Where should you go today?

How 'bout the National Museum of the Marine Corps? Well, if you're interested .... read on, McDuff!

We went to this fabulous museum a couple of weeks ago.

Here's the first thing that met us at the entry -- you gotta love a museum that mentions knitting from the get-go! If you sign their guest book, they'll send the pattern for the balaclava with additional instructions for where to donate the caps for active duty marines! That might even get Lego-Maniac, our little prospective Marine, knitting his little fingers off.


This is an AMAZING history, military-history, political science, social science, technology museum all rolled into one. There is a huge atrium in the center, with real helicopters, planes and other dioramas making it very easy for the kids to really see these items. A gallery allows a bird's eye view of the two-story museum.

We had a blast learning about boot-camp (including hands-on exhibits to test you skill such as trying to lift a "typical backpack" - some 100 lbs - on your back!). There are exhibit rooms showing all the wars where the Marines were involved -- from the Revolution thru to Iraq ... with lots of great photos of the Marines' part in not only the battle but also in the re-building of countries.

The museum is open daily and is FREE! Additionally, there is an awesome playground tucked behind the parking lot ... with tons of shade trees and some walking paths. The museum is still working on the overall grounds, but it will eventually have walking paths all over the site.

Introducing the modern Kit Kittredge

Have you seen the movie yet?

Definitely this typewriter from Ebay is a big hit with our very own Kit!

Field Trip: Shenandoah & Skyline Drive

I've been remiss in posting about our adventures!

At the end of June (after only 2 weeks of "settling in" from our move from Colorado to Virginia), we piled back in the car and headed to NC/SC to visit family and friends. We took the most beautiful drive down to the Raleigh area (avoiding at all costs I95!).

Leaving on a Sunday morning after Mass, we headed out 234 to Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah National Park. Skyline Drive (and the park itself) were all part of the Conservation Corps projects that FDR developed to help get work for people. Now, there is some controversy about how the government managed to get the land necessary for this project (a Walton's show really showed us how tough that can be on family), but it sure did create a marvelous legacy 75 years later!

We entered the Shenandoah at the northern-most entrance (just off I66) and headed down, slowly, south as the road meanders through the park with lots of switchbacks, 30-35 mph roads, and cut-outs for panoramic views of the valley and the other nearby mountain ranges. After a wonderful stop for lunch at the lodge at Skyland, we continued down to mile marker 60 (but they're working on the road, the drive was taking longer than we expected) and over to I-81.

We had reservations for the night at the Peaks of Otter lodge, that sits on the Blue Ridge just outside the town of Bedford. This lodge is all that a lodge should be -- beautiful setting, inexpensive rooms, great food and a room where they had tons of lincoln logs for the kids to build!

We then headed down to Ben & Noah's Fickle Creek Farm for a too-short overnight visit than on down to SC for family, friends and 4th of July fun!

-----------------
Back home in Virginia, Kotch had a two-week "logic" class to attend which kept us home-bound and tied to the 10:30-12:30 class time. We were able to go hang with some awesome 4real friends IRL for a nice long visit.

This past weekend, we headed west again ... this time to check out Christendom College for Kotch as she begins the college-admissions process. Christendom, founded by the husband of the woman who founded Kotch's high school, is only 30+ years old (younger than me!) but is a gorgeous, traditional college campus that is solidly Catholic. It sits up on a rise above the Shenandoah River in Front Royal, VA! What a place to go to school!

After viewing the campus and hanging out in the Lions Park in Front Royal (with its awesome castle-park!), we headed again to Skyline Drive and spent a bit of time driving that again, stopping for a picnic lunch at Dickey Ridge and watching a spectacular rainstorm come through the valley. The visitor center has a great exhibit of the Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge as well as the Virginia portion of the Appalachian Trail. The bookstore is fabulous too -- I was able to pick up Common Native Trees of Virginia (I'm sooooooo nature-challenged) and The Undying Past of Shenandoah Natinal Park which will be a fabulous living book for our American history unit this year!

The Shenandoah Park and it's surrounding area is just gorgeous. I'd have to say it's the prettiest spot I've seen (including the Rockies, the Alps and Scotland) and I soooo want to build my dream-cabin in this area. I'm lucky because dh feels the same way!

Now, if we could just sell that bit of house in Colorado ...

Meme: Hot off the presses!

I've never started a meme but I'm usually too late to jump in on one. Solution? I'm starting one right here and now. Anyone who reads my blog -- would you like to join in? Here are 10 questions so you can know a bit about me, right now, July 16th 2008!

1. Favorite Summer drink -- red wine on ice -- the finer crushed the better; not only does it slow down the imbibing, it is a great thirst quencher and isn't sweet! Thanks to bil Noah for the "recipe"!

2. Worst part of Summer -- driving in the car on one of our road trips (either to relocate or just to visit family) -- especially if we're loaded down with stuff and we've got teen(s) and little(s) in the car together!

3. Best part of Summer -- driving in the car on one of our road trips (amazing the amount of knitting I get done; besides I love seeing family)

4. Favorite Shopping Experience -- IKEA: not only do they have some of the coolest stuff, they think I'm awesome because I'm so honest (I'll post THAT story in a day or two)

5. What I'm reading -- anything on homeschooling (just finished, and my fav so far, is Debra Bell's Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling), self-sufficient farming (one I just got is called The Self-Sufficiency Handbook -- WOW!), and building my dream house (a huge one-room cabin with loft space for sleeping, ala the Nearing's stone-house).

6. What I'm praying about -- selling the house in Denver, dear St. Joseph, please!

7. What I'm currently knitting -- a knitting bag for a sequel to my book (hopefully); this bag is taking forever as it's done in a slip-stitch pattern, with a gusset and self-strap! I'll post when I finish this puppy, believe me! I've been working on this particular design since mid-June and even dh (who knows VERY little about knitting, and rarely comments on my projects) thinks it's the most complicated, and most beautiful, thing I've ever done.

8. What I'm currently writing -- a sequel to my knitting book, a book on creativity from a Catholic world-view, and handcraft articles for the new Catholic homeschool magazine, mater et magistra. The first issue is due in the mail this week -- have YOU subscribed yet?

9. Where my time has been most-focused lately -- scheduling homeschool for this next year (including finding co-ops, sport activities, support groups and generally trying to get acclimated to life in NoVA!). I love Debra Bell's comment -- I'm paraphasing here:

yes, you will forget to teach them something, but if you teach them to love
learning, when they come across that something, they'll be able to TEACH
THEMSELVES so relax!

10. Favorite quote of the day: this was on My Catholic.com today.

If one yields ground on any single point of Catholic doctrine, one will
later have to yield later in another, and again in another, and so on until such
surrenders come to be something normal and acceptable. And when one gets used to rejecting dogma bit by bit, the final result will be the repudiation of it
altogether.

– St. Vincent of Lerins

That's it for my FIRST meme.

So, what would your answers be? Go ahead and post a blog post and link in the comments section here.

Field Trip: International Travel the easy way

A week ago (July 2nd), we took the littles back up to our Nation's Capitol in order to get in a bit of international travel. No, we didn't fly out of IAD or BWI - instead we attended the 42nd annual Smithsonian Institute's Folklife Festival held on the Mall for two weeks in the summer.

Each year, a state and a country are chosen for the festival -- this year, the festival highlighted Texas and Bhutan. Texas, the festival shows, is much more than Texas swing, beer and barbeque -- altho you can find those too. Texas wines, technology and avant garde music are fascinating to see.

Bhutan, a small Buddhist country situated between India and China, is just being "discovered" through eco-tourism and the recent opening of air-routes to this unique world whose name translates as "Land of the Thunder Dragon". An authentic traditional Bhutanese Buddhist Lhakhang (temple), a gift to the US from the people of Bhutan, has been built on the Mall -- the paintings and carvings on this building are amazing. Within the temple, Buddhist monks chant while English-speaking interpreters explain the prayers, rituals and symbolism. LegoManiac was a little put-off by this -- "it would be like people walking thru a Catholic Church and talking while Father is saying Mass. That's not right."

Bhutan crafts and industry are highlighted -- woodcarving, textile weaving, painting, sand-art, string-art, basket-making, wood-turning, homeopathic medicines and cooking -- giving the kids and dh and I a wonderful look at this country and how they live in the Himilayas.

Bhutan goes from steamy jungles at sea-level to over 24000 feet in the space of West Virginia! No roads led into Bhutan until the 1960s and air travel started about 10 years ago. This is a country I'd never even heard of -- and one that was a very closed society from Western eyes until quite recently!

NASA is also highlighted at the festival (which goes until July 6th) as it's NASA's 50th birthday!