Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures

Rain was forecasted for Saturday, so we treated ourselves to a trip to the indoor zoo: the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies!

I find aquariums so peaceful and soothing, don't you? Even the predators just glide by in this tranquil way. Even the light in aquariums makes me happy. I wish I lived in an aquarium.

That someone else would clean!

I also really love eels' expressions. 

Watching the jellys glide by with wonder

There's also a large penguin exhibit there!

Jon & I watched their feeding from outside the enclosure..

Miles and Adele watched from within the enclosure! behind plastic, but still. 

Needless to say, they loved it. Adele has a stuffed penguin at home that has never gotten as much love as it has since we got home from the aquarium. She named it "Butch" after one of the Ripley's penguins.

There were a lot of other very cool features for kids to experience the "swarms of living creatures" in the water.

No pictures, but we got to touch the rays! That was my favorite part. I can remember the cool, sinewy feel so precisely. 

I would like to thank these particular fish for lifting my mood with their cheerful colors!

Again... I feel our household would be so much more serene if we could only have aquariums for walls. They were so entranced.

There is a moving walkway in a tube where you have a surround-view experience and can "swim" with the sharks!

Love this guy

Howdy, Left Shark!

There was a whole tank full of Doctor Fish that you could allow to nibble your hands! Miles & Jon must have stayed there for 20 minutes. They have some extremely clean hands, now.

When we left, Gatlinburg was sunny and in the high 70s. So, we felt we owed the downtown area a visit. 

Among the varied fantastic sights downtown is a movie car museum, with the love bug and other famous cars. I don't do famous cars, so my knowledge ends there. But look, the Avengers!

I also don't do superheros, but Adele does! She was thrilled to see Captain America, Ironman, and HULK-SMASH! But we had to tell her who Thor was, for some reason.

Adele. loves. Hulk-Smash. But, it'd been a long day, with no nap.

So obviously, we had to go hiking again! Back to the Smoky Mountains Park for one more ramble in the woods.

No bears, here!

Finally, we made time for dinner at Corky's. That this Memphis legend has a restaurant as far east as Gatlinburg was totally unexpected and delightful!
Best BBQ ever. Besides Dinosaur BBQ, of course.

We were home for church on Sunday! And we were there for Evensong, as well. We stayed long enough to take some of the extra reception wine home with us. What good fortune!

Fancy-ed up for Evensong

Back in Blacksburg, where the beauty, while different, is no less astonishing. 

We needed that time together in a new setting. I'm so grateful to have gone. 

Hind's Feet on High Places

It was time for a family getaway. 

Usually, what happens at our April anniversary is that Jon and I leave the kids with family during "spring break" (in the first week of  March) and go spend one quick night away together, then rush back to relieve the sitter. This year, we decided to try something different. 

Jon has been wanting to go the Smoky Mountains National Park to hike for years. When we decided to take a family mini-break instead of a couple's getaway, I stipulated that we could visit the park, but I wanted to sleep in a hotel, thankyouverymuch. Off we went to Camp Compromise. 

Road trip selfie

The kids cheered when we made it over the border into Tennessee. They noticed the giant guitar. 

I noticed the confederate flag within five minutes. Unfortunately, I noticed it out loud, and Miles was on it like a hawk on prey and we found ourselves having to explain the whole Civil War in the car. Oh brother. 

The best part, though, was when we asked him what he already knew about the Civil War, and he said, "That's when Virginia said to England, 'we want to be a country' and we fought a war and we won so we got to go to America." 

We had a lot of 'splainin to do. 

Meanwhile, we were getting into Pigeon Forge. If you haven't been to Dolly Parton's hometown before, I really can't fully explain. You will just have to experience it for yourself. 

It's kind of like... Disneyworld and Los Vegas had a baby and it grew up in Tennessee.  

I just stopped taking pictures in Gatlinburg because it was more fun to just gawk and point with the kids and enjoy their thrilled exclamations. 

The weather was looking rainy for Saturday, so we decided to make our main hiking expedition on Friday. We drove straight to the park, ate our packed lunch at the visitors' center, and drove out to Clingman's Dome, Jon's priority hike. 

The neon spring green on all the foliage was stunning.

The elevation at Clingman's Dome is in the 6000s ft above sea level. It's the kind of air that doesn't feel cold on your skin but feels cold when you breathe it in. The deciduous trees don't even have leaves yet, up there.

It was exhilarating. 

This was the beginning of the final climb, which I understand brought us to the highest point in the state of Tennessee.

Adele started in the carrier...

...then demanded to be allowed to walk. She hit a wall, and lay down for a while. But once I got her to the observation tower, she could see Jon and Miles, and Adele broke into a triumphant run. 

She was thrilled to be reunited with them after 10 long minutes. :-)

Guys... the view... 

Miles loved that he could stand in North Carolina with one foot and Tennessee with another. 

He must have explained this to Adele about 50 times before he moved on to explaining it to every passerby. 

I had to drag him away. He will be giving tours at some historical place someday. 

After that hike, Jon saw a sign for the Appalachian Trail. It was just half a mile away. Though we were all tired, we decided we'd go for it. Jon's always wanted to hike a portion of the trail. 

They trotted along like little goats. I think it was the air. It may also have been the view? Or, possibly, the proximity to God.

And who is a rock besides our God?—

the God who girded me with strength, and made my way safe.

He made my feet like the feet of a deer, and set me secure on the heights.

Psalm 18

A kind passerby took our family photo.

At long last, we finally made it to the AT. We may have hiked it for half a mile?

The glory of that day! Alas, did not cause our kids to fall asleep quickly and easily as we'd hoped. The ice cream seemed to have been more powerful than the exertion. 

Still, it was good ice cream. 

Thank you God, for 13 years together, 9 years married, 5 3/4 years as parents. It's been a mighty fine trip, and the company's been even better. 

Around the world in Blacksburg, VA

I can't believe the world has turned this far. Once again, it's April, the world is in bloom, the sun has returned, and we got to attend another International Fair.

Days before the Fair, the Parade of Nations festoons Main Street with lovely flag after lovely flag

Unfortunately, unlike last year, the weather was about as bad as April can be. Temperatures were in the low 50s, the wind was chilling and the rain varied only in its intensity.

I was so worried that the good people who make this fair happen would be utterly thwarted, and that they'd be disappointed. But everyone was so joyful! They smiled in the rain, and laughed and shouted and helped one another to secure tents which the wind was threatening to blow away. This weekend I just loved people so much.

The Saudi Tent, once again, got our attention right away by inviting us in to try on Saudi clothes.

They gave Miles a backpack with the Saudi flag on it

Me in (partial) hijab:

Miles getting fitted for his keffiyeh.

They talked to us a while and welcomed us with food samples (dates! Spicy rice!) and sent the kids away with Saudi Arabian coloring books. 

You can see the scene here, the tents stretching up and down the streets, the sea of umbrellas... and one bizarre cartoon face in the crowd:

Some kind of Saudi Mascot, I think! Hilarious.

Miles wasn't too happy about being rained on, but Adele thought it a wonderful lark.


The Society for Creative Anachronism also had a tent in the International Fair. The sense I got is these are people obsessed with medieval Europe who wish to incorporate clothing, activities and decor from the period into modern life. Not exactly a nation-state, but I suppose they're promoting medieval Europe as a world culture?
Nothing about this bothered Miles; he got to hold a real sword!:

I got so few pictures outdoors. There was tent after tent selling food, playing music, displaying artifacts, giving out gifts (I got a free Koran in English!), educating and entertaining! Belly dancing, martial arts, drumming and singing were among the way we were attracted to another tent, and another. But I was holding the diaper bag, my purse, at least one cup of liquid refreshment and the umbrella in the windy rain the entire time. I was pretty proud of myself for maintaining a good attitude, let alone pictures. 

Eating their Chinese Chicken & taking shelter

But we ate food from East Africa, Saudia Arabia, China, Mexico and West Africa, and the kids got to learn about geography, play games for prizes, play a Senegalese drum and clap along with the belly dancers and with the Saudi singers:

Inside, there was a KidZone where various local orgs had booths. The Montessori School won most of Adele's attention at first with their books and rocking chairs. Miles did the entire session of Kid Yoga: 

Last kid standing... in triangle pose

The next table over was making homemade play-dough in bags (a new preschool's booth). The next table over was doing origami. We spent the entire afternoon, thank you very much.

Miles and Adele are going through a phase of Bible story enthusiasm. We retired that night with The Jesus Storybook Bible:

When we gave thanks, Miles wanted to give thanks for our family; Adele, for Jesus. And John-the-Baptist (her current favorite Bible character). I added in a thanks for our community that can send us around the world, only 5 minutes from home.