Those that gave their all...

To those that made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, we thank you.

 (Ashlyn, Madelyn, & Morgan laying roses on the graves at Arlington National Cemetery)

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

THANK YOU!

LDSHE Conference!!

LDS Home Educators Conference!

Last year I went to this conference only homeschooling Ronan, and left wanting to homeschool everyone! 

This year we had planned to all go down as a family and make a vacation of it.

There is a youth conference for ages 12 and up associated with it, and stuff for the dad's and kids to do as well.

Some things came up, and we weren't all able to go together. So I took Hayden & Morgan who were signed up for the Youth Conference, and we headed to Virginia Beach!

Those two are fun to travel with!

The conference was at a hotel that was right on the beach, which was fun.

We walked down to the statue of Triton.

The conference was full of wonderful classes for both the homeschooling parents, and the youth as well. I came away with so many new ideas, and a renewed feeling that 'I can do this!'

But it wasn't all classes, there was lots of fun too.

The first night of the conference Jericho Road came to perform, which was fun!

Of course, there was the beach, and some nice down time.

And the FAMILY DANCE!

This was a BLAST!

Everyone was dancing, kids and parents alike, and it was just such a fun night!

Morgan & Hayden used some of the moves they learned in the swing class they took that day!

A room full of fun Homeschoolers!!

We kept joking and saying "Man, it's too bad homeschoolers aren't very social!"

As this is a comment I hear so very often..."I'd love to homeschool, but my kids are so social"

Because for some reason homeschooling means you don't socialize???

Hmmmm...

 John Bytheway was a presenter for the youth, and our final keynote speaker.

It was fun to get to meet him!

We had such a good time at the conference!

In fact, when we came home, Hayden and his friend Ted decided that they too wanted to be homeschooled!

So this fall I will have all 6 children at home!

And we will all be back to the conference next May!!

Field trip to Colonial Williamsburg!

Last fall I joined this Homeschool group that is based in Virginia.

They have a ton of really fun things they do weekly, but unfortunately it's just too far for us to go for the smaller things.

BUT, they also do GREAT 'bigger' field trips with amazing discounts that we love to join them on!

Like a trip to Colonial Williamsburg!

If I bought tickets on my own, I would spend $43/person over 13, and $22/for 6-12 yrs.  With this amazing group, we ALL got in at $4.50/each!

You just can't beat it!

And they get us a special rate at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg for the time we are down there too! I spent LESS than a regular hotel would of cost me-plus we get the Water park!

Yippie! Off to Williamsburg we went!

 First things first...check in and start swimming!!

 They all love to get dumped on with the water!

 And I had a blast having fun with them all!

I had no babies that needed to hang out in the baby pool area!

So fun now that we can all go down the water slides and play together!

The kids loved the 'Wolf Den' room that we had. With a set of bunk beds in their own private den.

I think they thought the room was just as much fun as the rest of the trip.

The next morning we headed off to Colonial Williamsburg to begin our day!

 Small map/model of the Colonial town.

We first visited the Governor's Palace, something that we have never done before (because I was never willing to pay the high entrance fee).

 It was a guided tour, which frankly I think was too long.

 There was lots of standing around and waiting in a room while another tour cleared out of the next room we were to go into.

The BEST part of the day was the RevQuest that we did!

It is such a fun thing!

They give you some orders and instructions, and you are on a spy mission to help the revolutionary cause. We all loved it!

We wore a purple bandana to show that we were part of the 'spy ring', and were on the lookout for Colonial citizen's who wore a small purple ribbon pinned to their chest. From them, we would receive further information and instructions for our mission.

 This woman above happen to spot us eating lunch on the green in front of the mansion, and noticed our bandana's. She covertly told us to follow her (but no right away-so as not to be suspicious), behind her home where others were meeting to receive the information.

These guys never got out of character!

It was so fun!

Here is a French informer we were to give some information to so that he could relay it back to his counterparts. We spotted him on the street near a meeting point, then once we saw his purple ribbon, followed him behind a pub to exchange information.

The kids were eating this up I tell you!

Really helped to bring history alive, and make it much more of a hands on exerience.

I loved it!

The Magazine, where we met another spy. Always using code words and deciphers so that information wouldn't fall into the hands of the Red Coats!

 We got to hear this man read out the Declaration of Independence, and watch the towns people cheer in agreement and excitement!

 Fife and drum boys going down the street.

Once we completed our mission and learned that we helped Benjamin Franklin successfully make it out of Virginia and on a boat bound for France, they each received on of these coins.

All in all it was a fun, fun day!

Aside from the fact that I forgot to bring a stroller for Madelyn, and it was HOT and she was tired, and I had to carry her most of the day, or listen to her whine about how hot and tired she was.

Lesson learned....still keep the umbrella stroller in the back of the van for trips like these!

DAY 2

 As a bonus, we got a discount combination ticket to Jamestown & Yorktown for the next day!

So, off to Jamestown we went1

 First stop was the Powhatan Indian Village.

 Jamestown has always been our favorite in the Historic Triangle.

So many hands on activities there!

The gils started out with grinding some corn...

 

Duncan has an eye for 4 leaf clovers...

He finds them everywhere!

My little Indian hut children.

Morgan and Ashlyn tried scrapping some hides.

 

 And they were helping to get this log into shape to be used as a canoe.

Next stop was the ships on the water...

 Here there are re-creations of the Susan Constant, Godspeed, Discovery. 

The three ships that brought English colonists over in 1607.

 The kids gave the beds a try...

 

 Duncan enjoyed checking out all the nooks and crannies of the ship!

 We then got to meet with a man who taught the kids all about calculating your speed on a ship, the time, and other important things sailors needed to know.

 

 We then left the waters edge, and headed to the James Fort!

 

Inside the fort, the girls all signed Indentured Servant Contracts.

(Duncan didn't want to sign one-smart boy)

Then off to try on some of the armor they would of had at the fort... 

 

And we visited their chapel...

 Goodbye James Fort....

Fast forward a couple hundred years now to Yorktown!

It's kind of neat to go from the spot where the first English colonist settled,  and 15 min. drive away is the very spot where the British surrendered at the battle of Yorktown.

So much history in such a condensed area.

 We visited the Continental Army encampment,  and learned what a soldiers life would of been like during the siege of Oct. 1781

 We got to speak with an officer and ask him questions too.

 We watched a demonstration of the loading and firing of the muskets.

 And the kids got to try them out for size.

 They proved to be pretty heavy!

Here the kids got to check out some of the games the soldiers would of played to pass the time...

 And check out the different living quarters.

The tent Duncan & Madelyn are in was to sleep 6 soldiers! We guessed 2...

 

At the end, there was a demonstration of the canon fire.

They had some kids from the audience come to help show the steps taken before it could fire.

Morgan was asked to come be "Molly Pitcher".

It was fun, as we had just talked about her the week before, so all the kids knew who she was!

We skipped the farm section at Yorktown, as it was hot, we were tired, and ready to go.

The week we were there happened to be the hottest week in July! 

It was in the 90's-not very spring like.

So, we loaded up, turned the A/C on, and were grateful that we were not living in Virginia in the 1600's or 1700's. Love my modern conveniences!

And God Bless America!

Such a great field trip!