Happy holidays! It's cold.
In early November we went to our church's fall retreat. The girls had a lot of fun roasting marshmallows, playing games, and worshiping with their friends. It was especially encouraging to see J engaging in the teaching with her gaggle of friends.
As usual, we spent a fair amount of time at Cornelia Fort Airpark. :) The girls always look forward to them mowing the grass and putting out haybales.
For Thanksgiving we stayed in Chattanooga and hit up the usual spots: The Creative Discovery Museum and the riverfront. We spent an inordinate amount of time at a Barnes and Noble; I'm pretty sure the girls read at least two or three books while fending off the clerk's "If you need any help finding anything, let me know!"
We found a new place, Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center. This little nature center was about 20 minutes from downtown. It was pretty in the fall, but I can imagine it's even prettier in the spring or summer. They had a lot of animals in rehabilitation: among them an owl, hawk, and bobcat and even several red wolves. We got to see the bobcat climb the chain-link fence roof upside down to chase a squirrel - a physical feat I would have considered impossible if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!
We also visited Point Park (overrated and pricey, unless you are really into Civil War history) and went out to Tony's Italian for A's birthday.
For Thanksgiving we got to see my grandparents and their family (my aunts and uncles). My aunt has a pretty great setup for entertaining: an old barn that has been remodeled as a vacation home, with a screened in back porch and a stocked pond in the back. My youngest brother, now a Marine, was able to come into town and it was very good to see him.
C brought her violin and they had an old organ set up, so the girls entertained everyone with music. Hopefully it wasn't too entertaining, and they invite our circus back next year.
