Saturday evening we took off with the Greens, Alex's mom and dad who are visiting from Zim, to take in the sights and sounds of Branson. Above you see Mitch and Ange posing in front of a Christmas tree at Branson landing. Below that photo is one of Mitch, Paul and Ange in front of the newly planted pansies. We had supper at the great Mexican restuarant there and then were off to see Bill Cosby at the Mansion. Great fun!
It's that time of year again -- the night of the first hard frost. Jennifer hurried home from work, covered the crysanthemums (which are a little hardier and will probably make it through the cold without dying) and then picked most of the roses. Here you see the last blooms of the season.
Celeste is the marketing representative from ADsmith for the Operation Us grant. Both she and Jennifer were invited to attend the Media Summit held by the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center at Winshape Farms in Georgia. The focus of the summit was on reaching Twentysomethings.
A view from inside the campus looking to the south and the Georgia mountains.
Looking southwest across a small lake on the campus.
Wonderfully appointed, very comfortable guest rooms are found in these former dairy barns.
Above you see a panoramic view of Winshape Farms near Rome, Georgia. The retreat center was developed out of a former dairy on the campus of Berry College. Berry College has the distinction of being the largest campus in the United States with 28,000 acres. The original dairy structures were inspired by dairy farms in Normandy, France. Today they house wonderful guest rooms, conference rooms and a fabulous dining hall.
When the conference ended, Jennifer and Celeste returned to the Atlanta airport via the "cow car" from Chik-fil-A. (Chik-fil-A operates the retreat center.) She and Celeste had quite an adventure driving the highly distinctive, Lincoln Continental to the airport, which is close to a 2 hour drive from the retreat center. And oh yes, even though they were told, "It's really easy; pretty much a straight shot," they did discover it is possible to get lost. Fortunately, people in Georgia are helpful to two women in a cow car.
We are having wonderful fall weather. We were invited to a gathering at daughter Miriam's house. This was planned to introduce Alex's parents, Mitch and Ange, to some of the Green's friends. All went well until Addie tumbled out of her highchair.
Josh and Janelle Metzger enjoy dinner with son Jonathan. As you might imagine, there was a lot of activity with five children present under the age of two.
Alex, Ange and Jennifer enjoy grilled salmon prepared by Alex.
Our 5th grade and teacher, Kari Wanner, travel to Mansfield, MO to visit the Laura Ingill Wilder home and museum ever fall. What made this year's field trip different is Laura Bush happened to choose the same day to visit. Our kids got the rare opportunity to meet the President's wife. They all had a great time.
