A Pilgrimage

We visited the Country Music Hall of Fame today. I've wanted to see it for years, but the steep price of adult admission ($15) kept me away. Luckily, our homeschool group organized a trip. We made it downtown by 9 AM on a Monday morning (in and of itself a miracle, esp. since DD didn't emerge from her room until 7:55 AM). We saw all of the exhibits: lots of swag. Among my favorites:

These boots complete me.

E's solid gold caddy complete with television and car phone to communicate with the driver. I can dig it.

Patsy Cline's dress. Her actual dress. Need I type more?

And the piece de resistance: the squirrel sculpture. Squirrels, shot by the man himself, stuffed and displayed in all their Grand Ole Opry glory. This, my friends, is why I love the South.

I was so disappointed when I discovered that the gift shop hadn't stocked any Hank Williams/squirrel memorabilia. A glaring oversight.

DD dropped some of her Valentine's Day ducats on another horse?!?!? We have one that came with Cinderella's castle, another horse we bought from Ringling Brothers, and now a hall of fame horse. I think this one may be for the Pixie Hollow contingency currently residing in her doll house.

After leaving the museum, we walked over to the Shelby Street bridge and ate our lunch. It was a nice lunch, in spite of the cold wind and the incessant jackhammering . Seriously.

We came home and started day one of our new FIAR curriculum by reading Madeline, a major favorite in this household. Then we looked up information about France in our handy Kingfisher Concise Children's Encyclopedia, which we picked up for a song at McKay's. Life continues to be good.