Mom went to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. She was gone for 2 ish weeks and I got lots of extra time with the kids.
I also got half a root canal and 2 rod in my tooth and will have more dentistry next week...boo
We are doing liberal arts this summer so lots of drawing and singing and little PIM language videos and especially we are doing history. I am focusing this whole summer on the colonial period. We have ancestors who were in Jamestown so we go back a fair way on this continent and I want the kids to get the good and the bad from that. I love history but I have seen it so poorly (boringly or propagandistically) done that I just wanted to take them through some of this myself.
We took a lot of field trips while I had them to myself.
I worked evening most of the time but it was really exhausting. I would like to say that I could do both all the time but even working shortened evening hours I was beat!
We went to the Washington monument near Hagerstown and the kids climbed in and out of the tour and loved the view.
This was also on a nature center day so we really got our steps in.
They also loved being spooky in the dark stairwell.
It feels entirely like summer now and the longest day of the year went by with heat and blackberries.
We've had a few summer thundershowers.
The garden is coming along. The sunflower continues to thrive.
I've finally broken down and gotten some beetles traps. I was spured on by feelings of intense resentment after the Japanese beetles tried to destroy my new persimmon tree (gift from wonderful generous Aunt Becky). They already killed a cherry tree and my beloved Bramley apple tree. Die beetles DIE!!!!
The sunsets have been great. We've got lots of big fluffy clouds and golden summer light.
I asked around on Facebook for suggestions on interactive colonial history spots and got a great recommendation. I had never been before but Fort Frederick is terrific!
We drove up and paid a tiny fee for park use then had a picnic lunch and the whole park pretty much to ourselves. They have a set up from the French and Indian war and lots of costumes and things to climb on and lay on and jump off and dress up in.
It was hot so we didn't don the entire collection but here is Kiernan with tricorn hat and shiny buttoned vest.
Here are both kids ailing away in the infirmary (next to some gruesome tools of the trade).
Here we are in the enlisted barracks. I am a red coated British officer.
Megan ran from room to room discovering things in all the 'treasure' chests. She felt it was all very piratical. This makes sense as for the most part she has only been exposed to pirates from this era.
I got to show the kids chamber pots.
They were enchanted and wanted to try them out right away!
Oh dear.
We had to go before we were ready so I could make my dentist appointment.
We quite want to go back with daddy.
Go here if you get a chance.
Meanwhile mom saw Molly Malone in Dublin's fair city.
I started the vertical garden in a pallet project.
I had a few mishaps. We shall see.
The mosquitoes came out in abominable force.
We had an epic yardwork day with mowing and pruning and gardening and throwing out of detritus.
I had try number two on the palette gardens.
We went to Uncle Chris and Aunt Pammy's for the first in our summer camp out series.
It was pretty darn great.
The kids played and we ate hotdog (and the veggie version) and s'mores stuff and delicious camp out stuff.
There was some pretty good kid play.
There was even a fair amount of actual sleeping over night.
We got home the next afternoon and crashed out.
I also admired and crossed my fingers for moms plants (finally out of pots and into the dirt).
The next week we went to the splash park.
Kiernan's being able to swim has made quite a difference in splash parks.
I found myself fighting to stay in my chair while the lifeguards did their duty by the kids.
I am attempting to give them much more of a self directed summer. I am taking them places and watching to see what they do.
Mom got home and brought us great souvenirs.
I took a few extra days to give mom some jet lag recovery time.
We went to Mount Vernon.
Mount Vernon is almost all look but don't touch.
The kids are into George Washington but after being told to keep their hands off of the guide rope Kiernan was ready to go home.
It ceased to be a fun exploration and turned into a place where he was in constant fear of reprimand. He was anxious and extremely grumpy for the next hour plus. He missed a lot of the stuff he had been most excited to see by having his head entirely occupied by unhappiness.
We went to lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn. There are two places to eat there. There is a food court brimming with tourists and bus loads of boisterous high school student. There is an overpriced restaurant done up in the style of a colonial inn and matching the mansion in tone. It was worth it to me to spend the money to get the kids into somewhere quiet for some emotional recovery, plus of course the food though overpriced was much better.
They had catfish fingers for appetizers. Kiernan ate lots and lots and started to unwilt.
Megan got some grilled cheese and mom got a nice salad and we sat in the air conditioning and the quiet and by the time we were done everything seemed possible.
We hiked down to the pioneer farm by way of the animal paddocks and Megan made friends with a sheep.
it started to try to eat her shoe and ended up headbutting her foot gently. She was very pleased.
We talked about Washington and his evolving views on slavery. We talked about this chart that I showed them:
It is from the Lives Bound Together page of Mount Vernon's website.
I think the website is more well put together than the exhibitions but that the exhibitions by their very nature are more impactful. This is especially true for the enslaved peoples history.
We went down to the slave cabin and the kids loved it. They loved it in a "I want to live here!" way and in a " Wow Washington's slaves were so lucky!" way and in a "If I lived back then I would want to be a slave" way.
I did a great deal of argument against this particular view point. My arguments were paid lip service to but I can tell they still think what they thought before. Now partially it is because they are are young and partially it is because the cabin was realteable to their own experience and the mansion was not. They have been camping in cabins and have never been residents of a plantation mansion. On the other hand they just have no idea what they are talking about and I am not happy.
We have had too many conversations lately that make me feel that race is a thing I am not doing a good job on.
Megan is particularly interested in the KKK.
She says quite often "Tell me about the KKK.?" So I say "They are bad guys, they think only white people are good and that brown people are bad and should go away.". I say "Sometimes they do mean things like hurt or kill or chase brown people.". She says "It's a good thing we are white then. If i see a KKK I will shoot them.".
I am trying to convince her to work on changing their mind rather than straight to the violence but I can see it at age 5.
We talk a lot about good cops and bad cops as a way of explaining lots of Black Lives Matter news coverage.
I toe this line between oversimplification and diminishing the importance of race and racism and our society.
Overall it was a great set of weeks and spending time with the kids was amazing and frustrating and exhausting and sublime as it tends to be.
The tomb of General George Washington and two of his bereft adherents.
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