Wednesday, September 3, 2008

September 3, 2008 - Long time no Blogging

Sorry, it's been so long since I've been on. Life's been interesting. I've been busy making corsets and such. Finished a few projects started new ones. Still have loads of UFOs (unfinished objects).

June = Springfield, IL trip (I worked, my family visited the sites and had a great time.) & flooded basement (won't go there, except that I now have a really cool sewing area built by my husband!)


July = Gettysburg, Maryland & D.C. : Spent almost two weeks out east this summer. We originally went out for the 145th Gettysburg reenactment but my daughter and I went on after the event to visit with my sister who lives in Maryland. I took her (my daughter) to see some of the places I visited a LOOONNNGG time ago. We spent the day after the event touring the battlefield and wandering downtown G-burg, visited (and came home with) Boyd's Bears.

Stayed at my sisters Monday night, then went to Mount Vernon on Tuesday. We did the National Treasures tour, it was cool for my daughter to see where parts of the movie was filmed.

Wednesday we went to Arlington Cemetery to see where my uncle was buried and then went into D.C. to see the monuments and visit the National Archives. The National Archives was on my daughters must see list (thanks again to National Treasure movies). It was cool to see the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution in person. The wait wasn't too long (less than an hour). We also got to see the Naval Monument which is right across the street and had lunch at a deli right there. Sorry, I can't remember the name of it but the sandwiches were pretty good. Oh I forgot to mention we left the car parked at Arlington and took the subway in. This was the first time my daughter rode the subway anywhere, she thought that was pretty cool. We made our way back to the station via the National Mall. The WWII monument is impressive. We found one of my husbands grandfathers in the database. My daughter has the NPS (Nat'l Park Services) National Parks Passport and added a LOT of stamps to it.

Thursday she added another one when we drove with my sister to Assateague Island. We actually got to see some of the ponies and my daughter got to see both the Atlantic Ocean (where she almost lost a shoe) and the Chesapeake Bay. I think we brought home half a ton of shells! LOL.

Friday was our last day in MD. My sister talked us into staying until she got off of work in Annapolis. My daughter and I toured Annapolis. I really enjoyed Annapolis. Lots of history and some really cool shops. If your interested in pottery, you should stop by Annapolis Pottery (you can also find them on the web). I was also surprised at how close the Naval Academy is. We had walked down to the docks and took a left on to a side street and there it was. Cool painting on the wall, too! However, we didn't go and visit it for two reasons, one my husband really wants to go (and he couldn't make this trip) and two, the museum is closed for renovations. We had dinner with my sister at an Irish pub downtown. I can't remember the name of it, I guess that says enough right there. I really wanted to go to the Ram's Tavern (the one Gaelic Storm has played at) but my sister talked me into the other one. Next time.... Ram's Tavern and SEAFOOD!!! I didn't even get to have seafood while I was in MD! Oh well!


August = EAA AirVenture = 8.5 yr old student pilot and LOADS of laughs!!!
Several years ago we took our daughter to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH. Every since she has been talking about joining the Air Force and then working at the Museum after retiring. This year we decided to finally go to AirVenture at Oshkosh, WI. She had a great time looking at all of the old, new and experimental aircraft. The really cool thing for her was being able to earn flight time. Over at Pioneer Airport they have KidVenture. They had the center of one of the hangars set up for kids to go through and learn about planes, weather, air traffic control, pre-flight (they had to go over an airplane and tell the instruction what was wrong with the plane), etc. at the end of all of the stations the got to fly in the simulator. When they are done with the simulator they recieved an actual log book to record their 4 minutes of flight time. The people running the simulator station were actual Certified Flight Instructors. At the end, she recieved her signed logbook and a certificate of completion. She was so proud of herself and we were proud of her. I'm not sure how soon we have until she's going to be asking for flying lessons. Now, I thought reenacting was an expensive hobby.... We watched some REALLY cool flying during the air show, and closed out our day there by going to Jeff Dunham's show. I don't think I've EVER laughed so hard. Thankfully, a lot of his jokes went right over our daughter's head.
Also, in August- Jackson, MI Civil War event. Wet as usual. Didn't sell much personally. Met a fellow knitter who suggested I join Ravelry.com. BTW, GREAT site for knitters, crocheters, spinners. Takes a couple of days to get accepted, but so far it has been worth the wait. Also, spent Labor Day weekend at the Dells (Wilderness to be exact). Tuesday, school started and my daughter was almost late for the bus.

Coming soon.....September and Chickamauga, GA Civil War Reenactment. Bye for now.

Oops almost forgot, August 9th was my mom's 65th birthday!!!

Happy 65th Birthday, Mom!!!