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| Tate and Choice |
We started the day off in South Charleston, WV. Our goal today was to visit with the South Charleston Fire Department and express our gratitude to them for their generosity. After writing letters to each of the individuals and organizations whom we wished to visit, we received this response from their department:
"In a time of tragedy or hardship, our union comes together to support our brothers and sisters. We may not know one another or ever meet, but we consider ALL our family and will always be there. May God bless you and your family and keep you in His prayers."
So, we made it to their town...
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| Ryder, Tate, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Ryder, Tate, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Juliann and Shiloh |
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Ryder, Shiloh, Choice, and Tate
...however, here's what we found of their station... :-/
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| Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, and Choice |
Because we wound up here on a weekend, I wasn't able to get in touch with them. The site for the development of their new station was right next to the local police department. We decided to stop by there and say hello to another group of first responders while we were in the area.
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| Shiloh, Tate, Ryder, and Choice |
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Shiloh, Tate, Ryder, and Choice
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They were so kind and even gave each of the kids a ticket for a free slurpee at 7Eleven.
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| Tate, Juliann, and Choice |
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| Tate, Shiloh, and Choice |
But what to do with the cards, bands, and t-shirts we brought for the firefighters? We noticed that the South Charleston City Hall building was next door. It had a mailbox that was just the right size to slip the items into the building...so that's what we did.
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| Shiloh, Rusty, Tate, Juliann, Ryder, and Choice |
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| Shiloh Rusty, Tate, Juliann, Ryder, and Choice |
We were bummed that we missed seeing them in person but are hopeful they will receive these small tokens of our gratitude when they return to the office.
While in West Virginia, we made one additional stop. There is a well known local center for tourists right off the interstate. We pulled in there and went in to grab a bite to eat. The kids had a blast with the cafeteria style eating. Ryder and Shiloh instructed the little boys on how they are to carry the tray and walk through the line. I am surprised they remembered this process as they haven't been in school for 9 months.
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Choice, Tate, Ryder, and Shiloh
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After dinner, we played outside on the playground. It was gorgeous to see the changing of the leaves on the trees, which has definitely been one of my favorite elements to this part of the country. I am so glad we are here at this time of the year.
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Shiloh, Tate, Choice, Ryder, Juliann, and Jason
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| Shiloh, Tate, Choice, Ryder, and Jason |
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| Choice |
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| Tate and Choice |
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| Tate and Choice |
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| Shiloh, Tate, Choice, Ryder, and Jason |
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| Shiloh, Tate, Choice, and Ryder |
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| Shiloh, Tate, Choice, and Ryder |
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| Choice |
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| Ryder and Rusty |
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| Tate |
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| Tate, Choice, Shiloh, and Ryder |
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| Rusty |
Before hopping back onto the bus, we took a moment to get into the Halloween spirit. There were pumpkins surrounding the perimeter of the building. Hopefully we'll find a way to carve some closer to the holidays.
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| Juliann and Jason |
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| Choice, Tate, Shiloh, and Ryder |
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| Juliann, Shiloh, Choice, Tate, Ryder, and Jason |
The kids were exhausted from another long day of playing outdoors. Rusty was tired as well and didn't seem to mind cuddling up to the kids for awhile to help them fall asleep.
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| Shiloh and Rusty |
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| Rusty and Ryder |
Then it was back to her other duties...
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Rusty at the wheel
Good thing dogs are multitaskers. :-) |
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When morning came, the kids and I woke to find ourselves in Virginia! 
We were in the town of Crozet where we planned to visit a couple by the names of Peter and Barbara.
The kids drew these pictures for them in preparation of this visit...
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| Juliann, Shiloh, Ryder, and Tate |
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| Shiloh, Ryder, and Tate |
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| Juliann, Ryder, Tate, and Shiloh |
They also helped me by crawling into the bay to pick out Be Better shirts and bands for them...
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Tate, Ryder, and Shiloh
They live in a cozy and quaint little neighborhood. We parked the bus a ways from their home so we could enjoy a small walk.
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| Juliann, Shiloh, Ryder, and Tate |
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Juliann, Shiloh, and Ryder
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We were really hoping for a different outcome than we had the past few home visits we attempted, but...no such luck. We left our goodies on their doorstep instead. (Later I was able to speak with a family member who explained that they were watching baseball playoffs with their grandson. I do not blame them! :-))
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| Juliann, Ryder, Tate, and Shiloh |
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| Juliann, Ryder, Tate and Shiloh |
We continued on our way. The tricky part about driving a bus in Virginia is the overpasses. The clearance for our bus is over 12 feet high. Many of these overpasses have a clearance under 12 feet. It is important, obviously, to notice the clearance with enough time to make other arrangements. This was one close call...
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| low clearance bridge |
With the inability to make contact with our Crozet, VA visit, and the route alterations due to low clearances, I was reminded of this...
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants and live with a wild hair, then you absolutely have to be willing to roll with the punches. Hallelujah for kids that are good sports about it.
As they should be because there is always something awesome waiting around the next corner. For us tonight, that trip around the next corner landed us at the amazing MONTICELLO.
Monticello was the home of Thomas Jefferson and is known for its appearance on the back of the nickle. We were excited to view it on a much larger scale.
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Tate, Juliann, Choice, Shiloh, and Ryder
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| Monticello |
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Tate, Juliann, Choice, Shiloh, and Ryder
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| Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, Juliann, and Choice |
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Monticello
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Jason and Juliann - back of the nickle
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The outside of the home was incredible, and so were the gardens surrounding it.
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| Tate, Jason, Shiloh, Juliann, Choice, and Ryder |
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| Ryder, Tate, Choice, Juliann, and Shiloh |
Shiloh, like her mama, loves to smell the flowers.
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| Shiloh |
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| Shiloh |
We arranged to be part of a tour through the home. While we were waiting for the tour to begin, we made use of our time on the grounds.
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| Tate, Jason, Ryder, Choice, and Shiloh |
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| Tate, Jason, Ryder, Choice, and Shiloh |
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| Tate, Jason, Ryder, Choice, and Shiloh |
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| Ryder and Choice |
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| Ryder and Choice |
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| Ryder, Choice, Tate, and Shiloh |
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| Ryder, Choice, Tate, and Shiloh |
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| Jason, Choice, and Juliann |
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| Ryder, Shiloh, Juliann, Choice, and Tate |
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| Ryder, Shiloh, Juliann, Choice, and Tate |
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| Choice and Tate |
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| Tate |
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| Ryder |
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| View from Monticello |
The tour of Jefferson's home was fascinating. Unfortunately, they do not allow photography inside. The tour guide had a wealth of knowledge also which made for a wonderful experience overall. Even the kids were paying attention for the duration of the 45 minute tour.
I found several little tidbits about Thomas Jefferson exceptional interesting. First off, his love for reading. He has a private study in Monticello where he kept his books. At one point, he had over 6500 books in his study alone. His grandchildren wrote about the small pathway they had to walk in his study that was made between the mountains of books. At one point, Jefferson donated all of the books in his study to the University of Virigina (which he founded). Shortly after he gave up all of those books, he wrote this to John Adams..."I cannot live without books". From that time until the day of his death, only approximately a year or so later, he had already regrown the collection of books in his study back to 1200 or so.
The next fascinating tidbit about him was that he died in a heap of debt. It took his family 40 years after his passing to repay all of his debt. So, those 1200 books which he had in his study were all sold to auction after he died. What I find interesting about the fact he died in debt really has more to do with his recorded philosophy than his book collection. He was said to have 10 Rules. They are:
1. Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3. Never spend your money before you have it.4. Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap; it will never be dear to you.5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.6. Never repent of having eaten too little.7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.8. Don’t let the evils that have never happened cost you pain.9. Always take things by their smooth handle.10. When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, count to 100.
The fact that he taught never to live outside of your means made it mind boggling that he died in such large amounts of debt. My guess is he wrote this philosophy in the midst of his financial crisis, having learned that lesson the hard way.
Another thought provoking concept about Thomas Jefferson relates to the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence at the youthful age of 33. He was obviously a brilliant man, which comes as no surprise given the abundance of time he spent educating himself by thumbing though thousands of books. Yet, one of the most noteworthy lines of the Declaration is, ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. If this was a belief of Jefferson's, it is mind boggling that he had more than 600 slaves. A year after his death, by way of his recorded wishes in his Last Will and Testament, 6 of his slaves were freed. That is 6 of 600. I suppose this was a slow moving lesson in that time period.
Obviously I have gone off on a tangent, so I will mention just one last thing about Jefferson. Notice the simplicity of his 10 rules. This is a man who is known as the most intelligent man of his era. He is the author of the words from which our country is founded upon. He was a scholar, a professor, a president, a leader, a genius in many ways. Yet, when he wrote down the 10 most important things for you and I to profit from, it was those simplistic thoughts. I find great wisdom in that. The things that will make us the most happy in this life are very simple. We would find happiness in abundance if we got back to the basics. Food for thought.
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| Ryder, Jason, Thomas Jefferson, Shiloh, Juliann, Choice, and Tate |
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| Ryder, Jason, Thomas Jefferson, Shiloh, Juliann, Choice, and Tate |
After the guided home tour, we explored a few of the activities that are set up around the property. They had games from that time period set up to play.
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| Choice and Jason |
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| Choice and Jason |
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| Choice, Jason, and Ryder |
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| Juliann and Shiloh |
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| Juliann and Shiloh |
| Next we walked underneath the home throughout the servants quarters. It is also the location of the cellar and state of the art kitchen. |
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| Ryder, Choice, Shiloh, and Tate |
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| Ryder, Choice, and Shiloh |
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| Monticello cellar |
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| Shiloh |
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| Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
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| Tate and Choice |
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| Tate and Choice |
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| Shiloh and Ryder |
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| Tate |
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| Ryder, Tate, Shiloh, Choice, and Juliann |
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| Tate, Choice, Juliann, Shiloh, and Ryder |
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| Tate, Shiloh, Juliann, and Ryder |
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| Shiloh |
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| Choice and Ryder |
That concluded our time at Monticello. What an awesome experience AND a way we could incorporate a little homeschooling into our day.
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| Tate, Juliann, and Shiloh |
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| Monticello |
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| Shiloh and Jason |
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| Choice, Tate, Shiloh, Jason, and Ryder |
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Choice, Tate, Shiloh, Jason, and Ryder
Virginia is a beautiful state, rich in history and colonial heritage. I am glad that we will have another day here to take it all in. Stay tuned; Virgina is...TO BE CONTINUED. |
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