Nicole ... all ready for her first day of first grade!
Today was the day Nicole has been waiting for and the day Mommy has been dreading. I couldn't be happier that she loves school, loves learning, and loves spending time with her friends. I just miss having her around all day! I think we should add another month to summer. It seems too short and winter is way too long!
At "Meet the Teacher" Nicole was excited to find her friend Kielee is not only in her class but will sit at the same table as her! They were in the same kindergarten class.
This is Nicole's teacher, Mrs. Tepe.
There are lots of computers in her classroom. Nicole really enjoys computers.
The other day I was returning something at Target. The woman helping picked up the ringing phone and had this puzzled sort of look. It took a few moments. Then she and I both looked over and saw this:
Allyson was chattering away on the phone. It was so funny I decided to take some video. You can hear her complaining that "this thing" (the computer) isn't working. Several times she talks about fixing the batteries. She's interrupted a couple of times by Nicole and responds by saying, "Hold on a second Tole." She is the cutest tech support person I've ever seen!
This weekend was the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Wilson's Creek. This was the 2nd major battle of the civil war with over 2,300 casualties. The north was severely outnumbered and lost this fight on what is now known as "bloody hill."
The battle sight is just a few miles from our house and I thought it would be interesting and educational to attend the reenactment. The first night, Friday, was supposed to be "family night" with no battles but period games for the kids to play as well as other activities. Well, we never did find the games and when we arrived there was a skirmish going on and the girls weren't too sure about all the gunfire.
At one point we were talking to this man, his wife and son. The call to shoot went out from the actors and the dad looked at his wife, suddenly, and said, "Ready?" There was gunfire. Out of the blue the guy and his wife fall to the ground acting as if they'd been shot. (They were not actors.) The worst part was the guy fell on his son who began bawling that his nose had been hurt. It was a little awkward, to say the least. There were just some people there who are really into their civil war history!
We toured the civilian camp where people lived for the weekend 1861-style. (There was also a north and south camp.)
That night we stayed to watch the canon fire. Wow... loud and amazing to watch. It was here that Nicole, sitting on a log waiting for it to start, said to the person next to her, "We're for the North. Any of you for the South?"
I was disappointed not to have seen a battle so, the next day, I made the ill-fated decision to take the girls back by myself. We arrived after the battle had started. I think maybe two shots had been fired when Nicole suddenly started screaming, "My eye!" She said some paper got into it. My first thought was, "Are you kidding me?!" This is the child who has already scratched her cornea twice. When water was not bringing relief a man told me the papers had oil on them so water would not help. I don't know if these "papers" were what they held the gunpowder in or what. All I know is we were soon at the entrance tent with a medical emergency call going out over the radio. Here's how we spent the "battle."
Fortunately, the saline wash helped and Nicole's eye is fine once again. I was ready to quit and go home but Nicole had her heart set on those games we never found on the first night. It took a while but we finally found them.
Watch Allyson closely at the beginning of this video. I hadn't noticed this until I watched it later. Gross! (If reading this on Facebook, go to the bottom and click on "view original post" in order to watch the videos.)
I really never planned to go back. But on Sunday there was a final battle reenactment. The girls and I decided to give it another try. This time we made it in plenty of time. Found a nice spot by the creek. As we waited the girls threw rocks, twigs, and leaves into the water. At some point a gentleman notified me that the leaves Nicole was throwing were actually poison oak. Oh. My. Gosh. He advised hand sanitizer so I gave Nicole a healthy dose and told her to wash really good. Obeying, she rubbed her hands...and face!! At this point there are just no words. I sent her to wash off in the creek and then we watched the battle.
Just as the troops were marching onto the field, a gun went off. A horse in front of us spooked and several of the actors were screaming, "Medic!" We weren't sure if this was part of the act or if they really needed a medic. Unfortunately, it was the latter. This man was knocked off his horse and possibly kicked.
After he was safe, the battle resumed.
They just stood facing each other and shot.
Dead and wounded falling on the battlefield
Carrying off the wounded
Uniforms, especially for the south, were non-existent in the beginning.
Watching the battles and seeing the bodies lying in the field was sobering when realizing the sacrifice of these early Americans who fought for the country we have today.
A sudden lightning storm hit just as we were arriving at Whitewater for their late night waterslides. The park shut things down.
The girls were so disappointed. We decided to go see Kirby Van Burch's magic show instead. That cheered them up. On the way out of the parking lot, Nicole noticed some cattails. (My dad had given her one that she lost earlier this summer.) Britt didn't hesitate to pull over and get out of the car.
Yeah Daddy!!
Then I realized I hadn't brought a change of clothes for them! (They were in swimsuits.) Ah... but the mall is right next door! So, not only did they get to see a show...they got new outfits, too! (Yeah, scored two dresses and a pair of shoes for $20. Patting myself on the back.)
We were all ready to see the magic show! We even got to tour backstage and get up close to tigers and leopards! Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture (they weren't allowed in most places). But you can see how exhausted they were after everything!
After fishing we took Papa and Nana to Fantastic Caverns, "America's only ride-through cave." Before the tour everyone had a little fun in the gift shop.
Britt fell in love with this Jeep. So in love he actually allowed Allyson to crawl under the barrier and into the driver's seat. I should probably mention the jeep is not far from the ticket desk. Thankfully they were either being nice or completely oblivious.
Finally on the tram and about to ride into the cave.
Papa had to block Allyson from exiting the tram during most of the tour. She really wanted to explore the cave for herself!
I couldn't help thinking if she had lived in the 1860's when this cave was found she might have been one of the original group of women who were the first to venture inside with just candlelight. The women wrote their names on the wall and the autographs are still there today:
Allyson was constantly talking throughout the tour. When it was over she cried and wanted to go again!
Here are some other pictures from inside the cave.
Cave's original entrance
This is where entertainment was held several decades ago.
The grounds surrounding the cave has beautiful trails and landscaping. We stopped to take a few pictures.
On the way home we stopped at the store and scored a great deal on some porterhouse steaks!
We enjoyed a nice dinner together before Papa and Nana had to leave the next day.
