The Plimoth Plantation

Mary Anne:

 After Boston, we headed down to Plymouth, and saw a replica of the Mayflower, called Mayflower 2. There were a few people dressed up from the 17^th century scattered about the ship, acting as if they had just landed the real Mayflower. We could ask them questions about the journey to America and about the ship, and they would answer as if they had just landed.

 Afterwards we headed up to Plimoth Plantation, which is a little village of pilgrims, all dressed and in character, and all living in little houses and tending gardens and taking care of animals. They all acted as if they actually lived there, making their own food and eating it, sweeping and cleaning their houses, tending their gardens, cutting wood, etc. 

Jackie helped grind corn to make flour.

Caleb helped saw logs.

Caleb is doing 9 pin bowling.

Caleb says he is shooting Steven from the cannon.

Steven watches me fall on stilts and is like; “I can’t believe you fell. It’s really easy! Let me show you.”

Steven showing me how not to walk on stilts.

Katie Marie just plopped herself on the ground and looked at rocks.

We got dressed up in typical Pilgrim clothes and pretended to be pilgrims.

 We had a really fun time! It was really cool to see how pilgrims lived and to meet them all.

A short walk from the pilgrim village was a Wampanoag tribe.

Katie Marie playing a native game.

A typical winter home.

The pelts that kept them warm.

Outside kitchen.

 It was kind of funny that our family does a lot of the same things the people in the early days did (grow food in their own gardens, grind their own flour, make our own bread, collect eggs, chop wood, get water from a spring, etc).  But we're not quite ready to live exclusively in a movable tent like the one Ruthie's standing in front of, all crowded together for weeks on end.  Oh wait, that's exactly what we're doing on this sabbatical!  Maybe we would have made a good native or pilgrim! J

Boston Bucket List

Hollie:

Roy and I had lots of plans for all of the wonderful things we wanted to see in Boston.  Then reality hit.  It was really hard for us to have to cross things off that we were just not going to get to.  The kids didn't have the stamina to run all over town, and sometimes they didn't share our perspective of what would be cool to experience.  Then I got sick.  Real sick.  102 fever sick.  That was not pretty.  We had to leave Boston with the thought in our head that we can always come back.  I think in the long run, this was good for us to set the pace for the rest of our journey.  We have learned not to over plan, and be thankful for what we did see, and look forward to coming back and seeing more at a later date.  In the end, we saw all of the "essentials".

The rest of Boston:
The Tea Party Museum.  Here we got to go on a replica of the actual tea party ships and throw tea over board!  This museum was really cool. They had live actors that interacted with the kids, and paintings that "came to life" (as movies) and told parts of their stories.  I wish they would have let us take pictures of those.

 Throw the tea overboard!

Trinity Church: one of the top 10 most beautiful churches.  Although we got to visit, we had wanted to attend a Sunday service (which didn't happen).  The cool thing was that when we got there there was a man giving a tour and demo of the 7000 pipe organ.  As he was talking and people were gathering around he pointed to Mary Anne and asked her to come play one of the notes for him.  She was super excited.  I wish he would have let her play more!

 Reflection in the John Hancock Building.

Boston Old State House: Where they first publicly read the Declaration of Independence (from the balcony), and where the Boston Massacre happened. It has a cool spiral staircase inside!

We went to Paul Revere's house and visited Old Iron Sides

And of course Boston Public Library where Mary Anne complained because we couldn't spend a week there.  Roy was able to visit with another of his fraternity brothers, Neel.  This was the day I was super sick.  Roy took all the kids and let me sleep!

We have already created our bucket list for the next time we visit.  We might have to spend a month to do it all!

What do you get when...

...you cross a sink, and it's stopper, a stool, and a three year old child?
A GIGANTIC MESS!!!
A whole lot of wet towels, and some very unhappy parents.
Again, we are thanking God for our little shop vac saving us once again.  Roy sucked up at least 10 gallons of water just out of our heating vents!  The floor was ankle deep, not only in the bathroom, but all the way to the back of the trailer.  And of course the three year old claims, "someone else did it!"
[sigh]

Are those your play shoes?

Hollie:
Steven is magnetically attracted to water.  If there are bugs or fish or crawdads or frogs to find, he MUST find them.  So this afternoon when I lost Steven, the first place I went to look was in the creek, and sure enough there he was.

Steven also has 3 pairs of shoes on this trip.  The ones he is wearing are the good shoes for leaving camp.  They are not to be worn for playing.  He is obviously stuck here.  Did I help him?  Of course not.  I did what any good mother would do.  I told him to get out of that creek fast, and he had better not get his good shoes wet. He hasn't come home yet.  Wonder if he fell in. :o)

What about Socialization?

Roy:

When we first started homeschooling 5 years ago it was simply out of practical necessity.  Hollie was spending over 20 hours per week just driving the kids to various private schools, kindergartens, and preschools (we had moved way out in the country and there was no convenient bus service for all of them).  I told her, “Just stay at home and I bet you could teach them in half the time you’re spending being their chauffer!”  And thus began our homeschooling journey.

At the time one of our biggest concerns was, “are they going to be able to develop adequate social skills outside of public education?”  One strike against them is that they have my genes, and no one has ever accused me of excelling at social graces! (and I even had the benefit of going to public school J).  I think our experience on the road has given us the answer.

At nearly every one of our stops our children have come into contact with one group of kids or another.  Sometimes it has been longtime friends they haven’t seen in years.  Sometimes it is children of our friends that they have just met.  Sometimes, it is just children they encounter on the playground of a park for less than an hour.  Every single time, without exception, there has been some significant bond that has blossomed almost immediately.  They end up having a WONDERFUL time playing together, regardless of any age difference or cultural difference or geographic separation: laughing and running and exploring and sharing together. When it comes time to say goodbye there are often tears on both sides and promises to keep in touch through various electronic devices (the norm I guess in this day and age).

We started out worrying that homeschooling was going to impede our kids socially.  We’ve been pleasantly surprised to find just the opposite to be true.

Hollie:  We met my friend Janice from college with all of her kids at Plymouth Plantation.  It was great for our kids to meet and play.  She too has chosen to homeschool for various reasons.  Again, it would be great to live next to them and share our lives and kids.

The Mama Katie Marie

Hollie

When I met Roy, he introduced me to his friend Katie Marie.  She was a sweet girl whose company I enjoyed.  About two years later I noticed that everyone was calling her Kat.  When I asked her why she told me that he name was Katherine and everyone called her Kat.  Only Roy called her Katie Marie.  WHAT???  I guess he liked the name and thought her personality fit, so that is what he called her.

There is a rumor in Roy’s family that his dad liked the name Mary Ruth and had decided that his last little girl would be named that.  Roy is the fifth child, and then his brother Steve, and finally his sister Mary (Ruth) was born and they stopped having children. It is hard to think how many children they would have had if Roy’s mom had kept having boys!

Following in his dad’s footsteps, Roy decided that his last girl would be named Katie Marie.  He had decided this long before he had met me.  After birthing Ruthie, I fell ill and it seemed like I couldn’t have any more children.  Then surprise! Six years later I found out I was pregnant.  Roy immediately knew this was his Katie Marie.

After Katie Marie’s personality started to shine, it became very apparent to me that she needed a younger sibling.  In her mind, all of her older siblings were created to worship and serve her.  In my mind, she needed someone who was going to steal her toys, share her clothes, and borrow her shoes and never return them.  To my amazement, God granted me this request and Ellie was born.  Katie Marie may not be his youngest daughter, but I am sure he doesn’t mind.  Ellie is worth it.

Of course we couldn’t come to Boston without Katie Marie meeting her name sake.  Katie Marie called her The Mama Katie Marie.

And Ellie received some Katie Marie loving that she didn't mind (unlike the "love" she receives from her sister).

Lemons

No childhood is truly complete until your parents have tortured you with lemons.