In case you don’t know, Frankfort is the capital of Kentucky.  It’s also where I grew up and where my family still lives.  There is a wealth of field trip opportunity in Frankfort from government to history to museums and more.  We’ve been trying to make it a habit to go on a quick field trip or two when we’re in for an extended visit with my parents.

This week’s trips were finished before lunch, but both were great fun!

Fort Hill

Fort Hill is a Civil War battlefield where remnants of earthen forts remain.  Earthen forts are walls of dirt that were built to protect soldiers from the penetrating weapons of their enemies.

The soldiers didn’t always live inside the fort.  Their more permanent, albiet rustic “homes” were just outside the fort.  The soldiers only stayed inside when under attack.

Many remnants also remain of a rock wall where soldiers hid from oncoming bullets as they fired back at their enemies.

The fort was built on a hill that overlooked most of Frankfort at the time.  You can see just how far they could see from the main vantage point.

The parks department has been excavating in the fort recently.  There was an early 1900’s house on the property and they located the owner’s dump pile.  I included this picture because we have also located an early dump pile on our farm.  As we dig new garden space each year, we find new treasures like bits of old pottery, china, medicine bottles, jars and the like.  It’s very interesting!

We also found some unsually camera-friendly little friends on our way out!

Rebecca Ruth Candy Factory

So we could say we got in a little science (and because we wanted free candy samples) we headed downtown to the Rebecca Ruth Candy Factory.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures on the tour, but it was great fun seeing how candy is made and packaged.  Is their chocolate worth the very expensive price tag?  Hmm…On some days I would say “YES!”  Most days, though, I think not.

The tour costs $2.00 for adults, but children are free.  It only lasts about 15 minutes, so it’s a very easy tour to fit into your schedule if you’re in Frankfort for other visits.  Oh, and you don’t need a reservation.  Just remember they don’t give tours during lunch hours.

It’s garden time again!  I just love this time of year - even though it keeps me VERY busy.  I feel so productive caring for, harvesting and putting away things from the garden.  Two of the first crops to fill our home this summer have been zucchini and onions.

I haven’t had much experience putting either of these away, so I did a little internet research.  It seems as if the quickest and easiest way to save these veggies for later use is freezing them raw.  What could be simpler than that?

I grated the zucchini and placed it in freezer bags in two cup portions since most of my normal recipes call for about this much grated zucchini.  So far, I’ve frozen 20 cups!

With the onions, I sliced some and chopped some.  I didn’t worry about measuring since frozen onions come apart with a quick tap on the counter.  One website said to place the onions on cookie sheets and freeze before bagging, but I didn’t have time to fool with that. 

Both of these will need to be used in cooked recipes since they won’t hold their original texture.  For the zucchini, the directions said to add any liquid in the bag (after thawing) to the recipe since it will be the juices that are normally in the zucchini.

Mahayla and Caleb grew carrots this year.  They were able to can 10 quarts - and I only had to supervise!  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the finished jars.

Looks like green bean canning will be next on the list!  Anybody have a really good idea for saving summer squash?  I have attempted to parboil and freeze, but it turned out way to mushy to use, even in cooked dishes.

Don’t ever call me completely punctual.  We studied early pioneers and settlers of Kentucky at the beginning of last school year.  A trip to Fort Boonesborough - the first pioneer settlement in KY  - was planned then, but we never made it.  My children never fear, though - eventually I tend to fulfill my promises. 

You can learn more about Fort Boonesborough at:

Kentucky State Parks

Fort Boonesborough Living History

Fort Boonesborough Foundation

We had a great time touring the fort, watching an action-packed film, visiting with reinactors and taking a walk down to the beach located on the KY River.  Field trips are worth their weight in gold!

Outside the fort

Inside the fort

Learning to start a fire

Caleb’s favorite part - the jail

Visiting with Daniel Boone to get our land deed

A view of the beach

Gotcha, didn’t I?  :)  Our church took an “trip” to Rome during VBS this year.  We used Group’s Rome: Paul and the Underground Church for a unique weekend VBS where we invited entire families to participate.  I have to say that everything about this year’s VBS was a huge success!  The material was awesome, the weekend format was appreciated by everyone, and having families go through VBS together has already produced lots of fruit!

Because of the family atmosphere, we needed lots of people to help who normally wouldn’t, which proved to be quite a good tool for pulling our church members together for a common cause.  From young to old, everyone who was willing had a part to play.  It’s amazing how great a church event can be when everyone works together!

Below are just a few pictures.  If you’re interested, I’d love to talk more about how we set up a weekend VBS, how we included families and how we incorporated all ages in helping.  Let me know if you’d like to hear more and I’ll write another post with more info.

Paul, who is under arrest and his guard

Leaders of the Underground Church in Rome

Roman game time

Visiting shops in the Marketplace - These are just a few of the seven Marketplace shops the children visited.

Making leather bracelets

Building

Calligraphy and wax seals

A sweet friend invited me to go along with her this week to visit a soon-to-retire public school teacher. This teacher has collected many, many, many school items over the years and was trying to lessen the stash in her garage. She was wonderfully cheap and I was blessed in supplies and blessed in meeting her!

Below are just about 1/2 of the goodies!

Mahayla was baptized this weekend! Praise the Lord! We have sensed for some time that the Lord was working on her precious heart. What a blessing it was to hear her say she was ready to accept Christ!

It just so happened that we were celebrating Caleb’s 9th birthday this weekend with family, so we decided to surprise them by asking them all to take part in Mahayla’s baptism while they were here.  It was so neat to see their faces when we told them!

Mahayla wanted to be baptized on the farm, and she chose one of her favorite spots - the barn!  I was rolling my eyes about this choice, but my wonderful preacher’s wife (all of her family also came for the baptism) said, “If Jesus could be born in a barn, I think it’s perfectly acceptable for Mahayla to be baptized in one.”

Her daddy had the pleasure of immersing her in the watering trough!

Afterwards, we all gathered in a circle to sing Amazing Grace and everyone took turns praying for Mahayla. It was truly beautiful to hear each and every family member praying for her!

Later, Eli said, “Sissy got in the water with Daddy and God.”  How true!

He also said, “I get in the water, too?”  I replied, “Yes, you’ll get in the water, too, when you get bigger.”  He answered matter of factly, “When I get bigger boy, I get in the water with God.” 

I can’t forget a picture of the birthday boy, we did hi-jack his day after all!  What a good little brother - he didn’t mind a bit!

My horse crazy daughter is already influencing her two-year-old brother.  He asks at least once a day…

Thithy (Sissy) can we go see your Candoo White Wady (Candlelight Lady)?

Of course, Mahayla obliges and now I’m afraid we have more than one harse crazy kid in the family!

If you live anywhere near the Lexington, KY area, don’t miss this FREE homeschool fair tomorrow!  Melissa and I will be there with our NaturExplorer units (Shining Dawn Books booth) and I will be teaching two workshops:

Creative Homeschooling: Ideas that Inspire Children to Learn from 10:45-11:15

Living Math: Teaching Outside the Textbook from 11:30-Noon

Lexington Homeschool Fair

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

Crossroads Christian Church, Todd’s Rd.

10am - 1pm

FREE

And, if you live anywhere near the Lousiville, KY area, don’t miss the annual CHEK Conference next weekend!  They have extended the time, added vendors and there are a ton of wonderful workshops.

Again, Melissa and I will be there with our NaturExplorer units and I will be teaching two workshops:

Encouraging Creativity in Your Children (And We’re Not Just Talking About Art!) on Friday at 3:00

Living Math: Teaching Outside the Textbook on Saturday at 2:00

Christian Home Educators of Kentucky Conference

Friday and Saturday, June 19th-20th

Valley View Baptist Church, Louisville

1pm-9:30pm Friday, 8am-4pm Saturday

FREE to CHEK members, $25 per family for non-members

Please stop by and say hi if you’re able to make it to either of these wonderful events!

At co-op, we have a “serious” field day with class competitions and ribbons and awards.  A group of friends in our hometown also gets together for a more “casual” field day.  Each of the moms prepares a simple game or two - many involving water and relays - and we just have fun together.  No awards or ribbons necessary.

This year, we brought potluck food for lunch and our wonderful hostess opened up her pool after the festivities.  My children always look forward to this fun day, but the pool made it extra-special!

Little ones enjoyed their own pool while the big kids played games.

I’ve written a post about all our wonderful fossil finds on a recent nature walk at ShiningDawnBooks.com.  Come see!