This Farmhouse and Our Family

9 years ago---from our youngest son's baby book

     Nine years ago today our suburban family purchased and moved into this 1880s farmhouse on the side of a mountain.  This is the longest my husband and I have ever lived in one place during our adult lives.  I still remember that magical day when he and our 13 year old son (now 22 and engaged!) drove the moving truck with most of our belongings, while I arrived in the minivan with 2 preschoolers, a toddler, and our 2 month old baby boy.  I had to get there first to open the doors for the furniture movers to bring our new living room set and a king size mattress up a flight and a half of stairs.  Fortunately, the weather was beautiful---just like it is today---and the children ran around this large property to their heart's content.  I felt as if I had arrived in our own private paradise.  I loved the smell of the wide pine floors, the original oak doors, and even the slightly musty smell of the very rustic cellar.  The split staircase, high ceilings, and colonial fixtures made me feel like I was going back in time to a quiet, simpler life.  The wide open space around our house seemed endless at the time, and the acres of woods and creek bordering our property felt like they were all ours.  With the only visible neighbors being old order Amish, you could almost believe you were back in 1850, until the satellite TV van pulled up and attempted to install a dish to our roof.

     That first night after we put our exhausted little ones to bed, my husband and I stood outside and looked up into the black night sky full of brilliant stars.  There were no street lamps, no cars, no sounds except for the neighbor's cow bawling occasionally.  The most awesome sense of peace overwhelmed me, and I couldn't imagine ever getting tired of this place.  I even said I never thought I would have to go on vacation again because everything I could ever want was right here!

     While I am now aware of the realities of owning a small farm, an old drafty farmhouse, and living on the side of a mountain with no city amenities and being a good thirty minutes from just about everything, I can still say that moving into this house was one of the biggest blessings we have ever received.  Living here brought all of our extended family together far more often than ever before.  It was here that we started a homestead, built a small farm with our own hands, and learned how to be somewhat self-sufficient.  Being here, away from the malls, the restaurants, and just about anything that costs money, made it so much easier to reduce debt and allow my husband to work fewer hours away from us.  It was here that we did almost all of our homeschooling and childrearing of our youngest five.  And it was here that we learned how to rely on faith to get us through difficult times.

     Although the farmhouse is showing its age and needs continuous upkeep, it also now reveals signs of a family who lived in it well.  The pine floors in the kitchen are scratched from kitchen chairs being moved dozens of times a day by family members eating and doing school work and painting pictures at our nine foot table.  Bikes, bats, and homemade bows and arrows adorn the lower yard.  Branches have broken off trees from boys climbing up and down them over and over again.  The porches always contain work boots, cats (and the remains of the vermin they've caught), harvested vegetables, and nature collections from the latest hike in the woods.  There are walls decorated with "artwork" from our youngest daughter that can still be seen under three coats of paint.  This is a house that has become well-lived-in, but it now holds stories of our life here as a family.

9 years later---well worn but well loved

     So today I remember with nostalgia the feelings of hope, excitement, and potential when we stepped foot on this property nine years ago today and called it our own.  It continues to be that promising for me as I look forward to experiencing middle age and old age in this farmhouse with my husband.  I can't wait to be the grandmother who lives over the river and through the woods as grown children return with their little ones at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It is here that I hope to share this natural  retreat with friends and family through outdoor farm dinners, barbecues and pool parties, and maybe even a wedding reception some day.  I hope to live long enough to see what mark our family has left on this farmhouse fifty years from now.

It's Time to Try New Things

I don't know what it is about early fall, but it always makes me feel like starting new projects, learning new things, and trying something new.  I suppose it stems from the start of a new school year and all the opportunities and possibilities that brings.  Already, our family has ventured out into new domains, and with the cooler mornings, falling leaves, and autumn harvests, I am excited about what else lies in store for us over the next few months.

Our first new discovery is Cookie Butter, sold at Trader Joe's.  This is the best nut butter we have come across since Nutella.  It comes in a variety of flavors, and I am finding recipes using this weekly.  For now, we're simply spreading it on bread, using it as a dip with Pretzel Crisps, or just eating it on a spoon.  This does go against my usual diet of healthy, wholesome, natural foods, but I also say "everything in moderation."  I give the credit to The Monogrammed Life for this delicious find, and for the next one.

While I am not a bacon fanatic, this is an interesting combination.  I do love dark chocolate and ganache, and I am always game to trying a new variety of chocolate bar.  The bacon is not overpowering but is definitely noticeable.  These are sold at Trader Joe's for $1.97, but I've been informed that they can also be found at Walmart.

Image from Wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons

Our 10 year old son begged us to take him to a restaurant that served calamari while we were on vacation.  It turned out that almost every child in our family loved it, and now calamari is a regular request when we eat out.

Although I am not a fan of most beer, I have been loyal to Samuel Adams in the past.  However, after trying the Achoo Chili Pale Ale from Robin Hood Brewing Co., I have found a new favorite.  You can actually smell the chili peppers in this ale, and it leaves a surprising hint of the same on your tastebuds.  It's fantastic with pizza, I'm told, but I paired it with jambalaya.

My husband and I have been trying out new restaurants the past few months including this one.  Revival Kitchen is located in the village of Reedsville, PA.  It uses fresh ingredients from local farms and sells bottles of wine in the back from a local winery.  The menu changes based on what produce, herbs, and meats are available at the time, and there are many unusual offerings.  The coconut jasmine rice that I had as a side dish was to die for.  The food was great and so was the presentation.

Additionally, I discovered a new wine at this restaurant that we really like.  I usually just order a chardonnay, but this Traminette made by Seven Mountains Winery was perfect with our dinner.  We also sampled their rhubarb wine out of curiosity, which would be great with dessert.

New foods and beverages are not the only new things we are trying.  To counterbalance the calorie intake, we have also been going on mountain bikerides and hikes on various trails through the woods here on our mountain.  Our younger two boys just recently learned to ride bikes, and they now want to ride daily.  Learning to ride a bike on gravel lanes downhill is no easy feat, which is why it hasn't happened for them until 9 and 10 years of age.  Now that they've got it down, however, they are hooked.  Those of us not on bikes are walking our beagle and sometimes carrying one of our cats who insist on tagging along, but then bawl the whole way.

Additional New Things We Are Trying:

*Once Upon a Time.  I know we're a little late to discover this, but we have not had cable or satellite television for years.  We do now have Netflix, which is where we found the first four seasons of this ABC television series.  I really didn't think I would be interested in it, but I chromecast it for our children one day, and now we are hooked.  Fairy tales with a modern day twist, this show holds the interests of everyone in our family.  With Netflix, it's tempting to bingewatch all the episodes at once, but we are restraining ourselves and limiting it to two or three episodes at a time to make it last.

*Violin lessons and Band.  Our youngest decided to give up ballet and start playing the violin instead, so this week begins lessons for her for the first time.  Our younger boys are continuing to take lessons in trumpet and clarinet, but this year they will also participate in their new school's band.  Our ten year old is my only one who doesn't like to be in the spotlight, but he assures me that since he'll be on stage with other performers, he'll be fine at the concerts.

*Learning Spanish.  I'm so excited to begin learning Spanish with our homeschooled son via Rosetta Stone.  I had four years of French in high school and college, plus a year of Italian, but I have not yet learned this romance language other than what I picked up on Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer when we had preschoolers.  I can't wait to get started.

*Lots of new books.  We just got a library card from another public library that is close to our children's new school, and I found shelves and shelves of books that I have been wanting to read.  I am a closet sociologist (well, I guess I'm out now) and I had to restrain myself and not check out an entire shelf before vacation.  I just finished reading these five and can't wait to go back and check out more:  Reading Classes: On Culture and Classism in America by Barbara Jensen; When Did White Trash Become the New Normal:  A Southern Lady Asks the Impertinent Question by Charlotte Hays; Class Matters by correspondents of The New York Times; The Middle-Class Millionaire; The Rise of the New Rich and How They are Changing America by Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff; and Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich by Robert Frank.

I hope you and your family are finding new things to try with the changing seasons.

The Pros and Cons of Homeschooling on a Mountain Farm

    

     We are now in our eleventh year of homeschooling one of our sons, and in our third year of private Catholic school for our younger children.  We have also experienced the public school system (both in the South and the Northeast,) a residential Governor's School for the Arts, and two universities and a community college with our three twenty-somethings.  Each year we re-evaluate our decision to homeschool based on the needs of our family and the individual traits of our sons and daughters.  Some aspects of homeschooling have gotten easier, but even though I have a degree in education and some teaching experience under my belt, some parts of homeschooling are still a challenge for me.  We have tried school-at-home, eclectic homeschooling, relaxed homeschooling, school-in-a-box, and towards the end of some school years, unschooling.  The bulk of this has been accomplished while homesteading/farming on our mountain, and that brings some unique joys and trials to the experience as well.  I'd like to share with you what we have personally found to be the positives and negatives of formally educating our children at home.

Pros:

• Customized education.  You and your children get to choose WHAT they learn about, HOW they learn it, and WHEN they learn.  If you have a child who loves to fish, and the beginning of trout season is only weeks away, and he can see the truck down at the bridge stocking trout in the creek, then you can take some time to learn about local fish.  Perhaps some of the learning will be conventional by reading about fish in textbooks and on the Internet.  However, I'm willing to bet your child will be more excited to learn by going down to the creek and observing the fish at different times of the day, talking with someone from the local Fish & Game Commission, and studying those poster-sized charts of all the fish in the state.  You might be taking some trips to the local sporting goods stores where he can spend hours studying the different lures and bait and tackle boxes and fishing line.  There will be comparison shopping and allowance counting and negotiating for more allowance if certain extra chores are done.  All of this can occur in the evenings, on weekends, during holidays on top of regular school hours.  You are not limited by time, books, tests, or lesson plans.  You can explore a subject of interest as intensely and for as long as you both can stand it.  This is one of the most exciting aspects of homeschooling, in my opinion.
• Protecting their innocence.  While we can't shelter our children from hardships forever, we can certainly delay the inevitable exposure to cruelty, vulgarity, injustice, and immorality until we feel they are mature enough to handle it.  We have been complimented many times on the sweet, loving, confident, polite nature of our children.  They haven't been exposed to the "f" word on a school bus on the way to kindergarten.  They haven't been bullied in the bathroom or playground.  They haven't been taught sex-ed in a fifth grade classroom or been exposed to all the graphic details while in elementary school, or even in middle school, for that matter.  They haven't had to choose between the values they've been taught at home and being cool in order to fit in.
• Unlimited individual attention.  For a number of years, I was homeschooling five of our children simultaneously, and they were all working at different grade levels.  Even so, they received more one-on-one instruction than they can possibly have in any school.  Any time they had questions, I was there to help them find the answer.  Sometimes they had to wait until I could get to them, but they were never overlooked in order to move the class along to the next subject or task.
• Time to pursue other interests.  When we were starting up our little farm, homeschooling allowed us to spend many hours a day constructing a greenhouse, barn, and chicken tractors.  We raised chicks, bunnies, goats, sheep, and fish and witnessed the births and the deaths.  The children were part of feeding livestock, giving immunizations, planting seeds, harvesting vegetables, fixing fences, milking goats, gathering eggs, and even selling at farmers' markets.  The life skills and lessons were endless and invaluable.  The children still participate in many of these endeavors, but they are not as time consuming as they were when we were just starting out.  They also had time to pursue other interests during the day such as music, art, cooking, creative writing, singing at nursing homes, crafts, Lego construction, and numerous other things throughout the year.  They weren't restricted to a few hours in the evenings or weekends or summer breaks to spend a lot of time doing what they love.
• Weekday field trips and traveling.  When all of our children were homeschooled and my husband had some weekdays free, we loved going on day trips to museums, farm shows, festivals and other events.  Crowds were much smaller during the week, and we could take our time studying various exhibits.  Traveling was much simpler too since we weren't scheduling trips around school vacations.
• You and your children are together all the time.  We had the luxury of my husband being here with us daily for months at a time when we first started our farm.  During that time, we were also homeschooling everyone, and we all worked together on our homestead.  Coincidentally, we were also reading the series of Little House books, and it felt like a surreal experience, as if we were modern day pioneers starting up a homestead on our own frontier here on the mountain.  It was a busy time with days full of outdoor physical labor and indoor food preservation.  Our youngest was just a toddler then, and I was also busy keeping her out of mischief.  But I will always remember that first summer in particular with fondest memories because we were all here together every day.

Cons:

• You and your children are together all the time!  No, this is not a typo.  I know I listed this as a positive thing above, and it can be, but it can also be a negative.  Especially when all my children were smaller, and I couldn't even go to the bathroom without someone on the other side of the door calling for me, I craved time alone in my house.  With no extended family nearby to give me a reprieve and other homeschooling mom friends in the same boat as I, some days felt very long and noisy indeed.  Even now with only a teenager home with me all day, there are times I daydream of having this big farmhouse all to myself.  During the summer break, no matter how chaotic and aggravating the day might be, I know that come September, our youngest four will be back in school for a good portion of the day.  Some days that is what keeps me sane and patient and cheerful.  I'm sure there will come a day when I am much older, that this house will seem too quiet, and I will miss the noise and chaos and the activity that comes with a home full of children.  However, when you are a homeschooling mom of a bunch of youngsters, those days seem very far away.
• Homeschooling requires a lot of energy.  While energy is no problem for the students, it can be in short supply for the parents.  When I was pregnant with our youngest, there were weeks that every time I moved, I thought I was going to be sick.  I remember lying on my side on the living room sofa while reading to my younger children and helping the others with math or grammar.  During the early years of homesteading, I was so busy with a couple of toddlers/preschoolers, homeschooling the elementary aged children, cooking almost everything from scratch, food preservation, farm chores, and volunteering in our homeschool group, that I literally fell into bed at the end of each day.  I never had any serious illnesses, but I did get a lot of headaches, including debilitating migraines every three or four months, and it was a serious challenge to homeschool on those days.  It certainly gets easier as the children get older and can work independently, but it still requires some mental and physical energy on my part to be available to answer questions, keep a certain boy focused, facilitate learning, and take him places to enrich his learning.
• One parent must be home.  This is another one that I could also place in the "Pros" section.  When my husband and I married, we made the decision to have a big family and to not put the children in daycare.  The original plan was for him to work 30 or so hours a week, and I would still work about 10 hours per week.  That way someone would always be home, we could both still do something in our professions, and there would be time to be together as a family.  As it turned out, our roles very quickly became traditional as he worked full-time, and I stayed home with the children.  During the last four years, we have managed for him to reduce his hours away from home, and I have been able to work a little outside the home as well, but for the most part, he is still the main breadwinner, and I am the stay-at-home mom.  It gets more and more challenging each year to live on one income, especially as the children get older and need braces, want more expensive clothes, eat more, and are involved in more activities.  While I was homeschooling everyone, both of us working full-time was out of the question.  If we worked opposite shifts, we would rarely be together as a family.  Once the youngest four started Catholic school, I did think that I might return to teaching full-time, since our schedules would be the same.  However, with a homeschooled teenager in the house, it just doesn't feel like the best idea yet.  I think this might be the biggest challenge for many families since it gets increasingly more difficult to live on one middle-class income today.
• A very "lived-in" house.  While housecleaning is not my thing, I am by nature a very neat and organized person.  Living in a large household is hard enough, but when you add homeschooling to the mix, you can count on a rather messy house.  There are projects and experiments, papers and books, art and craft supplies, musical instruments, and just lots and lots of stuff.  Once we started farming, seedlings and sprouts, barn jackets and Muck boots, chicks and goat kids, bushels of produce, juicers, dehydrators, canning jars, and sauce makers also adorned my kitchen.  And that's just my kitchen!  Homeschooling means all those things you see filling up the classrooms in your local school are now filling up your house.  At some point I had to surrender my notion of living in a Pinterest picture-perfect farmhouse.  That has been one of the most difficult aspects of homeschooling for me, and it still is.  I am always striving for a Martha Stewart looking farm---without the staff.  Not sure that's ever going to be a reality.
• You pay for your own materials.  Unless you are cyber-schooling through your local school district, you're on your own for curriculum, supplies, lessons, and field trips.  While there was some bartering and trading within our county's homeschool group, we still paid for just about everything ourselves.  This is still less expensive than tuition at a private school, but it is something to consider each year.
• Less socializing with peers and activities during the week.  For a lot of people, this is a plus.  For my children as they reached adolescence, this was the main reason they wanted to go to school.  We live in a rural area, so it is even a bigger challenge for us to find other children their age to hang out with.  There are virtually no activities during the week to participate in unless it is an occasional outing with a homeschool group.  Private lessons can be done during the day, but that's about it.  Once they reach their teens, all the sports in this county are played through the local high school.  There are Church youth group functions some weekends, but there are few opportunities for my son to spend time with other teens outside of a school setting.  When my children were younger, they all just loved hanging out with each other.  It was also easier to arrange playdates or go to a park with friends.  As they are getting older, they are developing their own interests and their own friendships.  Our teenage daughter, especially, now wants to talk to her female friends from school, and not discuss her feelings with her slightly older brother.  For an extrovert like me, I always worry that our homeschooled son isn't getting enough social time with other boys and girls his age.  I am constantly on the lookout for opportunities for him to engage in activities with peers, but this is a challenge and requires a lot more work on my part than it would if we lived in a suburban area or if he were in school.  Until this year, he wasn't concerned at all about having friends.  He was fairly content to see peers on the weekends and to just hang out with me and our farm animals during the week.  Now there is an interest in girls, however, and he's eager to get out and meet new teens.  This is a new development, so I'm not sure yet where it will lead.

     While I love the years we homeschooled, and I still enjoy aspects of it with our ninth grader, I am also very happy with our Catholic school experience as well.  I will continue to sing the praises of both methods of education and am grateful that we are fortunate enough to have a choice.  I must be honest though, and admit that I am relieved to finally have a bit more quiet time in my house to pursue some of my own interests after all these years.  I guess you could say I am now having my own home education experience where I get to be the student.

Mom's Cookies and MeeMaw Muffins as Comfort Food

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies (They're not what they look like!)

     Even though our children had a great first week at their new school, it was still an adjustment.   We all had to get used to waking up each morning by 6 AM since it is a 45 minute drive to school.  Dozens of papers were filled out and signed; four lunchboxes were packed in the morning; and there was a frantic shopping trip to numerous stores for book covers which seemed to be sold out everywhere (we ended up getting the last remaining ones at Staples.)  They were introduced to new teachers, made new friends, and adapted to a new routine.  Our youngest was such a proud first grader with real homework each afternoon that she eagerly tackled as soon as she got home.  They even made it through a week of humid, ninety degree days in a school with no air conditioning.

     By Friday, I wanted to have a treat waiting for them when we got home from school to celebrate their first week.  Although I love to bake cookies, it was just too darn hot to heat up the oven for an hour.  So I quickly cooked up a batch of chocolate no-bake cookies.  I still remember making these annually in home economics class in middle school, and they were one of the first treats I learned to make.  Okay, maybe they're not the most attractive cookie (I won't mention what my boys said the above photo looked like,) but they are yummy.  They started the weekend off right.

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 cups quick cooking oatmeal

Mix the sugar, milk, cocoa, and butter in a pot.  Cook on medium heat and keep stirring until it boils. Remove from heat and let cool for one minute.  Add the vanilla, peanut butter, salt and oatmeal.  Stir well.  Drop by teaspoon onto wax paper or parchment paper.  Chill in refrigerator, and if it's hot like it's been here this week, store in refrigerator too.

MeeMaw Muffins

     Our weekend continued to get better with the arrival of grandparents from out of town.  Life is always a bit of a celebration when they come to visit, and they know that our children also look forward to their grandma's big red tin of "MeeMaw Muffins."  No matter how busy she is before they leave their house, she always finds time to bake a variety of breakfast muffins: strawberry, blueberry, chocolate chip, cranberry, and brown sugar & cinnamon.  This time she surprised us with banana nut muffins for the first time along with blueberry ones.  I won't disclose her secret recipes here or they won't be exclusive MeeMaw muffins anymore.

     These particular muffins held special significance as comfort food when our weekend took a sad turn. When we awoke Saturday morning, we discovered that our tiger-striped "barn cat" had died unexpectedly in the night.  Life on a farm means we are exposed to both new life and unexplained death from time to time.  With the livestock, we expect these occasional losses, even though every life lost is mourned here.  However, it is rare for us to find one of our cats or dogs lifeless on the back porch.  Many of our cats have gone off into the woods to hunt here on our mountain only to never be seen again.  This young kitty, however, rarely left our porch because he always wanted to be the first one to be fed throughout the day, so his passing was quite a shock.  Such a seemingly small loving touch of leaving homemade MeeMaw muffins on the kitchen table actually brought some comfort to our younger children upon their sad awakening and made the morning a wee bit better.  While food alone certainly can't bring solace and heal all sadness, special foods made with the intention to share our love with others can truly be comfort food.

Any food can be comfort food if made and served with love.

Another Great School Year with L.L. Bean and Land's End

September is here, and our four youngest children have started a new school year with gear from L.L. Bean and most of their uniforms from Land's End.  We love these L.L. Bean thermal lunch boxes in colors that match their backpacks and their personalities.  They can hold a lot of items with a special pocket inside to carry an ice pack and a zippered front pouch for snacks or milk money.  They're still small enough, though, to fit inside their backpacks if they don't want to carry them.

We think L.L. Bean backpacks are the best.  With so many colors and prints to choose from, it's hard to decide which one to order.  Our family has found that these hold up better than any other bags we've purchased in the past.  They have all kinds of nifty pockets inside, and they are incredibly tough and durable.  They come in different sizes too for various age ranges.  Even though this floral one looks a little big on the back of our six year old, I know within a few years she'll need it for the binders and textbooks she'll be bringing home each afternoon.

Even though I prefer L.L. Bean, our eighth grade daughter wanted something more unique and suited for her personality.  She found this Candie's backpack at Kohl's.  It is cute, but it's a bit smaller than her younger siblings' packs, and I have my concerns that it won't hold all her homework and projects.  She assures me that it will be fine.  Notice the Champagne Sparkle hand sanitizer from Bath & Body Works attached.  It's a must for her that every item matches, right down to her pink sparkle nail polish.

Our boy's uniforms are simple this year with white polo shirts and navy blue pants.  These shirts are from Land's End, and the boys comment on how incredibly soft they are.  I am hoping they will withstand bleaching because I'm sure there will be ketchup, paint, and ink coming home on them many days.  These pants were actually purchased impromptu at Walmart when I didn't have time to wait for an order from elsewhere, and they've actually held up fairly well.  The backpack slung over our redhead's shoulder is not L.L. Bean, and it is beginning to rip inside from being overstuffed the past two years.  I can't remember where I bought the black dress shoes.  They get handed down from one brother to the next, much to our youngest son's dismay.  Actually, he doesn't mind so much what he wears, as long as he's not getting hand-me-down Legos.

Our girls get a little more variety in their uniforms.  The blue oxford shirt, navy skirt, and plaid jumper are all from Land's End.  Our little one's white blouse is Genuine School Uniforms brand, and her white ballet flats are from Walmart.  Our teen's black ballet flats are Bongo brand from Kmart.  She usually only wears them on Mass days, so hopefully they will make it through the school year, if she doesn't outgrow them first.  Notice that she is not thrilled to have her picture taken so early in the morning.

Our youngest two were great sports about being photographed.

And they are off to another great start of a new school year and a new chapter of our lives.  All shirts here are from Land's End.  The skirt and skort are also from Land's End.  Shorts are from Old Navy and Flynn O'Hara.  Have a great first day, Kiddos!

Here's wishing all of you readers a wonderful start to a new school year as well!

Much More Than a History Book

     While our family was in southern Virginia last week, a new book by Tamy Kay Thompson was released by The History Press/Arcadia Publishing titled Curiosities of Hampton Roads.  This is no ordinary history textbook or tour guide.  The paperback describes mysterious, eerie, and somewhat ghastly tales and occurrences from the coastal southern cities of Virginia.  I was able to acquire a pre-ordered copy at the beginning of our trip, which made our time in Williamsburg even more meaningful.  We viewed or toured most of the buildings Thompson describes in chapter four, including the Governor's Palace, the College of William and Mary, and the public hospital, just to name a few.  During the candlelit ghost tour, some of the same strange apparitions mentioned by the tour guide were also written about in this book.

     I had the pleasure of interviewing the author in her home, and I wanted to share with you what I learned.

Preppy Mountain Farmer: "What led you to write this book?"

Tamy Kay Thompson: "I was interested in the history of America's birthplace, but the research I did wasn't exactly matching the stuff my kids were learning in school.  I started digging deeper and uncovered some interesting historical facts that can't be found in mainstream history books, like the fate of the first German immigrants, the true story of John Smith and other early colonists, and the Native American Indians' side of the story.  At the same time, I learned that a lot of places in Hampton Roads are considered haunted.  Yet none of the books I read combined the historical aspect with the legends.  I decided to write a book that did just that, and write it like a tour guide of the area so it could be used by tourists, local residents, and historians alike.  Along the way, I discovered some unknown historical sites that deserved some recognition."

Preppy Mountain Farmer:  "What was the writing process like and how long did it take?"

Tamy Kay Thompson:  "The writing process was difficult at times.  I had to decide where to begin, what to include and omit, and how much detail to go into.  Plus, I had to visit almost every site to get a feel for it, see it, and photograph it.  And, of course, there were countless hours of research involved.  Every time I thought I'd read everything there was to read about a specific place, I found something else.  The historical section/genealogical room at the Main Street Library was useful, and the librarian stationed there was incredibly helpful.  I accessed old books, diaries, newspaper articles, and censuses.  I also delved into the deeds, property patents, and public records in downtown Hampton.  All-in-all, it took about a year to write, then another few months to edit.  But the writing process took much less time than getting it published; it was rejected by numerous publishers over a few years before The History Press/Arcadia Publishing accepted it.  On a brighter note, one of my favorite things about researching for the book was taking my kids to several of the sites, which helped them learn more about the area than they ever learned in school.

Preppy Mountain Farmer:  "Have you always been interested in these topics?"

Tamy Kay Thompson:  "Growing up, I wasn't interested in history and could never memorize specific dates and names of places.  As an adult, I began to enjoy learning about American and world history...if it was interesting.  I like the bizarre, obscure, and curious stuff.  I've always liked ghost stories, strange tales, and historical legends that leave you wondering if they're true or not.  I thought Historically Haunted Hampton Roads (which was renamed Curiosities of Hampton Roads by Arcadia Publishing) was an interesting combination of historically accurate facts and strange tales."

     I couldn't agree more.

     Did I mention that the author just happens to be my little sister?

     Copies of Curiosities of Hampton Roads: Ghostly Colonists, Hidden Crypts, The Black Swan of Westover and More can be found at: (Click on any of the links below, and they'll take you directly to her book.)

Arcadia Publishing

Amazon

Google Books

Wordery

Barnes and Noble

Walmart.com

...and many independently owned, local book stores.

More Family Friendly Destinations in Coastal Virginia

...While Still Avoiding Theme Parks and Crowded Boardwalks

After many hours of walking around Colonial Williamsburg and a morning spent at Buckroe Beach, we decided to drive over to Newport News.

Destination 3: Virginia Living Museum

We've been to a number of zoos and aquariums throughout the country, and this one is now at the top of our favorites list.  From the cafe to the indoor exhibits to the trails and the outdoor gardens, all of our children enjoyed this place.  An added perk to purchasing a membership is that it can be used to enter other selected museums throughout the country.  We found four of them within a two-hour radius of our house.

There is currently a special frog exhibit that made my younger boys very happy.  Our pool attracts a variety of frogs and toads every spring as they seem to find it a perfect place for laying strings and globs of jelly-like eggs.  Unfortunately, the tadpoles never make it to adulthood since we have to remove the pool cover in late May when we open our pool for the season.  All summer, though, we have frog visitors that we have to rescue from the pool with our net.

It was here, and not at the beach, that we got to touch starfish and crabs.  The only things we found at Buckroe Beach were seashells.

Out in the Children's Garden, the Hobbit House was popular with my little ones since we are big fans of J. R. Tolkien.

This museum had a lot of fun, hands-on areas for children that allowed them to actively learn, but it was also interesting for our teens and us adults as well.  Not all places we visited appealed to every age in our family, which leads me to our next stop.

Destination 4: College of William & Mary

With two teenagers in tow, I figured it's never too early to tour an institution of higher education.  Since this "Public Ivy" is just across the street from Merchant Square in Colonial Williamsburg, we couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to walk around campus, and a beautiful campus it is.

Being the second oldest college in our nation, the architecture perfectly matches the rest of Colonial Williamsburg.  The first photo shows the Wren Building which was built in 1695 and is the oldest college building in the United States.

I think we're all hoping one of our children ends up here to give us an excuse to visit many times in the future.

Interspersed with visiting these sites, we also tried many different restaurants, visited my sister's family, attended Mass at the chapel at Langley Air Force Base, walked through the art museums in Colonial Williamsburg, played some miniature golf at Pirate's Cove, hit the Williamsburg Outlets,  and even acquiesced and took the children to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum.

I wish I could say our boys enjoyed learning about folk art and colonial furniture in the art museums more than seeing the shrunken heads and the tattooed, fork-tongued man at Ripley's, but I suppose that might be expecting too much.

Most of us left with good memories, smiles on our faces, and wishing we had just a few more days before we had to go home.  There was almost no arguing; we didn't have to fly; we steered clear of rides and thick crowds and long lines; and the cost was minimal.  That's my definition of a good vacation.