her dream home. :)

Our wonderful driver, who is, among many things, a very dear friend.

A round of Putt-putt was put on the travel schedule.

This sign made us laugh so hard, so we snapped a picture of it to share here.

We thought this tunnel was impressive...and then we drove under a mountain. Unfortunately, there isn't a picture of that tunnel.

Being back in the South meant we just had to buy the best ice cream. :)

Mr. and Mrs. H., the two wonderful, darling people who risked their sanity when they took us on a four day journey in their RV...I love you two!! :)

Here we are in front of the famous race horse, Man O'War.

We stood in line and filled in the gap that shows how long one stride of one of the famous race horses was.

Lil' Miss Sara on a plane.

Besides cutting himself with knives, Nic also finds dinosaurs rather dangerous.

Prince Charming? I could've sworn the fairy tale said that the princess was supposed to kiss the frog...

Mother and daughter taking school on the road.

Nic studying a chart.

Outside of the Creation Museum. This wraps up part one of hopefully a two (maybe three?) part series of pictures from the last 18 days...hopefully. :)