A Day in the Life

We participated in a homeschool field trip recently which taught us about a day in the life of Medieval Europe for the yomen farmers through historically accurate costumed interpreters and replicated items form the time as well as hands-on activities and demonstration stations. It's always fun to get up close and personal with history. We learned a lot and our costumed interpreters were our favorite. We learned that brie and bread were common travel foods and that stews often contained oatmeal. We learned that shovels were tipped with metal to make them last longer and that the term "sleep tight" had everything to do with the ropes people used as mattresses. We also learned that stockings were tied to your underwear and that swashbuckling was not a pirate term at all. Swashbuckling was about Medieval defenses of the yomen farmers (the middle class) who swashed with swords and protected their hands with a small shield called a buckler.

Though the focus for the day was on the Medieval life, the history center had other displays on local history. Since we were there, we were sure to explore that part of the center as well. We enjoyed learning about history regarding early settlers, slavery and civil rights, natural disasters, development of technology, and a few local hsitorical figures. Old photographs are always very neat to see, but learning about the use of glass negatives was really interesting. Seeing the original Maytag washer and the Bell phone switchboard was great too! There were so many great discoveries for us to uncover as we learned more about local history.

It was all very intriguing, fun, and worth the drive. :-)

Adventure Air

We were graciously given passes to play at an indoor sports facility. We spent a couple of hours running, jumping, sliding, tumbling, bouncing, jousting, climbing, ziplining, making our way through obstacle courses, and laughing. We had so much fun and are so grateful for the opportunity to have this experience.

We topped off the outing with bubble tea before heading home--what a great treat! This was a welcomed adventure! :-)

Valentine's Day

This year, to celebrate Valentine's Day, we experienced a mix of activities. Sonja made heart shaped breakfast muffins to start us out--they were really good!

I made sure each person got thier traditional love notes and box of Jr. Mints as a small token of my love.

John and I enjoyed a charcuterie board lunch (yum!)

and then he (surprisingly) took the rest of the day off and spent the afternoon with the younger children and myself. We went to pick up a treat for the children--craft holiday donuts. They loved them :-) and we made sure to take a couple home for the older boys as well--Jozsef's were gluten free. While we were there we also picked up a special treat for John and I--chocolate covered strawberries (so good).

The weather was too good to go straight home so we stopped at the park to let the children play a bit before dinner.

We got chinese food on the way home and enjoyed it with the older boys when they returned home after work. It was a very pleasant day. :-)