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Saturday, September 26, 2009
The War between the blue and the grey.............
Yesterday we awoke to rain showers, but we still made our way back to Colonial Williamsburg. We wanted to hear Patrick Henry speak. We heard he was an incredible individual who had studied his life for over 15 years. We walked the 15 minute walk (the first of many miles we walked yesterday). He is AMAZING. People asked questions about government today, and of course he stayed in the time period. Things he said were so funny. Someone asked about an income tax, he said, "Why would one ever tax someone's income?" What would be the incentive to work???? Right after he spoke the rains came down. So we made our way to the garden and stood cover and met a wonderful lady who filled us in on things to not miss even though we have been here several times. We ended up taking the bus(Gabriel's favorite thing-he sits perfectly still) and landed in a peanut shop. Okay, sorry to be boring but for the Bells this was heaven. They had wasabi nuts for Eric, cookies dough peanut butter for Haley, Peanut brittle to die for etc. etc. all in samples. We seriously spent an hour there. And the rains stopped. We walked, and walked to hear "Get Reved" . A live production they do in the afternoons. You just have to see it to appreciate it. My feet were so sore yesterday though we walked at least 4 miles and this lady is looking rather prego.....We came home and Eric took the big kids to Busch Gardens to see the scary stuff. Just when I was about to relax they let us know we had to switch condos for our last four days. So I tried to organize us to move. The good part is that we now will have a 3 bedroom, but moving our stuff, all of our food was a chore. We did that this morning and then went to a place that NO ONE should miss if they come out East.
We went to PAMPLIN PARK. It was incredible. I have always loved teaching about the Civil War. There are so many fascinating and heart breaking real life stories. In college my unit study was on this. Any way, you enter and choose a soldier. You get headphones and then follow through the indoor museum and hear about life through your soldiers eyes. They had kids posts as well. You can't believe how much the kids loved it and were well behaved because they were engadged. Now if only they would be that way at home........hmmm? It was amazing. I could have stayed all day. Hey Miss Robyn you will be glad to know they talked about some things you taught them when they had their unit study on the CWar. Then we walked outside to a plantation house General Lee used as headquarters at the end of the war. The little kids loved the sheep and they can tell you what a plantation is now. Eric, Josh and Ben went to another building to watch an hour movie about the war. They said it was pretty graphic for kids. So we went on the small hike to see where this battle was fought. Incredible to be standing there. Sad to be standing there. The final leg the kids got to dress up in Civil War clothes and play checkers, learn how to beat the drum and what it meant, and actually see a camp and play in the shelters the men slept in. Haley was so excited to try on a hoop skirt-And NO ONE was there. I think we saw a total of 10 other people the whole day. Kinduv sad actually but wonderful for our crowd. This was one of my most favorite days. It is a place I would love to return to. I took lots of pictures of the trees and grounds. One must not see this beauty and doubt we have a Creator.
I just fixed tacos and Eric took the big kids back to scary land :). We leave Wednesday. The minutes are going by quickly. The Lord has been so good to us. No one has been sick. The kids are talking a lot about their family and friends so we know they are missing home.
We went to PAMPLIN PARK. It was incredible. I have always loved teaching about the Civil War. There are so many fascinating and heart breaking real life stories. In college my unit study was on this. Any way, you enter and choose a soldier. You get headphones and then follow through the indoor museum and hear about life through your soldiers eyes. They had kids posts as well. You can't believe how much the kids loved it and were well behaved because they were engadged. Now if only they would be that way at home........hmmm? It was amazing. I could have stayed all day. Hey Miss Robyn you will be glad to know they talked about some things you taught them when they had their unit study on the CWar. Then we walked outside to a plantation house General Lee used as headquarters at the end of the war. The little kids loved the sheep and they can tell you what a plantation is now. Eric, Josh and Ben went to another building to watch an hour movie about the war. They said it was pretty graphic for kids. So we went on the small hike to see where this battle was fought. Incredible to be standing there. Sad to be standing there. The final leg the kids got to dress up in Civil War clothes and play checkers, learn how to beat the drum and what it meant, and actually see a camp and play in the shelters the men slept in. Haley was so excited to try on a hoop skirt-And NO ONE was there. I think we saw a total of 10 other people the whole day. Kinduv sad actually but wonderful for our crowd. This was one of my most favorite days. It is a place I would love to return to. I took lots of pictures of the trees and grounds. One must not see this beauty and doubt we have a Creator.
I just fixed tacos and Eric took the big kids back to scary land :). We leave Wednesday. The minutes are going by quickly. The Lord has been so good to us. No one has been sick. The kids are talking a lot about their family and friends so we know they are missing home.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Monticello
Okay, today was a surprise! The days go so fast now and we have all been sleeping in! Sophie left 2 days ago. It was a little tricky getting her to the Richmond airport. They wouldn't let us all go in with her but they also made us stay with her until her plane left. So were divided and it is not the nicest airport. The kids were really sad to walk back into the condo with no cousin present :(. Yesterday Haley, Ben, Gabe and I went to the YANKY CANDLE! It was really fun. It snows every 15 minutes and there is a ton to see. Ben and Haley made candles using their hands as a mold. Pretty creative. Eric took the other kids miniature golfing and swimming. We had a yummy dinner at the condo and then went to the outlets. We found shoes for Gabriels extra big feet (thanks to Papa's jeans)!
But today we drove into Charlotesville! Just like the Walton's :). It was about an 1 1/2 hour drive or so. We went to a place called Mitchies Tavern. Okay, this would be a dream place for most of the men in our family. It is an old tavern with buffet style old fashioned colonial food. Real mashed potatoes, green beans, black eyes peas, stewed tomoatoes, biscuits etc. But the best part was the fried chicken. It was to die for. It was all you can eat and all served on old tin plates etc. Very yummy and fun. And it is only 1/2 mile from Monticello where Thomas Jefferson lived. It was so beautiful and incredible to stand where I had only viewed in pictures. We met archealogists who were wonderful with showing the kids what they were doing. Eric was enamered with the house. It was so graceful with creative details everywhere. They just opened a "kid room" that recreates the house and has things for the kids to play with. We loved that they said-"Please come in and touch everything" We were the only people there and the kids played for an hour and would have stayed longer . The lady working there was so gracious. We were excited to learn so much about his contributions, hear his wonderful truth filled quotes, but sad learning he was a diest. The kids shared all they learned and we were surprised with all they shared.
They were the calmest they have been on the car ride home. THANK HEAVENS :) I sang an old hymn and Caleb said," That sounds like a song the slaves would have sang". They have learned so much. I am so grateful to feel so good pregnant. I think all the walking has helped. Although we have tested too much chocolate and I am afraid to go to the doc when we go home and weigh in HA. We listened to a neat sermon on the way home too. It talked about how the Lord blesses us with good thigs but they are only good if they don't distract us from Him. Good thoughts especially as we delight in this special time as a family.
Halloween must be very big here because there are decorations everywhere and things for sell. They are transforming Busch Gardens into a scary land and the big kids can't wait to go there this weekend. It is stormy out right now with huge thunder clouds and lightening like I have never seen before.
Caleb is missing his backyard and we are missing all of our family and friends :)
But today we drove into Charlotesville! Just like the Walton's :). It was about an 1 1/2 hour drive or so. We went to a place called Mitchies Tavern. Okay, this would be a dream place for most of the men in our family. It is an old tavern with buffet style old fashioned colonial food. Real mashed potatoes, green beans, black eyes peas, stewed tomoatoes, biscuits etc. But the best part was the fried chicken. It was to die for. It was all you can eat and all served on old tin plates etc. Very yummy and fun. And it is only 1/2 mile from Monticello where Thomas Jefferson lived. It was so beautiful and incredible to stand where I had only viewed in pictures. We met archealogists who were wonderful with showing the kids what they were doing. Eric was enamered with the house. It was so graceful with creative details everywhere. They just opened a "kid room" that recreates the house and has things for the kids to play with. We loved that they said-"Please come in and touch everything" We were the only people there and the kids played for an hour and would have stayed longer . The lady working there was so gracious. We were excited to learn so much about his contributions, hear his wonderful truth filled quotes, but sad learning he was a diest. The kids shared all they learned and we were surprised with all they shared.
They were the calmest they have been on the car ride home. THANK HEAVENS :) I sang an old hymn and Caleb said," That sounds like a song the slaves would have sang". They have learned so much. I am so grateful to feel so good pregnant. I think all the walking has helped. Although we have tested too much chocolate and I am afraid to go to the doc when we go home and weigh in HA. We listened to a neat sermon on the way home too. It talked about how the Lord blesses us with good thigs but they are only good if they don't distract us from Him. Good thoughts especially as we delight in this special time as a family.
Halloween must be very big here because there are decorations everywhere and things for sell. They are transforming Busch Gardens into a scary land and the big kids can't wait to go there this weekend. It is stormy out right now with huge thunder clouds and lightening like I have never seen before.
Caleb is missing his backyard and we are missing all of our family and friends :)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
The Beach and The Baptists :)
Yesterday we drove about an hour away to visit Famous Virginia Beach. It was a fun layed back day. We arrived at the "beach". There was a beautiful 3 mile boardwalk that was really neat. There was an area for bikes and an area to walk in. It was very windy and a little overcast but that didn't stop tons of people from being there.
We ventured out to a huge play structure right on the beach. The kids played on that for a while but soon were all on mounds of sand burying Caleb. The water seemed rough and dark to me. There were lifeguards everywhere blowing whistles and a riptide warning. So it seemed rather scary. We did put our toes in the water but then went back to the sand mounds. The kids could have played there forever.
We walked a long ways along the boardwalk enjoying the people, sand, and scenery. It was very nice to just stroll along. Then we went into the millions of shops. We decided they went to China, ordered the same 20 souvenirs and then opened 50 shops :)! But the girls loved it. Eric, Gabriel,Caleb, and Josh stopped and ate pizza while we had fun looking at all the different stores. We took a different route home. We went by the WISCONSIN and the shipyards. There are so many tunnels here to get anywhere. The kids try to hold their breath when we go through them-(I noticed Eric went extra slow yesterday HA!!) It was a nice day. We came home, the little kids swam while the girls made cookies and acted like "Rachel Ray hosts on TV with make up and all". They are having lots of fun together.
This morning we tried a new church. It had a pretty neat websight. In fact it looked updated and very outreach oriented. It was called Smith Memorial Baptist. Hmmmmmm........I seriously thought it was 1978 and I was back in our little Baptist Church I grew up in the early years of my life. The songs were from the Gaithers,the people dressed like then, and I swear I had seen the maps on the walls years ago. The Sunday school rooms were very old fashioned and the gym had AWANA awards on the walls. Needless to say, Eric said the sermon was very, very, good (God's word never gets old). I wouldn't know because Gabriel was totally freaking out in the nursery. When I came to get him he still didn't calm down but went through everyone in our family's names over and over asking for them. He seemed very afraid. It was so sweet but made me sad he gets so frightened. So he and I explored the building. It is always neat to see how others worship. It seemed like it would be hard to be "new" there though. It was very full and crowded but not super friendly. I did meet another family with 10 children who were visiting from Australia. We then went to Busch Gardens (yes, again) :) the kids love it there. We ate too much fudge and had a nice day. The weather is so wonderful. I also met another lady on Sesame Street land who is due the same day as me. Tomorrow we head to the SHIRLEY PLANTATION. It will be Sophie's last day and the kids are very sad.........she is hoping maybe a big storm will come in and they will have to change her ticket :). She has been wonderful to have along.
We ventured out to a huge play structure right on the beach. The kids played on that for a while but soon were all on mounds of sand burying Caleb. The water seemed rough and dark to me. There were lifeguards everywhere blowing whistles and a riptide warning. So it seemed rather scary. We did put our toes in the water but then went back to the sand mounds. The kids could have played there forever.
We walked a long ways along the boardwalk enjoying the people, sand, and scenery. It was very nice to just stroll along. Then we went into the millions of shops. We decided they went to China, ordered the same 20 souvenirs and then opened 50 shops :)! But the girls loved it. Eric, Gabriel,Caleb, and Josh stopped and ate pizza while we had fun looking at all the different stores. We took a different route home. We went by the WISCONSIN and the shipyards. There are so many tunnels here to get anywhere. The kids try to hold their breath when we go through them-(I noticed Eric went extra slow yesterday HA!!) It was a nice day. We came home, the little kids swam while the girls made cookies and acted like "Rachel Ray hosts on TV with make up and all". They are having lots of fun together.
This morning we tried a new church. It had a pretty neat websight. In fact it looked updated and very outreach oriented. It was called Smith Memorial Baptist. Hmmmmmm........I seriously thought it was 1978 and I was back in our little Baptist Church I grew up in the early years of my life. The songs were from the Gaithers,the people dressed like then, and I swear I had seen the maps on the walls years ago. The Sunday school rooms were very old fashioned and the gym had AWANA awards on the walls. Needless to say, Eric said the sermon was very, very, good (God's word never gets old). I wouldn't know because Gabriel was totally freaking out in the nursery. When I came to get him he still didn't calm down but went through everyone in our family's names over and over asking for them. He seemed very afraid. It was so sweet but made me sad he gets so frightened. So he and I explored the building. It is always neat to see how others worship. It seemed like it would be hard to be "new" there though. It was very full and crowded but not super friendly. I did meet another family with 10 children who were visiting from Australia. We then went to Busch Gardens (yes, again) :) the kids love it there. We ate too much fudge and had a nice day. The weather is so wonderful. I also met another lady on Sesame Street land who is due the same day as me. Tomorrow we head to the SHIRLEY PLANTATION. It will be Sophie's last day and the kids are very sad.........she is hoping maybe a big storm will come in and they will have to change her ticket :). She has been wonderful to have along.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Life Lessons
Well, our trip is going so fast. We seem to be in a good routine. Everyone is on the East Coast time schedule and the Lord has blessed us with wonderful, perfect weather. We spent another day today at Busch Gardens. This is such a great off season time to be here. The kids saw the wolf show, we heard Italian singers, and the highlight was eating in Germany. Chloe got to dance with a German girl and all the kids reluctantly, but with smiles did the chicken dance with European dressed boys and girls. We have learned so much. Our minds have been filled with historic facts and hands on learning that no book could ever replace. But today I was thinking about a different kind of learning that has and is taking place.
The learning of being together. Let's face it. We are no easy group. When you put together a new place, 7 kids under age 12, a very pregnant woman, a small space, and more, together you have a great opportunity to be molded :). Isn't that a nice way to put it? I mean everything we do does take work. You don't just jump into the van to go somewhere without a filled sippy cup, diapers, wipes, hand sanitzer, snacks, etc. Even finding 9 pairs of shoes can be a challenge.
On top of that you throw in self. Each child (and okay us adults too) think of self first. And that becomes very apparent when you are already tired. We get squeezed and the real us comes out. Who gets to sit where in the van, who got the last cookie, and who gets to use the bathroom when you walk into the condo after a long ride home. All these little things happen on a daily basis and are escalated when you are having fun but running hard and in a new place.
But the beauty of it is that it also a great time to learn. Today I watched Caleb help Chloe and Gabriel get off of a ride. He gently lifted Gabe out of his little boat ride and ran right over to him all on his own. I saw Sophie be patient with the little boys who are loving having her here but could drive any cousin crazy. We told Ben to NOT get out of bed until we say it is okay. He was taunting the girls at 6 am the other morning. We can't afford to buy everyone a cotton candy so we share one big one and they seem to know how to do that and not expect anything differently. The older kids have experienced some new freedoms on our trip (like riding a few rides outside of our eye sight) and yet they have blessed us by telling us each experience almost as if they wanted us there to be part of it all. They have looked out for each other and taken care of one another. They are learning that others have to come first. Constantly. Chloe can't make it an hour without needing to go potty. All of us had a turn at taking her today. And its true, in our house, someone is likely to take your pillow, spill their drink on you, get into your saved candy, turn on the light while you are sleeping, sit in your seat where you just were sitting, change your channel, and more EVERY day.
But that is where you can have patience, grace, and growth. Things we all need every day. Believe me, Eric and I are first in line for the Lord showing us our need in this. And somehow in all of the chaos and craziness there is a joy and gratefullness I have for each of these special people God has allowed us the priviledge to parent. And how crazy is it that the kids are teaching Eric and I the very thing we are trying to teach them. We all are changing and growing.
I am constantly amazed at their differences. Who likes mustard and who doesn't. Who is hesitant to try new things and who has no fear. The have different needs, and different areas they need to grow in and being together 24-7 has allowed this to take place in a new way. We all need eachother and we all help each other. We have bonded and are bonding in a new way. I love us being together.
We missed our turn on the way home tonight. The roads here are crazy. And Eric and I both began to laugh where last week we would have been stressed. The kids are being more patient with one another and we are all daily being blessed with chances to show love and grace to others all in the midst of making wonderful lifetime memories. We are learning to work together. To be a team. To give forgiveness and also seek to think about someone else first. Together. These lessons of the heart are much more important than any history lesson. It doesn't get any better than that.
The Lord is so good :0)
The learning of being together. Let's face it. We are no easy group. When you put together a new place, 7 kids under age 12, a very pregnant woman, a small space, and more, together you have a great opportunity to be molded :). Isn't that a nice way to put it? I mean everything we do does take work. You don't just jump into the van to go somewhere without a filled sippy cup, diapers, wipes, hand sanitzer, snacks, etc. Even finding 9 pairs of shoes can be a challenge.
On top of that you throw in self. Each child (and okay us adults too) think of self first. And that becomes very apparent when you are already tired. We get squeezed and the real us comes out. Who gets to sit where in the van, who got the last cookie, and who gets to use the bathroom when you walk into the condo after a long ride home. All these little things happen on a daily basis and are escalated when you are having fun but running hard and in a new place.
But the beauty of it is that it also a great time to learn. Today I watched Caleb help Chloe and Gabriel get off of a ride. He gently lifted Gabe out of his little boat ride and ran right over to him all on his own. I saw Sophie be patient with the little boys who are loving having her here but could drive any cousin crazy. We told Ben to NOT get out of bed until we say it is okay. He was taunting the girls at 6 am the other morning. We can't afford to buy everyone a cotton candy so we share one big one and they seem to know how to do that and not expect anything differently. The older kids have experienced some new freedoms on our trip (like riding a few rides outside of our eye sight) and yet they have blessed us by telling us each experience almost as if they wanted us there to be part of it all. They have looked out for each other and taken care of one another. They are learning that others have to come first. Constantly. Chloe can't make it an hour without needing to go potty. All of us had a turn at taking her today. And its true, in our house, someone is likely to take your pillow, spill their drink on you, get into your saved candy, turn on the light while you are sleeping, sit in your seat where you just were sitting, change your channel, and more EVERY day.
But that is where you can have patience, grace, and growth. Things we all need every day. Believe me, Eric and I are first in line for the Lord showing us our need in this. And somehow in all of the chaos and craziness there is a joy and gratefullness I have for each of these special people God has allowed us the priviledge to parent. And how crazy is it that the kids are teaching Eric and I the very thing we are trying to teach them. We all are changing and growing.
I am constantly amazed at their differences. Who likes mustard and who doesn't. Who is hesitant to try new things and who has no fear. The have different needs, and different areas they need to grow in and being together 24-7 has allowed this to take place in a new way. We all need eachother and we all help each other. We have bonded and are bonding in a new way. I love us being together.
We missed our turn on the way home tonight. The roads here are crazy. And Eric and I both began to laugh where last week we would have been stressed. The kids are being more patient with one another and we are all daily being blessed with chances to show love and grace to others all in the midst of making wonderful lifetime memories. We are learning to work together. To be a team. To give forgiveness and also seek to think about someone else first. Together. These lessons of the heart are much more important than any history lesson. It doesn't get any better than that.
The Lord is so good :0)
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