Part Six - Gracelands

For those of you who know Mark well enough you will know that the reason for traveling to Memphis was to visit Gracelands - the home of Elvis Presley. Mark has fond memories of his Dad's love for Elvis' music and 'Elvis Parties' so for the Gordon brothers it was a childhood dream fulfilled. This is us out the front of Gracelands. The living room.

The den.

Mark and Dave by Elvis' grave.

One of Elvis' planes.

Part Five - Traveling to Memphis

We hired this 15 seater van to take us all down to Memphis. It was great to be able to travel together.

Dave and Lara's Crazy Frog CD came in handy when the children needed something to do. Below is the link to a video of us in the van.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6986013933126830620

Part Four - Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky

Yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken did originate in Kentucky. You can even visit Colonel Sander's grave here in Louisville if you are a fan. We stopped for lunch for a KFC Eat all you can buffet - sound good? It is if you like it!

Part Three - Mammoth Cave National Park

On our way to Memphis, Tennessee we visited this National Park. Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world and is very impressive. We went on a two hour tour through it and only saw a very small percentage of the cave.

Part Two - Louisville Water Park

Louisville has this neat water park right down by the river in town. We had beautiful weather the whole time they were here and had the need to cool off.

Part One - Dave and Lara's Family Visit - Lunch and Bass Pro Shop

We were so excited about having Dave and Lara, Lane, Bryn and Leo coming to see us. We had a wonderful time. We spent a few days just letting the kids play together at Village Manor and the recreation center. We then showed them around Louisville a little and took them to Indiana to the Bass Pro Shop and to Sonic for lunch. Sonic is a unique experience - this is Dave ordering his lunch over the telephone.

Anna-Marie helping Leo catch a fish.

Mark and I having a shooting competition

Meet our Care Group

We are finding spring to be much like New Zealand's summer. We are having beautiful days all in the high 20's. Our care group got together for a picnic on Sunday evening in front of Ashlea's place which in a part of town called Old Louisville. It is an area of streets where the houses were all built in the late 1800's or early 1900's. This street has lovely grass areas up the middle of it with the original gas lamps and a beautiful fountain. Our care group meets about every third Sunday night and they are always times of sweet fellowship and encouragement.

Joseph and Blythe. A lovely couple who had our children stay over on Friday night so that Mark and I could spend some time together. It is our 16th wedding anniversary on the 18th. 16 wonderful years.

Matthew and Ashlea deep in conversation with Mark and the other children in the background teaching some others how to play touch rugby.

More photos on http://smeagolisfree.blogspot.com/. This blog also has a video of Mark and I teaching a group of people the chocolate game.

Field Trip to Squire Boone Caverns

Guided by Carol Russ, who throughout her teaching career brought her class here many times, we visited this pioneer village made famous by Squire Boone. We were accompanied by another homeschooling family from the seminary, the Smiths. Squire was Daniel Boone's younger brother. Daniel Boone is very famous in Kentucky as he was one of the first white men to settle in the state and him and Squire built Boonesborough, the first village in Kentucky. They discovered these caves on one of their many adventures and Squire later used it to escape from the Indians. He eventually settled here next to the cave as he always had an affection for it as it had saved his life. We are enjoying learning about their adventures and appreciate how well Americans have preserved their history.

The cave is a wet cave and has a stream running through it. It is a maze of tunnels and waterfalls and spectacular scenery with the ceiling at times seeming about three stories high. At times we were walking on walkways over waterfalls dropping far below us. We all enjoyed exploring another aspect of God's creation that we have not explored before. The Kentucky area is a maze of underground cave systems. We hope to visit the largest, Mammoths Caves, in Southern Kentucky soon.

Squire Boone asked to be buried in the cave that he considered to have saved his life. Carol helping Matthew mine for gems in the sluice which they were then able to take home. We watched some ladies make candles and then the children had a go at making their own. We visited a gristmill, which is a mill powered by a water wheel which grinds grain. The water wheel is powered by the stream coming from the cave. It has burnt down twice over the years by the grinding stones catching fire.