Field Trip

Alright. Yesterday, my friend and I and her kids and my kids and her teenage helper-person all went on a field trip! Woo hoo hoo!! Talk about a group---she's got 6 kids, I have 3, plus the teenager, plus my friend is pregnant!!! That's nine kids 11 and under. HA! We get such looks when we go out, because no one can ever decide who belongs to whom! lOL! Anyway, we went to the Casemate Museum at Ft. Monroe in Hampton, VA. It's really cool and I recommend it for anyone near enough to go visit. It is still an active military base, so you need to make sure everyone over 18 has ID and your car has it's registration etc. But, that said, for those of you who may not know, this was a Civil War fort. Robert E. Lee helped design it when he was a Lt. And Jefferson Davis (confederacy pres.) was held there as prisoner. You can see the VERY room where JD was held (our kids noted that his cell was much bigger then any of their bedrooms AND he got a desk!). And you can see where R.E.Lee lived. We also learned that Edgar A. Poe served there while in the military. They have COOL exhibits. We were shocked to find that our heada barely fit through the arched doorways. There was thing that said the average height of soldiers when it was built was 5'8". Wow. Anyway, if you're taller than that...you're gonna duck a lot! We also walked along the top of the walls which are now a "memorial garden". Pet cemetary...not sure if there are people up there too, we only walked a short distance of the over 1.5 mi. around walk. Lots to see. We only did some. Oh---cool gift shop too!
Later (after lunch) we went to Petsmart where a friend is a vet and we got a "behind the scenes" tour of the vet clinic that's there. We even got to see an X-ray of a pregnant bulldog who's carrying NINE, count the heads kids!9 puppies! Woof! Really neat. Let's see....the adults' favorite part was a quick trip to a really great thrift store nearby Petsmart. I spent about $75 and managed to outfit 3 boys with TONS of jeans (NICE ONES!!) and shirts for winter. Not to mention, for middle child who doesn't do well with buttons/zippers, I found a TON of elastic waist pants!!! WooHOO HOOOOOOO! Anyway, if it were not for thrift stores, my kids would be nekkid!!! LOL! So. We had a blast. Even lunch at BK was a big hit!
Hope your weekend is great! I'm doing laundry, and hope to clean out the truck!!
J

Shirley Plantation

Today the boys and I went to Shirley Plantation. It was really cool! Not everyone gets to go tromping around on ground that has such a long history. It was(I think) like the first land granted in VA? In the new world really...pretty cool. Once, Union troops camped in the front yard. The Carter women took great care of them despite the fact that they had their own men fighting on the other side. Because of this, the plantation was protected from both sides during the Civil War. We looked in the smoke house, the ice house, the store house, the stable. We saw goats, chickens. Really beautiful place. Unfortunately, i was in a huge rush this a.m. to leave and forgot my camera or I would post some really cool pictures!!! HA! Hatin' it!!! Oh well, I highly recommend it. Lots of great info, and very educational. Would've been nice if it wasn't so bloomin' cold outside!!!
We plan on visiting a couple more of the plantations in the next several weeks.
Hopefully I'll remember my camera!
Julie