Fall Foliage Tour / Visit with Craig and other famous relatives

We made great use of our fall break (all two holidays of it!) by traveling to Connecticut to visit our son Craig, and also to check in with Nancy's aunt and uncle, Mary Ellen and Harry. It was four days packed with traveling and we'll tell the story through pictures and captions. But the synopsis is: landed in New Haven Thursday around noon, drove to Greenwich, met up with Mary Ellen and Harry, bopped around with them Thursday, Friday visited Yale in the rain then continued on to Hartford, checked out the Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens house, greeted Craig as he returned from Prague, then Saturday enjoyed an awesome breakfast at Mo's, drove to Vermont, hiked, stopped in Brattleboro for a beer, returned via New Hampshire, dined in Hartford at Frank Pepe's, Sunday churched in Hartford, toured Craig's sumptuous IAE office, then continued on to a coastal tour, including a late lunch at the famous Dog Watch Cafe in Stonington and a walking tour of the port of Mystic. Then it was back to the New Haven airport and two flights to arrive back home before the stroke of midnight, ready to teach school the next morning!

Our approach into New Haven. This was our first prop plane in quite a few years. Seating: less than 20! 

Nancy and her aunt Mary Ellen and Uncle Harry, during our walk in the park along the Long Island Sound, just outside of  Greenwich. We could see the buildings of Manhattan on the horizon!

The LeBiens were wonderful hosts for our first day in New England. The dinner at the Indian River Yacht Club was a real treat.

We loved our tour of the Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens house, even if  our highly intelligent tour guide wanted to elevate S.C. to sainthood. I'm sure there's a good website for more info, but suffice it to say the house had a lot of cool stuff in it.

Saturday morning, after breakfast at Mo's Diner, we traveled through Massachusetts without stopping, making a beeline for our fal foliage hike.

The hike included lots of "up". Here we are waiting on Craig, who is talking to his friend Caroline, who happens to be in Istanbul, Turkey (international phone call from wilds of Vermont....hmm)

This was one of the few adventurous spots on the trail. Otherwise it was pretty much a long trudge uphill. Good exercise and great views!

 The views of the valley were spectacular.

Craig and Nancy posed for a last photo before doing a little rock hopping in the creek.

The white birch trees were absolutely gleaming on a bright, sunny afternoon.

We found what must be one of the top sights as far as picturesque scenery and cold beverages in Battleboro, and perhaps all of New England.

The late afternoon views were incredible, and changing with the clouds and the slow setting of the sun.

We were plenty hungry by the time we made it back to Hartford and Frank Pepe's pizza, baked in a coal fired oven.

Even Nancy joined in the action, though Craig would allow us to order her a large pizza. I think we could have worked it over!

Here we are at Craig's office on Sunday (there was one guy actually there working, but only one).

We toured the docks of Stonington, deciding on a best choice for a ship while waiting for our table at the Dog Watch Cafe. My lobster roll was pretty good! That should last me for a little while.

We walked off a bit of our lunch at a waterfront park just down from the Cafe.

We wrapped up our seaside tour in Mystic, which include a cool drawbridge and many shops with unusual items that must be of interest to some tourists. The weather was gorgeous, though with a little wind blowing there was a chill in the air. Not a place to winter in!

Fun with Betsy and Stephen in Amarillo

We went to see the Amarillo Sox baseball team (minor league level unknown but it isn't very high!) with Richard and Ingrid, members of Beautiful Savior and also great friends of Stephen and Betsy.

We had great seats, just high enough to see all the action and keep an eye on the mascots and interesting fans. We were also just behind the backstop screen which meant we didn't have to pay too close attention to foul balls.

It was a beautiful night, starting off with temperatures in the low 80s but then dropping to the low 60s during the game. The wind was howling and I thought a rain storm was coming, but it never arrived.

Nothing like a purely commercial mascot to have your picture taken with. Can you believe it, this is a shampoo bottle, advertising the Great Clips hair cutting place. It didn't seem to matter, some kids still considered it a great photo op.

Here's the genuine mascot for the Amarillo Sox. Word has it that in past years the Sox were called the Armadillos, and were perhaps a completely different farm team. But the owner ran into some financial issues and that was that.

We stopped by the church and checked out the preparations for the Vacation Bible School, starting that Sunday. This congregation has a great deal of enthusiasm for VBS and invests a tremendous amount of creativity, energy and time into making it a success.

On Friday morning we got up "bright" and early and headed to Palo Duro Canyon State Park for a hike. It was misting and very foggy, with a chill in the air. These leaves are actually covered with moisture, a rarity for the usually very dry Amarillo area.

At the top of the trail there is a thermometer, I'm sure meant to warn visitors of the heat, since it goes up to 120 degrees. When we start it was 60 degrees, and as we finished two hours later the temperature was up to 70.

Palo Duro is the place to go to see interesting rocks and rock formations, and to say "hmmm, I wonder how that came about?"

Most of the time we were walking within sight of tremendous cliffs. A few times we came right up to the edge. There were no walls or fences, or even nice warning signs. I guess in Texas they don't believe it that.

We saw a million and one cacti. This was the only one blooming. I heard that we missed the blooming season by a few weeks.

Stephen and Betsy are standing at the edge of a huge outcropping. Far below is the Texas musical amphitheater. Evidently in the musical a horse with rider appears in the very spot where they are standing.

Prom - All Dressed Up

Prom is a big dance party surrounded by getting beautiful in gorgeous clothes, sharing a nice dinner, and doing fun things after the dance. Usually only seniors and juniors go to the prom, but Jacob was invited by Rachel, his friend from Musical Theater, so he got to attend as a freshman.

Dancing at the prom comes in all forms, styles, and levels of expertise. There seemed to me more socializing and celebrating than just dancing.

Nancy and I attended our fourth Hardin Valley prom together. My students are always very excited when I tell them that I've got my date to the prom lined up already! Then they find out it's just my wife. We have fun checking in the students as they arrive at the front door. That way we get to see all the fancy dresses and tuxedos. Notice that we didn't spring for the full prom look.

Graduation Day!

Hardin Valley Academy completed the fourth year of operation and celebrated the graduation of the first class to attend the school for all four years. We had over 500 students graduate. The ceremony was held in Thompson Boling Arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee. The arena is UT's basketball stadium and seats over 20,000. Even though our graduating class was huge, there was plenty of extra space!

Students gathered before the ceremony and lined up in the proper order. This was a bit challenging because for many students, this would be the last time they will see each other (for a long time). Despite this need to make connections with friends, we were successful in getting students ready to walk into the arena.

Students wore special decorations to signify accomplishments during their high school careers. The white collars signified membership in the National Honor Society. The cords with tassels designated the student as one who completed a special endorsement program in addition to completing basic graduation requirements.

Teachers were dressed in black gowns, with colorful hoods for those with Masters and Doctorate degrees. The special colors are those of the school where the teacher completed the post-graduate work.

Students walked out of the Big Orange tunnel into the arena and moved  to their seats. For some of the girls it was a fashion show of fancy, very high heel shoes. Thankfully all of them made it safely in and out.

Almost all the teachers attended the ceremony to show their support for the students.

After many speeches the name of each student was read as they walked across the stage and received congratulations from the school system superintendent and the school principals.

Nancy's Fruit Pizza

Nancy acts like she can't cook but in reality she can crank out some great stuff. Recently she made "fruit pizza" for a reception at her school. The pizza includes a base of sugar cookie, with a sauce layer of whipped cream cheese, topped off with a colorful variety of fruit.

We didn't get to taste this one! But it looks beautiful.

We didn't get to taste this one either. Next time we'll have to insist that Nancy make one for us too!

Jacob's Birthday Event

Jacob and his friends went to a lake house on nearby Lake Norris to enjoy a day of  fun, including paddling around on the water in a canoe and a small aluminum boat.

Frau Brooks provided all the food, two delicious meals, and we wrapped it up with a cookie cake for Jacob.

A Glorious Easter Sunday

Easter at St. John's is a glorious celebration. Our Altar Guild works very hard to clean and arrange the sanctuary so it is truly beautiful, complete with many dozens of lillies. Our first worship service of Easter morning actually begins across the street in the Old Gray Cemetery, one of the oldest graveyards in Knoxville. We gather amid the tombs and proclaim the news that He is risen. After reading the Gospel and praying, we process across the street into our beautiful sanctuary. A thousand thanks to Owen Peterson, our church photographer extraordinaire, for sharing these images.
Easter is the highest of "high masses" and comes complete with the banner and torch bearers, the Bible bearer, and one of my favorites, the ecclesiastical kite, representing the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Steve shares the good news that He is risen, He is risen indeed!
In between worship services the children gather to decorate the cross with flowers. Even though Jacob is almost 15 he helped out with the decorating. Notice Jacob's spiffy yellow bow tie, part of his Easter fashions.
Jacob didn't hog the ladder and many children played a role in completing the cross. Notice Jacob at the right right, with his friends Andy and Sarah.
This is the same cross that stood throughout Lent draped in purple, and then was draped in black cloth from Good Friday until Easter morning. Children of the church often pick flowers from their yards to bring for the cross.