Summit Worldview conference

Dan and I took a trip to Dayton, TN to attend a worldview conference there.  We flew into Atlanta and on the drive to TN, we stopped at the battlefield, Chickamagua-1863 in the civil war.  Dan was super excited and he kept saying, "I can't believe I am here."  I enjoyed it too, although the hot weather made it a little less enjoyable.  He told me on the way there he thought we would be there about an hour. . . 3 hours later we drove on to TN!  I think he really wishes he had a personal tour guide.  I was just happy to relax and not feel rushed to go anywhere because we had no children along:)

Dan watches as the man demonstrates how they would cool the cannon and the popping sound it made would make soldiers stand in their tracks as they could hear it a mile a way.

3 re-inactors demonstrated how to hold their guns and shoot them.

Dan standing on "Snodgrass Hill" the last stance of the Union soldiers before retreating to Chattanooga.  (See I learned a lot while I was there:)  )

This was our town home we stayed in for the week while we were at Bryan college for the conference.

Dan philosophizing (is that a word?)

 David and Diane stayed with us in our townhome.  They had the main floor with a bathroom and we had the upstairs with our own bathroom.  We enjoyed many discussions with them on the speakers topics!  It also is a small world as they know the Goldies from SWC!  Diane and I went and got a massage one of the afternoons too--wonderful--David and Dan went along on a field trip to the court house for a historical trial when allowing evolution into the classroom.

After the conference we stopped in Chattanooga at Ruby Falls.  It is a cave that contains a 125 foot waterfall.  The cave was rather small and Dan had to walk crouched down often during our walk to the falls. 

The water fall was beautiful.  They added lights and music to make its effect even more dramatic, but I am sure when it was discovered, it's uncommercialized beauty stood out even more!

Next we made our way to the battlefield in Chattanooga.  Dan walks at incredible paces in these places--he says it is because he is consciencious of my time limit on desiring to be there, but I think it is really because he is so excited to see these places in person.  It has definately increased his desires to travel to historical places!

 Lastly, we visited a place near Atlanta called Stone Mountain.  The world's largest "rock mountain"  We had limited time here because we had to catch our flight back to MNPLS, but we could have spent all day here.  There were hiking trails, trolley rides to the top, a light show on the rock at night, there was some amusement type rides. . .we might have to go back sometime.

Here they carved 3 generals of the confederate army into the stone mountain.  The carving is over 90 feet high--Dan could stand in the horse's open mouth--that little thing is really that tall.  I can't think of the generals names--one was Davis, but not sure of the others and Dan isn't around to ask...

We really enjoyed our trip together.  it was nice to have some time to do things together, talk about big ideas and discuss things with other adults!  It was always shocking to me that the people around me asked me questions, listened to my thoughts and actually reponded to me (I guess I am used to my kids talking to me!).  The week kind of felt like an inspiration to me.  It reminded me of the great need for Christians to be very actively living out out faith!  It made me want to read way more than I do.  The speakers were very well read. . .and they remembered what they read so well.  The class we were with was so diverse--from age 26 to 70, whites, blacks, Asian, Korean, Puerto Rican, Catholic Priests, teachers, grandparents, interested adults...very interesting backgrounds.  The class schedule was pretty intense--we were in class7 to 10 hours each day, so we were glad to have some down time before and after the conference started to do some sight-seeing. 

The kids had a great time with both sets of grandparents--THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH!  They got to enjoy Dutch Festival activities the Sat. after we left and Caleb was so excited to win 3rd place in the pedal pull!  Kylie I think had the hardest time while we were gone and has been shy about going to VBS (actually refused to go to that and another playdate) since we have been home. . .she just wants to hang close for a while I think.  Avery asked me when I got home why I was taking so long:)  but I think she did fine while we were away. . .I don't think her stubborn nature went unnoticed by the grandparents though:)  Bennet seemed the most easy going about it and said he was so glad that he got to stay by his grandparents. 

Now, back to reality, try to get the house painted and a few other things before the school year begins again! YIKES summer is flying by us!