Curtis and Alexander

Curtis holding ?

Alex eating his apple.

Samuel

It is a gorgeous 70 degree day outside today! Below are a few pictures I took of Samuel up in a tree!

Briana

Here are a few photos of Briana that I shot using natural lighting in the woods behind our house.

The kids at Conner Prairie

The kids enjoying various aspects of Conner Prairie on October 21, 2009.


The well at the Inn

Water seemed to be a great attraction.

The kids sorting beans at the Gregorys

The girls inside Whitaker's Store

The girls playing checkers at the Curtis Home

Curtis in the Curtis Home

Briana riding the "horse" in the Animal Encounters Barn.

Some of the kids outside the Wigwam in the Lenape Camp.

Samuel playing a game outside the Curtis Home.

Briana enjoying the game.

The kids trying out the stilts at the schoolhouse.

The kids walking up the stairs.

The boys watching the Tomahawk Throwing Contest.

Curtis throwing the tomahawk.

Samuel with the tomahawk just released from his hands.

Alex with the tomahawk in mid-air.

Julissa cleaning off the potter's wheel.

Curtis working the potter's wheel.

It's time to go home!

Outdoor Beauty at Conner Prairie

Flowers

Beautiful flowers along the fence line.

A glimpse of fall along the fence line outside the Animal Encounters Barn.

I love the turning of leaves in the fall.

Outside the McClure's Home

The Privy

Trading Post in the Lenape Camp

A dugout canoe and the fur trader

I don't know if you would necessarily consider this outdoor beauty, but I wanted to share it with you and it seemed to fit here best. I thought this scarecrow to be quite hilarious!

A beautiful sky!

The view from the Conner Homestead!

Animals at Conner Prairie

I enjoyed taking photos of the various animals at Conner Prairie.


Donkeys

Donkey

Some Pig!

Radiant!

Oxen

Goat

Goat's Milk

Sheep

Another sheep

Calf

Scottish Highland Cattle (I thought these were so pretty!)

Costumed Hosts at Conner Prairie

The Innkeeper at Golden Eagle Inn

The Carpenter at McClure's Carpenter Shop

The Storekeeper at Whitaker's Store

The Potter at Barker's Pottery Shop

Dr. Campbell's Cook

The Farmer and his Oxen

The Curtis Home

Mr. Curtis

The Ins and Outs of the Buildings at Conner Prairie

The barn at Golden Eagle Inn in Prairietown

A bed upstairs in the Golden Eagle Inn

Large mittens hanging on the wall in the Inn

Apples drying above the fireplace in the Inn.

In the McClure's home.

McClure's Carpenter Shop

The woodshed

A writing desk in the Gregory's home.

The chalkboard in the schoolhouse

Barrels on the porch of Whitaker's Store

Inside the Curtis Home

Barker's Pottery Shop

A fireplace in the Pottery Shop

A spinning wheel in the Loom House

The bedroom in the Conner Homestead

A cradle in the Conner Homestead

Writing on Slates at Conner Prairie

Yesterday the kids and I were privileged to go to Conner Prairie with another homeschooling family. We had a great time! The kids enjoyed writing on slates with soapstone. If only they were this enthusiastic when it came to doing school work on a daily basis. Maybe I need to buy them slates and soapstone for school?! I am sure the enjoyment wouldn't last long!


Samuel, Briana, and Julissa

Samuel

Briana

Alex

Julissa

Curtis

Musket Firing Demonstration at Bunker Hill

While we were visiting Bunker Hill, we were able to see a park ranger demonstrating the firing of a musket. My kids really enjoyed this. In fact, we were there long enough the kids got to see it twice.


The Park Ranger giving us a little background info about the battle of Bunker Hill and the musket.

He is waiting on the sidelines while another park ranger does some talking.

The park ranger demonstrating the use of the bayonet on the end of the musket.

Check out the glasses that they are required to wear!

The kids and Uncle Mike watching the demonstration.

The Park Ranger and the kids

My Mom (the History Prof.) holding Brown Bess (the musket).

The Park Ranger and Mike

Bunker Hill Monument

It is now Saturday, September 5, 2009 and we are going to visit the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, MA. We spent quite a bit of time there at the monument. Mom, Jeff, Mike and Sam climbed all the way to the top of the monument. I believe it was 291 steps. It was definitely not for the faint of heart. My other four kids and I climbed up about fifty steps and I think Heidi made it up to the one hundredth step.


Gas lamp alongside the street

Colonel William Prescott

Dr. Joseph Warren

Alex, Curtis, Briana and Julissa waiting on the rest of the clan to get back down out of the monument.

Samuel at the top of Bunker Hill Monument

Mom

Mike, Sam and Mom

Jeff and Mom reading information about the monument.

This picture and the ones below are taken from the top of the monument overlooking the city of Boston.

This is Charlestown Naval Yard

This is the same area as above.

Uncle Mike and the kids sitting in the back of his truck. Jeff is using his GPS to try and locate a place to eat lunch.

Variety is the Spice of Life!

Macaroni and Milk and Potatoes.

This is something I normally fix when Jeff is not home, but he decided he wanted to try it. So I fixed it for a Saturday lunch. After I had it fixed, he decided that the main course was not enough. He decided that crackers, cheese and grapes would make a nice addition to the meal. So what do you girls think?!

This is for Heidi! Thanks for the pumpkin!
And a thank you to Lyndi for the table runner!

Banded Woolly Bear Caterpiller

It wasn't but a day or two before I took this picture that I was wishing I could see one of these caterpillers. They were something we saw a lot of growing up and I hadn't really seen one in a long time. Then my kids came in and told me that they had found a caterpillar. I am not sure that they had ever seen one of these before; because they went and looked it up in their nature guide to find out its name. I just wanted to know what kind of a winter it was predicting! :)

Happy 12th Birthday, Curtis!

Happy 12th Birthday, Curtis! I hope you had a wonderful day!



This cake seems to have become a family favorite of late. I used to purchase bakery cakes, but now they prefer to have this simple and delicious chocolate bundt cake.

The boys absolutely love to build legos. This love definitely didn't come from either Jeff or I.

A rifle so they can go hunting via wii.

volleyball

A baseball bat for the wii.

A nerf gun

One of his birthday cards.

Fall

'Tis fall, the most wonderful time of the year! Oh, I guess that is supposed to be winter, but I truly do enjoy fall time. Below are a few pictures I took today outside my front door.

York Beach, ME

York Beach, ME - the final stop of our day (Friday, September 4, 2009) before supper and sleep. This is the beach where we spent time fourteen years ago on our honeymoon.


Beautiful blues

Our vacation home (we wish)

Timeless photography

York Beach 2009

York Beach 1995

Oceanography

Our five kids

Our girls!

My Sweetheart!

Alex watching Briana

Julissa really enjoyed getting in the water this year. Last year she was content to sit and play in the sand.

Goodnight Moon!

Christmas Music!

Once again, Abiding Radio has their All Christmas Stream available - Click HERE


I love this time of the year!

Nubble Light (3rd Stop of Our First Day)

It is still Friday, September 4th, 2009. It has been a long day, but we are still going. We have now reached Cape Neddick (Nubble) Light in York, ME. I think this lighthouse is so picturesque.

A couple preparing to go diving. It was interesting to watch them go in the water and then only see the yellow and red sign bobbing above them.

All of us except Jeff who was capturing the moment. (My husband and my sister Jodi both pointed out that Jeff is indeed in the picture (at least his shadow!).

Nubble Light

Our 2nd Stop

After leaving Portland Head Light, we went to find a place for lunch. We ate at The Lobster Shack at Twin Lights. It was definitely an expensive tourist trap. Again I didn't remember to take a picture of the restaurant or any of us sitting there with our food. But my husband took pictures of the kids playing on the rocks nearby.


One of the lights on Cape Elizabeth.

Julissa, Briana and Curtis. The other two are way out in the distance.

Curtis heading out to join the other two.

Curtis still going forward.

Sam and Alex looking for shells, etc.

The three boys

Curtis has finally joined up with the other two boys.

Briana and Julissa climbing back up.

Our First Stop on Vacation

We arrived at Portland Head Light on Friday morning, September 4, 2009. This was our third time to visit this lighthouse. The first time we visited this lighthouse was on our honeymoon back in 1995, our second visit was the week of our tenth anniversary in 2005, and this time was the week of our fourteenth anniversary. It was a delight to be able to take Mom with us this time to see the lighthouse. In all the picture taking I didn't get one of Mike and Heidi at the lighthouse. I would take the pictures on her camera and then not think to take them on mine. It is quite obvious by the pictures that I am missing that I do not scrapbook. I hope you enjoy our first vacation stop (not counting motels, etc.).


We are approaching Portland Head Light.

Portland Head Light up close.

Looking up!

Another angle of Portland Head Light

And yet again.

This picture and the two below it were taken by one of our boys. I found the progression of the three pictures interesting.

Sailboat

I believe this is looking North along the shore.

If the above picture is indeed looking North than this would be looking South.

Ditto

Seagulls

In memory of one of the many shipwrecks along this shore in days gone by.

Our five children

Our entire family

Mom at Portland Headlight.

I am going to take some educated guesses as to the names of these flowers. I believe this one is a Wild Aster. If someone believes otherwise, please feel free to leave me a comment.

Goldenrod

Roses

Rose Hips (The product of the flowers above).

Home Sweet Home

We arrived home on Sunday evening the 13th of September after having left the 2nd of September to head for Maine and Massachusetts for vacation. We had a wonderful time away.

Over Labor Day weekend we were privileged to vacation with my Mom and my sister Heidi and her husband Mike. We spent Wednesday night with my Mom in Ohio and then as soon as Mom finished teaching her classes on Thursday we headed out to meet up with Heidi and Mike at a motel in New Hampshire. We arrived around 3 a.m.

Now, If I would have been Heidi, I would have taken a picture of our motel, but it didn't even enter my mind. My camera didn't make it out of its case until Friday morning. So I leave you pictureless this post. I fully intend to come back and post more about our vacation as soon as I have the time to go through our 1,400+ vacation photos.

Until next time,