Sep. 10, 2008 - Wednesday

Yesterday, the boys and I went to Knott's after I dropped Nikki off at school. Nikki was very talkative that morning, lots of politics on the radio so we have a lot to discuss on the road. Knott's was deserted as I expected it would be. We went on the log ride twice in a row and the mine ride. We shopped around Ghost Town and the boys finally got their rifles. The insisted on Kentucky long rifles (by name) so that they could play civil war. They marched out of the park singing civil war songs with the rifles on their shoulder. We went to the Ranger Shack in Ghost Town and the woman there let us play with the toads. We had them on the floor and they jumped over our arms and we found out that the males squeak just like a dog toy! We talked about caves and she showed us a map of caves in the USA. Tom noticed that most of them were in the south east of the country. Jake showed her the area where we went to the Lewis & Clark caves and told her all about Montana. She was impressed because the map had no names on it and Jake told her the route we took to Montana and showed it to her, naming all the states as he traced the route with his finger. He loved that trip! Then we went over to Independence Hall. Jake had brought some money because he has had his eye on a canon they have there. He looked at them for several minutes and then finally decided on the naval canon because he could use it on his pirate ship with the lego guys. The field canon might be good for the army guys but he didn't have any civil war army guys only modern ones.

Last night was my first ASL class. I love it! It is 10 weeks long. The boys made me teach them all the words I learned and they have been using them on me all day.

Today, I took Nikki to school again. The traffic was terrible and we complained the whole way. We have to leave earlier on Wednesdays! She asked if I could make her a lunch because the lines at the high school took forever. I dropped off her other school books at her mom's house on the way back since she will need them tomorrow and she is going there tonight.

I washed the car today and cleaned up the leaves in the alley. I vacuumed, finished laundry, dishes, and pulled weeds in the front. The boys spent the day playing Roller Coaster Tycoon and they watched a movie with Grandma. And they played a lot of civil war in the back. Tom finished changing the tire on his bike. They had two of the neighbor girls over to play this afternoon. They were showing them all of their toys. They played with the Wii. They showed them how to load the rifles like civil war soldiers. Uncle Kirk showed them how to use his when he was out here for the last re-enactment and Jake and Tom didn't forget any of it. The played their harmonica and ukelele for them. Too cute watching those boys try so hard to impress the girls.

We watched the movie “Schooled” tonight. It was too boring for Jake, but Tom sat through the whole movie and commented on the subject matter. It was about a public school teacher with issues stumbling across a “democratic school” and learning some great lessons from and about kids.