A Week Without Kids

  This has not happened in forever, but last week I went without seeing my kids all. week.  All week! I left them in capable hands (Ducky and Grandma).  Hubby and I were off to work on a site in NW Missouri.  It was a fascinating Antebellum homestead site and I hadn't been on a dig since before the kids were born. I'd been studying the time period and was anxious to get my hands dirty uncovering artifacts from it!
  We've been on a a high activity swing here.  The last month and a half has been run, run, run and when we do that I tend to be a little looser with the technology limitations we like to keep on ourselves.  So, when I dropped the kiddos off with Ducky and Grandma while I didn't expect them to do school I gave the kiddos a helpful list of things they could do to not be attached to a computer or tv.  Most of the things were off of Bubby's Boy Scout requirement list that really would double for schoolishness ;) I didn't have to worry though, I think that if homeschooling had been more accepted when I was young, my folks would have excelled at it because they are always coming up with interesting pursuits for the kids.
  They built contraptions out of gummy bears...

which also included color sorting and counting for Shorty.
  Hunted morel mushrooms...

they had started out hunting frogs for a Scout merit badge but got a little sidetracked ;)
  Created interesting things.  And also helped Grandma try out concoctions for vacation Bible school snacks.

They even did some technical school things like journaling and Life of Fred.

We are just trying out Life of Fred.  Bubby loves it, Mookie not so much.  But she is enjoying her Kahn Academy.
  After a long week we were all a little sad and Ducky and Grandma brought everyone out a little early for a trip to the site and then the kiddos stayed and helped - well, Bubby did and the other two played.

And we just soaked up time out in the wilds of NW Missouri together.

stomp rockets!

Blackjack battle!

  This weekend was kind of symbolic. Bubby has been involved with Boy Scouts since he was a Tiger cub.  Since he joined he has always wanted to become an Eagle Scout like his grandpa Ducky.  This year has held some drastic changes with our pack and our troop is battling our way up from bare bones to even stay in existence.  In order to garner some excitement, the parents have been trying to find some pretty exciting things to build our boys up with Scouting interest while holding on to our dwindling numbers.  The first thing that came to our attention was this super cool reenactment of a pre-Civil War battle that had been held for the past couple of years close to the nearby town of Baldwin, Kansas.  This Battle of Blackjack took place between pro-slavery and free-state forces (led by John Brown and crew) in 1856 and was a result of the rising tensions of the time.  Through some wonderful connections we made we not only received an invite to the event, but also offers of mentorship for our troop!  What a blessing!
  One of the things that they needed to take with them was a mock-gun because real guns were not allowed.  One of our good buddies helped cut the gun forms out for the boys (Bubby got to assist) and then the boys were able to detail them.

  The boys had arrived to the Blackjack battlegrounds on Friday, and while the main event didn't take place until the next day, they participated in "raids" on the other camps all evening and were up by 5am on Saturday morning raiding the other camps then too!

looking over the schedule

  They broke out into groups on Saturday and rotated through different stations which included listening to a talk by a John Brown reenactor...

John Brown watching his battle (center)

a reenactor portraying Henry Pate who led the pro-slavery forces, a tour of a Civil War encampment and learned about some period historic artifacts...

The main event was the reenactment.  The boys were divided up and preformed the battle two times.  It was complete with sound effects of gun shots and smoke machines!

Bubby waiting for his turn

Someone wishing he could join Bubby in battle

the conquering heroes

The weekend was a complete success!  The boys got a second weekend of two night camping under their belts (last weekend it was camping at a black powder rendezvous), cooked some great food in the open air and had a ton of fun and made some new friends too!  While we still have a ways to go as a troop, the future looks bright and our Scouts are happy Scouts :)