Antietam Battlefield

 Wyatt has four whole days off of school for a summer break and since Wyatt has a summer break Mommy thought she would have a little summer break too. 
One thing Wyatt requested was to get to spend a day with Pappy.  Mommy and Pappy took Wyatt to one of their old haunts (no pun intended)- Antietam Battlefield. 

First we all stopped off for lunch at The Red Bird- a place where Mommy and Pappy would always stop in to get lunch before heading out to the battlefield for the tour.

Then we headed the rest of the way into Antietam.  It is a nice battlefield to visit on a super hot day because you can see everything fairly well from your car so you can do a nice road tour and enjoy the AC.  We drove around the battlefield and talked about the early stages in the battle.  We drove in on the North side so we could get a clear view of where the South had entrenched themselves while waiting for the North to make their move.

Then we decided to get out and stretch our legs a little.  This church was used as a hospital during the battle at Antietam.  Antietam was the bloodiest battle in the war where in a matter of minute thousands of soldiers lost their lives so you can imagine that this tiny little church was filled with lots of chaos.  

Wyatt playing around the pews.  He asked Pappy all about the woodstove inside the church

Then we headed over toward the South's headquarters.  Wyatt wanted to go in the Military Overlook tower so Mommy braved all the heat and headed up with him.  There were a lot of stairs but it gave a great view of the battle and had great markers pointed the direction for the woods, cornfield, sunken road, etc.  It was a great way to get an overall view from one vantage point. 

 Here is a view from the top, Pappy is down on the ground reading the signs.  After looking down a little too much to explain where everyone in the battle is at different times Mommy was thinking that maybe reading the signs on the ground might be a little less dizzy than the tower so we headed back down.  I would really recommend going up the tower and taking a look as an arial view is always a good way to put the whole battle in perspective. 

 Then we headed past Sunken road where the South really lost a lot of men (since the North now occupied the high ground) and then over to Burnside Bridge. 
Burnside Bridge is a lovely walk down to a nicely shaded part of Antietam Creek and is also the site of a pretty amazing part of the battle.  McClellan's plans were to try to attack Lee's left and right flanks so that they could then concentrate more of their forces into Lee's center.  General Burnside and his crew sat tight on the bridge and were unable to go anywhere since there were about 500 Georgians perched on top of the giant hill with a clear shot down on Burnside's men.

This is the view as you cross over Burnside Bridge:

 This is a monument honoring the second Maryland who was stationed there and had the bullets raining down on them from the Georgians.

It is such a blessing to be able to share all of this history and knowledge with Wyatt and to be able to visit these historical places so easily.  Pappy knows all about the battles and did a great job sharing all of it with Mommy and Wyatt.  Wyatt had a blast getting to explore and loved seeing all of the monuments and getting to spend the whole day with his Pappy!

Middletown's Independance Day Celebration!

Today we had a BLAST at the Middletown Independance Day celebration!! It was so neat to be back and to remember when Daddy and Mommy first started dating following a romantic puppet show at the Middletown Independance Day Celebration in 2005.

Wyatt got to get his cowboy on and ride on a pony.  He is so good at riding horses now that he can go all by himself and he automatically knows where to hold on and how to keep himself up.  I guess naming him Wyatt we should expect a little natural cowboy to come out.

Wyatt loves his animals!!!

Wyatt's special little buzzing bee:

Wyatt got a cool new dragon tattoo- such a tough guy!

Wyatt had a blast in the bounce house!!!

And who can be in Middletown park and not let some of their energy out on the playground:

After all of the play it was starting to get a little darker so we all decided to sit down, eat some ice cream, and play some ball.  Wyatt and Pappy had a blast throwing the beach ball we got at the celebration back and forth:

Mommy and Daddy showing their Independance Day spirit!

Wyatt getting ready to party:

Grandma had entered a contest to press the button that let's off the first fireworks so we all got to ride in a little car past all of the marked off spaces near where all the fireworks were set up where we got to push the button that started the whole thing.  It was great!  There was a countdown and then we all pushed the button at the same time and then a huge firework came shooting up into the sky.  It was pretty awesome to hear all of the fireworks bursting right above us.  We were so close to the fireworks that we actually had ashes on our shoulders from them bursting over our heads.

 Wyatt was not too into the fireworks since we were really close and they were extra loud so after watching close up for a bit we headed over to where Pappy was sitting so we could all watch the fireworks together.

Great Falls

What happens when Mommy and Daddy don't know what to do for lunch? IMPROMPTU ROAD TRRRRIPP!!!!!!!!!!

We ended up having an amazing day at Great Falls, MD!!!  It was the perfect place to get some exercise, enjoy nature, and get some history lessons in. 

Here is Daddy, Mommy and Wyatt on our way up to see all those falls.

 But before we got started on the trails Mommy and Wyatt decided to go into the museum and get some information and of course to play a game of checkers.

 The boat going through the canal:

 Some of the falls on the way up to the super big falls

 Wyatt loved seeing all the water racing all around

 Mommy and Wyatt by the big falls.  It had such a nice breeze!

 Our little rock climber.  I swear he has the strongest upper body of any kid I know.

 Getting Goofy with it:

 We decided that since we still weren't too hungry for lunch we would take the boat tour of the canal and learn all of the history of the canal.  It was super neat because we got to see how they opened the locks to let in the water to fill the area where the boat is to the meet the rest of the canal.  It was cool to watch all the water come rushing in.

 Wyatt thought that the guys on the boat were cowboys and thought they looked pretty silly in their period clothing.

 These are the mules who pulled the boat along the canal.

 Wyatt loved watching them pull the boat along and like getting to see all of the nature as we passed by

 It was quite an amazing site

 The tour guides had all sorts of toys that kids used to play with back in the day and he passed them all around so all of the kids on the boat got to play with each one.

 And since they mainly transported coal they also handed around a large piece of coal.  Wyatt didn't smile too much when he handed to coal to Daddy and saw all the black all over his hands.

 There were so many beautiful sites and it was such a great experience to walk up there and watch all the powerful water rushing through. 

Now what's for lunch?

B-Ball Buddy

In addition to soccer we let Wyatt pick another sport he would like to try out.  Wyatt chose basketball so we signed him up.   Wyatt LOVED the basketball and the coaches were great at keeping the kids on task and involved.  Wyatt learned how to shoot, dribble (sort of), and how to do defense.  The last day was a neat one because they did one big game of the Mommys/Daddys versus the kids.  Mommy wasn't able to make the final game but Daddy was so he picked up Wyatt and played against him in the big game.  After each practice we celebrated with some delicious Pizza Johns!

Here are some of the highlights from Wyatt's basketball season: