Pumpkin Patch

Pretty Pumkins

Today, we visited one of the many local pumpkin patches. This was my first time at this particular place, and I was pleasantly surprised. It boasted a huge hay stack, complete with four separate slides, climbing wall, and a corn pit (full of dried corn kernels) for the kids to jump into. More hay bales surrounded a long zip line for the older kids and a shorter one for the younger group. A small hay bale maze sat next to another corn pit with a small climbing toy for toddlers. Behind the shorter zip line lay a corn maze for those brave enough to enter. The facilities also included a set of old fashioned pumps set up in front of half-pipes, down which plastic ducks would race with the water. Behind those pumps sat an area for a variety of farm animals, including turkeys, goats, sheep, ponies, ducks, chickens, pheasants, pigs, and more.

All of my children enjoyed the various activities, and I had to gather them together like a mother bird gathers her brood when it was time to pick out our pumpkins and head home. Perhaps we will be able to go again sometime this fall before the weather turns cold.

AJ taking the leap

K jumping with style

A black pheasant

Someone was done sitting on K's lap

A proudly showing me her pumpkin

Air Show 2015

We visited our local air show this weekend. The weather promised sunshine and warmth, so we set out Saturday morning, armed with water backpacks, sunscreen, folding chairs, and the camera bag.

The "Japanese" planes flying in for Tora, Tora, Tora

We hit traffic before we left the highway, and I was worried that I would miss one of my favorite performances -- Tora, Tora, Tora. A recreation of the attack on Pearl Harbor, it is full of explosives and beautifully timed flying patterns which mimic a ballet in the sky.

The older kids and I finally got out of the car and started walking toward the airport. We reached it before Timo arrived with the car, and we took that time to walk through the B-17 that was on display there. It was a beautiful piece of machinery, and walking through it was like walking into the past. The men who served in those bombing missions had very little room to move around, and my respect for them multiplied.

Once we met up with Timo, we applied sunscreen and set up "camp" by some friends we know from our homeschool group. I was pleased to see that we had not missed the best performers, and the "Tora, Tora, Tora" show had been rescheduled to a later time to accommodate late-comers.

The Stearman

Some of my other favorites included the Stearman, the Yellow Pit Special (I have a thing for bi-planes, can you tell?), the Renegades, and the sky divers who used smoke trails. The stars of the show were, of course, the Thunderbirds. After they were done, most people left. We opted to stay a while to avoid the crowds, and my three oldest secured autographs of all of the officers involved in the Thunderbirds. It was well worth the extra time spent on the airshow grounds, especially since we encountered no traffic on our way out.

The Rocky Mountain Renegades

The Beech 18

The Yellow Pit Special and Stearman

These guys need no introduction

H securing an autograph from Number 6.
He went up to them and told them exactly where they needed to sign. 

I love air shows. The beauty of the machines combined with the talent of the pilots just gets me every time. I can't wait until the next one.

Mayflower II

K and AJ in front of the Mayflower II

During our trip to Plymouth last summer, the Mayflower II was out of commission. Some of the
wood had rotted, and the ship was in need of repair. I was disappointed, but I still held hope that could get out there to see it before we left New England.

When Timo took H and S on a trip recently, my opportunity to visit the replica of the famous vessel arose. Working around my kids' activities, we planned a day trip out to see the ship and to show my mother (who was visiting) parts of Plymouth.

I was somewhat apprehensive about the trip since I was not sure how A would handle that much time in the car, but she did beautifully. We made it out to Plymouth by about lunch time, and we headed to the Mayflower II after eating.

The ship is unbelievably small for having to hold 102 passengers. I could see maybe eight families fitting in there and still getting in each other's way. I cannot imagine how they handled the 66-day voyage and the three months afterwards while waiting for all of the houses to be completed. It gave me a new appreciation for the sacrifices the pilgrims made for a cause in which they so deeply believed.

The shallop they had brought over had been recreated as well, and it was floating next to the Mayflower II to give us an idea of what that would have looked like. I learned they had dismantled it and stored it below deck with the 102 passengers and animals. In fact, some people slept in the pieces, making use of every space they had down there.

I am thrilled that I had the opportunity to visit this fabulous piece of history and share it with my mom,  K, and AJ. (A slept through the whole thing, but I figured that she would not remember it, anyway.) Seeing the historical places in New England really helps bring to life the people and places I would otherwise only know through books.

A Journey to the Past

My sister's visit prompted me to plan a field trip to Old Sturbridge Village. This living history museum is set up to bring to life an American town set in the 1830s. Most of the buildings are actual structures from that time in history that have been relocated to the museum. I was surprised at this because I thought they would all be more recently constructed to represent what the buildings might have looked like at that time, much like what we saw at Plimoth Plantation.

When we arrived, the children immediately wanted to visit the children's area, called Kidstory. This is an indoor version of the village, where kids can "farm", dress up in period clothing, cook, shop, and "wash" clothes. I finally had to drag them away from it so we could see the rest of the place.

H working on his crops

Farmer S

K serving a customer root beer

K working at the general store

AJ cooking

Once we moved on, we walked by a small house, a Quaker meetinghouse, a barn, and some sheep. Then we arrived at a place where a lady was washing wool yarn and preparing it to be dyed. There were several colors of yarn hanging up to dry that had been previously processed, and the colors were amazingly earthy and natural. A nearby building showed what they used to arrive at each color, and there was a display showing various types of yarn and how they were processed. There was also a lady at a spinning wheel spinning some of the raw wool into yarn. Upstairs was a display about quilting, and the kids enjoyed playing with plastic squares and triangles to design their own quilt squares.

H in the Quaker Meetinghouse

H in a barn

K and AJ with the lady washing yarn to dye

The beautiful colors of dyed wool

Spinning

Weaving

AJ designing a quilt

One of the display quilts

The chair where the lady of the house would have done her knitting and mending

A cute little doll's bed

At this time, I took S down to sit on a bench and eat some lunch. The others soon joined us, and we ate in the shade while looking out across the common. When we finished, we started toward the schoolhouse. I pushed the stroller while everyone else rode a horse-drawn trolley. The kids told me one of the horse's names is Jim.

Upon arriving at the schoolhouse, we stepped inside where a lady was explaining the building, the school, and the requirements for the teachers at that time. One thing that stuck out was that the teachers did not have to have much training, and they usually ranged from 15 to 25 years old. The literacy rate at that time was about 90%, whereas it is now around 75%. S was getting fussy, so I stepped out with him. K and AJ wanted to experience a "lesson", so they stayed inside until the "class" started. They could choose from reading, math, or spelling, and they chose math. The questions were oral word problems, and my kids aced them. The actual math was very simple, and I wished they asked them more challenging questions. K was disappointed that she did not get to use a quill pen, but at least she could write on the slate.

S at a desk in the schoolhouse

A well-used desk top

K practicing her letters on a slate

AJ peaking out of the schoolhouse window

After their lesson was over, they came outside and played with the schoolhouse toys -- jump ropes and a pair of stilts. The stilts were a bit broken and therefore very difficult to use. My sister, Jaime, helped my kids walk on them, but no one could do it solo.

H walking on stilts with Auntie Jaime

AJ walking on stilts with Auntie Jaime

 From the schoolhouse, I stepped over to look at the pottery making building. As they only fire up the kiln twice a year, it was full of unfired pottery. After that, we hurried back to where the musket demonstration was supposed to take place.

The kiln

Pottery waiting to be fired

We arrived at the musket demonstration just in time for the guy to fire off the final round. He showed us how to load a musket and explained why the muskets of that period were so dangerous to shoot. The barrel was formed out of a sheet of metal and welded on the bottom. If that weld failed, the shooter could lose life or limb.

Musket man

The kids wanted to try out the town pump next, so we followed them over where they took turn pumping and playing in the cool, refreshing water. From there, we headed to the bake shop and store, where H convinced me to buy a Colonial soldier costume and AJ bought a hat.

Fun at the town pump

 

 

Jaime pointed out that the craft center would be a fun stop for the kids, so we strolled in that direction. When we arrived, K, AJ, and H chose to dip candles, and Jaime took S to the nearby play area to keep him happy. H grew tired of the tedious process of dipping candles, so my niece, Edith, finished for him while I took him out to join his little brother. When they finished, K asked if she could make the sconce as well. My response? "If you pay for it." She headed back to the craft shop to complete her project, and the rest of us sat in the shade and watched the boys play.

Dipping candles

A cute little sheep

K making a sconce for the candles

A familiar cow and farmer's wife

Once K finished her sconce, we realized that she was missing her bonnet. She claimed that she had it at the well, but after retracing our steps back there and inquiring at the store, it was still MIA. At this point, we split up. Jaime and Edith took the boys to the beekeeping exhibit while K and I retraced our steps even further until we found it at the schoolhouse. Praise the Lord. We then hurried to catch up with the rest of our crew. When we arrived at the beekeeping exhibit, I realized that S had kicked off his shoe somewhere along our hurried way. We turned around and had only walked about 100 feet before someone who had found the shoe returned it to us. Another praise.

At this point, I was ready to get out of there. We made our way to the exit, paused to peruse the gift shop, stopped at the bathrooms, and headed to the car.

It was a busy, day, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I don't know what I would have done without Edith and Jaime. They made the trip so much easier, providing two extra sets of hands (and eyes) to help with the kiddos. I am so thankful for their visit out to see us.

My little Continental Soldier

An Author's Abode

Mark Twain's former residence.
That is the conservatory there in the lower left. 

My sister and niece, Jaime and Edith, honored me with a visit this week. Their presence prompted me to get out of the house and see what Connecticut has to offer. Today we perused Mark Twain's Hartford house. I had always thought he was from Missouri and, therefore, spent most of his life there. However, this trip taught me that he actually wrote his most famous works in Connecticut. 

The front of the house



The house measures more than 11,000 square feet in size, and much of it has been restored to at least resemble what it may have looked like when he lived there with his family. In  fact, one of his daughters was still living when it became a historical site, and she helped the original restorers put things in their proper place to most closely resemble the house when she (and the famous author) lived there.

 

We chose to tour both the servants' quarters and the main house, but no pictures were allowed in either region, so I had to commit to memory what I could and rely on publicly available photos for the rest.

 

The back of the carriage house.



 

The servants' quarters seemed fairly typical. They lacked the ornate features found in the rest of the house, but the oven and stove were top-end, and the rest of the furnishings at least gave us an idea of what it might have looked like. None of the items in this portion were original, but the oven/stove was supposed to be the same model that Samuel Clemens had bought for his staff to use.

 

Behind the main house lies the carriage house. At the time, it housed not only the carriages, but also the coachman and his family (including seven children). It seemed to be a pretty good-sized building, but it is for staff only. We therefore had to settle on viewing it only from the outside.

 

 

The Carriage House

The rest of the house was fun to see. Most of the fine art never belonged to the Clemens family, but the museum has done their best to give visitors an idea of how the house was decorated. Some of the original pieces include a mantle purchased on a trip to Scotland and their bed, an item for which Samuel Clemens evidently paid entirely too much. The second floor included a schoolroom for his three girls. I loved seeing the little desks and chairs. I could picture my own little brood sitting there learning their lessons. The top floor holds the billiard room and Mark Twain's desk. He kept his manuscripts in a piece of furniture with cubby-holes. He would take a story out, work on it until he got stuck, put it back, and grab the next one. In this manner, he finished many of his famous books.

Of course, I could not have toured the house without the assistance of Jaime. She watched S and H for me so I could listen and learn about the former home of this talented man. What a sweetheart she is.

When we were finished with the tours, we headed out to eat and then home. It was fun to have a chance to visit a new museum and explore a small portion of history with my children. I hope that AJ and K remember what they saw and learned when we study the late 1800s in history this year.


Wait, I know that girl!

Tom Sawyer?

This guy is up to something.

Not quite tall enough

Standing with Lego Mark Twain. This was the best picture I got with him.