We Actually DID Something!

I often feel like the laziest of all homeschooling moms. We're a one-vehicle family, so I don't go anywhere during the day. And if I do drive Dr. D to work, the wildest adventure is the library. But then I forget that we do go places on the weekends. And sometimes the places we go are actually interesting! Or educational! Or both! Most interesting of late was a trip to Bowen's Mills (I'd link to the website but the layout is so horribly terrible that I'll spare you) on the weekend of a Civil War Reenactment. Never mind that we're not studying the Civil War right now. It was incredible! Below, some visual highlights.



Union soldiers. Mud Pie did NOT like the noise. At all.



Confederate soldiers.



The cider mill - with lots of bees. Again, Mud Pie was not impressed by the noisy machines. In fact, I'm trying to think what did impress Mud Pie and I'm drawing a blank. She has a fear of anything loud, dark, smelly ... garages, trucks, cars, animals (but not her brothers! Though they do meet the requirements).



Oh, the apples! She did like the apples. In fact, about all she did was clutch her apple and cry.



We all (with one exception) thought the covered bridge was cool.



And I love the costumes. Actually, I do think Mud commented on the "pwety dwess" once or twice.





But the warfare was the big hit for the boys. Not that I'm surprised ...



Hi, St. Nick!



Caption: "Should we take 'im out or shoot 'im in the stocks?"



"Time to clean up your act!" (Groan - that's soap, by the way. In case it wasn't obvious.)

My impression of the event was awe. I walked around googly-eyed, in love with everything. "This is SO COOL!" I remember saying a few times. St. Nick got bored (we discovered later that he had a nasty cold coming on), Little Fish was his usual along-for-the-ride self, and I already mentioned Mud Pie's reaction. I am certainly going to look for more of these events, and eventually, wouldn't it be awesome to participate? Talk about Living History!