Return to New Market

In my beloved little Q & A a Day journal, the question was asked recently, "What new activity have you tried?"  After pondering for a while, I decided to answer this way: "Taking all 5 kids on field trips by myself."  

Now I'm not sure that's the kind of answer the makers of that journal were exactly looking for, but it was the best I could come up with, because truly, feeling confident on outings with Just Me and The Five is kind of a new thing.  It started back in February when I took them to a glass studio to watch glass being shaped.  It continued with our visit earlier this month to the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson.  And a week and a half ago, our streak of field-tripping landed us at the expansive field in New Market where one of the battles of the Civil War was fought.

It wasn't the first time we had gone there.  As a matter of fact, by looking through old blog posts, I see that we went to their Homeschool Day in 2009 and in 2011.  I also see that in 2009, David wore a particular blue coat that Tobin wore in 2011, and these days Shav wears it.  Although for this field trip, the sun warmed us up enough that he didn't need it. But still...the memories...  :)

Here we all are.  Looking at their faces makes me stand in awe of the gifts that they are.

These first photos are really pretty terrible.  The camera had gotten switched to a different setting (which makes me sound about 100 times more knowledgeable about cameras than I really am), and the lighting and everything was really off.  Oh well.  Still captures a memory...

In the Confederate camp...

Checking out a soldier's tent...

Learning about what a typical soldier would have carried with him...

Hearing about the army's food...

A little girl got bored and wanted to roam...

Can you find Moriah in this picture?  :)

Oh yeah!

There she is!  :)

Even the Chick-fil-A cow got recruited.  The Confederate army was getting desperate, I tell ya!  ;-)

Four of those recruits are the most handsome soldiers I have EVER seen!  ;-)

Uninterested in marching drills, Moriah decided to climb the building instead.  ;-)

Woohoo!  Guns!  :)

How come pictures of Moriah keep popping up here?  :)

The gorgeous view...I do love the Shenandoah Valley!

The picture below cracks me up every time I look at it. Oh, Tobin.  :)

OK, so Moriah was intrigued by this puddle on the other side of the fence.

So intrigued, in fact, that she got down on the ground...

...to see if she could wiggle through to touch it.

She couldn't.  :)

Trekking across the field to the house where lots more activities awaited...

Shav was my partner for this ring toss game.  I think we succeeded once in catching the ring.  :)

David was excited to try these stilts.

Moriah was excited to climb these steps.

To each his own (challenge).  :)

One thing I appreciated was the friendliness of the helpers; several that we interacted with really went out of their way to help the boys, and it made the day very pleasant.

David was finally getting the hang of it!  :)

Always nice to see friends when out and about...  :)

After I took this picture, I put my camera away and wearily tried to keep up with The Five who were all going strong.  They participated in several other activities which, sadly, will have to go undocumented - what a pity.  :)  I was keeping a close watch on Moriah, since I knew we were pushing her waaaaay past her normal naptime, and I saw that she was on the edge - still cheerful, but very close to a breakdown if something irritated her.  Plus, I was beginning to drag, so we marched back across the field and headed for home.  We didn't get to do everything we could have done there, but that just gives us a good excuse to go back another time.  :)

Speaking of going back...  One of the things I enjoy about having (sort of ) a lot of children at different ages is that it provides a good reason for repeating things, because even though the older ones have experienced it and remember it, the younger ones haven't.  For that reason, I get to read some of my favorite books repeatedly, as various members of the family get old enough to enjoy them.  The same with music, and games, and as you can see, field trips.

Josiah and David remembered being at New Market before, but the others didn't, so of course we needed to go so that the younger children could have the experience, too.  And you know what?  The older ones had a blast, too.

And, since Moriah won't remember this trip, I'm sure that in another couple of years, we'll be driving down that familiar lane again, peering into soldiers' tents, marching in formation, and trying to push a spinning hoop across the lawn.

I'm already looking forward to that.  :)