Bacon's Castle

For Memorial Day we decided to go exploring in our area.  Just by driving around we came upon a really neat old house called Bacon's Castle up in Surry, VA about 30 minutes from our house.  It is the oldest known home structure in the US that is still standing with it's original foundation, wood, brick, etc.  It was built in 1665 & is one of the only Jacobean structures in North America.

It's a really beautiful home/fort/castle for being so old.  We got to walk around the grounds & see the gardens, the servant homes, the animal stalls, sheds, & other fun things.

You don't see Jacobean structures in the US.  They were most built in England in the 16th & 17th century, but not here.  The 3 chimneys show that it's a Jacobean structure.  Really neat looking too.

In one of the rooms, they hollowed out the walls so you could see the original wood from 1665.  I can't believe how well in tact it still is.

They also showed the original brickwork as well.  The home was lived in until the 1970's/1980's so the walls had been updated, but the original brick & wood still lie below the new walls.

The spiral staircase was gorgeous.  I've always had a thing for spiral staircases.

And it's one of the only homes in America that actually has a kitchen in the cellar/basement area.  We saw this all the time when we lived in Europe.  This is how Europeans did it.  These poor people built this house before they experienced a VA summer.  ha ha ha.  They didn't realize what the heat & humidity would do to this room.  They ended up having to make another kitchen outside the house because this one did not work with the weather here.

The tour guide let the kids go inside the chimney so they could see out the top to the sky.  It's amazing how perfectly built this structure was.

It was a really neat find for us.  I love living so close to such amazing American history.  It makes living here SO MUCH FUN.

Kindergarten Field Trip - Children's Museum

I got the opportunity to go with Taya on her Kindergarten field trip this year & we had a blast.

I was in charge of two littles . . . Taya & her friend Grace.  They were both adorable & SO excited to be there.

We played all over in the museum.  Taya loved the grocery market & farm area.  She liked milking the cow, collecting the eggs, picking the veggies, & shopping at the store.

The children's museum has all sorts of areas to learn & play in.  The girls liked the fireman area where they got to play in a real fire truck.

The vet area was fun too.  They took really good care of their dogs.

But their favorite area was the bubble room of course.  Who can resist making life size bubbles?

There were some neat exhibits upstairs with motion & science.  The art area was great as was the insect area.  We were learning all sorts of neat things.

The last hour we were there we got to be a part of a magnet experience with the museum science experts.  Taya & Bladen both got to help with the magnet experiments.  They thought it was great fun.

After exploring the museum we went to a park & had a picnic lunch with all our friends.

It was a really cute, fun day with Taya.  I loved being a part of that with her.

Mother Daughter Garden Party - Activity Days

This was my last activity as the activity days leader at church.  I've loved this calling SO much that it was hard to switch to my new calling as Relief Society President.  But I go where the Lord wants me & where he needs me to be so I'm excited for my new adventure with the Relief Society members of our ward.

For May I taught the Activity Days girls all about proper manners, etiquette, & cleanliness at our first activity.  We did some role plays practicing our manners.  I taught the girls how to properly set a table & taught them the proper etiquette for thanking others for things they do.

Since Mother's Day is in May, we decided to do a mother/daughter activity to practice all our new manners & etiquette.  I thought a garden party would be lovely.  All the girls brought their mom's dressed in dresses, big hats, & jewelry & they each brought a dessert for our food table.

Then we just sat & celebrated mommmy me time.  I've been SO lucky to be in Activity Days with TWO of my little girls.  I'm going to miss these activities with them.

All the girls had a great time.  We chatted, ate yummy treats & fruit, laughed, & drank lemonade in beautiful teacups.

After chatting & eating, we painted each other's nails & laughed some more.

It was a great night.  I will miss these girls SO much.