The Home Place

We spent last week in Martin and on Thursday we took a trip and visited The Home Place at Land Between the Lakes... it was SO much fun!

As children both Russ and I visited The Home Place on several occasions, and Russ more than me as he and his family camped there quite often.  I am guessing some our West Tennessee blogging friends have fond memories of visiting The Home Place, too. :)

We had a great time making what we hope to be the first of many memories at LBL!

We left Martin around 8:30 and made our first stop at Trollingers in Paris to pick up our BBQ lunch which we later enjoyed on our picnic.  Trollingers did not disappoint and as always it was delicious!

We stopped at a picnic area not far from The Home Place and it will always be a very memorable experience for us as it was our first family picnic.  The boys seemed to enjoy eating outside, especially Lawson.  Emmitt was slightly distracted and didn't eat as much as the rest of us... we, however, enjoyed enough for him.

As we were cleaning up our picnic mess, I looked under the table for a quick check only to notice the two rocks below... they were the most special rocks I had ever seen.  They instantly made me smile, and yes, I did bring them home. :)

Helicopters... I'm sure, or at least I hope, you know about helicopters.  Russ and I "flew" many of them during our childhood days and guess who learned about them while we ate... Lawson, of course!  Who knew that these little leaf thingamajigs would be so enjoyable for kids? :)

And more love from nature was discovered... in the leaves!

And amongst our purchases at Trollingers, the boys got to pick out one treat. 

Emmitt chose gummy bears...

...and Lawson a super size tootsie roll.

=The entrance to The Home Place=

The Home Place is a "living museum" and depicts a farm settlement from the 1800's.

This cabin was our first stop, and I must say that Lawson was extremely cautious and begged with tears not to go inside.  Of course, once we finally convinced him to go in he loved it.

These corn bundles were located across from the cabin.

The Spring House was built along the naturally cold spring where items were placed to keep cold... Once again, Lawson very cautiously walked towards the little house.

The Blacksmith at work... Dad was more interested than Lawson.

:)

The pigs were rolling in the mud to keep cool... did I mention it was hot?  The heat has been against us in our outings this fall.  On Wednesday it was a comfortable 75.  On Thursday, our visit to LBL, it was 88.  I was like seriously?  I had the boys in long sleeves, but fortunately threw short sleeve shirts in the diaper bag.  We changed mid-afternoon.

I suppose I'm trying to say that I didn't blame the pigs for rolling in the mud. :)

And then the sheep.  For some reason, I am fond of them. 

The boys were quite fond of them, too.

Somehow, this picture is slightly out of order, but this is broom corn {hanging to dry} and it is/was used to make brooms.  I'm unsure of whether or not is still used in the making of brooms.

Back to the sheep... the sheep were being held in a fenced area as there was a large group of first graders visiting on a field trip.  Once the first graders had departed, this nice man released them to freely roam.  We felt so special as he came to release them right in front of us.  The boys were SO excited.

I want to add that as the man was letting them out, I asked Lawson if he thought he was a shepherd... he wrinkled his nose, tilted his head to the right, and quickly said, "No mom, he is just a man."  :)

We got to see them up closely... so exciting for the boys!

Beautifully grazing in the back of the farm.

This is the tobacco barn and strangely enough, the smell of the tobacco smoking instantly reminded us of fall, and smelled kind of good.

The "shepherd" was now tending to the tobacco...

And lastly, a few snapshots from our visit...

Ten minutes after we left they were both out... a quiet ride to Madisonville, Kentucky where we went to visit Uncle Jim and Aunt Erin.  We were excited to see their new house and also to get a tour of Madisonville where we finished the evening at a great local restaurant.

We safely arrived back in Martin around 9:15... we made a full day of it, indeed!

It was a fun and much needed break!

If you are ever visiting Land Between the Lakes in the Tennessee/Kentucky area, I would encourage you to visit The Home Place at Land Between the Lakes.  You could certainly see it in a little over an hour, and I can assure you that it would be worth your stop!

Happy Monday and thanks for reading!

Up, Up, Up and Away

This past Sunday, we were killing time waiting for our pizza to be ready for pick-up as they had no delivery drivers.  Fortunately enough, our route included West Broadway where we saw two hot air balloons preparing for take off in Hy-Vee's {grocery store} front yard.  It was so exciting!

We, along with many others, pulled right up and watched them float up, up, up and away... it was so neat!  We've seen a few balloons flying near our house over the past few weeks, and to be honest, Lawson has been so excited over them that we we've been kicking the idea around on going to St. Louis this weekend for the balloon race, but after seeing this, we believe we're going to the football game instead... I'm sure if given the choice, that's what Lawson would choose, too. : ) 

It was a beautiful evening and the sun and sky were beautiful... We had just gotten back from TN so the camera was in the back, thank goodness!

Dad and Lawson watching the first one float up, up, up and away...

{You can click on the pictures to see them larger and up close}

It's almost ready...

And there goes the second one...  Dad with the boys...

Lawson must have really good eyes... aren't they beautifully hanging in the sky?

Many of the cars in this picture were also watching and taking pictures... we noticed two more balloons in the distance... We were wondering if they are preparing for this weekend's race...  I've noted them in the picture, and our church building is on the right.

So pretty!

An unexpected reason for excitement!

And I would like to add that later that night I began to think about the "big picture" of these balloons taking off... the "big picture" of Hy-Vee's parking lot on that lovely Sunday night.  The weather was beautiful and crisp... the sky was a beautiful blue... two balloons were taking off into the sky... people were standing around watching, looking up into the sky... the date was September 11. 

What a contrast.  Ten years ago on that very day, in New York City, the weather was beautiful and crisp, the morning sky a beautiful blue, people standing around watching and looking up into the sky, the date September 11.  For some reason, later that night, my mind kept saying, "Wow... what a contrast those hot air balloons are in comparison to the frightful and heartbreaking sight that took place ten years before...".  May we never forget.  May we never lose sight of the freedom we have in this great nation because so many gave all.

It was a beautiful evening... an uplifting sight, indeed!

Go Tigers & Uncle Jim

I think we might've caught the fever... the Tiger fever, that is.

We attended our first Mizzou football game and although it was hotter than a firecracker, I think we might be hooked.  We are hoping to go back this weekend.  :)

Kick-off was scheduled for 11:00.  Jim, Russ' brother, was coming to Columbia to go to the game with us and to also stay the night.  He got here around 9:00 and we headed towards the stadium.  As we got closer, we realized that 9:30ish wasn't early enough for parking.  We walked almost 2 miles along a main 4-lane street.  I couldn't believe it.  I was kind of nervous about walking so far with the boys on such a busy street, but thanks to Russ and Jim we made it safely.

This picture is just a glimpse of the cars lining the street...

I really like these next two pictures...

Getting closer...

Almost to the gate...

Finally in our seats. 

It was so neat... and SO HOT!

There were wet sweaty people everywhere. Literally.

We knew it was going to be warm, but the sun was literally shining straight down onto our heads... the 11:00 AM sun was in full attendance at the Mizzou game!  Gold?  You got it... sunshine and all!

Warming up...

I've seen Tennessee Volunteer Orange in many different articles of clothing, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen anything like this... hope he didn't mind me taking his picture! :)

The Marching Band... Lawson says those three words very plainly with great excitement!  He was very happy to see "The Marching Band"!!!

As I was passing out snacks, I realized we were eating "Gold"fish... "Gold", get it?  I know, so cheesy.  Literally. :)

I heard it was 123 degrees on the field... whew!

The boys...

Lawson is covering his ears because they shot a canon when the Tigers scored and it was loud and scared him.  And I would like to mention that many around us were commenting on the boys' behavior.  I hadn't really given it much thought, but they really were soooo good!  Neither of them ever even whined {and I was almost ready to whine myself}.

Can you tell it is hot?!

This picture was taken because Emmitt took his shoes off.  It was hot and I thought it would help keep him cool if they were off, not to mention barefoot is how he rolls.  I downloaded it and had planned to crop it, only to realize that it was kind of a cool pic. 

MIZZOU boldly on his gold t-shirt, sock-feet Emmitt, flip-flop mama, and juice boxes...

And... we left at half-time. It was just too hot.  Russ left ahead of us to go get the van.  He spared us the 2 mile walk and met us not far from the gate.  Jim stayed with me and the boys in the sweltering sun until he called to say he was headed back to pick us up.  We decided to go and wait under the bleachers just to get out of the sun.  We made our way to the shade only to see a lady pass out and others obviously sick.  We fell right into the droves of people leaving the game.  We hated to leave, but it wasn't worth it, esp for the boys. 

We got home and Emmitt took a nap while Lawson played soccer football.  He is setting the ball on the book and kicking it.  He did this many times before realizing he could "play" football with his real football... Russ and Jim patiently played with him, throwing and catching the football 100 times that day, at least.

Our only other problem has been tackling.  He is very good at it and it is so easy to tackle his little brother, but it lands him in time-out every single time.  He'll learn.

Uncle Jim's visit earned him some good bonding time with the boys.  Emmitt, specifically, warmed up to him and was so sweet.

Lastly, we finished the day with a storm and a fish fry.  Russ spent four days in Canada on a fishing trip with work and brought back dinner.  We fried the fish along with hush puppies, and french fries.  It was a greasy spoon of a meal, but oh, so good!

I'm hoping he will post the memories from his trip; the pictures are beautiful!

And with the storm brought cool temperatures... about eight hours too late for the football game!

That's all for now... Uncle Jim, it was a great time having you here with us!  And Tigers, we are hoping to see you win again this weekend!