History Trippin' 

Although we had planned to go to Bar Harbor, a few days ago it became apparent that we weren’t going to make it (budget constraints, scheduling problems, etc).  Rather than miss the state of Maine entirely, I began to search for alternatives.  What I came up with turned out to be one of our best days yet.  We drove the van to Portland and spent the day doing a unique Art project. 

The Portland area is special because it has six lighthouses within 20 miles of the city.  We packed up our pencils, paper, colored chalk, oil pastels, crayons and our lap desks and drove to all six lighthouses.  At each location we scattered, art supplies in hand, to what we considered was the best vantage point to capture the scene.  We sketched each lighthouse, paying close attention to every detail.   Then we gathered our supplies, went back to the van, and moved on to the next lighthouse.  Some places inspired us to stay longer – like the area where Cape Elizabeth Light is located.  We sat on the rocks with the waves crashing around us to draw the lighthouses (there are 2 of them there), but then we had to do a little more exploring.  The boys crawled around on the rocks and watched the ocean waves.  Later we returned to have dinner there at the Lobster Shack.

My boys are about to graduate from the 1^st and 2^nd grades and I’m upset.  We're messing with tradition.  This is how it’s supposed to look…

At the end of the school year I make a scrapbook of all of the things they’ve seen, made, participated in, accomplished and experienced that had anything to do with school in the past year.  (I take LOADS of pictures throughout the year because you just can't keep everything.)  Then we invite all of our friends over for a huge Open House to celebrate graduating to the next grade.  The kids act as guides, explaining everything to their guests.  We put the scrapbook out for everyone to peruse.  We make appetizers and desserts.  The boys also alternate giving a presentation every year to practice their public speaking.  They have to research a topic, make a presentation board, memorize their “speech”, and then give it to the group (without fidgeting), which is usually between 20 and 30 people.  We've done it the same way every year for the past three years.

Today we hauled our bikes to the “Battle Road Trail” at Minuteman National Historic Park in Concord, Massachusetts.   It’s the same road that Revere, Dawes and Prescott used to warn their neighbors “the Regulars are coming out!”  (They did not say “the British are coming”…at the time they were all British.)  We started at the Visitor’s Center where we watched the multimedia theater program The Road to Revolution, which gives a great introduction to the park, Paul Revere’s Ride, and what would come to be known as “the shot heard round the world”.  Once on the trail, there are signs and monuments scattered here and there that tell the story.  We pedaled along 10 miles of the actual road where British soldiers retreated under intense gunfire from the colonial militia after the first skirmish of what would become the Revolutionary War.  It happened April 19^th, 1775.  It’s remembered here in Massachusetts as Patriots Day and if you’re lucky enough to be here on the actual anniversary date you can get up early and watch the re-enactment.  It’s supposed to be incredible.  We all agreed this has been one of our favorite days so far.  The weather was perfect, the scenery looked like something from a movie, we had fun, and we learned about history at the same time.  Perfect.