We are preparing to go to a house in the mountains to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. My favorite part of packing these days is when three-year-old Anne comes bounding down the stairs with her Doc McStuffins rolling suitcase and announces she has packed for the trip. Sometimes the suitcase is full of dress up clothes. This trip she was more practical. There was a dress, a few shirts and binoculars. I told her that I thought the binoculars were a very good choice for our trip, since we would probably do some bird watching. She was very proud of herself and made sure everyone knew she had packed wisely. I didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm, so I found an extra duffle bag and did her actual packing in that bag. Her Doc McStuffins suitcase is sitting on top of the duffle bag and both will go to the mountains. (**Later update: During our trip, Anne did her best to only use those items she packed in her suitcase, which meant attempting to wear the same dress over and over. There was quite a bit of resistance every time I suggested she wear something from the duffle bag.)

Meg is 8 and decided she would take care of her own packing. I fully support the kids taking that kind of initiative, so I allowed her to hand me the zipped up suitcase, but proceeded to interrogate. 

Me: Did you pack shirts?
Meg: Yes.
Me: Underwear?
Meg: Of course.
Me: Shorts?
Meg: Kind of. Do leggings and things count?
Me: Sure. Swimsuit?
Meg: What? What do I need a swimsuit for?

I finally convinced her that she needed her swimsuit and she included that as well. I felt very comfortable about her packing until I found a pile of about ten t-shirts she had neglected to take from the clean laundry. We threw the t-shirts in an extra bag and I look forward to opening that suitcase and seeing what she anticipated wearing without those shirts. 

Then there's Clare. For days she has been asking me to help her pack. I kept telling her that I would help her as soon as I finished the last of her laundry. She began packing on her own. She included a black velvet-like dress suitable for a winter piano recital. She also included a heavy, fleece jacket that is so thick it took up half her suitcase. Yes, I did tell her it was going to be cooler in the mountains, but that's taking things a little too far. She conducted some sort off science experiment at her desk while I repacked her suitcase. 

Hopefully we will get to our mountain getaway with everything we need. I've been concentrating so heavily on packing food that I'll probably forget some other obvious and essential group of items. But it should be fun regardless. How amazing to reach 50 years of marriage. Fifty years of choosing to stick by each other no matter what comes your way. My sister and her husband just celebrated 23 years of marriage. My husband and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary this fall. In celebrating my parents' fifty years of marriage, we will be celebrating what that marriage has produced. The secure home they gave us begat two more happy marriages. The two children they raised begat five joyful grandchildren who all adore their grandparents. 

We live a half mile from Fort Ward. Fort Ward was one of the many forts in the area that made up the Defenses of Washington during the Civil War. After the Civil War, the fort was abandoned, but in the 1960s Alexandria began restoring Fort Ward. The fort periodically hosts encampment reenactments and annually holds a Christmas during the Civil War event which our girls very much enjoyed this past year. 

The half mile between our house and the fort is very walkable with nice sidewalks the entire route. While the older girls were still in school, I occasionally walked Anne over to the fort in her little red wagon and she would play in the grass at the fort with its many hills and huge trees to hide behind. After our numerous games hide-and-seek, we would walk to the fort walls with its many cannons and fun wooden bridges connecting the various walls. 

Yesterday, I walked all three girls to the fort for the first time. "Walk" isn't quite the word. Meg and Clare rode their scooters. Anne opted for her tricycle. The tricycle has a handle that allows me to push her when she gets tired of pedaling, so we can use it for longer walks. Though to give her credit, she's very good on that little tricycle and often I'm using the handle to slow her down rather than to push her. 

Once we were at the fort, Meg began taking advantage of the hills to really ride her scooter. She has become very adventurous on her scooter. She tackles steeper and steeper hills and amazingly always remains on her feet--even as I'm imagining every possible disaster that could happen. I've always lacked coordination, so I'm amazed to see it in my own daughters. Moreover, Meg has long had balance issues due to migraines, but watching her fly down the hills, I'm convinced she has overcome those issues. Clare, who usually excels in anything requiring coordination and athleticism, is clearly just a little bit behind Meg developmentally. She isn't quite as steady as Meg on her scooter or bike, but I have no doubt in six months she'll have the same control. That being said, she didn't have the same control at Fort Ward. When she followed Meg down a hill, she wiped out terribly. Luckily, she was not injured seriously. She was just a little sore, frustrated and nervous about getting back on the scooter. 

We all took a break at the amphitheater at the fort. Not surprisingly, the girls put on dance shows and mini-plays. Clare read Barnyard Dance and convinced her sisters to act out the words. "Stomp your feet. Clap your hands. Everybody ready for a barnyard dance." 

When we finally made it to the actual fort part of Fort Ward, the girls were interested in how the landscape itself created the fort. Walls were built into the slopes of the hills, which created protection as well as an excellent sight line for the cannons. The girls enjoyed being able to get so close to cannons and really seeing what they are like. I attempted to do a demonstration of how to fire a cannon, though I had doubts myself that I was doing it correctly. It was interesting to us that there were various sizes of cannons at the fort. We were also fascinated by the ammunition storage built like cellars into the hillside. 

I'm glad to say Clare's scooter confidence returned for our walk back home. The path home is relatively flat. She was cautious, but overcame her initial apprehensions. We are hoping to return to Fort Ward for a picnic in the near future. 

This week we have been enjoying the slow movement of summer. There is no need to rush in the morning. Throughout the day we can do what we want to do. We've gone to the pool. We've invited friends over for extended play dates. Yesterday the girls asked to go to Long Branch Nature Center. 

As I have documented throughout this blog, we love our area nature centers. They offer entertaining and informative programs for every age group. We've enjoyed the family campfires they host. We've attended numerous birthday parties at the nature centers. Often we just spend rainy afternoon in the fun playroom at the nature center closest to us. Yesterday, the girls took advantage of the break in the heat and spent most of their times on the outside trails. That isn't entirely accurate. They spent most of their time in the stream that runs along the trails at the nature center.

The true adventure started as they attempted to walk over the large rocks near the stream. Soon they found walking in the shallow water was not too bad. Anne lost her footing and fell right into the shallow water. I thought her wet shirt and skirt would send her into hysterics wanting to go home; but, no, that was all part of the fun game apparently. Soon Clare also tripped and found herself soaked. No complaints. Everyone wanted to stay and play. 

The girls soon made it over to a patch of dirt and small rocks. They stood on this little island of sorts and attempted to skip rocks on the water. In our summer adventure notebooks (I'll have to do a post on these notebooks at some point), I have included activities from Keri Smith's book How to Be an Explorer of the World. One activity is to find an item on a walk and create a collection around that item. Meg and Clare embraced that activity at this point and began collecting what they called sea glass hidden amidst all the rocks. Meg has plans to use her rocks in a fish tank she hopes to get soon to hold a beta fish. 

Though our adventures at the nature center eventually had to come to an end, the girls' exploration of nature did not. At dusk they ran outside to join their neighborhood friends in hunting fireflies. I watched from our front step as the girls caught numerous of fireflies in their hands and then let them go. The goal appeared to be to name each firefly before it escaped. Names include Leonardo, Mia, and Flippy (for the firefly who tended to flip over on his back). The girls would periodically bring a firefly over to me to hold and I enjoyed watching each one open its wings or light up unexpectedly. I remembered running through my grandparents' front yard as a child catching fireflies in jars as my mother and grandmother sat on the big front porch watching us. 

The girls lingered outside after dark, hoping to spot the bats and the fox they had seen the night before. Three-year-old Anne desperately wanted to see the fox, but she kept saying to me nervously, "I'm going to stick close to you in case the fox comes." She decided to name the fox Mr. Tod in honor of the Beatrix Potter villain. 

Such a wonderful summer evening. It was so very simple, but fully of memories. 

And it is with the Sound of Music. Several months ago I purchased tickets to the new production of the Sound of Music which came to the Kennedy Center this month. At the time I bought the tickets I was fully confident that Meg and Clare would love it. I knew three-year-old Anne would need to stay home with daddy, but I had no doubt that Meg and Clare would enjoy all two hours and forty-five minutes of it. Wow, it is long. This week I began to be concerned that perhaps it was too much for the girls. I became even more anxious when right before we left Meg declared she didn't want to go. My response: "I paid a lot of money for these tickets. You are going." Not exactly the way you want to start off a fun afternoon.

​Happily Meg was so glad I made her go. I first began to calm down when I saw quite a few children (many of whom were younger than Meg and Clare) walking into the matinee performance. When Meg found out the production was in the Opera House, she was sold. The Opera House is very ornate and Meg was thrilled to just be in the theater. We had a little time before the performance so we pre-ordered cookies for intermission and enjoyed the fountains outside.

Once the performance began, the girls were entranced. Meg sat on the edge of her seat and clapped enthusiastically after every song. Clare sat more quietly but never took her eyes off the stage. They loved the music. They loved the story. They loved the romance. When intermission came I wondered if they were going to ask how much longer the performance would be. Instead they asked, "Are they going to get married?' "Yes," I responded, "And they will have to escape the Nazis." Who wouldn't be excited about that!

The scenery was amazing. Scenes seamlessly switched from the abbey to von Trapp house. Charlotte Maltby was a magnificent Maria and made the performance truly her own. She was quite a different Maria than Julie Andrews. I think she captured the carefree spirit of Maria even better than Julie Andrews. Nicholas Rodriguez was a very handsome Captain. Melody Betts blew everyone away with her huge voice as Mother Abbess. 

We all came home singing the songs. Meg was hitting notes as big as the Mother Abbess and at time making Anne cry due to the volume. Meg is ready to do the school musical again (she sat out this past year). Clare is making plans to pursue a performance-oriented ballet school so she can perform in the Nutcracker. After seeing the Sound of Music, they are ready to perform. It made me so happy that they loved this experience. 

Meg loves mysteries. Her favorite book series include Encyclopedia Brown (my favorite as a kid), A to Z Mysteries and the Boxcar Children mysteries. The girls also became interested in spy kits during the school year. With all this mystery and intrigue, I decided it might be time to try the International Spy Museum. The Spy Museum is definitely not geared towards smaller children. Reading is absolutely a necessity to experience the museum fully. In fact, the first stop in the museum is a room full of fake identities which you must read and choose one to memorize as your own identity. I looked through the D.C. parent websites to see if 8-year-old Meg and 7-year-old Clare were likely to enjoy the museum and most people believed the museum was great for kids 7 and above. 

I started the day out with a code to break. At breakfast I gave Meg and Clare this puzzle and they used the cipher Meg and I made at the Smithsonian Sleepover to solve it.

I should note that while the museum was more age appropriate for Meg and Clare, 3-year-old Anne was definitely along for the ride. Happily there is no admission cost for kids 6 and under, so as long as I could keep her occupied, we weren't out much. We were planning to do the Family Mission activity provided by the museum as a way to keep the kids connected as they make their way through the exhibits. The museum also provided an age-appropriate activity sheet for Anne that used pictures of animals and other things kids could spot around the museum. 

The museum definitely offers hands-on activities that kids and adults can enjoy. There is a duct tunnel that kids can crawl through and attempt to listen in on conversations. The sound made in the duct tunnel is measured so kids know if they are quiet enough to be a spy. There are touchscreens with video footage of crowds and the user attempts to locate the disguised spy. The James Bond exhibit includes a hang time test, which Meg is using below.

Even with all these great activities, it wasn't the most successful trip. Clare was not having a good day. I think her perfectionism was overwhelmed by trying to memorize a secret identity. She then struggled to follow along on the Family Mission activity and became frustrated. She would say she wanted to go home and ignore an activity, but then get very upset when she realized she had missed filling in a blank on her activity sheet. This is not unusual for Clare when something is just slightly beyond her abilities. She can't accept only partially completing a task. She wants to conquer everything and becomes distraught when she can't do something. She's lucky that both her father and I have personal experience with that type of frustration and we can be somewhat sympathetic. We know the frustration will pass and that she mostly just needs a supportive hug as all of her fears of not being good enough work their way through her little mind. That being said, it is difficult to watch because Clare is such a talented and smart girl. We all know how gifted she is in so many ways and it is so hard to watch her feeling inadequate. 

I'm glad to say that even grumpy Clare found some ways to amuse herself. Here, she and Anne are being Bletchley girls--intercepting German intelligence in World War II. 

While the trip was not a huge success, it wasn't a total failure either. After returning home, I noticed Meg pulled out her books on spies and was using her spy notebook. Clare was attempting to covertly blend in to various surrounding so she could spy on people. Anne simply asked, "Can we play spy?" The museum certainly triggered their imaginations and that was really all I was trying to accomplish. We, however, will wait another few years until we try it again. 

I love Pinterest. I have become totally Pinterest-dependent when planning birthday parties, large family events and even meals. Pinterest is also my go-to for coming up with ideas to occupy the kids--especially during the summer months. This year I turned to Pinterest for our summer reading incentive plan. 

Specifically the credit goes to the website How Does She?  They created fantastic summer printables for Reading Bingo. The bingo card directs kids to read while doing things such as sitting on a blanket or drinking lemonade or sitting by the front door. When the child has read for the designated time doing that activity she can mark the box. When the child earns a "bingo," she receives a coupon on which the parent can designate the reward. When the child earns a "blackout," she gets a golden ticket. For our family, the coupons include things such as a trip to Baskin Robbins, inviting a friend for a sleepover or going to a park with a special activity such as a carousel. Our golden ticket is a trip to Six Flags. I must confess that everything included on the coupon and the golden ticket were things I planned to do with the kids this summer. This plan just helps them to earn it.

After much thought, I decided to set the designated reading time as 30 minutes. The first day of our program led me to believe that this may not have been long enough. Meg and Clare earned a bingo the first day. Meg read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for two hours. Clare read a Magic Treehouse book about Leonardo da Vinci for two hours and fifteen minutes. They have not kept up that pace since that first day, but I do think this will be a very successful reading plan for the summer.

In the past, we have signed up for the library reading program. Those were great, but with each year the girls became less excited about them. Reading bingo has definitely added a little more excitement to summer reading. We have also signed up for the Patriots Reading Challenge--as in the New England Patriots. I imagine many sports teams provide similar summer reading challenges for kids. Even for kids who love to read, it helps to have that little extra incentive to pick up a book in the summer. I loved reading as a child, but I know it was far too easy to go into a television coma for hours on end and never pick up a book at all. I don't want to hinder my kids' love of reading by forcing them to read, but rather I want to encourage them to choose reading on their own. 

Right at the end of school, we had the most unexpected afternoon. As the girls walked from the car to our front door, they began yelling, "What is that?" They had found the creature in the picture below quivering on our sidewalk.

At first, I couldn't answer their question. I had no idea what this tiny, little featherless creature was. It looked like a miniature dinosaur. It was with that thought that I realized it was a brand new baby bird that had fallen from its nest. My little scientist girls have been telling me that birds and dinosaurs are related and I suddenly believed it. 

I was not hopeful for our little baby bird and I tried to prepare the girls that he/she was unlikely to make it. Using large, thick leaves I moved the bird off the sidewalk and on to soft mulch where he would be safer. I then called our local nature center to see if anything could be done. The person who answered the phone was incredibly helpful and provided a great deal of information--which made me think the nature center gets call like mine a lot. I was told that, if possible, the best thing to do is to put the baby bird back in the nest. However, I had no idea where the nest was. We have two large trees whose limbs come together right where the baby bird fell. From the ground, I was unable to spot a nest in either tree. 

The next best thing is to leave the baby bird in a safe place (which we had done) and wait to see if the parent birds find the baby. Apparently, birds are quite good at locating their babies and will even feed them on the ground. I was given the number of a wildlife rescue organization who might take the bird if the parents did not locate the baby.  We waited inside (so we wouldn't scare the parent birds away), but luckily we had placed the baby near a window and the girls kept a quiet eye on him. After a few minutes our hopes were raised when it appeared a parent bird had located the baby and was feeding the baby. But soon thereafter Meg informed me that the baby bird was no longer moving. I went to check and it was clear the baby bird had died. 

We decided to bury the poor little baby bird under our crepe myrtle tree. After the burial, the girls marked the grave.

They then followed this up with a rendition of Ave Maria.  

Several weeks have passed now. We still remember our little baby bird and talk about him often. We do so wish we could have seen him grow bigger, but we feel very blessed to have seen such a magnificent piece of nature up close for even the briefest time. 

I promised the girls adventure this summer and I am doing my best to deliver. While exploring some local geocaching options, I learned about letterboxing. Letterboxing is a much older form of geocaching. It dates back to mid-19th century England. According to Wikipedia, walkers (the hiking type of walkers, not zombies) would attempt to locate a hidden box which held postcards placed in it by previous walkers who found the box. The walkers would then mail the postcards to show they had also found the box.

Todays letterboxing is somewhat different. Clues are posted on sites such as Letterboxing North America. Clues lead to a box containing a notebook and a stamp. Letterboxers maintain a personal notebook or log in which they use the stamp they find in the box to prove they have found the box. Letterboxers also have a personal stamp (often hand carved) which they use to stamp the notebook in the box to show they have been there. 

There are quite a few letterboxes in our D.C. area. I decided to begin with a set of clues that explored the historic graveyards of Old Town Alexandria. There were four boxes to be located. We started at the Quaker Burial Ground, which is now a public library. A marker remains for Elisha Dick--a doctor who treated the dying George Washington. Apparently Dr. Dick was against using leeches to bleed George Washington. While we enjoyed discussing the use of leeches in medicine, we could not locate the box. 

We then headed off to Christ Church. Historical figures such as George Washington and Robert E. Lee regularly attended this church. Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill famously attended a National Day of Prayer at this church just after the United States entered World War II. On our hunt we followed the clues and found the loose bricks the clues indicated, but there was no stamp. 

Feeling a bit frustrated at this point, we needed to regroup. A bit of internet research revealed other letterboxing groups suspected the first two stamps were missing, but the remaining two stamps were still in place. We set off again. 

Our next stop was the Old Presbyterian Meeting House. I had never been to this building, though it is relatively close to our house. It is such a great old building with its fantastic white colonial pews. Strangely enough, this cemetery also holds a doctor who treated the dying George Washington. Apparently this doctor was in favor of using leeches, so we didn't like him as much. I'm happy to report we easily found this stamp and the girls excitedly checked out our find. 

Our final destination was St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery (which, by the way, is located away from the parish itself). This clue required us to find the grave of a Reverend Stephens. After some hunting, Meg discovered the headstone was right by where we had parked. We found the final box, which included both a stamp and log book in which we could place our own stamp. Oh the feeling of triumph! 

On a side note, three-year-old Anne was not an enthusiastic participant in this activity. It certainly is more geared towards the older girls, but I was hoping the treasure hunt aspect of the outing would catch her attention. Anne did not like the cemeteries. Perhaps the decaying headstones of the old burial grounds was just too much for our overly imaginative child. I'm hoping she's more excited about future hunts that do not take place in cemeteries.

Anne was much more enthusiastic about our evening activity yesterday. We released our butterflies that we had watched go from caterpillars to chrysalises and finally to beautiful painted ladies. This is our third year watching this amazing miracle of nature and it never gets old. We began with five caterpillars. Three successfully formed into chrysalises. Two caterpillars formed chrysalises but had fallen from where they originally attached so we weren't sure what would happen with them. One of these came out of its chrysalis a beautiful butterfly with no problem. The other emerged alive but did not appear fully formed. We kept him in our netted cage with food to see if he improves but we are not hopeful. We released the four remaining butterflies. We unzipped the netting and watched as one-by-one each butterfly realized it could fly higher and higher. We all cheered each time one magically floated into the sky for the first time. 

Several weeks ago it became clear that I needed to let go of Anne's dresser. It's been a good dresser. I bought it from Walmart when I was pregnant with Clare and put it together all by myself at 8 months pregnant. I was very proud of it. For over three years its four-drawers served as the only dresser for Meg and Clare. The top two drawers were Clare's. The bottom two drawers were Meg's, because, at the time, she was a toddler and I wanted her to be able to reach the drawers so she could dress herself. The poor dresser was always stuffed full and its drawers were always getting stuck and pulled off their sliders.

When Anne came along, we moved and Meg and Clare had a much bigger room, so we gave them a much bigger dresser. Anne inherited the old dresser and I decided to use it as her changing table as well. Undoubtedly, two years of diaper changes took its toll on the dresser. Even though the dresser now only served one child, I found that its drawers will still stuffed full. 

This past December we moved again. Each girl suddenly had her own room. Meg kept the dresser that she had once shared with Clare. We bought an antique dresser for Clare with a lovely matching mirror and sturdy drawers. Anne kept the Walmart dresser. The move was hard on the poor dresser. I had to reattach the back and try to get the drawers back on their sliders. Anne's ever increasing wardrobe no longer fit in the drawers and soon one drawer fell off its sliders and the others quickly followed. Two weeks ago, I gave up putting clothes in the dresser and began searching for a replacement. 

Today I found my answer. A family was moving and their daughter had decided she wanted a loft bed at their new home. So they needed to get rid of her perfectly lovely Thomasville Vignettes bedroom set. We were happy to take it off their hands. The dresser is amazing. It has five wide, sturdy drawers that absolutely stay in place. And not only does Anne now have a much better dresser, she also has a twin bed to replace her quickly disintegrating toddler bed and a matching nightstand. The pieces have a charming look about them that is perfect for a little girl's room.

This was a big change for Anne. She was excited, but nervous. I moved her toddler bed into our bedroom, so it didn't disappear immediately. I hadn't had a chance to prepare her for this big change, so I thought we should move gradually. Meg and Clare decided they would help Anne adjust by doing a sleepover in her room tonight. Anne excitedly started out in her room, but is now wandering around a bit. We'll adjust soon enough and I couldn't be happier with how sweet her room looks. 

Last night Clare informed me that we would be spending some one-on-one time together this afternoon. After all, Meg had an entire night at the museum of one-on-one time with me Friday night. Clare told me her plan for our time and I readily agreed.

We began by attempting to play the board game she designed. At the Smithsonian Sleepover, Meg and I bought Clare the Creativity for Kids Spark!Lab Smithsonian Invent the Greatest Board Game. Clare immediately began work upon receiving it and created her game: Portals and Passages. Today she showed me the game board and began explaining the very complicated rules. There were numerous sets of cards and by the time she sorted through all the cards, she had lost the dice. So, we put the first official playing of Portals and Passages on hold. 

Next on our agenda was practicing and performing a play from her BrainQuest book. Clare assigned me the part of an old man who insists that he owns the shade from a tree. She plays the young man who eventually buys the shade and ends up taking the old man's house when the shade falls over the house. Clare played the part of the director and demonstrated the hand motions I should use as well as the voice inflections. She also insisted that I memorize my part. Clare has always had a vivid imagination and loves make-up and dressing up, but I had no idea she had such a theatrical bent. We eventually performed our play for Anne, who gave us rave reviews.

The final portion of Clare's one-on-one time was reading poetry together. Clare has always loved rhyme and recently that has developed into a love of children's poetry. She writes poetry (and songs), but she mostly loves reading it together. I was recently watching the BBC series The Secret Life of Books (which I highly recommend) and learned about Edward Lear's ​Book of Nonsense written in 1846. I knew Clare would love his work. I then discovered the British Library had issued a beautiful edition of Lear's Nonsense Songs and Stories, so I immediately bought it for her. This afternoon Clare and I read several of the poems from the book. She likes us to read in unison so she can follow my cadence and learn how the poem should sound. It was quite enjoyable. 

This completed our special time together. I couldn't have planned a more pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I was quite happy it was Clare's idea of a nice afternoon as well.