Substitute Teacher...

I went this week and did something I haven't done in more than 13 years...I applied for a job. My husband and I made a decision when I became pregnant with my Oldest that they needed their Mom at home with them and I've really enjoyed the role of Stay-at-Home Mom. My Youngest goes off to Kindergarten in less than a week and he will be there all day. I will now be at home for hours on end without my boys and without anything much (other than all the house and yard stuff that has been pushed to the side) to do.

What should I do? I enjoyed being a Den Leader for my son's cub scout den before he went off to Boy Scouts, but I am sure I do not want a job I have to go to every day...that is too much change for me, so I signed up to be a Substitute at my Youngest Son's school. I don't know if I will ever be called, or if I will ever have a job, but it is a start. I will also be home when they are home, I will be able to do all of those jobs that have been pushed off for years, and I can start that exercise program that I always said I was too busy for, and still have a chance to bring in a little extra money.

Please wish me luck.

Swimming Lessons: 2010

Swim lessons have come and gone for another year. They grow up so quickly and learn so many new skills, I'm glad I've been able to document them all. This year my Youngest began Level 1 lessons in the big pool.

Level 1 is for beginning basics. Front and back float. Getting comfortable in the water.

Learning the front crawl.

Getting comfortable going off the diving board...with a little help.

And someone to hold on to at the bottom.

My Oldest has advanced over the years to Level 6 (the last level of lessons). At Level 6 you can:

Do the Elementary Backstroke

Front and Back crawl

Sidestroke and Butterfly

Breaststroke and Shallow Diving

And jumping off the high dive!

My Oldest is the Trailblazer, and my Youngest is trying to follow in his footsteps. It's amazing to me to see the different stages each boy is in and when watching my Oldest, know that his brother will be there one day. I remember the early days when my Oldest was a Level 1 and I see how far my Oldest has come in only a few short years. And my Youngest has so much potential to be as good as or better then his brother. It takes my breath away.

Thank you God

for giving me these 2 boys

My life would be so barren

without them in it.

Jamestown

On the day we left my Sister-in-Law's house in Virginia and headed south to my Mother-in-Law's house in North Carolina we stopped in Jamestown for a couple of hours. We decided to skip the archaeological dig at the original site and went to the more child friendly Jamestown re-enactment site.
Jamestown is divided into 4 sections: the Indian village, the docks, outside the fort and the fort itself. This is the order we hit them.

Inside a Powhatan house.

Making tools out of bone.

The outside of a Powhatan house.

My Oldest received a lesson on making rope. This is the beginning of his endeavor to make rope.

This is the end result. He did an excellent job. He can now make rope for his Boy Scout Troop if they forget it on a campout.

One of the 3 reproduction ships that brought the settler's to Jamestown.

Below decks of the largest of the 3 ships. 50+ people would have shared this hold with all of their supplies.

The Galley.

This is it's original size...nothing is hidden.

A view of the smaller 2 ships and the James River beyond it.

Bon Voyage Boys!

How the Powhatan's made their canoes.

The finished project.

Growing tobacco outside the fort. This was the settler's #1 cash crop.

English Armor.

Inside the fort

Inside the fireplace in one of the houses.

Musket demonstrations.

The boys want their own canon.

The church.

I really enjoyed Jamestown, I wish we could have visited the archaeology dig site too. If we had a day or two in this area Yorktown was nearby, as was Colonial Williamsburg (on the wish list for a future visit). We headed south and traveled under the James River into the Chesapeake/Norfolk area. Another fun experience.

My Oldest has braces.

They are a source of irritation and annoyance, a reason others use to tease and torment and in this day and age they are almost a rite of passage. My Oldest has been initiated into the ranks of teenagers with braces.

Before
After

For the next 18-22 months, he will have to forgo some of his favorite foods such as popcorn, gum, taffy, and "Just Bunches" cereal, and he will spend twice as much time cleaning and taking care of his teeth and the braces as he did before they were put on, but when it is all said and done he will have a beautiful smile.

The Smithsonian: Museum of American History

Our second choice of Smithsonian was between the Museum of American History and the Air and Space Museum and the winner is.....The Musuem of American History!

Our view on the walk from the Metro-train to the Smithsonian.
The Museum

One of the exhibits I wanted to see was the "Star Spangled Banner" which you cannot take pictures of, but which was beautiful!

After we exited the Exhibit we found this lady, who is playing Mary Pickersgill, the lady who sewed the Star Spangled Banner. My Youngest sat down with her and had a long, wonderful discussion about what she went through while making the flag.

A statue of George Washington.

Dorothy's Ruby Slippers from "The Wizard of Oz"

We watch the Olympics religiously every 2 years and my Oldest has 2 heroes: Michael Phelps and Apolo Ono. You should have seen his eyes light up when he discovered Ono's skates on display.

Carol Burnett's "Gone with the Wind" dress.

Lincoln's Hat.

Lincoln's Gun.

I do not know the story of this gun...someone gave it to Lincoln for some reason...but my gun collecting Husband knew everything about this gun! He was exstatic to find this gun on display.

I wanted to see the "Star-Spangled Banner" and the Declaration of Independence.

Here is the Declaration of Independence.

The Travel Exhibit:

My Youngest likes boats!

An old fashioned train.

And last but not least:

Julia Child's Kitchen!

Even though this was not our 1st choice, I think I enjoyed it more than the Natural History Museum. We did not tour the whole Museum, because we were dead tired, but I loved ever bit of it that I saw.

The Smithsonian: Natural History Museum

On the wish list of things we wanted to do while in the D.C. area was The Smithsonian. That is good and all until you realize how many Smithsonians there are, so we had narrow our choice of Smithsonians down to two. The 1st choice was the Natural History Museum since my Oldest wanted to see dinosaur bones and my Youngest wanted to see Mummies.

To get there we decided naturally to ride the Metro-train again.

This is actually a display at one of the Museums. I thought it lent itself to our Metro-train pictures.
On the train...above ground.

On the train...below ground!

The view we had walking from the Metro-train to the Smithsonian.

The Smithsonian: Natural History Museum.

Live Butterfly Exhibit:

The Entrance!

The boys love the movie: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and this view was everything you would see in the movie.

Greek Tiles

My Youngest's Mummies!

Middle Eastern Glass

Korean Marriage garments.

The Hall of Oceans.

The Hope Diamond:

Dream on Girls!

Dinosaurs

My Oldest was a bit disappointed in the dinosaur collection at the Smithsonian. The Sam Noble Natural History Museum, found in our own home town has a better dinosaur bone collection.

Hall of Bones:

And you cannot forget the Cavemen!

It was a great Museum! I'm glad we put it on our wish list.