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​A couple of years ago, I discovered there was a community on YouTube known as BookTube, in which contributors discuss books. When I first discovered BookTube, I mostly found the highly followed contributors who tend to focus on Fantasy and YA books. These videos were enjoyable, but they didn't lead me to new authors that I was excited to read. Happily, as I have searched BookTube for contributors closer to my taste, I have found some fantastic channels. I thought I'd share some of my very favorites here.

The Bookish Princess
I have to confess that I'm surprised I ever found this channel. The Bookish Princess, which is run by a contributor named Emma, focuses on both Disney and books. The Disney aspect of her channel doesn't interest me much and I could have easily been distracted by that. I'm so glad I was not, because her taste in books is superb. The Bookish Princess has become one of my favorite BookTube channels. 

The Bookish Princess channel tends to focus on readable classics and comfortable books set in British villages. I have this channel to thank for introducing me to Elizabeth Goudge's Cathedral Trilogy, which I wrote about here, as well as the Miss Buncle series by D.E. Stevenson. 

Books Like Whoa
The channel Books Like Whoa is hosted by a contributor named Mara, who has excellent taste in books. I particularly like this channel due to her strong interest in Agatha Christie (a lifelong favorite of mine). I like the fact that Mara approaches Christie from a literary point of view, rather than just presenting the books as cozy mysteries. This channel has individual discussions about all of Christie's Poirot books as well as her Miss Marple books. While the host is a devoted Agatha Christie fan, she is very honest when a book is not one of Christie's best. 

In regard to Books Like Whoa, I will note that there is occasional profanity on this channel. My kids often watch BookTube videos with me and would enjoy the discussions of Agatha Christie on this channel, but due to the occasion f-bomb, I can't let them watch. I will also note that she occasionally makes a political comment. Politics is not off-limits on BookTube channels, but I often wish contributors would stick to books. 

Kate Howe
​I must give Kate Howe props, because she is one of the few mom contributors I have found. This channel is a great source for classic literature and mysteries. Kate Howe is one of the hosts of Victober, which is a focus on Victorian literature during the month of October. 

Books and Things
Books and Things is hosted by a lovely Brit named Katie. Who doesn't love a British accent? I must say that many of the British and Scottish BookTubers I have found are overly political for my taste. This channel is not. Books and Things is great for finding classics. Katie is one of the hosts of Victober and Jane Austen July. 

Life Between Words
​I love the channel Life Between Words, which is hosted by yet another Katie. I have listed it last, because the channel is not updated often. As I mentioned above, I haven't found many channels hosted by moms. This host does have small children and I think that understandably limits how often she can post. That being said, I do love her taste in books. She often focuses on middle grade books and she started Middle Grade March. She has many older videos still posted, so I highly recommend you go back and check those out. 

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.

Does your school participate in Six Flags Read to Succeed program? I hope so. Students, from Kindergarten through 6th grade, who complete just six hours of recreational reading during the school year, can earn a free ticket to Six Flags. For the past three years, we have gone to Six Flags America in Maryland thanks to these tickets. Based on these trips, I have come up with a few tips for surviving an amusement park with the kids.

Always take help.
​The first year, my husband was able to join us at Six Flags, but usually his work obligations prevent him from going. I am not facing Six Flags with three children on my own. This is particularly true because my kids are spaced out in such a way that there are many rides that either my oldest child or my youngest child is prevented from riding. So we bring a mother's helper. Our fabulous helper is the oldest of five siblings and knows how to handle kids in this environment. She also just happens to be more familiar with Six Flags than I am. She has made these trips totally manageable. 

As we walked into the park this year, Meg and Clare wanted to ride the flying swings. Our helper grabbed Anne and took her to the nearby carousel while I rode the swings with the girls. When Meg and Clare decided they were ready for the Ragin' Cajun, I stayed with Anne at the Looney Tunes section of the park and our helper took Meg and Clare to the roller coaster. What we didn't expect was that they would get stuck on the Ragin' Cajun. Anne and I waited at our meeting place for awhile and then finally went in search of the girls. As we reached the Ragin' Cajun, I heard, "Mom, Mom! We were stuck on the ride." Apparently their car had to be pushed to the end of the ride. 

Try to go when the weather is most pleasant.
The Read to Succeed tickets are good from just after the Fourth of July through a date in August. We usually vacation for a portion of August, so we need to plan our Six Flags trip in July. At the beginning of July, I begin watching the 10-day weather forecast to look for a day that will not be too hot or too stormy. This year we had to work around a terrible heat wave and Anne's extended illness. It was a little warmer than we would prefer, but the high was at least below 90.

Focus on what you like best.
My girls like the water park section of Six Flags the best. There are a few other things they prioritize. They love driving the antique cars. There is a small roller coaster they all like to ride. Meg and Clare like trying a more challenging roller coaster. 

We arrive at the park at around 10:30 a.m. (when it opens) and ride the traditional amusement park rides they like. When everyone begins to complain about the heat and all the requisite rides have been ridden, we head to the water park. We do not worry about riding every possible ride in the amusement park.

Be prepared for the water park (but pack as light as you can).
I take a canvas bag in which I pack two towels (we can share) and everyone's swimsuits. This year, I purchased a waterproof pouch so I could put my phone, keys, cash and credit card in the pouch. This was a fantastic purchase. I did not bring my purse, which kept my load light. I also was able to bring this pouch directly into the water with me, so I didn't need to worry about unattended valuables. 

Pay the extra $5 for premium parking.
Because we purchase premium parking and arrive early, we are able to park quite close to the entrance. This isn't a big deal when we are going in. It is a HUGE deal when we are leaving. We remained at the water park until Anne was literally curled up on a lounge chair napping under her towel. If I had to walk her passed all the premium parking cars into the regular car lot and look for our car there, we would be asking for a meltdown. Instead, we walk out the gates and directly to our car. 

Don't make plans for the day after your trip.
Our Six Flags outing was exhausting. The next day, everyone slept at least an hour later than normal. Even with the extra sleep, no one had energy during the day. It is best to just recognize the day after an amusement park trip will not likely be productive. Don't make any big plans. 

Anne is a bright child, whose achievements usually lead to me both pride and terror. She mastered her scissor skills at the age of two and then quickly used those skills to give herself a mullet. 

She learned to break into my phone by memorizing the passcode and subsequently announced the passcode to her entire preschool class. She figured out how to tweet from my phone and I stopped her seconds before she sent something out. I recently discovered she had made a pretend YouTube video on my phone while I was sleeping. 

I have been very proud of her in recent weeks because she has learned to take the milk out of the refrigerator and pour it into her cereal. She is so self-sufficient that she insists on making her own cereal constantly. But this has its downsides as well. 

She has for a long time pretended to cook soup in our kitchen by putting water in a bowl and adding various seasonings. Occasionally, she uses a kid's knife to cut up a carrot or an apple. This game definitely leads to a few extra dishes and a little spilled water but it is not a big deal. 

Today I assumed she was making soup in the kitchen. In fact, she did make soup and served me a bowl. But she also decided she wanted to make cupcakes. She pulled out a pan in which she could put cupcake holders. She found cupcake holders (I have no idea where they came from). She then made dough. She pulled flour out of the pantry and milk out of the refrigerator and mixed them together with a little sugar. It wasn't exactly cupcake batter, but she made full-fledged dough--really sticky dough.

When I arrived in the kitchen that dough was everywhere. It was smeared on the counter. It was heaped on the refrigerator door handle (because she had "responsibly" placed dough in a container and put it into the refrigerator in case she wanted to play with it later). It was on the floor and on the cabinets of both sides of the counter peninsula that we had carefully detailed last week. It was even in the sink of our main floor bathroom because that's where she washed her hands. 

I made this discovery just before it was time to pick up Clare from dance camp, so I calmly put the dough-covered dishes in the sink and threw away what I could. I wiped down the counters and cabinets. It was hours before I could bring myself to face those dough-covered dishes again. As I cleaned up her mess, I found myself both frustrated and impressed that she decided she wanted cupcakes and tried her best to make them herself. That being said, I also informed her that she could use those self-sufficient skills to help clean up her mess. She might not be the best at scrubbing dough off a counter, but she's a wiz with the steam mop. 

Adventures have not come easily recently. Anne ran a low-grade fever for nine consecutive days. With a headache and lethargy, she had no interest in leaving the house. A ridiculous heat wave didn't help matters either.

On Tuesday, we tried our best to get out of the house. Our intent was to go to Paint This! in Old Town Alexandria. Unfortunately, we realized they weren't open on Tuesday just as we reached our destination. Doing our best to make a bad situation better, we drove a few blocks to Lavender Moon Cupcakes and indulged in some yummy treats. In addition to their unbelievably good cupcakes, we love the charm of the cupcakery itself. It has that urban brickish charm, while also being painted in pinks and teals. There are tiny table with beautiful antique chairs. It is just adorable. I asked Clare if she could live in a place like this. She assured me she would happily move in. 

A few doors down from Lavender Moon Cupcakes is a children's clothes consignment store called 529 Kids Consign. We have found some amazing clothes here over the years, so we stopped by after eating our cupcakes. Each of the girls found a dress and we splurged on some very cute hair accessories. Just a note: the hair accessories are not used (just in case you were worried), but rather many of them are made by local crafters and are very cute and unique. 

We returned to Old Town Alexandria today for another attempt at Paint This! I am happy to say we were successful this time. Paint This! is a paint-your-own-pottery store and Meg has been begging to go there for awhile. Both Meg and Clare have been to Paint This! with friends, but this was our first trip as a family. Anne was very reluctant to go (mostly because she hasn't wanted to leave the house since she first became sick), but with her temperature back to normal, we convinced her to give it a try. As you can tell by the pictures below, she had a blast. She now wants to know when we can go back again. 

If anyone is wondering why Clare looks like Harley Quinn, she went straight from painting pottery to Wacky Wednesday at her dance camp. She and her friend planned very detailed outfits for Wacky Wednesday and she didn't hesitate to wear the outfit to Paint This! Besides, it added to the artistic feel of the outing. 

We really enjoyed this creative adventures. It was fun to pick our pottery and paint colors. It was also fun to sit and paint together. Everyone offered suggestions to each other and helped one another out. We enjoyed conversations with other patrons and the staff was very helpful. Anne finished earlier than the rest of us, but she happily curled up on the sofa in the store and waited for the rest of us to be finished. In fact, she had been eyeing that sofa from the moment we walked in. It was a surprisingly successful two hours considering how challenging the previous week and a half had been. 

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​It has been a strangely quiet week for us. If the heat wave wasn't enough to keep us in the house, we were hit by a virus. Anne wasn't feeling well last weekend, but we thought it was just a little cold brought on by the exhaustion of traveling. The worst seemed to have passed by Tuesday and we decided to go on our long promised outing to the indoor trampoline park, Flight. I paid for our tickets, the girls received their armbands and put on their special trampoline socks. We walked through the doorway to access the trampolines...and Anne vomited with absolutely no warning. She is not one to vomit often so we all stood there for a moment in shock not quite sure what had happened. 

We returned to the customer service desk and I am glad to say they were extremely kind. They gave us vouchers so we could return when everyone was feeling better. I offered to clean up the mess, but they kindly assured me they would do it. 

Anne ran a low-grade fever and was terribly lethargic for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Meg, Clare and I were all under the weather Thursday, but it seemed to only last 24 hours for us. Anne was finally feeling better by Friday, though we were afraid to push her too much. 

While we have been unbelievably quiet this week, it has not been a total loss. We discovered a series of fantastic books called You Read to Me, I'll Read to You. These books are set up for two readers (typically a parent and a child) to read the rhyming stories together. They are great for early readers, though a certain amount of reading proficiency is needed. They are also great for experienced readers to work on their reading aloud skills. Clare and I read Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together and had so much fun that I had to read it with Meg too. After that, all of us (including Anne) were walking around the house rhyming all of our sentences. There are several books in the series, but I will recommend these two as a beginning point. 

While stuck inside, the kids also worked on theirIllustory books. These were Christmas presents they have been saving for just the right time. Illustory allows kids to write and illustrate their own books and then send them in to be published as a bound book for them to keep. My girls make their own books all the time out of scrap paper or old notebooks. These books, however, will be very nice, so they want to take their time and make them special. Here is Meg hard at work on her book. 

If you have an aspiring writer or artist, Illustory would make a great present for a birthday or other special occasion. The company also offers similar kits for such things as comic books. 

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.

In preparation for our trip to Virginia's Historic Triangle, I collected quite a few books about Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. The girls have also enjoyed several television programs and movies related to this time period. I wanted to highlight those for you in this post because these resources can undoubtedly enhance a family trip to the Historic Triangle. 

Meg and Clare are huge fans of the old PBS show Liberty Kids. The series focuses on the Revolutionary War and is very well done. Anne, who is five-years-old, is not yet a fan, though she is known to quote memorable lines, such as "Give me liberty, or give me death." I do think the series is best suited for kids 7 and up. 

Upon returning from Williamsburg, we watched the American Girl movie Felicity: An American Girl Adventure. This movie follows a Williamsburg merchant's daughter as those around her debate whether to be Patriots or Loyalists. Her best friend Elizabeth is  from a British family very loyal to the crown. Clare, in particular, loved this movie, but all the girls tried to imitate the manners Felicity and Elizabeth learned during their tea party lessons. Undoubtedly, the Felicity book series would also be an excellent way to learn about Williamsburg, but we have not read the series as a whole. Meg has enjoyed the Felicity mystery books, which you can find here and here, though a description of tar and feathering did disturb her. 

Meg and Clare are huge fans of the If You Lived... books and long before our trip, they were already enthusiastic readers of the book If You Lived in Colonial Times. We added If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days to our repertoire for our trip. We would also recommend If You Lived At the Time of the American Revolution and If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution. The latter was a particular favorite of Meg's for a couple of years. She read it over and over again and would spontaneously discuss aspects of the Constitutional debates to our great surprise. 

For well over a year now, Meg has aspired to be an archaeologist. We attended an archaeology workshop here in Alexandria last summer, which you can read about here. I wanted to enroll her in the archaeology summer camp in Alexandria, but it is only open for children ages 12 to 15. She is a couple years shy of that, so I went in search of another camp. To my delight, I discovered that the National Parks Service hosts an archaeology camp at the Jamestown Settlement site for kids ages 8 to 12. 

Because the camp is a day camp and is located nearly three hours from our home, I knew we needed to find a home away from home for the week. After a little internet research, I found Anvil Campground, which had several cabins/cottages available and allowed dogs. We could not have been happier with this choice of campgrounds. In addition to a lovely, clean cottage, we enjoyed the campground pool, arcade and playgrounds. The largest playground includes a zip line, which the girls loved. Our dog, Cubby, enjoyed the camp store. He was not only allowed in the store; he also received a treat every time he went in. Here are some pictures from our stay at the campground. 

You can read about how we entertained Clare and Anne while Meg was in archaeology camp in my previous posts on Williamsburg and Jamestown and Yorktown. 

From my perspective, Meg's camp was a huge success. I would drop her off at 10 a.m. each day and pick her up at 3:30 pm. We could order lunch for her through the onsite cafe, which was great since we were away from home. The leaders of the camp communicated very well with parents both before the camp and throughout the week. When I had questions, I sent an email and received an immediate response back. 

The group of kids attending the camp was relatively small (only 11) and fairly evenly split between boys and girls. The first day Meg made friends with a girl who had also traveled several hours to attend the camp and they remained buddies throughout the week. They've maintained contact via email since the camp. On the last day of camp, the children presented their findings not only to their parents, but to the archaeologists on the site. It was a wonderful experience for them. 

We obviously highly recommend the camp. While the camp sessions are filled for this summer, you can find out about the camp here if you are interested for next year. Here are Meg's thoughts on her archaeology camp. She is being interviewed by Clare, who is doing her best to ask her "who, where, what, why and how" questions. Note Meg's braids. She never has the patience to let me braid her hair. I was so excited to actually get two braids in her hair today. 

As I explained in my earlier post on Williamsburg, we spent last week in Virginia's Historic Triangle. This post will cover our outings to Jamestown and Yorktown. A later post will discuss Meg's archaeology camp at Jamestown. 

Jamestown and Yorktown are unusual in that there are two destinations at each location. In Jamestown, there is the actual location of the Jamestown settlement, which is now an archaeology site run by the National Parks Service. A short distance from the archaeology site is the recreated Jamestown Settlement. There is an extensive museum at this site as well as a rebuilt Powhatan village, a rebuilt fort and three reproduction ships. Similarly, at Yorktown the National Parks Service runs the battlefield site, while there is a separate American Revolution Museum a few miles away. NOTE: When purchasing your tickets, double-check the museums your tickets cover. Some tickets include the National Parks Service sites and others do not. 

We went to the recreated Jamestown Settlement with the intention of catching Anne's interest. The previous day in Williamsburg had been difficult for her. She was hot. She didn't want to walk. She wasn't sure what to make of the historical site. It was my suspicion that she might enjoy the recreated village and fort. What I didn't realize was how much she would enjoy the ships.

The main building at the Jamestown Settlement houses a huge museum. Admittedly we did not spend as much time in the museum as I would have liked. I knew that Anne would not be patient with walking through museum exhibits. I didn't want to lose her interest. We, however, did take the time to watch the introductory movie, which was excellent. It allowed the kids and the adults to have a better understanding of how the Jamestown colony came to be and the trials the early colonists faced. 

After the movie, we joined a tour to explore the recreated Powhatan village. We did not stay with the tour for long. The tour guide was very knowledgeable, but it was not always easy to hear what he was saying. Additionally, Anne and Clare had there own priorities of what they wanted to see. Again, my main concern was getting Anne on board with touring historical sites, so I let her go to whatever grabbed her interest. 

From the Powhatan village, we walked to the reconstructed ships. Anne loved the ships. She walked to every nook and cranny and learned about navigation from one of the historical interpreters. Her favorite ship, by far, was the ship that allowed us to go to the lower quarters. She was fascinated by the beds and never hesitated to make herself comfortable. 

Our final stop at the Jamestown settlement was the fort. The look of the fort is unusual because it appears Tudor-style, but with an orange-red color. Having been to the contrasting Plymouth, I was struck by how  evident the military aspect of Jamestown is. This was a colony that needed armor and weapons. That being said, the fort also included a lovely church. It is my understanding from Meg, that it was the church at the actual Jamestown site that allowed archaeologist to locate the remains of the fort. It was long believed the site had been lost to the water, but when they found the church, they knew the rest of the fort would have been located close to it. 

Our trip to Yorktown came much later in the week. We spent only a few minutes at the Yorktown battlefield site. Clare and Anne decided to recreate the battle as best as they could. They shouted lots of quotes from Liberty Kids. Anne came out with a line from the Star Spangled Banner: "But the flag was still there." (I didn't have the heart to tell her that was from the War of 1812.)

We don't have many pictures from the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. The introductory movie was excellent. The Siege of Yorktown movie which came later in the museum, included special effects such as smoke and booming cannon sensations. The girls loved that film. Due to the heat, we didn't spend much time at the living history exhibits, which is unfortunate. The museum has both an encampment and a colonial farm. I thought the girls would love these, but walking into the heat was just too much for them. 

I highly recommend both Jamestown and Yorktown for family visits. The recreated Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown are probably the sites most suitable for kids, but if you are a true history fan, don't miss the National Parks Service sites. 

Meg's great ambition is to be an archaeologist. Several months ago, I found an archaeology camp run by the National Parks Service at Jamestown, Virginia. Jamestown, of course, is the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America. Jamestown is part of the historic triangle in Virginia, which also includes Colonial Williamsburg and the Revolutionary War site at Yorktown. With these fun offerings, we began to put together a family trip around the archaeology camp. I rented a dog-friendly cabin at a campground in Williamsburg. We invited my parents to join us. I began to research all that we could do. This past week everything came to fruition and we went on our adventure. 

First, I will say Meg's camp was all that she hoped it would be. I will allow her to tell you about in another post. As a parent, I can say that I was thrilled with how efficiently and enthusiastically the camp was run. Meg came home every day with exciting tales of her discoveries and she undoubtedly learned a great deal about archaeology.

Second, there is too much to tell about this trip in one post. I had hoped to provide an update during the trip each day, but we were too exhausted. The heat certainly contributed to that. In this post, I will discuss Williamsburg. In a following post, I will discuss Jamestown and Yorktown. 

Williamsburg was the capitol of Virginia during colonial times. The capitol was moved to Richmond in 1780 because Williamsburg was too close to the water and was an easy target for the British. Williamsburg turned from the center of politics into a small, quiet Virginia town. Then, in the early 20th Century, with the help of the Rockefellers, the town was restored to what it was like in its colonial heyday. Some of the still-existing buidling were restored. Other buildings were rebuilt entirely. The result is the opportunity to walk through a living, breathing colonial town. 

In planning our trip, I found the official website www.colonialwilliamsburg.com extremely helpful for determining our best ticket options and for finding unusual events. There is also a very useful app available from Colonial Williamsburg that includes a map that will help visitors find their way around the town. It should be noted that one can walk around Williamsburg without purchasing a ticket and go into restaurants and shops. Tickets allow visitors to enter the living history areas as well as buildings such as the Governor's Palace and the House of Burgesses. 

Prior to going to Williamsburg I secured tickets to two evening events: the Junior Ghost Walk and a period music concert in the House of Burgesses. No pictures were allowed at the concert, but I can tell you it was wonderful. The instruments included a violin, a viola, a flute and a harpsichord. A soprano was also featured. The musicians themselves introduced the pieces, which were all written by composers who had narrowly escaped being forced to practice law. It was an unusual theme to choose for a concert, but added a certain humor to it. It truly was an enjoyable evening to spend in the House of Burgesses. I will note we left 5-year-old Anne back at our cabin with my dad. Both Meg and Clare enjoy classical music and are accustomed to concert settings. This would not be an easy place to handle a child who did not enjoy such concerts. 

We joined the Junior Ghost Walk on our first night in Williamsburg and this outing certainly helped the girls become excited about Williamsburg. The storyteller was excellent and, as promised, told stories that were only slightly scary and did not produce nightmares. Due to slight rain, we began the evening under the shelter of the marketplace, but eventually were able to walk around town. My favorite spot was under the shade of an enormous tree where benches have been placed. Here are some pictures from the Junior Ghost Walk.

Another favorite outing in Williamsburg was a meal at a tavern. We ate lunch at The King's Arms and dinner at Josiah Chowning. The setting is colonial, the wait staff is dressed in period costumes, and the food is a mixture between Southern and British. We had two surprises during our dinner at Josiah Chowning. First, a fife and drum band passed our window as we waited for dinner. Second, a musician serenaded us during our meal. 

One of Clare's favorite activities in Williamsburg was visiting the craftsmen. We visited the print shop and the tin shop twice. She loved the bookbinding. All the girls were fascinated by the cobbler and the weaver. The artisans tell interesting facts about their trade and are happy to answer any question. 

While it was Meg who focused on archaeology all week, Clare got her own chance to dig. On certain days, kids can sign up to dig beside the Prentis Shop. During the restoration of Williamsburg, the site had been dug to reveal old foundations. Architects documented the foundations, but no archaeologist were present. The original dirt was then backfilled into the site. Therefore, all the original artifacts remain in the dirt, but they are not in an order that would prove particularly useful to archaeologist. It is a perfect spot to allow children to assist in discovering what artifacts remain. 

The final highlight of our trip was touring the well-known building such as the Governor's Palace, the Courthouse and its stocks and the House of Burgesses. The very last thing we did in Williamsburg was take a carriage ride. We felt like royalty as everyone waved and snapped pictures of us as we rode through the town. 

The trip to Williamsburg undoubtedly added to the girls' scope for imagination. Clare and Anne attempted to dress colonial almost immediately upon arrival. While Anne suffered the most from walking in the heat (and complained a lot due to it), upon our return home she was pretending to be a cobbler and a seamstress. Despite her complaints, she clearly enjoyed the activities. Meg spent this past year studying Virginia history at school and this trip undoubtedly made everything she studied come alive for her. Several times on our last day she hugged me and said, "Thank you so much for planning this trip." Who could ask for more than that.