Overheard.....

As I was silhouetted in the doorway, saying my last "Sleep well" and "I love you" to L and C, L said,

"I've grown accustomed to your shape."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today, while on a breakfast date with son C:

C: "What is morse code?"

Me: "It's a means of communicating without words. Long and short clicks on the walkie talkie stand for different letters, so by listening to the clicks and figuring out the code as you go, the other person can spell out the words you're saying."

C: "Oh, kindof like piano!"

Me: "Ummm, yeah, like piano" (??)

(sing with me) "Leavin' on a Jet Plane....."

Actually, left on a jet plane, yesterday! Our daughter G flew off by herself to WA to spend time with my parents and one of my sisters and her family. She has been looking forward to this for a long time, and the day finally arrived. It was her first solo flight, and she did great!

I hope she has an unforgettably wonderful time!

(and I can't wait til she comes back!)

At the Campground

These are my last pics from vacation. Sadly, it already seems like it was a long time ago! I want another vacation! :-)

For three days that week we hung out at the campground, swimming, fishing, playing, and just enjoying being together. They had a nice pool which we swam in several times. One evening we had the whole pool to ourselves! (much preferred by me ~ easier to keep my eye on all five children)




This man made pond was stocked with blue gill and other fish. Hubby was able to take each of the children out separately on the canoe for some one-to-one time, and each of those who fished caught at least one fish! Here he is with son G.


And son C.




Our tent performed fairly well during the week, though we did get some rain seepage, and it rained parts of four days. The seepage was all in one spot, and it happened to be under daughter G's sleeping bag. We realized too late that there was a depression in the ground right at that spot, and water collected there. She handled it like a trooper!


The three older children slept at the far back,


son C slept at their feet,


and Little Man slept next to me.

As I mentioned, we forgot to pack the canopy, which normally keeps our kitchen area covered. Without it, there was nowhere to stay dry in the rain except our van and the tent (pup tent in background is used as a changing room by the kids, and holds their suitcases).


We were fortunate that it rained at dinnertime/bedtime only once. We cooked in the rain and ate in our tent! You haven't camped until you've cooked and eaten in the rain. ;-)

While hubby and I were cooking, the children watched a movie. Thank the Lord for electricity!

Cooking eggs for breakfast.



Our last night there we roasted hotdogs and corn on the cob for dinner. Son G helped lather butter on the corn and then wrap them in foil to be put in the coals. They were super delish!



Here's what the above photo really looked like without the flash.


After dinner we made s'mores and sang worship songs long into the night. One by one the children got tired and just went to bed, while the rest of us kept on singing. Sooo worshipful! I loved it.


To hear Little Man's sweet childlike voice raised in praise to God was so precious it made my heart ache (in a good way).


The morning we were packing up to go home, the boys found several little toads around our campsite. Evidence of how wet it was?! They constructed a little house for the toads out of rocks and sticks and grass, and were very sad to leave the toads behind.


As we were driving out I snapped this picture of the ruins of a stone wall that our boys had been climbing on all week. I tried to find out its history but none of the rangers knew anything about it. I wonder if it was there at the time of the Civil War? It was beautiful and mysterious. What stories would it tell if those stones could talk?

Thank you, Lord, for yet another fabulous vacation. Thank you for quality time together for our family. Thank you for the experiences we had and the memories we made. Thank you for giving us (mostly) good attitudes in the rain. Thank you for the means to do a vacation inexpensively. Thank you for each member of my family, who are so precious to me in their own way. Thank you for loving them even more than I do.

Thank you.

Gettysburg, Part 2, The Big Surprise!

Our second day in Gettysburg we picked up our auto tour where we had left off two days before. The children are standing in front of the Virginia monument, atop of which is a life size statue of General Lee sitting on his beloved horse, Traveler (it was so high up, it didn't make for a good picture). This is the area where the boys from Virginia lined up for Pickett's Charge. For about a mile along this stretch of woods, there are monuments from different southern states commemorating the soldiers from their state who participated in the ill-fated charge.

My husband and I were talking about how different that was from the way troops are organized today. Back then, boys from a given state all marched and fought together, commanded by an officer who was also from that state.


At one point in the woods we came upon this simple monument to General Longstreet. Since I had *just* finished reading "Gettysburg", I was feeling rather partial to Longstreet, through whose eyes much of the book is written. Since Stonewall Jackson was already dead by the time of the battle of Gettysburg, Longstreet was Lee's new right hand man. There was no-one Lee trusted more. Longstreet was very straight with Lee, telling him that the frontal assault planned on day three would not succeed, and would result in upwards of 50% casualties. Lee listened, and considered, but went ahead with the attack, and with putting Longstreet in direct command of it. This was very hard on Longstreet. This statue of him on his horse stands at the approximate place where he watched the battle.



Miles and miles of stone fences like this one!


Our favorite stop on the auto tour was Little Round Top. The kids LOVED this! They happily climbed on the rocks for quite a while, and let me tell you, the rocks were BIG! Bigger than our van. Little Round Top, and next to it the bigger, wooded Big Round Top, were the southern tip of the battlefield, about 5-6 miles south of town.


Hubby and me on the summit.




The next three photos show a sweeping view of the battlefield below, from right to left. It was easy to see why both sides wanted this hill, for the purpose of positioning artillery.




Behind the summit, back in the woods, is this monument to the 20th Maine regiment. They were responsible for protecting the far right flank of the Union line who defended Little Round Top from the Confederates. They were led by Colonel Chamberlain, who was a professor of rhetoric at a college in Maine, and had asked for a sabbattical and then promptly went and signed up to help the war effort. In the movie "Gettysburg", Chamberlain is played by Jeff Daniels, and his defense of these woods are among the most moving scenes in the film. You can see little slips of paper on the base of the monument, held in place by small rocks. These are notes of thanks written by tourists today.


Our family with monument behind. It was surreal to sit at the very spot where such intense fighting had occurred.


And then it was time for our big SURPRISE!!

Have some of you guessed it?

It was.......


Touring part of the battlefield by horseback!

We each got a horse, a short riding lesson, and then were led out through the woods where the Confederates lined up for Pickett's Charge. It was incredible to view it as the officers of the day would have viewed it.... from the back of a horse. Here is Little Man on his pony.


Son C.


Son L.


Son G.


Daughter G.


Me.


And hubby.


This is blurry because I was attempting to take a picture while riding! I quickly learned to stop my horse first. :0)


There was a horse wrangler in front, and one behind, but we were each responsible for our own horse in the line. A couple of the horses wanted to trot, and most of them wanted to eat along the way, so we were busy keeping them in line. :-)


The owner of the stable (on right, also named Pam!) was very impressed with how well Little Man did. She does not get many six year olds, but she couldn't get over how confident he was and how well he followed her directions. Yay for Little Man!

All of us. This was after the hour ride, and at this point by bum and thighs were virtually numb. Imagine the cavalry back then spending nearly 100% of their waking hours in the saddle!


We fed cookies to our horses afterward, and thanked them for carrying us. It was about 100 degrees that day, and they really worked up a sweat!



Afterward we ate dinner at The Dobbin House, which is the oldest building in Gettysburg. It was built in 1776. If only walls could talk!




It was an amazing day ~ we learned so much and made some great memories together. We were loathe to leave Gettysburg, and all decided that if/when we go back, we will stay IN Gettysburg for a few days so we don't have an hour drive 'home' after a long, hot day! The kids fell asleep in the van both nights that we drove home from Gettysburg, and the parents struggled not to do the same. :-)