Shenandoah Vacation - Wagon Ride

After the rains of the previous day they trails were too slippery to go horseback riding but they were just right for a wagon ride around the resort.  Duke and Doc lead us around the resort while our guide Sam told us all about the history of the resort and the area.  We were amazed that big as the horses were they were not full grown and would gain another 1,000lbs.  Chris has always had a special fondness for draft horses and we would feed and visit these horses many times during our visit.

As you can see Titus wiggled his way to the co-pilot position.

After the wagon ride we ate lunch and played games at the cabin.  Then in the afternoon we went back to the marina, this time for the boys and I to take out a kayak. 

On our paddle we saw a huge snapping turtle eat a chicada off the surface of the water, baby bunnies run back to their home and more geese.  After the paddle the boys wanted to see how close they could get to the geese. Eventually they got too close and the daddy goose turned and chased them much to the amusement of the adults.

Shenandoah Vacation - Luray Caverns

We were glad we had spent the previous day exploring the resort because it called for rain all the next day.  I had heard about a place nearby called Luray Caverns but I don't think we would have made it had it not been for the rain.  So thankful for rain.

Not having been to an underground cavern before I had no idea what to expect.  They said the tour would take about an hour and we would wind through a mile long path that was up to 300 ft below ground in certain parts.  I had concerns about air quality and claustrophobia but both turned out to be unfounded.

We gathered as a group with a tour guide to explain the formation and history of the caverns but we shortly gave up trying to hear (there were too many people talking) and fell back to enjoy the peace and beauty of the caverns by ourselves.  It is impossible to explain how incredibly awe struck we all were by their beauty.

The admission to the cavern also included admission to a really neat "History of the Automobile" museum, a toy museum and the beginnings of a recreation of the town from the 1800s.  Here the boys patiently watched a blacksmith at his craft and since they were the only kids to stay for the whole presentation they the blacksmith gave them the decorative spoon he was making.  Then they found the town bell and over used it a bit, the kind people just told them if they kept ringing it would call the local bears down from the mountain :-)

It was a wonderful day, full of all kinds of new experiences and some fascinating thick fog on our way back to the cabin.

Shenandoah Vacation - Lewis Falls

After spending the previous day loafing around the resort we were ready to do some real hiking.  We headed out to the Shenandoah National Park.  I had done much research prior to our vacation to choose trails with interesting objectives that would be within our groups physical abilities.  All that is to say we chose the Lewis Falls Trail which is a 3.3 mile trail (if you do the whole thing or a lot shorter if you take the short cut we found in a travel book) to an 81 foot waterfall and back.  The shorter version was plenty for our group considering the elevation change.

We got a little lost finding the alternative trail head but that worked out for the best because we were able to use the restroom at the lodge and buy sweatshirts.  We forgot that things are often cooler at higher elevations and forgot to bring jackets (Ooops).  


When we did get there, we were amazed at the general quiet of the place.  We have hiked a lot in the Smokey Mountains and there's generally the hum of civilization at least the first few miles of a trail.  However, here there was very little traffic on the roads or in the air, it was awesome.

Shortly into our hike we found what looked like a mine entrance but was really a disguised door to a water pump, but the boys were interested in both.  Then we smelled a skunk but thankfully didn't see it.

Along the trail I was fascinated by the huge variety of fauna.  It seemed like someone had taken a lot of the "house plants" I knew and planted them along the trail.  I kept stopping to truly smell the flowers.  

The boys were fascinated with climbing the huge rocks all around.  "Titus get back on the trail please" was a frequent request.

Getting over the top of the falls to get to the look-out to actually see the fall of the falls was a challenge but we all made it, though some dryer than others.

On the way back we continued to notice different plants and insects; then toward the end of the trail we started to smell the skunk again.  When all of a sudden Susie yells "Bear!".

Our mystery skunk smell was actually a juvenile black bear just off the trail that must have gotten in a tussle with a skunk.  Amber was asleep in the backpack so Chris moved in a little to get these nice photos.  The rest of us stayed on the trail and watched.  It was so AWESOME to see a bear on our first hike! 

He looked so silky soft I just wanted to pet him but I restrained myself.

As we watched the bear we talked with some other hikers about what they'd seen that morning and one gentleman with his dog mentioned seeing a snake. Titus quickly told him it was a Black Racer.  Sure enough he said it was, Titus had been the only one to see the snake shortly before the bear, not bad for a four year old.

Titus and Sue hiking the Appalachian Trail

The girl woke up shortly after the bear ran off and we went to the visitor center for a nature break and lunch.  Amazingly the meal wasn't bad and the boys(with Aunt Susie's help) began their collection of park pins, a fun new family tradition.

Shenandoah Vacation - Resort

Since all of us had spent the previous two days traveling to get to our resort we decided to stay at our resort for the day.

We decided to start the morning by going on one of the hikes around the lake.  These trails were clearly used more by horses than people.  The upside to that is that they were nice and wide.  The hike was the perfect way to start of off our day and vacation.  Jared is modeling below one of the many Cicadas we saw on our vacation, apparently they were expected in large numbers this summer.

Next we decided to explore the resort amenities a bit.  We had a fun, though rather unorthodox game of putt-putt.  Then we went down to the marina to take out a couple paddle boats.  We split into three groups and as things go with paddle boats there was much comedy.

We finished off our exploration by stopping to pet the big "doggies" as Amber insisted on calling the rather large horses that live on the property.

A nice relaxing day.

Shenandoah Vacation - Amtrak/Montpelier

We have thought about vacationing in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia for years but the drive was beyond the tolerances of our kids and frankly us.  Thankfully now that we know about the Auto Train, we were finally able to go and I'm so glad we did.
Initially one must admit the boys were more excited about the journey than the destination.  They absolutely love the Auto Train.  For us parents it makes the journey much more relaxing and allows us to be in better shape to enjoy our vacation upon arrival.

When we arrival in Lorton, VA we had planned to visit Mt. Vernon again.  However, when we arrived and saw over 30 school buses (the boys counted) we decided to continue our way slowly to the resort instead.  Big groups of people and crowded places are just not our thing. 

We had a little under a two hour drive to the resort.  On our way I started seeing signs for Montpelier (The Historic property of President James Madison).  I got curious how far off our course it would take us and as it turned out only four miles.  I smiled coyly at Chris, he shook is head, laughed and off we went to Montpelier (I'm a sucker for history).

The property is absolutely gorgeous and still has an active Thoroughbred farm with 1/4 mile race track.  Apparently they have a big race there every year in November, that would be a hoot to attend I bet.  When we got to the house we decided not to do the inside tour.  The kids really needed to run around and I don't think they would have done well on a tour, the upside of that decision was that touring everything else (the gardens, barn, etc) was free.

It was an absolutely perfect day; blue skies, pleasant temperature, cool breeze and nearly no one else was there for us to disturb or be disturbed by.  The barn closest to the house was a rescue barn.  We spent some time learning about the horses, ,their stories, and playing with the barn dog, somehow we forgot to take pictures.

They had lots of longer hikes to take but we stuck to garden exploring this visit.  I was thrilled to see peonies.  I had not seen peonies in bloom since I was a little girl!  An interesting design of the garden was that they specifically chose foliage that deers do not like to eat.  However, that did not stop them from sleeping in the beds and crushing the plants (Ooops). 


Auntie Susie flew into the DC area and was driving in also, we missed her at Montpelier but caught up with her in the parking lot of the grocery store and the boys went wild.

Our cabin was very spacious and the kids were ready to explore the resort, or more specifically the pool with Dad and Auntie Susie for a while.  Later Lance and I finished off the day by taking a short hike before sunset together.  We both soaked in the peace and quiet, it'd been a long time since we'd been anywhere without a lot of human noises.  We sat on a long and listened instead to the Cicadas and a pair of Canadian Goose flying in and announcing their arrival to the flock.  I could feel my blood pressure drop and my boy was clearly calmed by the peace as well.

The Glory Departs - Egypt and Judah

I find it fascinating that once again the history of the bible and Egypt find themselves following similar paths.  As Judah goes into captivity in Babylon never to rise to great power again; we see the Egyptians too being ruled by various powers never to be a great nation again either.

I wish I had written this post when we were doing this study but alas vacation plans got in the way of doing so and I'm afraid I have forgotten many of the unique "Ah ha"s we had but I will do my best. 

690 BC Late Egyptian Dynasties (25-31) – The Glory Departs

• REVIEW:  Timeline, narrate what they’ve learned about Egypt through Ramses II
• Narrate and read excerpts of “Unwrapping the Pharaohs” pgs. 189-193
• Read and look at pictures of Nubian Temples in “Lost Civilizations” pgs. 130-133
• Map Trek:  Map #7
• Read and look at pictures of Philae in “Lost Civilizations” pgs. 140-143
• Narrate and read excerpts from “Unveiling the Kings of Israel” pgs. 121-125
• Mark Timeline
• Read “The Egyptian Cinderella” by Climo  This book is beautifully illustrated, nicely written, and enjoyed by all.

• Discuss the class system and reasons for resentment
• Discuss that this is loosely based on real Pharaoh Amasis (570-562BC)who married Greek slave Rhodopis.  Pharaoh Amasis was a general that over threw a weak Pharaoh and was the last of the great Egyptian Pharaohs.
• Spend some time trying to re-create one of the drawings or scenes in the book

605 BC Babylon takes Judah Captive

• REVIEW:  Timeline, Read again “Everything you Need to Know about World History” pgs. 2-5
• Read VJTB pgs. 172-173
• ACAB “Fascinating Facts” – The Hanging Gardens of Babylon pg. 42
• Narrate and read excerpts from “Unveiling the Kings of Israel” pgs. 127-131
• Read and look at pictures of Babylon in “Lost Civilizations” pgs. 192-195
• Mark Timeline
• Listen to:

• What in the World – Disc 3 Track 2 “Babylon” (15 min.)
• Digger Deeper – Disc 2 Track 3 “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” (10 min.)If you don't have these do an internet search, the size and complexity of these gardens was absolutely amazing.

Daniel – Hebrew Advisor to King Nebuchadnezzar
We continued to study the bible and thus Daniel using primarily the Hurlbut Study Bible.

Daniel's Answer to the King by Briton Riviere

• ART:  Notice how his back is to the Lions and how calm he appears.  Discuss why that would appear strange?
• REVIEW:  Students narrate what they remember about Daniel
• Read Daniel 1:1-2:26 “Daniel Interprets a Dream”
• Read VJTB pg. 174
• Craft about dream: http://lapbooklessons.com/files/LapbookingFIles/BibleABC/Daniel/LapbookDanielStatue.pdf

Daniel – Hebrew Advisor to King Nebuchadnezzar

• REVIEW:  Timeline and Daniel
• Read Daniel 3:1-30 “The Fiery Furnace”
• Read VJTB pg. 175
• Do a Craft  http://lapbooklessons.com/DanielLapbook.html

Daniel – Hebrew Advisor to King Nebuchadnezzar

• REVIEW:  Timeline and Daniel
• Read Daniel 4:4-37 “The King Goes Crazy” - Remind students what you learned from "Unveiling the Kings", that insanity was not looked down on at that time and in that part of the world which is why his people were willing to wait till he regained his senses. 
• Read Daniel 5:1-31 “The Handwriting on the Wall”
• Read VJTB pgs. 176-177
• Coloring Page http://www.funnycoloring.com/daniels-in-the-lions-den-3.htm

539 BC Cyrus King of Persia conquers Babylon – Jewish Return Begins
At this point its a good idea to point out the two different Darius' and how the Darius that befriended Daniel was a King UNDER Cyrus the great King of Persia who was only in charge of the city of Babylon, not to be confused with King Darius of Persia later in history.

• REVIEW:  Timeline and Rule of Nebuchadnezzar
• ART:  Alexander and Darius Mosaic This is a great close up of the Moasic, the detail retained is amazing.
• The Banquet of Ahasuerus by Aert deGelder http://www.wga.hu/art/c/coypel/antoine/esther.jpg
• Read Ezra 1:1-2:1 or Hurlbut Study Bible
• Map Trek:  Map #23
• Mark Timeline

521 BC King Darius I of Persia – Lost Battle of Marathon in 490BC

• Narrate and read excerpts from “Unveiling the Kings of Israel” pgs. 133-137
• Read and look at pictures of Persepolis in “Lost Civilizations” pgs. 200-213
• Mark Timeline

480 BC King Xerxes Marries Esther the Jew

• REVIEW:  Narrate what the student remembers about Esther
• Read Book of Esther or Hurlbut Study Bible
• Narrate and read excerpts “Unveiling the Kings of Israel” pgs. 139-144
• Read VJTB pgs. 178-179
• Play Chess or discuss how during the time of Xerxes Kings played chess with real people
• Mark Timeline

467 BC Ezra Returns to Jerusalem

• REVIEW:  Timeline, Persia and state of Jewish return
• Read Hurlbut or Ezra 7:1-28, 8:15-31
• Do you think that Artaxerxes I knowing Esther helped?
• Read VJTB pgs. 180-181
• Mark Timeline

454 BC Nehemiah and the Jewish Return

• REVIEW:  Timeline, narrate what they remember about Nehemiah
• Read Nehemiah 1:1-2:30, 4:1-23
• Read VJTB pgs. 184-185
• Act it out using blocks to build a big wall around a city
• Mark Timeline
• Read Aloud:  Within the Palace Gates:  The King's Cupbearer by Siviter
• When we first started reading it was a bit heavy on the description (think Clancy), so we stopped for a bit and I finished on my own.  It’s a nice story but I think better suited for middle school or above.  The boys would not have understood how love motivated a lot of the characters and there was an unnecessarily gory scene which could have been left out and never missed.

Miss Nelson has a Field Day

Last Saturday, I took my boys and our friends to a play at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater called "Miss Nelson has a Field Day".  Here's the synopsis:

A Broadway musical for the whole family!

Miss Nelson's students, the Smedley Elementary School Tornadoes, haven't won a single game and are the worst football team in the state. She enlists Coach Viola Swamp to whip the team into shape and save the day! Join the students on a hilarious musical romp that takes you from the classroom to the gridiron.

It was fun to have everyone dress up a bit and experience a different kind of entertainment.  The ushers smiled as we entered all in a line; she said I looked like a mother duck.  The kids all behaved perfectly.  Before the play they had some activities on the stage to get the wiggles out.  Matthew, Sophia and Titus went down to dance.  During the play, I kept looking over at the kids and was pleased to see happy smiles on all their faces.  The play moved quickly, so much so that even Titus was kept engaged the entire hour.  If you live in the area I would highly suggest going, it was great family fun!  I'll be looking out for more plays to go see in the future.

The play is based on a book by Harry Allard and James Marshall.  Accordingly, I checked out the book from the library before buying the tickets to make sure it would be appropriate for our family. After the play Jared practically begged me to check the book out for them to read.  They read it three times together that day and a number of times since.  I even had them write a journal entry describing the differences between the play and the book.

Beauty Turns 18 Months

To us she remains the "most beautiful girl in the whole wide world"!  To the on-looker they might mistake her for a 3 year old or a monkey depending on her mood.

When I meet other kids her age at the playground they always appears years apart.  She doesn't toddle around, she runs!  She can scale anything, and I mean anything.  She pulls up with her strong arms, wraps those toes around whatever she can grip and up she goes!

We have done more child proofing around this house (and continue to) than we ever had to do for the previous three boys.  They didn't scale gates, climb the pantry, try to slide down the slide using a scooter, etc, etc....

In addition to being physically capable, she is definitely her own woman with a very decided opinion.  Generally she still speaks Klingon but the English word "NO" she has down.  She only wants to wear dresses and each day she chooses which one.  We flip through the hangers and I wait for her to stop saying "no" and grab a hanger.  She also has a real fondness for shoes; she'll wear anyone's. It's a real treat to see her walking around in her Daddy's shoes!  She may be able to hold her own with the boys but she's all girl.

One of her favorite new things to do is treat us all like ponies.  If I sit down to stretch my back I have to make sure she's not around or I'll have help pretty quick; with a squeal and strong legs.  I guess she's seen too many of those "big dogs" at the farm lately.

She had a candid moment the other day.  She got hold of my phone and managed to call Chris while he was at work via Facetime.  She squealed when she saw Daddy - then one brother after another comes in over her shoulder to see what is happening. Then I appear and say "Good luck getting the phone away from her now!" At that point, she takes off running down the hall and Chris is laughing as he sees her head bob up and down and the blurry background created by her sheer speed. I wish they had a record mode in Facetime.

She likes to finish her days with a snack, a drink, and "Ball".  She sets herself up like this each night demanding Daddy put on "Ball" (MLB Online) before bed.  She's Daddy's girl!

I'm sure she'll be riding a bike with the boys sooner than we imagined.  She's certainly trying.  When ever someone gives her a chance - that being a vacated bike at the park. (At least she practices good bike safety and puts on their helmet too.)

Re-purposing

After completing a deep Feng Shui of our material possessions and our budget, all that is left is to "re-purpose" what remains.

I seem to be always seem to be moving the furniture in one room or another.  Our front dinning room turning into library/school room last summer was a big makeover.  However, our recent "Three Room Re-purpose" may be the most extreme.

We have three bedrooms and two baths upstairs. 

Bedroom No. 1 is at the top of stairs and has a very small closet.  Due to those two points, it has spent most of the last eight years as playroom/guest room.  When I became pregnant with Amber, we added a bed making the playroom a guest room and daddy's sleeping room until she is old enough for her own room.

Bedroom No. 2 is next to Bedroom No. 1 and is slightly smaller but has a much larger closet to fit the three boys' clothes. It is directly across from the Master Bedroom.

Our Master bedroom is rather large. It is about the size of the other two rooms combined.  The boys have been using the master bathroom for teeth brushing for a long time because it has two sinks and therefore more room for tired/cranky boys with elbows.

We've known the boys needed more room for a while, but weren't sure where it would come from until we decided to give them the Master bedroom.  It should have been an easy switch.  However, their room was just a tad (6 inches) too small to make a clean swap. Instead, we had to move the Master to Bedroom 1, Bedroom 1 to Bedroom 2 and  Bedroom 3 to the Master.  Did you follow that?  Basically we had to move all the bedrooms over two days; moving the closets and clearing out under the beds took a day and the furniture move an additional day.

Our Master furniture now fits in Bedroom 1 with less than an inch to spare.  The smaller closet allowed the end tables to fit without interfering with the closet entry too.  It's actually rather cozy.  We placed one of my favorite pics at the foot of the bed where I can now see it easily as I wake. The small closet fits all my clothes neatly.

Bedroom 1 moved to Bedroom 2 with little problem.  We moved the rocking chair in there from our Master and moved all the toys to the boys room.  Bedroom 2 (old boys room) closet fits all of Chris' clothes well.  He has more than me, but to be fair, a lot of it is for biking and for work.  He's relieved to no longer worry about making a path through the toys to get to bed or waking anyone to get an article of clothing he forgot to pack the night before for his ride to work.

"Old Room" taken from door.

In the boy's old room, they barely had room for their three beds.  In the Master, they now have plenty of room to play and sleep.  Then there was the bonus.  When we bought their loft beds from Craig's List many years ago, they came with a couple different configuration options; including a slide and tent.  Now that we had the room, we took down the angled ladder and slide (safer for Amber, more fun for boys), and the tent (too hot in old cramped space) from storage. The Master closet fits the boys clothes (with room to grow) and all their toys nicely.  

New Room!

The boys really like their new room.  It will be a blessing in the coming hot summer months for them to have a large area to play inside.  As a bonus, Chris or I can now take showers when Amber is napping without worrying about waking her.