Holidays 2011

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Pictures from Amanda

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Strawberries!

We went strawberry picking at Vollmer farm in Dunn, NC on Monday afternoon with our Lighthouse Homeschool group. The boys were thrilled to see the fruit growing in the field and to sample some right off the bush. I guess we are more "citified" than I realized judging from their reactions to the idea that you can actually do that. We had a garden in the yard last year and will this year, too, but somehow tomatoes and squash just don't compare with strawberries for them.

Happy Easter

Well, I see it's been several months since I posted anything. I have some school pictures of the boys to put up, and probably some other things, too. Facebook has come along since I started this blog a few years ago, so that changes the venue for uploading pictures I find. I would like to keep it up, though, and have a memory book made out of it at some point. We had a lovely Easter Sunday. Rainy cold weather Friday and some of yesterday and then sunshine and blue skies today. Aunt Genevieve came to visit from DC and the Aucoins joined us for the traditional lunch at home. Brent and I had nursery at church but did make it up to the sanctuary long enough to see Aaron and his fellow choir members sing. They did a great job! Andrew had received a chocolate egg in Sunday School and than gave it to Aaron for singing so well. Those selfless sweet brother moments don't happen every day I'm afraid but I sure cherish them when they do. The boys also enjoyed egg hunting this morning and dying easter eggs last night.

Boo!

The boys are having fun out trick-or-treating with friends. Aaron is Superman, Andrew is "army man", and Addison, as you can see, is Elvis. We've had a lot of kids at the door in cute costumes. The boys are pictured below with some neighborhood friends who went out with them.

A Trip to the Fair

Last week we made our annual trek to the state fair. If we are going to go to the fair every year, it is nice to be close to a large one. The boys had a great time as usual and were sad to leave. Andrew tried his hand at milking a cow. Aaron got close to it but decided just to watch rather than, in his mind, possibly hurt the cow. He kept asking me how they put milk in the cow. His favorite part was winning a plastic blow-up bat at the ducks in a pond game compliments of Nana.

Alamance Battlefield Colonial Living Days

Today we went on a homeschool fieldtrip to Alamance, NC to visit the battlefield there. The site is historically significant due to the "Regulators Uprising" which took place there in 1771 when some farmers rose up against the unfair taxation and practises of the royal Governor, Tryon. Their uprising did not succeed, but of course in a few years the royals lost all the colonies, so it's viewed as an important example of colonial discontent. This week the site is holding "Colonial Living Days" to showcase various aspects of colonial life. We went as part of the Lighthouse Christian Homeschool Association. The boys had a good time and I think learned a lot. The only drawback was the musket firings, which they liked but the noise made Aaron a little nervous. There was a cannon demonstration just after lunch and I had to promise Aaron that he and I would go inside the museum away from the field before it started, which we did. The cannon roar was still plenty loud, but he felt safer being far from it.

The boys play a game of "rounders," a precursor to baseball. Some of the rules include carrying the batting stick around the bases, if you dropped it you were out, and also running in the opposite direction, so what modern baseball calls 3rd base was 1st. It was confusing but fun to try.
Aaron speaking with some colonial young ladies. I tried to get him to take a picture standing with them, but he didn't want to. When I asked "Wouldn't you like a picture with the pretty girls?" Aaron replied, "I don't like pretty girls."
This was Andrew's favorite exhibit--the blacksmith. He was fascinated that iron could be molded when it's hot and then remain in that shape when cool and hard again. He is planning to try it in the firepit in our back yard. Not sure if that will happen but Andrew thinks so.
Aaron really enjoyed the demonstration of colonial music. Here, the reenactor played "Grandfather's Clock" on her hand-made dulcimer. Aaron looked at me like he was surprised someone else knows that song!
Andrew tried his hand at some colonial toys.
This is a picture of some of the Lighthouse Homeschool group.