Fort Ticonderoga

A couple of years ago I said to Paul that I thought we should go to Saratoga when we were studying the Revolutionary War. His reply had been that if we were going there, we should also go to Fort Ticonderoga. I had planned this trip more than once over the past year. Sometimes I picked a date based on a special event at Saratoga, but Paul said he'd rather go in September than during the summer. So I picked this week because today was the homeschool day at Fort Ticonderoga. They had special activities planned (LOTS of them) plus the admission was more than 50% off. I would give the event two thumbs up! It was utterly impossible to do all the tours and activities they had today, but we enjoyed several of them during the six hours we spent at the fort. We listened to a 30 minute talk about the history of the fort, walked through the fort and museum (although Paul would have liked to spend more time there),musket demonstration,  painted with watercolors in the King's Garden, took a 75 minute boat cruise on Lake Champlain, walked through a corn maze, and drove to the top of Mount Defiance. We could not have

asked for a prettier day. The high temperature was about 70, and it was a sunny day.

We enjoyed a free hot breakfast buffet at the hotel this morning before we drove about 70 minutes farther north to the fort. We had a simple lunch that we had packed (granola bars, pretzels, clementines, etc.), and we used a gift card Paul had been given for Christmas for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. The kids had kids' meals, Paul had a steak dinner, and I had a sweet potato. We all enjoy the rolls they serve, and Ian and Paul love eating peanuts. The gift card covered everything except for the tip. In the boat we saw Vermont as much as we saw New York, and Ian said we should go to Vermont some time. I actually am hoping to take the kids to most if not all of the 50 states before they leave our nest. So hopefully we will do something in Vermont at some point. I only count a state if we actually do something in the state. Just driving through the state isn't enough to add the state to the list in my opinion. This year we added states 15-16 to the list (NC, SC). Next year

hopefully we'll add a few more! I'm planning on spending a couple of days in Michigan next April on our way back from Chicago. That will be the first time the kids have ever been to Michigan. Oliver, Nadia, and Paul swam in the pool again this evening. Ian and I just hung out in the hotel room. Since Nadia usually goes to bed at 9:30, Ian at 9:00, and Oliver at 8:30, we have made 9:00 the bedtime for everyone when the five of us are sharing a bedroom. Paul and I are sharing one queen size bed, the boys are sharing the other queen size bed, and we made a bed out of pillows on the floor for Nadia. The hotel certainly isn't as nice as the one we stayed in last week in NJ, but it has done the job (and was affordable). Tomorrow is out last day of this three day adventure!