James Whitcomb Riley Home

We finally made it to one of the James Whitcomb Riley Homes in Indiana.

We had so much fun reading his poetry a few months back! What incredible storytelling coming through "the Hoosier Poet". Son proudly remembered this memory work:

On Any Ordinery Man in a High State of Laughtur and Delight

As its give' me to percieve,
I most certin'y believe
When a man's jest glad plum through,
God's pleased with him, same as you.

Shamefully, I didn't get a picture of the whole house--what was I thinking?! However, I did get these outdoor pictures. It was very crowded indoors (free day!), and taking pictures was not prudent. I will say it was an amazing preservation of his home of 23+ years...that he didn't even own, but rented a room in...for 23+ years! Astounding. Apparently, in that day and age (around the turn of the century) a single man did not live alone for no respectable woman would come work for him. So they would take up residence in the homes of families they knew. This home, where he died in 1817, was only preserved as the owners had no children to pass it on to. We really enjoyed the tour and I purchased a beautiful hardbound, illustrated copy of "The Raggedy Man"! Love it.

My two kids are the two farthest on each side.

This poem (that was apparently turned into a song at some point) of his adorned the walls outside the bedrooms:

The Perfect Prayer

Dear Lord! kind Lord!
Gracious Lord! I pray
Thou wilt look on all I love,
Tenderly to-day!
Weed their hearts of weariness;
Scatter every care
Down a wake of angel-wings
Winnowing the air.

Bring unto the sorrowing
All release from pain;
Let the lips of laughter
Overflow again;
And with all the needy
O divide, I pray,
This vast treasure of content
That is mine to-day!

I'm sure we'll eventually get to his other home (his childhood home) which is not too far from some friends house. His grave is also in town, so when the weather permits, we should probably go there too...just for fun...'cause cemetaries are fun...right?!! :)

Leaf Collecting

We are currently going through the Exploring Creation Through Botany book by Jeannie Fulbright. This is our third book in the series and so far is tying with the Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, as our favorite. We love 'em!

So Tuesday, we headed south to my home town for leaf collecting. It just didn't seem right to make our collection from any leaves other than from the same trees that I made my own leaf collection many...many years ago. Especially, with it being relatively close by.



The kids really enjoyed looking for different leaves, but didn't care for the fact that some were unreachable--wayyy up in the sky. We had a brief encounter with a snake crawling over son's foot and a few spider sightings that gave us the willies. We played in the creek--just a bit--and ended up at the playground.

Overall, mission accomplished. I have to say, the nature hike thing is not always as easy as some make it seem. I tried to coax the children into sharing observations and deep thinking, but they weren't having any of that. Charlotte Mason would have flunked me. But, hey! We were there, so that's what matters most. I do wish we had more areas like that to explore closer to home. Living in urban madness, we are somewhat limited.

The next morning, the children enjoyed pressing and gluing their leaves into a book. Son did an admirable job labeling the type of leaf; edge and all, and even tried to identify the type of tree through a Fandex guide. This was a bit more difficult, but he gave it a great effort. Daughter was equally thrilled with the gluing/pressing process and no doubt will be picking leaves off things for her "collection" from now on!

Civil War Days

We finally made it to our first Civil War Days at nearby Connor Prairie. This is our third year to attempt to go and the first that hasn't been rained out. Though it was quite chilly and included all the joys of mock-five winds, we were happy to see a little sunshine and finally enjoy our first battle re-enactment.

As you can see, son was geared up and raring to go!

We ran into Abraham Lincoln right off the bat.
Daughter was a wee-bit shy!

He did a fabulous job with his presentation. People, mostly kids, asked some tough questions and he never flinched. At one point he took off his hat and dropped letters out of it. This guy's attention to detail was really good!

I was waiting to ask him what his favorite book was. Before I got the chance, he began talking about how his mother had taught him from the Bible and had asked him, on her death bed, to always follow its truths. I was stunned, but pleased! Only one couple got up and left.

Son gave his rapt attention to the words of this famous president.

Then it was gun time. I'm not sure who was more interested...son or husband!

We saw the rank and file as the northern troops had their drill practice.

And we huddled together to keep warm.
We were absolutely frozen!

A little artillery practice.

My sweet family!

The re-enactment was a bit hard to see, but we were still able to make out what was happening. I was a bit disappointed that it was more of a "demonstration" and less of an actual "enactment". I'm a newbie!The cavalry action was the most visible, and thus the most exciting!
We did see a "deserter" who was shot in the back. Ewww!

Oh.
And it was loud.
Some people just don't like "loud"! :)

Inky Binky Bonkey

Inky Binky Bonkey

Daddy had a donkey
Donkey died.
Daddy cried.
Inky Binky Bonkey

My son on the far right with the first half of the kids to join in the play.

This is the latest in Eeeny Meeney Miney Mo and is what my children learned while playing with all the other children while we waited in line at the National Archives. Ah! To think, so much to learn in such a place and this is what they took away!

I learned a bit myself, watching my children. The line went half way around the archives building and at the corner, was a large grassy area. When we arrived for our two hour wait, very far back in the line, no one was on the grass. After checking for a "stay off the grass" sign, my children began playing together on the grass. They chased each other, rolled on the ground and laughed!

Daughter did check in with us a bit to make sure we weren't leaving!

It wasn't long before just about every child in the line had joined in!

My son, again on the right; daughter in the way back.

I watched eagerly, and a bit nervously (particularly for how my little one would do with the bigger kids and that they wouldn't fall on the light boxes sticking up out of the ground--such a mother!). My son, a natural born take-charge leader, (and whom we've had to encourage to "ask" and not "tell" when playing with others; diplomacy!) had soon organized a game of freeze tag. He was the oldest, and tallest for quite a while. Amazingly, as soon as a couple of bigger boys joined in, he relinquished his position and began following their lead, still with his own impression over the little ones he'd been playing with. It is from them that the "Inky Binky Bonkey" was learned!

My son in the foreground.

Soon, many of the children began climbing the concrete pedestal of the very large flag pole; running in circles. Memories of the 4th of July surfaced. My son and another boy, engaged in this same activity, circling in opposite directions collided. Son's teeth jammed into the boys head leaving a gushy bloody mess and loose front teeth! So, I quietly told my children not to get on the pedestal...then I watched. After a bit, I watched my daughter climb up. She took a couple of steps...stopped to think it over, and climbed down. I was proud watching her work that through. I asked her about it later and she just looked at me funny! Oh well.

There's my little one in the center; full stride. She had no trouble making friends either!

I guess if they had socialization issues, they would have cowered in the line. They would have been afraid to speak to any other person, let alone another child, and they would possibly have been too uppity to get dirty or sweaty. I do wonder if any children would have played if it weren't for mine! They ended up playing for a good hour and were very sad when the line continued indoors. Play for them all, from what we could tell, did seem to pretty much break off at that point.

It wasn't long after that, that a conversation with the two ladies in front of us revealed how impressed they were with our children. Especially their patient waiting while indoors. Their children would have been basket cases, they said. One was a high school teacher. Being there on a Friday, she said she had come from Maine for a little break and that her school and her own children would be attending school that SATurday because of snow days! Hmmm. I'm usually happy to share with people that we homeschool, but this time I didn't. It would not have been productive.

Anyhoo...if I can now get my children to stop singing the "Inky Binky Bonkey" rhyme, even for awhile, I'll be happy! It does get old!!

First Things First!

In case you were wondering, we did leave for our trip...and just got home! The destination? Washington, D.C. and the Cherry Blossom Festival!

If you remember from this post, being in D.C. during the Cherry Blossom Festival is something I've always wanted to do. With just a couple of weeks notice, the husband offered to take us all along on a business trip and have a little holiday. It was great! Of course, every trip has it's challenges, and this one was no different. We had little girl constipation issues, we had gaping wound in the mouth from a wisdom tooth extraction issues with the husband, boy ruined his only shoes and had to wear my much bigger spare pair. But I digress...

We've been to D.C. before, but this time we did things much differently. We took the metro (subway) everywhere which was good. We saw a ton of different things we'd never seen and a couple of favorites. We didn't see the Lincoln Memorial this time which seems like a crying shame unless you consider everything else we did see and that we've seen the L.M. a couple of times before.But the blooms!!! Oh! They were spectacular. We actually arrived the day before peak bloom. It was just what I'd hoped it would be. They really are beautiful. We spent half of one day under plastic sheeting walking in the rain--that was not fun. We had one day of low 70's and one day near arctic temps. I felt like I was back home in Indiana! Except for rain gear, we were pretty well prepared. Here's what we saw:

The National Gallery of Art (of our Art Calendar! And of course there was the DaVinci!)


The room where Lincoln died (Ford's Theatre was closed)

Lincoln's hat, Kermit the Frog, and a few other items from the American History Museum (also closed) on display at the Air and Space Museum.

The Museum of Natural History (oy vay! A lot of "millions--and even billions--of years" gak there!)

The American Indian Museum (by far the best restaurant for healthy eating of any of the museums.)


The Spy Museum (Truly a history museum.)
The National Archives
The American Portraiture Museum (where all the presidential portraits are.)


Whew! We tried to do the Washington Monument but one couple told us that after standing in line for 2 hours, the tickets ran out before 1/4 of the line advanced! The line was really long even in the pouring rain! Fortunately, the only other place that we really dealt with lines was the National Archives where we waited 2 hours to see the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.


Our time ended on Saturday with the official start of the Cherry Blossom Festival and a Kite Flying Contest and Extravaganza! I don't know that I've ever seen so many people or so many kites! It was awesome. Later in the day, we got our kites (at the Air and Space Museum of course!) and flew them. It was really fun.


We walked about 1000 miles (I'm pretty sure about that!) and my legs feel ripped. (Yeah, right!) I did have to limp home one evening after doing something funky to my knee, but the 'ole back held out pretty well.

Our drive home was not so fun. We had about a 12 hour drive and our little one was not feeling so well. She ended up throwing up just 15 minutes from home! We got home and bathed her and tucked her in and she's fit as a fiddle this morning! We all slept pretty good in our own beds--doesn't everyone? I'll post a few more details of our trip throughout the week, but now you have the highlights.