Cuyahoga

With the last day of our trip I wanted to try to arrange things differently.  I thought if I tired out the girls first thing, maybe the long stretches of driving would be met with less whining and crying.  It kind of worked...  The previous night we had ended up near Cuyahoga Valley National Park, so we checked that out for our morning excursion.

Poison ivy EVERYWHERE!  I feel so lucky to have grown up and done my exploring and hiking and camping where there is no poison ivy.  The girls are pretty good at staying away from anything green until I clear it.

Cuyahoga means "crooked river" in the native language of the area.  It is the site of the Ohio & Erie Canal, which opened in 1827.  The visitor center has part of a canal boat that the girls had a great time climbing on.

I also liked this display about how timber is cut from a log.  Pretty cool.  And I'm glad I can just run to lowe's and buy what I need...

We took a short walk on the tow path, which was really great.  There are so many bike paths everywhere.  I was quite envious.  I think tidewater Virginia is way behind the times in this.  You can even take a train from Cleveland, carrying your bike, then bike back along the towpath.  How cool is that?  I would love to come back here and spend some more time.

Then we went on a longer hike by this place, Brandywine Falls.

 It was very pretty, I'd love to see it when the flow is a bit higher.

 The girls at the fall overlook.  Then we started the loop trail, it was maybe a mile around, down to the river and back up.

 Miss M said this looked like a monster foot.

Miss R ran the whole way down.  She's a great trail runner!  Unfortunately, on the way up she was COMPLETELY out of energy, and succumbed to fall-on-the-trail-thrashing-and-screaming fits.  I see all these families going on super long hikes and wonder how the heck?  We'll get there.  Got to work up to it I guess.

 The girls waded in the stream for a long time.

 I gazed lovingly at the rocks.  Eastern Virginia has none.  None.  At all.  So I get a little rock sick, and enjoy looking at some good river or road cuts when I have the chance.

It was a very peaceful place.  

 Throughout our trip the queen ann's lace has been amazing.

So we traveled on to a few quilt shops; got to get in my row by row fix.  I managed to find a chick fil a for lunch, so they could have a nice long play, then we settled in for the long drive home.  If only I didn't have such a hard time staying awake in the car!!!  Or if only caffeine made me alert instead of comatose...  The seven hour drive took closer to ten because of my naps...  And the last three miles before home were killer. I almost had to pull over a take a nap in our own neighborhood because I was so sleepy.  And I came very close to just letting us finish the night in the car on the driveway because I was too tired to get us all in.

 We did find a lovely Maryland rest area with a play ground.  What is wrong with other states?  Every single rest area should have one...  They are a life saver.

We got home about two in the morning, and then, of course, I couldn't get to sleep...  

Miss A's First Essay...

The language arts curriculum ( Good and Beautiful ) we're using is big on writing.  Which I love, and Miss A HATES!  With a passion.  So when this essay came up, we took it very slowly.  We read one page of the article one day, then the next, then did part of the worksheet that helps outline how you can write the essay by listing your two most important ideas from the article.  Anyway, it took us about a week to work up to it, and then yesterday we stalemated on the second paragraph.  She was freaking out because it was impossibly hard.  I was being very calm, I hope, but still thinking, "What is the big deal?  Just write!"  We talked about the scripture that says great things come from doing little steps.  I wrote an example essay, having her read me the instructions from the curriculum while I did it.

I told her all she had to do was write the second paragraph.  (She wrote the intro a few days ago.)  Finally she gritted her teeth, grabbed her clip board, and disappeared.  She surprised me by appearing later with the entire essay completed.

I told B about it last night, and he totally empathizes, because he also hates to write and always has.  But, as I told him, with her, we have a chance to head that hatred off at an early age, and I think that's worth attempting.

Quote From Ken Burns...

"The history we know, the stories we tell ourselves...allow us to live beyond our fleeting lifespans, and permit us to value and love and distinguish what is important."

Sandinavia Unit: Poetry...

This one is going to be a bit more challenging.  When I did my basic google search, after much wading, I came up with this, from The Song of the Valkyries, by Darra Tharlioth:

Is this web woven and wound of entrails,
and heavy weighted with heads of slain;
are blood-bespattered spears the treadles,
iron-bound the beams, the battens,7 arrows:
let us weave with our swords this web of victory!

I don't think I want my small children memorizing this?

But then I found THE Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala.  It's long.  I skimmed through and found some lines that I really like.  Here they are:

Well will you get there, prettily you'll tread:
Over moon, under sun, and through the stars of hope.
One day's flight a-winging, to the brows of the moon.
Thence a second a-swimming, to the shoulders of the Great Bear,
The third even higher a-rising, to the back of the seven stars;
From there it's only a short trip, the tiniest tidbit,
To reach the holy God, to the dwellings of the blessed.

Isn't that pretty?  Go Finland.

Here is Miss A's:

And here is Miss M's.

Poppies and Patriotism...

Someone sought out my husband after church the day before memorial day to start an argument about the evils of patriotism.  I was so hurt and offended by this encounter that I really wanted to do something to start the girls knowing the cost of our freedoms.  Since it was Memorial Day, I thought we would do a poppy project.  My dad, himself an Army veteran who suffered a lifelong injury while serving in Germany, always bought the little red poppies from the veterans who sold them on Veterans' Day.  I thought this would be a good Sunday activity to connect with his memory and talk about these things.
We used this project, which I found on pinterest of course.
http://happyhooligans.ca/painted-coffee-filter-poppy-craft/
It was easy and fun.
First I reviewed on our timeline when the three wars we usually talk about; the Revolution, the Civil War, and WW2, happened (I've never liked WW1 very much- I think it's extra depressing....  And, to be fair, we have lived in a WW2 battlefield, Guam, and now live in Virginia, which was a Revolution and Civil War battlefield, so WW1 has always seemed more remote.).  So I briefly went over the nature of the war, showed them some pictures from wikipedia about trench warfare, then we read the poem, also from wikipedia, In Flanders Fields.  We read the end of this article from the Museum of American History, and we listened to some music from the Library of Congress, which is a wonderful resource!  I will definitely be using it more.  My Sweetheart is Somewhere in France. We looked at some pictures of corn poppies, and I told them about my dad always buying them to remember the soldiers who had died.  Then we made our poppies.

They turned out very prettily, and they look great standing in a jar on our counter.  And a couple weeks later when we went to Williamsburg, the girls recognized the poppies growing there and remembered our lesson!

Miss R: May Fast Day Photos...

Miss M: May Fast Day Photos...