Mount Vermin

This weekend we opted to miss art and gym classes on Friday, the ventriloquist show at our church on Saturday night, the rocket launch at Saturday Science on Saturday morning, music class on Monday, and BSF on Monday night so that instead we could spend the weekend with my sister and her family. I picked this weekend for three reasons: the Ephrata Cloister was having a special program for school children (mostly public school children) on Friday, Mount Vernon was having a Homeschool Day on Monday, and my sister and her family are headed back to Turkey next week. So it seemed the perfect weekend to venture down and see them one last time before they left. They weren't planning to join us at Mount Vernon, but some of their kids started asking them if they could join us, and that is what ended up happening - which made my kids very happy!

We spent six hours at Mount Vernon (which Oliver pronounced in a variety of ways including Mount Vermin). I suggested he just call it George Washington's House. During our

time there we toured the Mansion (and I forgot to take any pictures of the outside of it - oops!), visited their tombs, visited the farm, and Education Center. We skipped the Gristmill and Distillery. Usually when we attend a Homeschool Day event there are many special activities for homeschoolers and virtually no one else attends that particular day aside from homeschoolers. They did have some special activities, but for the most part I would say the main perk to going on Homeschool Day was the fact the tickets were a lot cheaper than usual ($10 for adults instead of the usual $20, for example). Joe and Yvonne only had to buy 4 tickets because I gave them Paul's ticket, three of their kids were free because they were under the age of six, and another man in line gave Joe two tickets. It rained on the way there, but thankfully it didn't rain while we were walking around the grounds. PTL! I carried my umbrella around the whole time to make sure I could protect my camera if needed, but the only time I used it was for a few minutes while we ate our packed

lunches outside. We spent the first two hours at the museum, tomb, and farm, and after lunch we spent closer to three hours in the Education Center. The kids loved it when "snow" fell on us during the winter scene of one movie about the Revolutionary War. We spent more than an hour in one room where you would learn about a specific incident in Washington's life (either as General or President) and then you would be asked to decide what you would have chosen to do if you had been the President/General. Then they would tell you what Washington chose to do.

All in all we had an enjoyable long weekend. I was exhausted when we arrived home at 9pm last night, in large part because altogether I had driven a little over 6 hours. It was supposed to take 40 minutes to get there (but took 60 minutes due to traffic); it was supposed to take 4 hours to get home (but took 5.25 hours due to traffic). I usually go to bed between 9-9:30 on Mondays because I am up at 5:30 on Tuesdays, but I was up until 10:30 due to unpacking, giving Paul the instructions for homeschooling today, etc. Today was a "typical" Tuesday which means I was at work, and Paul homeschooled the kids and then took them to gymnastics and the library. When the kids get home a little before 8pm, I need HUGS! I miss them when I don't see them for 23 hours. I'm thankful we live in this part of the country where we can easily visit a variety of historical sites, and I'm very thankful for George Washington's leadership of our army and our country 200+ years ago.