Summer '07

This was written in August. Now that it is almost Thanksgiving, I'm getting around to updating!


I always hated when we went back to school and the teacher made everyone tell the class what we did that summer. By about the third grade I realized most (at least it seemed ) people spent their summers doing something costly and exciting. I grew up poor so mine was always the same. Even if we didn't go I said, "we went camping". Now, mind you, the way I grew up was a lot like camping all the time anyhow. I had a good childhood despite the lack of funds. We lived in the country and I loved it. Everyday was an adventure. I probably had more fun in any summer than the town folks had in their lives - but I still felt weird having no grand vacation to tell about. As my kids got into school, I felt like they needed something to tell when they went back each August, but we don't take real vacations either. We prefer many inexpensive day trips to one week that would financially prevent us from doing much of anything else all summer.Anyway....Summer '07 - Despite my husbands lousy work shift right now, the boys did a lot with their dad and I stayed home with the little girl. She just doesn't enjoy fishing or most of the fun boy stuff at this age. They went to several local lakes and dams, rented paddle boats, toured an old coal mine, camped in the yard and putzed around with bows, guns, etc.Our family (including me and the little one) activities included local amusement parks , Steelers Training Camp, and a visit to a Revolutionary War era fort for an attack on the fort and all kinds of demonstrations. We also visited the neatest little old church/cemetery. http://www.oldlogchurch.com/index.shtml It dates back to 1806 and all of us found it informative and interesting. The cemetery is the resting place of many soldiers , including some from the Revolutionary War and a captured Confederate soldier who escaped from a train and settled in the area. It sparked much interest with the boys. They ended up learning a great deal about the Civil War.The rest of our days were filled with swimming, going to the mall (I didn't know 12 year old boys liked the mall), Wal Mart, and enjoying evening fires at home.Unfortunately, our new computer crashed due to a faulty hard drive and I lost a lot of pictures that I could have shared.