Tonight as I made supper he was snipping and trimming all this green paper with his scissors and atlas. I said, "What are you doing?" Tucker: "I'm simply making the eight Hawaiian Islands!"
This is what he does for fun. :)
Charlie is always keeping himself busy. The books are ordered by topic and two of the bottom cubbies are on American History. I find him reading those books all the time- he might enjoy history like his biggest brother. Julia and Tucker are much more into science.
While celebrating St. Joseph earlier this week we made a cake. We had made supper, but Daddy was caught in traffic after having run by the horse barn to get Julia and the lake to get Marc. Tucker REALLY wanted to help bake a cake so that's what we did to pass the time.
Charliebear spent the night at BB's house this week so we could leave early for a field trip to the Shrine the next day. It was a little sad having his missing spot at the table- I like having all my chicks in the nest. (But Charlie had a ball!). :)
This week we went on a field trip to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
When we arrived we heard a talk from one of the Franciscan Friars telling us how to live our lives for the Lord. We then went on a tour of the Eucharistic Center. They had a replica of the giant monstrance from the shrine. I had no idea it was so big.
My phone was dying so I didn't get pictures, but after the tour we went to pray the rosary and then to Mass in the crypt church. After mass we had lunch and then had a tour of the shrine itself. The weather was perfect- it was a wonderful day with all of our friends.
Meanwhile, Charliebear was having a ball at BB and Poppy's house. He got to drive his Gator, the golf cart, go fishing and eat pop tarts. Life is good at the farm!
He picked out which bed he wanted to sleep in, but made a last minute decision that he'd rather not sleep upstairs alone. :)
So BB slept in the bed beside him. Thanks BB for hosting the slumber party! Thanks for the fishing help, Poppy!
On Friday we went to American Village for a wonderful field trip. If you can ever get to American Village it is totally worth it. While we were there we saw a field trip group from Mobile, Al. One of the chaperones was the daughter of my first grade teacher and she recognized BB, who had come along on the field trip. Talk about a small world. We hadn't seen her since I was 10!
We started out the day with all the field groups together having a Stamp Act rally. The actors got us all fired up about how evil the stamp act was and that it amounted to taxation without representation.
Then we hung in effigy Andrew Oliver, the distributor of these "unfair stamps". (That really happened in Massachusetts).
Our next stop was to a model of George Washintgon's dining room where we learned about New England manners and even learned a lovely dance.
We learned about the symbolism behind this famous statue of George Washington, made by casting his actual face with plaster while he was alive.
Then we were invited to secret, clandestine meeting of the Sons of Liberty. The children were given talking points so they could participate in the debate as to their next steps. During the meeting, Mrs. Margaret Gage, wife of the British General Thomas Gage, came in and risked her life to give us a secret message to deliver to Paul Revere. We had to decide whether to trust her and we did! (All this is based on true events!)
As we snuck the letter to the Revere home we were stopped by a British soldier and questioned. We were finally able to pass.
We delivered our secret message to Mrs. Revere who assured us her husband would warn everyone when the British were coming to Concord.
Next we met as the Virginia delegation deciding whether to join the other states in resisting the British. We had lively debate- all the children were given talking points and many presented them while our excellent leader helped flesh out the pros and cons.
We went to military training and learned how the American army fought in lines.
Finally we went to Washington and being broken up into four states had to decide a fair way of governing. We agreed that three branches with checks and balances made the most sense. Also- we agreed to the House/Senate Congressional set up with protections for small and large states.
It was a perfect day, with perfect weather and a lot of fun learning. Thank you BB for going with us! Charlie brought his own money and got himself a few air planes at the gift shop. Julia brought her money and bought Tucker a helicopter and got herself a plane. What a sweet big sister.
