Mikie Bowling & Cubbies

Just a few pictures I never got around to posting back in May Mikie and Kaitlyn were on a bowling league every Saturday. They named themselves the "Silly Strikers." Mikie's high game of the year was a 128!

Mikie with his Cubbies teacher, Amanda.

My third home...

Of course, my first HOME will forever and always be my parent's farm in Iowa. And my second HOME is constantly changing from house to house wherever the Navy decides to send us. But my third HOME, well...that one, the boys and I get to visit at least once a year at the end of May when the Wymans allow us to stay with them on Whidbey Island. From the moment I step in their door, I always feel that I've just come HOME! During the two years that I was lucky enough to be their neighbor, I think Mikie and I probably spent as much time at their house as we did our own. So we always get very excited when Tate's birthday rolls around and we get to fly back HOME. Mikie and his dolphin pillow pet watch the runway.

Zachary and his Zebra pillow pet.

My boys and all their energy (video):

The boys were EXCELLENT on the long flight across the country both there and back. They were so good and entertained by the DVD player that I was able to read an entire book!

One of our favorite things to do when we visit is to throw rocks into Puget sound. The day was absolutely gorgeous and made me miss Whidbey so much!

I LOVE IT HERE!

We let the kids play a round of mini-golf at the deception pass course that we have never been to before.

FRIENDSHIPS

Zachary and Ayden look about the same size in this picture, but trust me they aren't. Zachary's still a little peanut and just got the higher side of the cushion.

Mikie and Tate enjoyed a little Wii bowling on a rainy afternoon.

Thank you Amber and Andy for allowing us to invade your home every year. We miss you all!

Monster Jam Philadelphia

On our way home from our field trip to the Delaware River, we took an unexpected detour. As we were looking for a hotel in Philadelphia, we drove past the stadium and saw an electronic billboard advertising Monster Jam. I did a double take when the date and time flashed across the screen. It was TODAY and it was starting in TWO hours with the "Party in the Pits" going on RIGHT NOW! Wouldn't you know, both boys were sound asleep in their car seats, but not for long! We turned around, woke them up, and experienced the biggest Monster Jam Live event that we've ever been to. In fact, this one was televised and will be on the SPEED channel next year.

Besides the racing and freestyle, Mikie's favorite part was getting to meet his favorite driver, Linsey Weenk who drives Blue Thunder:

We also met:

David Bradshaw driving Air Force Afterburner

Jeremy Slifco driving BackdraftAvenger

Jim Koehler driving Avenger and Chris Bergeron driving Brutus

Brutus

This experience just helped me remember that some of the best things in life are not planned.

Field Trip #22 "Revolutionary War on Wednesday"

May 2010 This was another one of those "I can't believe how lucky we are to have the most perfect field trip right at our fingertips!" moments. In Mikie's Magic Tree House book Revolutionary War on Wednesday, Jack and Annie ride with George Washington as he crosses the Delaware River on Christmas Eve to lead a surprise attack on the Hessian soldiers. So of course, we drove to Washington Crossing State Park in NJ and PA!

At the museum we saw examples of the uniforms worn by the soldiers of the three different countries:

The British "Red Coats"

The Continental Army

The Hessians

We toured the ferry house where George Washington made the final plans of the attack.

Inside was an example of a horn book just like the one in our research guide.

Mikie is standing by the road that the Continental Army marched down on their way to Trenton.

An example of what one of the ferry boats would have been like. And a video that captures the reason children weren't allowed in the army:

Down by the river at "The Site Of Washington's Crossing."

The river on the New Jersey side where Washington landed after crossing on that icy cold night.

Daddy helps them reach the trees.

We drove over the river (on a very narrow bridge) to the Pennsylvania side where Washington camped and began the crossing.

The monument showing that we are at the correct site.

Another monument dedicated to the General.

This statue, fashioned after the famous painting that was also the cover of our book, was at the restaurant in the Washington Crossing Inn where we ate lunch on their beautiful garden patio.

The garden restaurant and two handsome guys!

I couldn't have asked for a better family outing and more perfect field trip! What a great memory!!!!

Field Trip #21 Civil War On Sunday

I knew before we even read the book that this was going to be one of the easiest field trips in the entire series. Mainly because we live right smack dab in the middle of some of the bloodiest civil war battles. That, and the fact that my husband has a wealth of military information stored in his brain that just oozes out an given opportunity. So, in order to satisfy him and enrich Mikie's experiences, I allowed the entire month of May to be devoted to multiple civil war field trips. (forewarning: this blog is lengthy!)

When my mom arrived to watch the boys while we went to Hawaii, we drug her along on the first battlefield stop. The battlefield of Manassas:

The book was all about a drummer boy, Johnny Clem. So of course, we had to pose by a drum.

Mikie (and daddy) really enjoyed the map with the lights showing the progress of the battles.

The uniforms.

Another major part of the book talked about the field hospitals and mentioned stretchers as a way to transport the wounded. We found a stretcher at the house they used as a field hospital during the battle.

Cannon ball in the wall (placed there after the war)

The house used as a hospital.

They even had confederate soldiers that were performing cannon demonstrations.

This soldier had a canteen just like in the story.

This picture cracks me up. (be sure to click on it to enlarge Mikie's expression) He was very upset that the cannons were going to be loud.

This one was snapped after we convinced him that it wasn't going to explode for another 10 minutes.

On one of the paths the soldiers marched down, we saw a....

Snake. (Super Boagie's version of Kryptonite)

We also saw a horse and Mikie just had to show him that there was a picture of a horse in his book. I love this picture!

At the gift store, Mikie wanted a union hat and flag.

And just to keep things apropos, Zachary chose a confederate hat and flag.

Let the battle of the brothers begin....

Confederate casualties in the background.

The union wins!

After returning from Hawaii, we spent an afternoon at the reenactment of the battle of Spotsylvania courthouse:

Mikie with the drummer boy.

At the union camp.

Zachary poses with a confederate soldier.

It's an ambush!

Mikie with a union soldier.

At the battle reenactment, even with earplugs in, Mikie was still scared of the cannons.

Another opportunity to view a field hospital.

This one was a little more graphic/realistic.

One last field trip to Ferry Farm concluded our month of May tribute to the civil war.

Here Mikie saw all the tools that would be used in the field hospitals and shows a picture of one of the bottles we found that looks like the one in the book.

Zachary's favorite part was seeing the horse.

The boys joined the infantry and learned to carry a riffle while marching.
When it came time for the pretend battle, both of them were in tears when the musket fired.

Mikie shows us what some of the soldiers would pack in their backpacks.

I'm standing behind this beautiful dress and thinking how hot it would be to wear this everyday.

Then the day got even better when my boys found colonial bowling pins.

Video:

The second stop of the Civil War Days in Fredericksburg was to Kenmore where they were able to play the drums and wash some laundry.

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