Day 49- Belmont and Vanderbilt

Our morning started out at Fort Donelson Battlefield where we went down to see the earthen made fort on the Cumberland River (after we got our Junior Ranger Information of course)...

 ... this was the view from the parking area...

 ...and we were super excited to see this Bald Eagle's Nest.  They have two eagles that return every year to the area and the Eaglet just fledged the nest.  So, we didn't get to see any eagles.  David was extremely disappointed.

 We then walked down to where the cannons were shot onto Union gunboats from these Confederate Cannons.  While we were doing that, I showed the boys how they may have shot the cannons and then ducked down behind the earthen fort that they had created.

Well... that was not my best parenting decision.  With the two youngest, this turned into them whipping themselves down the hill, jumping onto the grounds and generally flailing about.  Hunter screamed that he hurt his shoulder and every minute or so would just cry out in pain... That led us to this...  

On his way down to the x-ray room, he wanted me to walk behind him because he is so modest and he didn't want anyone to see his exposed back from the open gown.  He didn't mind getting a sling because his best friend from school had just had a sling and he was hoping to get one.  My guess is that he was not hoping for the pain that went with it!

...a trip to Vanderbilt's Children Hospital to realize that Hunter had broken his collarbone and would need to be in a sling for 4 - 6 weeks.  He can't lift it above his head but is otherwise doing fine.  After that, we went over to Belmont University (my alma mater) to show my family the stomping grounds.  It has grown and changed so much that I didn't recognize half of it.  The one thing that didn't change (thankfully) was the bell tower in the middle of campus.  *Note, Hunter's Sling!

We headed back to the campground and will have dinner with my best friend from college in the morning.  I am super excited!