Field trips can be fun and educational at the same time!

The girls and I LOVE the series Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls by Meg Cabot.  We just finished listening to the 6th book in the series yesterday.  In the book, Allie goes on her very first field trip ever, and she is oh~so excited!  She finally gets to ride in a bus, something she doesn't get to do because she lives within walking distance of her school. She hopes to go somewhere fun like the children's museum to see the Barbie exhibit, one field trip that she had to miss due to her ex-best friend accidentally on purpose losing her permission slip.  When she finds out that she is going to Honey Pot Prairie, she is very let down.  Who wants to go to some boring old prairie to learn how those in the mid 1800's lived?  In the end, the field trip turned out to be fun and educational.  Who knew?!?! 

Anyway, all of that to say this... We took one of those educational yet fun field trips today.  I had every intention not to go, deleting all emails on the subject, but am glad that my pal invited us and dragged us there even drove!  So, even though we didn't get to ride in a bus, at least we were able to carpool with friends.

We had a 4 hour tour (with a lunch break) of two local battlefields from the Civil War. 

*Living in central VA, we have an enormous amount of history and natural wonders that, now that the girls are older, I am wanting to go visit.*  Below is a quote taken from the website and you can find out more information here. 

"Cold Harbor

In the overland campaign of 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant with the Army of the Potomac battled General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia for six weeks across central Virginia. At the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna and Totopotomoy Creek, Lee repeatedly stalled, but failed to stop, Grant's southward progress toward Richmond. The next logical military objective for Grant was the crossroads styled by locals Old Cold Harbor."

Emily volunteered to participate even though
"if a female was caught fighting in the army, they were sent home."

Being a confederate soldier, if you saw a wounded or dead man, you would probably
take his pants since he evidently wouldn't need them any longer. 
Pants issued out only came in 2 sizes- large and small. 

After practicing "right face, left face, about face" the children (soldiers) practiced marching in line.
Both of my children look bored here, but they were really soaking it in.

Fun fact: Since many men did not know their right from their left, they would put a small bit of hay in their shoe.  When "left face" was called, they could distinguish between turning left or right.  Sometimes it was appropriately known as "hay-face". 

Fun fact: You had to be over a certain age to join the army, yet many were dedicated to the cause and wanted to join at an earlier age.  One of the ways they found to get by the age limit was to put a piece of paper with the number 17 or 18 on it in their shoe.  That way, when asked if they were over the age of 17, they would not be lying when they said yes. 



During the walking art of the tour, we were attacked by mosquitoes.
I only added this picture because some of us moms were the biggest babies about it
and it makes me giggle just a bit.



 The above picture reminds me of how blessed I am and how hard it must have been for those men fighting for what they thought was right.  We were wearing comfortable shoes and clothing, carrying water bottles, and on a tour of our own choosing.  The soldiers were wearing woolen uniforms that more than likely didn't fit, carrying their equipment and guns, a short supply of dirty water, and fearing for their lives.  What they went through in fighting for their country was lost on many of the mothers today as they were shooing of those not so little blood suckers.



These houses have historical importance that I didn't exactly catch due to chit chatting. 
Hey, at least I'm honest.
One belonged to the Adams family who remained there during the 6 hours of battling that took
place right in their own yard.  The other home belonged to a lady who lived there for 66 years and
 died at the age of 79.  That's all that I remember :/






Maybe it's my love of historical fiction, but I love looking at settings such as these
and imagining what might have happened right here during the Civil War era.

Emily had lost interest of the walking tour by now and joined in with the little ones
 in collecting and playing with the black walnuts that had fallen off the tree that
we were standing by.

                         

Maybe some get a little goofy during picnics.

The cemetery with hundreds of dead soldiers was sad, yet surprisingly interesting.

They were given paper and crayons to make tombstone rubbings.

The girls picked up books with activities to fill out during the field trip.
Emily chose a spot behind a tombstone to work on hers.
 I don't think the concept of this being an actual cemetery with men
 (well, their skeletal remains actually) killed while fighting
in a war were lying beneath her rear.

Rebecca is going through her book while her friend is beside her
using a tombstone as a hard surface to finish hers.

We had a great day learning about what the men, and sometimes women, went through in the summer of 1864.  It was fun AND educational.  A win~win in my book :o)