Day 18

I peeked out the window of the tent and saw some pink over the water so I hurried out, grabbed my camera and headed down to the beach. Our spot was directly in front of the beach area so I decided to sit and enjoy the quickly changing sky.

 

The temperature had dropped to 58 overnight and the fog was sitting heavily on the water. I stuck my toes in and the water felt very warm! I made a mental note to ask the kids if they wanted to swim later.

Once Brayden and Ryan woke up I started breakfast and we watched the chipmunks scurry around the campground. They enjoyed them so much they decided to get out their notebooks and make notes for a book to write about a chipmunk and family.

We met at the visitors center before it opened so we headed down one of the nature trails. The trail was very nice and we were at the lake before we knew it. The kids climbed all over the rocks and splashed in the water for a little while until they found a little dead fish to give a proper burial. Ryan spotted a photography contest while we were at the trail head so she was snapping away trying to find some good shots.

  

 

Once we made it back to the visitors center, the kids enjoyed a program about amphibians and reptiles. It was a little young for them but they seemed to enjoy it once Grammie and I got into it. The instructor had a frog and a painted turtle they loved!

 

While Grammie and I walked around the museum exhibits, all three happily colored and worked crosswords puzzles about the nature in the area. There was so much information in this room with physical artifacts to sort through, displays of each habitat in the park, and information about many of the animals.

Once Brayden spotted the kid's scavenger hunt though, our peace was invaded and they were frantically searching for the answers to the clues in the museum. When they received their prize we headed to lunch at another local spot recommended by the staff. The kids had fish and chips again and Grammie and I split a lobster roll and scallops - delicious!

I'd read about Brenton State Park in one of the travel books I used to plan as a must see place so once our bellies were full we started that way. The drive was about an hour and we crossed a beautiful bridge along the way. I made a note to return to the little town of Newport some day as it looked like a fun place to stay for a weekend.

We reached the park and were treated to an extraordinary view of the ocean from a point originally discovered by the Portuguese. The kids are always thrilled to be able to scurry all over the rocks at a place like this!  Grammie and I walked around the rocks checking out the view and the sea life all around us. Many people were arriving for sunset which had to be an unbelievable view.

  

After the kids returned from the rocks they searched for heart rocks and we headed around the point to the other side and to the monument to learn. There were large concrete posts positioned all around the monument which we read where to symbolize some of the points on the compass as well as the Portuguese flag. The southern most point of Portugal also has a park very similar to the one we are standing on!

It was mandatory that I do laundry this night so we drove back to the little down a few miles from our campground in search of ice cream. We found some delicious scoops a few feet over the border in Connecticut!

Laney was super excited to get back to Grammie's apartment to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and the kids with me were so very excited to start laundry with me so we parted ways at the laundromat.  Fortunately, the ceremonies were on one of the televisions there too so while our clothes spun around the machines we watched some of the countries be introduced. The summer Olympics are definitely our favorite and we hate to miss them on these trips!!

Day 17

We took our time packing this morning as Grammie was meeting her cottage owner before we left. The tents were pretty messy from the rain so we waited to take showers until after they were all packed up.

Once our site was clean, Brayden, Laney, and I headed up to the park's visitor's center to see if they had anything fun to do. We walked around learning all about the Native Americans that had given over this land, the WWII boats and submarines that sank here, and the animals in the area. We taught Grammie and Ryan everything we knew once they met up with us.

It felt a little strange to be leaving after we'd settled there for such a long time as stops more than 2 days are a long for us! We headed toward our Plymouth Plantation next to learn about life in the 17th century.

Our first stop was the Wampanoag village where we learned how they were building one of their homes. We sat for a little while inside this winter house asking questions to one of the tribe members about their life, home, and culture.










Next up was the craft house where they were making Native American headpieces, creating pottery, weaving towels on a loom, making candles, and making bread.  The headpieces were just beautiful made from deer tail and porcupine fur dyed with plants and roots.

In our travels and home school co-op field trips, the kids had done all these activities themselves so they were excited to see them and remind me how they all worked. The bread smelled so good I tried to reserve a loaf for when we could be back by to pick it up, but it wasn't permitted. So we headed on toward the 17th century!

Our first stop in the English village was the town meeting house with a wonderful view of the village. This building was situated at one end of the village and had quite a few cannons upstairs.  The kids recognized the buildings from several books we'd read this year about the life of different children in the 17th century.

Plymouth Plantation was different than anything we'd been to before in that the people who were dressed in 17th century clothing did not break character. They were basically stuck living the same day in 1627, but were fascinating to listen to. We asked them all kinds of questions and were left with so much information!

 


Laney was asked to help this lady grind some mustard seed. She had a few children and spoke to us about the journey from Holland and a little about their life.

  

We learned about some local native american customs from this gentleman as he ate some lobster.  I even met William Bradford at one point and didn't even realize it! He asked us if we were going to consider settling there and two kids shook their heads adamantly. The other just stood there smiling like she would get dressed and wave goodbye without a thought!

At the last house we were greeted by a 21st century interpreter who had the girls water her garden and spoke to us about life in the 1620s. The girls thought it was funny they watering can had holes in the bottom instead of a spout!

    

Next we drove to the town of Plymouth where the actual settlement had been and toured the Mayflower II. We were greeted by the captain who told us a typical 10-year-old crew member aboard the ship would sit at the very top of the mast and scan the horizon to report sightings of ships. We learned what different decisions the captain would make should it be a pirate ship, British Navy, or another country's military. Surprisingly, he was most concerned about a British Navy ship and would even lower the British flag so as not to be identified.




I had expected this giant ship to be able to house 102 passengers plus crew but it really was not that large at all. The pilgrims had an area about the size of a large living room to live in for the 66 days they were sailing. Laney felt right at home!




Then we walked down to the site of Plymouth Rock. We'd read some really great books this year about the rock so the kids just smiled at me when the guide told us of the rock not always being revered as a treasured monument.  There we all are!

 

Before we left we had to cool off with a snack at the local ice cream scoop. Brayden had some kind of chocolate madness, Laney had some kind of caramel madness, and Ryan had Green Monster. Delicious!

  

By the time we got Grammie checked in and our site set up in Rhode Island, we were starving so we hit a local seafood place that was definitely a popular local spot. I've gotten the kids back into the routine of trying more local food instead of opting for the grilled cheese or pizza on the menu, so at least they had fish and chips tonight!

Day 28

I woke this morning a little later than normal and without any machine gun fire!  Once the kids got up we packed everything and headed to the beach since it poured the day before.  I wanted at least to be able to put my toes in the water and get a picture or two!  I'm not exactly sure what part of the cape we were on, but I'm thinking this was probably just Cape Cod Bay.  It was freezing!

Next up was a fun suggestion by Uncle Terry - Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.  We had a little drive ahead of us so we only made one stop at this border.

I never saw a sign for Connecticut and by lunchtime we were there.  

As with all our stops, we really wish we'd had more time here.  There was so much to do and see but I knew we would need to get on the road in just a couple hours to make it to Aunt Sue & Uncle Mike's house at a reasonable hour.  I had the kids pick a couple things they really wanted to see or do and we hopped around to all of them.

We learned how boats were made and toured a few. What a beautiful day and cool clouds! 

We learned what might be going on in a typical year in Mystic Seaport with a scale model of the area. My kids love these things, especially picking out the animals and figuring out what the people are doing.

Then they made boats. This room was so crowded I just had to sit back and watch as they worked on their creations.  Ryan was at least accommodating to her crew as she made benches for everyone to sit or sleep on.

Laney was more interested in using as much glue as possible.

Brayden wanted to duplicate one of the example ships.  All I could think of was where in the world we were going to keep these for the rest of the trip!

After a quick tour of the chapel and schoolhouse, we headed to the children's museum.  They learned about the life of a sailor by sleeping, cooking, and working. 

If only Laney had been a little bit taller - Ryan cracked me up in this one!

When we hopped back into the car I programmed the gps which happily told us we'd be in New Jersey in 2 1//2 hours.  I figured we might need to add an hour to that with traffic so we'd get in between 5:30 and 6. However (you knew there would be one of those), at about 45 minutes away we came to a complete stop before the George Washington bridge.  We crawled for about 30 minutes and the kids started to get antsy so I decided to exit the highway and make my way through the city.  

My people watchers were so entertained!  We drove through The Bronx and right down the middle of Manhattan.  A Friday afternoon at 5pm was definitely not the most efficient time to do that, but to see the awe in their faces as they looked around the middle of Time Square was priceless.  It wasn't dark yet so they didn't get the full effect of the lights, but they sat there looking around with mouths dropped open almost the entire way to the Lincoln Tunnel!   Ryan is also convinced she saw the real Batman.  Of course not just someone dressed up making a quick income off the tourists - I didn't tell her that though.

Within another 40 minutes we finally made it!  Uncle Mike had a beer or 4 already waiting for me! The cousins were playing together as if they'd always known each other. Frozen was a big topic of conversation and Samantha, Laney & Ryan played tricks on Brayden while Natalie trailed behind trying to keep up!

It was so nice to get to socialize and meet people I'd only heard about.  We were even surprised by 2 bags full of Trader Joe's snacks for our trip - thank you Joanne!  After Aunt Sue cooked us dinner, the kids played and played like they would never run out of energy!  It might have something to do with the ice pops and cupcakes they were being fed!  

Brayden loved to hear stories about when Grandpa lived in this house. He couldn't believe all the Clarke kids slept in our bedroom back then!  

After the kids went to bed, we chatted for awhile then I crashed as well.  How luxurious it felt to sleep in a real bed!   

Quote of the day: "Brrrrraaaayyyy-deennnnnnnn, come find uuuussssssss!"  The call of young cousins is magnetic!

Day 28 - Time crunch and Times Square