Delaware 2016

 We have just return from our annual trip to visit Brian's dad in Delaware.  We had a great time catching up with everyone.  We were even able to see Brian's brothers, sister-in-law, and our niece.  One of the thing on Olivia's list was challenging Poppy to a game of chess.

 We also were able to enjoy some ice cream at Byler's with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Connie.

 Our niece Addie is growing like a weed.  I had to take lots of pictures of this cutie.

Here is Brian with his dad and brothers (minus Dustin).

 Olivia and Owen loved playing with Addie.

And here are the Sanders girls.

WinShape

 The kids participated in Winshape camp this year.  This community camp offers a week of Christian fun and fellowship to local communities.  The camp- founded by Chic Filet owner Truett Cathy- was well attended.  In addition to singing and exploring a new "truth" each day, the campers also got to participate in three "skills" classes.  Olivia's three skills were sewing, crafts, and wacky science.  She liked the sewing best and came home with a key chain and book mark that she had sewn herself.  Owen's three skills were archery, secret ops, and man land.  I have no idea what he did in secret ops (because it was about doing nice things for no reward so he can't tell me).  Man land was Owen's favorite skill.  He made a wallet out of duct tape, used tools to put together a wooden cross, and he "shaved" his face (?).

 The last day of camp was family fun day, so I was allowed to attend.  The kids had their big end of camp game that determined which "village" won the golden triangle.  All of the villages fought hard, but Olivia's village (safari) ended up victorious.

I also attended the closing session, where Olivia and her friend Hannah were chosen to help lead the camp song on stage.  The whole week was wonderful and the kids are already asking if they can attend again next year.

Mount Vernon

Another recommendation from Hannah was that we visit George Washington's home at Mount Vernon.  We could not believe how much there was to see and do.  It was way more interesting than I thought it would be.  We stayed at Mount Vernon all day.




Let me just say the George Washington was living in style.  Mount Vernon is situated on one of the prettiest pieces of property that I have ever seen.  It was on a lovely spot of land that overlooked the Potomac River.  His house was also awesome.  The rooms were well laid out and painted in bright colors.

 Around his house was a village of other buildings that were used as shops and living quarters for those who served the house.  The kids enjoyed the blacksmith demonstration and spent quite some time watching these fellows work.  Owen even stated afterward that he wanted to be a blacksmith.

Slave quarters

 My favorite thing was the "meet Martha Washington" experience.  The actress playing Martha was very convincing.  She knew everything about life at Mount Vernon and answered every question that was asked- and she was asked quite a few by my mom.  I think mama could have just sat in there for hours talking to Martha.  I loved how Martha had such proper manners and referred to George as "the general".

 We also visited George and Martha's tomb to pay our respects.

We knew that our time at Mount Vernon was over when it began to rain.  So, we loaded up to begin our journey back home.  Everyone from grandparents to grandkids enjoyed the visit to Mount Vernon.  It definitely has my seal of approval.

A Day in D.C.

Following my cousin's graduation, we made a one-day visit to D.C.   There is so much to see in D.C..  We decided to go to some places that we had not visited before.  Our first stop was the National Archives.  Here we saw some of the major documents of our country- including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.  Photography was not allowed in most parts of the building, so we only have a picture of the outside.  There were a lot of people inside of this building.  I'm sure it gets even crazier as the summer wears on.  









Our second stop was Ford's Theater.  Hannah's family went to D.C. last year and this was one of the places that they recommended we check out.  It was really cool.  Before entering the theater the kids got an activity pack to be a Junior Ranger.  They worked so diligently during the entire exhibit to find answers to their activities so that they could earn their badge.  I love it when places have things like this because it really helps the kids get involved (and it frees me up to enjoy the exhibit myself).

 We saw the actual gun that John Wilkes Booth used to shoot Lincoln, and we saw the theater box where he was shot.  I usually hate sharing a tour with school kids on a field trip, but it actually worked out well for once.  The teacher of this group of kids stood in the front of the theater and started teaching her class about the assassination.  She was a good speaker and her lesson was very interesting.  All of the other visitors stopped to take a seat and listen to her lesson.  The park ranger eventually had to stop her because the tour was a walk-through and no one was walking through.

 Our ticket for Ford's Theater also allowed us to enter the house where Lincoln died, which is across the street from the theater.  There is a museum beside the house where they have a four-story column of every book ever written about Abraham Lincoln.

 A bonus about visiting Ford's Theater is that it is located right next door to the Hard Rock Cafe.  We made sure to make a stop here.

While we were eating, we discussed how we would like to spend the rest of our day.  The kids wanted to go to one of the Smithsonian Museums.  After a short discussion, they chose the American History Museum.  We haven't spent much time in this museum before, so it was a good choice.  We didn't have time to see every room, so we focused on the innovations room and the Americana room.  We also saw the original Star Spangled Banner (it's huge).  

 Olivia's favorite museum finds included a Tesla motor (she did a project on him last year), and the ruby slippers.

Owen liked seeing an Elmo puppet.

 I took a picture of Muhammad Ali's boxing gloves not knowing that he would pass away that same evening.

 Daddy had never seen the WWII Memorial, so we made the long trek down the mall so that he could check it out.  This was our last stop. We were pretty tired, so we headed to our hotel where we pretty much fell out from exhaustion.  D.C. is a lot of walking.

Mackenzie's Graduation

 The kids and I took a road trip in early June to attend my cousin Mackenzie's high school graduation.  Mackenzie has done well in high school and will be attending Salisbury University in the fall.  I must admit that I thought she was the prettiest, smartest, and nicest of all the graduates in her high school (I am biased, I know).  I was happy to get to spend time with my Cook cousins.  Lots of family came in before graduation, so we were able to visit with them on the evening before commencement.  We also went to the graduation after-party and spent more time visiting with everyone.

My Cook cousins live in Columbia, Maryland (outside of Balitmore), so it was a bit of a drive. The kids and I went with my parents.  It's been a while since I've taken a road trip with them.  This time, though, I was the driver so I didn't have to sit in the back seat with the kids (like I had to do when I was younger).  Following the graduation, we spent a few days in the D.C. area.  I will be doing additional posts on that.

Baseball / Softball

The kids participated in rec baseball/softball this spring.  Olivia moved up to the 9-10 year old division of softball.  This is still played with the pitching machine.  She did a pretty good job with her hitting and fielding this year.  She spent most of her time at catcher- which is her favorite position.  

 Owen played on pitching machine in the 7-8 year old division this year.  He played third base, and he really liked this position.  He got better at batting as the season wore on.  I think he goes to live-pitch next year, so we'll probably need to work on those batting skills a little more before next year.  Both Olivia and Owen continue to enjoy playing baseball/softball.

Battle of the Books

This year Olivia was a member of the Battle of the Books team, and at the beginning of May they had their one-and-only competition.  During the school year, members of the BotB team read ten assigned books and then they have to answer very specific questions about the books at the competition.  It's really harder than it sounds because the questions are so specific.  There were sixteen teams competing in the 3rd-4th grade division.  Olivia was the captain of the Wacona 2 team, and they came in fourth.  Most of the kids on her team were 3rd graders, so they'll have another year to compete in this division.  I do not have a picture of Olivia's team.  I thought I had one, but I can't find it.  What I do have, though, is a picture of Olivia with her cousin Ava.  Ava was also the captain of her team, and they finished in third place.  Hannah noted that she loved how these girls are so supportive of each other even though they are on separate teams. They really are.

Olivia participated in a lot of clubs this year, but this one was probably my favorite.  I liked that she was made to read books that she may not have chosen on her own.  If left to her own devices, she would just read those "Wimpy Kid" books over and over.  It also made her read books that were more challenging.  Because she read these books, she was able to earn a lot of AR points and ended up winning the high point trophy for her grade at Honor's Day.  She really liked Battle of the Books and has declared that she wants to do it again next year.