Milburn's Fall Festival

On a whim, on Sunday, October 5th, after church, Mommy and I hooked up with some friends of ours and took both our families to Milburn Orchards in Elkton, MD, which is currently hosting their very popular Fall Festival Weekends.

Blessed with unseasonably warm weather (Translation: Should've worn short sleeves) we got to enjoy a myriad of attractions which included the petting zoo, the Bale Trail (a maze made out of hay bales) and a very enjoyable hay ride around the property.

Philadelphia

On Wednesday, October 1st, I had the pleasure of accompanying Abigail and her 4th grade class to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA. The NCC is a history museum on Independence Mall, just two blocks from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, which opened on July 4, 2004.

The tour begins with a fantastic presentation called Freedom Rising in the amazing Kimmel Theater. The show, which follows the evolution of the phrase "We the People", is hosted by a live actor who roams around the theater while video clips are played on the floor, walls, and screens which drop from the ceiling. I have to confess: I found this presentation to be very emotional. Freedom Rising is by itself well worth the price of admission.

When you exit the theater, you enter into another exhibit called the American Experience. This exhibit wraps around the outside of the Kimmel Theater and shows the significant role the Constitution has played throughout history. As you progress, you have the opportunity to vote for your all-time favorite President (Yeah Reagan!), take the Presidential Oath-of-Office, and take a seat on the Supreme Court. There is a tremendous amount of information to be taken in here, but unfortunatly, due to the attention span of two 8-year-old girls, we passed through this exhibit far too quickly. Anyway...

Upon exiting the American Experience, you find yourself in Signers' Hall. Signers' Hall is a room featuring life-sized bronze sculptures of the 39 signers of the Constitution (and the three dissenters). Here, we found George Read, John Dickinson, Gunning Bedford, and Richard Bassett; the four delegates from Delaware who ratified the Constitution on December 7, 1787.

Other highlights of the day included a walk through a temporary exhibit called Headed to the White House, which followed the history of Presidential campaigns, a small stage where kids where given an opportunity to vote in the current Presidential election (Good girl, Abby...!), and the always classic ride to and fro on a school bus with 30'ish kids trying to get semis to honk their horns...

Wisemen Rule

We have these drawers where we keep the kid's papers that come home throughout the school year. So Julie was working to clean out those drawers today to make room for this year's flood of papers and she came across this little gem.

Behold! Super Camel!

The creator of this piece of fine artwork was Alex...back in 4th grade.

Note the shirt on the orange Wiseman: "Wisemen Rule"

A New Year Begins

Its that time again. Time to clean out the backpacks of whatever funk got left in there from June, load up on paper, pencils, and other essentials, and send the kids off to school.

This year, Alex has moved onto the big league: 6th grade. He's now in the Upper School building and has his own locker.

Abby graduated up to 4th grade and is learning of the joys of switching classes. She has also decided to take up the Clarinet in the school band.

And Amanda is now a big time 2nd grader. The big news for her this year is that Red Lion opened the After-School Choir to her grade. Which she has promptly and excitedly joined.

Bicycle Break Through

Back at the beginning of summer I raised the training wheels on Amanda's bike and I informed her that by the end of the summer they would be coming off; much to her dismay.

Well, on Saturday August 9th, while the kids were out peddling about the neighborhood, I noted that Amanda really wasn't spending much time on the training wheels any longer: She was riding and didn't realize it. So without any warning, I grabbed a wrench and yanked them off. Again, much to her dismay.

With the deed done, I had her mount up and ran alongside her up and down the street twice, letting go occasionally. She was really close, but not quite there. So we came back to our driveway where she dismounted and I went on to talk to Mommy.

After a few minutes Amanda came up behind me, picked up her bike, hopped on, and rode away. By herself. Without assistance. Way to go Amanda!!!

What We Did on Our Summer Vacation

It had never been my intention to ignore the blog for the better part of the summer. But as so many of you know (all 3 of you that read this), life happens.

Despite a plethora of home and health issues which seemed to dominate the season, we were afforded the opportunity to go to the beach thrice during the break.

The more notable of these treks was our second annual trip to Virginia Beach (VB) with the entire Tokarski clan; including Nana, Pop pop, Uncle Jason, Aunt Debbie, and cousins Nick and Brianna. Blessed with a wealth of good weather, we spent a great many days just enjoying the soft sand and warm sun.

We also had a few memorable outings during the week. The first was a rainy-day trip to the Virginia Aquarium. Even though many of the exhibits were closed for a major renovation, there was still a good deal to see, including a Ray pool, large sea turtles, and a pen full of young alligators.

Our second VB outing included just my clan and was to Ocean Breeze Water Park. Ocean Breeze is a nice little water park that has grown from just 4 mat slides when I was a kid to a full fledged water park with tube slides, a wave pool, and a kiddie area. Alex once again surprised us and tackled such reasonless anomalies as the speed slides and a torture device that mimics a toilet flushing called The Hurricane. (Guess which part of this equation your body mimics... :P )

The other little deviation we took was to finally rent one of the 6-seat bicycles frequently seen peddling up and down the Virginia Beach boardwalk. This was a great workout for Mommy and myself as we rode end to end on the boardwalk; nearly a 6 mile round trip.

Special thanks go out to Nana and Pop pop for our vacation. Without you, it wouldn't have been possible.

All in all, everyone had a good summer. Now, on to school...

A Really Useful Engine

On Wednesday, June 18th, our whole clan, along with Uncle Jason, Aunt Debbie, and cousins Nick and Brianna, headed north to Strasburg, PA for A Day Out with Thomas. This event, hosted by the Strasburg Rail Road (SRR), features a full-size, working, Thomas the Tank Engine steam train that kids and parents are able to take a rides on. And that's just what we did.

Almost immediately after arriving, our group jumped in line and awaited our turn to ride on that really useful engine. Once the "All Aboard" was called, Thomas pulled out of the station and we got to enjoy a 20 minute ride through the beautiful Amish countryside. Aidan was a bit leery of of the whole experience, what with the noise and motion and all, but he quickly got over this and had a great time.

When we returned to the platform, there was plenty more to do. The SRR has an operating 1/4 scale steam train call the Cagney which can be ridden. The Cagney was originally built in 1920's for an amusement park. The little thing can really move (see video below) and was so much fun we rode it twice.

After the Cagney, is was back to the full-size rails. We hopped aboard the 475 for a 45 minute ride through the countryside. This adventure takes the passengers out further than Thomas where you get to see sites such as Cherry Crest Adventure Farm and its Amazing Maize Maze before reversing direction in Paradise, PA to return to the station.

The one other big activity for my brood was the chance to pilot a hand-powered pump car. Alex, Abby and myself provided power while Amanda was a passenger. Heading out from the stop was surprisingly easy. It wasn't until the return trip that we realized we needed to go up hill. Oof!

Aside from a little rain late in the day, everyone involved had a wonderful time and we all look forward to going to back to tour the Rail Road Museum of Pennsylvania and the Choo Choo Barn.

Post edited on 5/9/2011 due to shutdown of GoogleVideo.