Happy Father's Day!

Last June I took the kids to Fort Frederick in Big Pool, Maryland on our way back to PA from a trip to see the Towfighis in Maryland. We had learned about that fort when we visited Fort Ligonier in western PA. The kids enjoyed the Colonial Children's Day program last year so much, Nadia asked if we could return again this year. They have a five year rotation so the activities vary from year to year. Last year the theme was from the viewpoint of a soldier who enlisted during the French and Indian War. This year they were taking on the role of an officer (gentlemen) during that same war. Parents aren't required to stay during the program, but considering the Fort is 2.5 hours from our house, I just stayed at the fort all day although I did sit in our van and talked to my sister during part of the day (which meant I didn't get any pictures of the fencing portion of the five hour program). Last year I only signed Nadia and Ian up for the program. Although Oliver was still technically too young, I signed all three kids up this year. Not as many kids were signed

up this year compared to last year. The activities focused on fort design, battle tactics, drawing and painting, singing, fencing, drills, and playing a game of cricket. Nadia won the cricket game! They played with rules from the 1700's. They had a tasty lunch that included scones, sugar cookies, cheese melted on toast, various meats and cheeses, bread, baby carrots, pickles, etc. If we lived closer, I'd probably take them every year for the full five year rotation, but given how far away we live from Fort Frederick, I am dubious that we will return. Considering it would have taken five hours to drive there and back in one day, we decided to spend the night. The downside of this was that it meant we missed church three weeks in a row. It's been seven years since that happened for me. I missed more than that when I was in the hospital during Oliver's pregnancy. The first two we missed while we were on vacation. I really wanted to attend church today, but since the kids had horseback riding camp M-F, we weren't able to make the trip on

Friday/Saturday. Since we will be studying the Civil War in September, I decided we'd visit Gettysburg on the second day of this two day trip.

Paul worked on Saturday, but he drove down to Gettysburg this morning. The kids and I drove back up into PA yesterday afternoon, had dinner at Dunkin' Donuts, rented a movie from Redbox (for 58 cents thanks to a coupon code), and then watched that movie on my laptop computer in our hotel room. I turned out the lights at 8:30pm as we had gotten up earlier than usual that morning. This morning we had a (free) hot breakfast at the hotel. I had packed drinks and fruit for our lunch today, but unfortunately I accidentally left those in the refrigerator in our hotel room this morning. Oops! I still had granola bars and pretzels in the van. Those sufficed for our lunch today since we had a big breakfast and were able to drink from the drinking fountain in the Visitor Center. Paul *loves* Gettysburg. He has read long books in which each book only covers ONE day of the three day

battle. So it was fitting we went there on Father's Day. We'll be at our church tomorrow setting up for VBS and be there again the next four days for VBS each morning, and we plan to go to church the next four Sundays. We spent five hours at Gettysburg today. We will need to return again sometime in the next year because we only scratched the surface. During our time there we watched the movie, saw the Cyclorama (painting), toured the museum, visited the farm which was used as a hospital during the battle, walked through a small part of the battlefield, completed the Junior Ranger program, and participated in four ranger programs. First the kids participated in an one hour program entitled "Join the Army," another focused on how they sent encoded messages, the third was about how to fire a cannon, and the last one was about the use of signal flags.

Since I knew we'd be gone this weekend, I had the kids make their cards for Paul and Pop Pop on Wednesday and Thursday. Nadia's featured purple

thumbprints that were to look like grapes and it said "I love you a bunch, Dad." Ian drew a dog and wrote "Daddy, I ruff you" with letters that were in the shape of dog bones. Oliver made a pirate that was partially a hand print, and it said "Dad, you're grrrrreat!" Nadia painted a lion for Pop Pop with the caption "King of the Kindle." He does love to read on his Kindle! I bought Pop Pop an 8x10 photo from the vacation that included he, Grandma, and their three grandkids (at Montpelier) and a big container of cashews. I got Paul a big bag of Middlesworth Sour Cream and Onion potato chips. I only buy those on special occasions like his birthday and such as they're never on sale. The plain and BBQ flavors go on sale, but not the sour cream and onion ones, which are his favorite. I also glued shells to three picture frames, and one of the pictures in one of those frames is of Paul and the kids. I'm not generally very artsy, crafty, but I do like the way the picture frames turned out! The shells that I glued on the frames are ones that Nadia, Ian, and I found at

Myrtle Beach. The first time I gave Paul a father's Day card was in 2005, during my first pregnancy. We didn't feel like parents in 2006 or 2007, but Father's Day 2008 I was pregnant with Nadia. She was born nine days after Father's Day. My kids love their Daddy very much, and I'm thankful he was able to stay home with them two days a week during the weeks I was teaching this last school year. Unfortunately he hasn't been feeling that well so he was in bed before 8:00 this evening. Hopefully my Dad, Pop Pop, and Paul each had a special day today! I printed an 8x10 of the boys wearing Steeler shirts for my Dad's gift. I had packed the shirts for that reason and told the boys to smile for Grandpa when I snapped the photo. Tomorrow we will have the first of three birthday celebrations for Nadia!

P.S. This shell that Nadia is holding above her head was actually fired by the Confederates during the battle of Gettysburg!