We didn't write last week, and I can't really remember much about the week before last up to the time that J.J. and the girls drove down to Nashville to pick up Mom and Dad from the airport. That was on Thursday the 9th, and I taught my 3:30 class and then did some cleaning at the house until they arrived home at around 7:30. It was great to see them and the weather cooperated really well for their stay.
On Friday we all drove down to Fort Donelson, which is a Civil War battle site on the Cumberland River, about 35 miles away. We had a nice time walking around the cannons and the visitor center, where we watched an interesting film. (Rachel found the stage and the flag more interesting, so I only was able to watch a bit of the film and then Rachel and I explored the gift shop where she found the candy very interesting, so we ended up going outside to explore) We had a small lunch outside the visitor center and then drove home. Claire had dance class at 3:30 and then I ran the Homecoming Race on campus at 5:00 and everyone was there to cheer me on. I wanted to win my age group (31-40) and run under 20 minutes, and did both. (We were very proud of our hubby and daddy. He won a cool fleece MSU blanket) I'm not used to running fast miles, and my lungs felt it, but I was able to keep up the pace throughout. Jessica babysat the girls that night while Mom and Dad and both of us went out to eat at a Mexican place in town. (Always fun and exciting to eat and taste the food and not shove some down while chasing girls or trying to keep them quiet) Alan arrived from St. Louis later that evening.
Saturday we took another venture to the Homeplace out at Land Between the Lakes. It is an 1850s-period working farm that we have been to a couple of times, and it was fun to visit again. Claire likes it a lot and Rachel liked it this time a lot, especially the chickens running around. We watched a guy building a chair with simple tools, and that was neat to watch and learn little tricks that he told us about. (Claire was fascinated and stood very attentive watching them make the chairs. In the Visitor's Center there is a place where the kids can dress up as little 1800's children. Claire loved the outfits and was upset when we had to leave. Rachel enjoyed it too until I tried to dress her like a boy) When we got home, J.J. and Mom and Claire went to a Relief Society activity (It was our Super Saturday activity and we had about 8 women there or so -not a huge turnout, but it was still fun and nice to visit with friends when not in church) and the guys sat around and talked while Rachel took a nap and then watched a little football on TV. We then went to the church and picked up the girls and went to the 3rd quarter of the Murray State football game and stayed until the little girls started getting antsy, then we went to eat at a catfish restaurant, and we all filled up on fried catfish and hushpuppies. (I was very tired at the end of the day - between all our stuff going on, and getting things ready for the activity, I didn't get to just sit and rest or relax all day. Football games are never very fun for me since we have a stadium with steep bleachers and Claire and Rachel don't watch the games and just want to run around. So I don't do anything but stress while trying to keep them corralled. Some day I will be able to enjoy them again, because I really do like going to watch the live games)
Sunday I had early meetings and then joined everyone for the regular meetings. We had dinner after church, and then visited for awhile and then Alan drove home to St. Louis and the rest of us relaxed outside in the nice afternoon weather.
Monday morning I went running early and then went into work for an hour or so, taking Claire with me, which she loved. I checked on a few things and talked to the department chair about something going on and then we headed home. Claire entertained herself by writing things that I would spell out for her. One of those was "Happy Journey," which she changed to "Happy Journal" for some reason and then told me that she would give that to our neighbors Bob and Esther the next time they took a trip. When we got home, Dad and I went golfing at a course in Tennessee, and had a good time. Dad hit the ball really well, but couldn't putt very well, while I couldn't drive at all but could hit my irons fine as long as I wasn't near the green. I putted fine except on one hole where the cup was on the edge of a tier and I was below and didn't make it, then overshot the hole, then hit it past the hole and down the tier again, finally getting it in after 6 putts for a 10. I really wasn't being as careful as I should have been, but at that point I knew I wasn't scoring well anyway so I didn't care. That course is really wild and is fun to play no matter how you score. We got home around 3:30 to help Mom play with the girls for the rest of the afternoon. (I spent the day at work seeing patients and trying to figure out any changes going on with our transfer to the hospital)
I had to work all day on Tuesday, working on several things going on with the composition program, which is involved with a proposed change that I started and did a bunch of work on and now it is in the hands of the chair and college dean to try to get approved by everyone else around the university on various committees. Everyone seems to have an opinion about how composition should be taught, and it has spurred some interesting comments and reasoning that I hadn't expected. We'll see what happens with it. After I taught my afternoon class on Tuesday I came home and hung out with everyone that evening. (Claire and Rachel and Grandma and Grandpa and I went to Rachel's storytime - they play most of the time and read a few books, but that is changing in the next couple of weeks to where they meet with the 2 year old group and do more storytime and singing - the librarian is hoping the toddlers will set a good example for the 2 year olds who seem to be having trouble sitting and following directions. Rachel does pretty good as long as the toys are put away. After, we go into the library and Claire likes to play on the computers and Rachel likes to pretend she knows what she is doing on the computers too and sits with the little headphones on and pushes the mouse around. It's pretty funny)
Wednesday morning I ran again and stayed home most of the morning while J.J. went to work. Instead of going to storytime, Claire went with Katy's 1st grade class to Fall on the Farm, accompanied by Bridget, Katy's mom. Claire had a great time there. (Bridget said Claire did great with the other kids, she was just going to have to learn to at faster at lunch to keep up. If only! Meals with Claire are so slow if she eats anything at all. Claire had a great time though and I was very glad she got to go since she has talked about it every time we pass the farm for the past year and I didn't think we would be back on Saturday in time to take her) I went to work around 11:30, and had a lunch meeting at noon and then did some work until 4:00 when I came home. That evening J.J. stayed home with Rachel while Mom and Dad and I took Claire to the primary program practice at the church. I did clerk stuff the whole time and Mom and Dad watched the practice.
Thursday morning I did a longer run of 6.4 miles and then went to work, teaching my morning class and working until 2:00 or so. I came home and packed up the car and we waited for Lauren to come to take care of the girls while all the adults went to Nashville. Lauren came about 4:00, and we took off for Nashville. J.J. and I had tickets to the Olympic Gymnasts tour that night, and it had worked out for Mom and Dad to get a flight home the next day. They went with us downtown, and we parked at the arena and found a place to eat on the main drag, full of honky-tonk bars and things. We had barbeque and we left Mom and Dad to enjoy the night life of downtown Nashville and we went to the show. It was cheesy, but fun to watch all of the Olympians perform routines with flair. (I warned Paul before what it would be, and it was, but it was still lots of fun. He even enjoyed it. He gets big husband points for getting me the tickets to this and us getting to go by ourselves. I love my girls more than anything, but a night or two like this is just what the doctor ordered!!) It was over around 9:30 and we met Mom and Dad outside and walked back to the car and drove to hour hotel south of downtown. We found out BYU lost their game, which was a big bummer.
Friday morning we took it easy, eating breakfast at the hotel and then going to the temple. There was a stake temple day there from somewhere, so it was a full session. After the session, we had soup bread bowls at at a bakery/restaurant, (They were wonderful and hit the spot.) and then went back to the hotel to change clothes and grab Mom and Dad's luggage. We drove over near Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities, and went to Centennial Park where there is an exact replica of the Parthenon. We walked around and then drove to Fort Negley, a Civil War-era fort that is barely there. From there we went to the airport and dropped Mom and Dad off, saying goodbye, and then we went back to the hotel and rested (I love my naps!!) before going downtown for dinner and the other show we got tickets for: a reading by David Sedaris. He was very funny, and it was great to hear him in person. We had heard his books via audiobook before and so when we saw that he was in Nashville, we got tickets. Olympic gymnasts and Sedaris are probably opposite forms of entertainment, but it worked out great for us.
Saturday morning we went to a couple of stores and then drove home arriving around 1:00. The girls were very glad to see us as were we, and everything went fine with the babysitters. That afternoon we went to a baptism at the church, and then J.J. had a baby shower for Janice Bakes at our house. Sunday was the primary program, and Claire did her part fine but was sad from the plethora of activity the week before and couldn't sit with the other kids without J.J. there. (She had the saddest face after saying her part at the beginning and finally started crying, so they brought her down to sit with us, but then decided she wanted to go up as long as i went to sit with her. So I joined the primary on the stand.) Well, with J.J. sitting up there, Rachel wanted to go to so I had to take her out. So neither of us really got to watch Claire sing, although I took a few peeks now and then for a few seconds before Rachel screamed to go up there with her. She was singing out, though, when I saw her.
We took it easy Sunday afternoon, and everyone went to bed early. It was a fun week with Grandma and Grandpa. We love you all.
(This is one of my favorite pics of my princess! Who could resist this look?)
Our pre-trick-or-treating activities consisted of a decent snack (to counteract the sugar to come) along with getting lots of fluids so we don't get dehydrated from the strenuous activities.
The Bumblebee and Minnie were ready to go.
And look, Hannah Montana joined the crowd.
Along with DeeDee the puppy pumpkin.
Rachel picked right up on the trick-or-treating and marched right up to the doors for her candy.
These next three pics are from an ultrasound done at 19 weeks back in September.
a foot....
a head and face.....
make for a big belly - that is just getting bigger all the time. (These are from about 25 weeks along)
This is Claire and Rachel's friend Jonathan the fireman.
(Not great pics, but just to prove we were there)
The next day we went to see Fort Negley, which is an old civil war fort in Nashville. Paul's parents were with us as we were dropping them off at the airport that afternoon.
In Nashville, there is also the only life size replica of the Parthenon in Greece. Inside there is a museum, which we did not go in, and while it was nice to walk around, I would love to see it in Greece!
Clarie was also our tour guide around the farm using the map to let us know what we were looking at.
In one of the houses, there was a beautiful gray kitty that was so soft and nice. Rachel even was able to pet it.
There are cannons set up on the hill pointed up river so as the boats came down the river, they could attack.
"Look out! There are enemies ahead!"
"It's an enemy ship!" (Really just a big barge coming down the river)
"Look out the cannons are going to fire!"
"I surrender!"
Paul, Claire, Grandma and Grandpa Walker check out the size of these big cannons.
Claire loved the wall along the hills. Grandma made mommy feel better about using them as "balance beams"
We went up and down a few inclines and Claire was very helpful to Rachel.
I know, lots of pictures of the same, but I love to see them holding hands!
I hope they always love each other like this!
This was one incline Rachel wasn't ready to tackle yet.....
...though she did try to get Paul to carry her up.
