Colonial Market & Fair

Even though only half of us were reenacting, we were ALL excited to venture down to Mt. Vernon once again, this time for its Colonial Market & Fair.  

This is an annual event where dozens of vendors, performers and reenactors gather together on the grounds of Mt. Vernon to ply their wares and share their crafts and talents, colonial style.  

There were weaving demonstrations . . .

Weaving linen

and several potters and other artists doing ceramics demonstrations . . .

and wonderful musicians singing and playing period favorites . . .

The Ship's Company Chanteymen

Common Stock Entertainments

and woodworkers and furniture makers and all manner of other 18th century goods made by hand, such as soaps, glass, paintings, textiles and clothing.  

The old General himself (the esteemed General George Washington), also held forth in a massive tent periodically throughout the day, engaging in discourse with the visitors to his lovely estate.  

And of course there was a HUGE line at the bakery, which only took cash and had us fishing for spare change in my purse so that we could enjoy some of the goodies.  Who knew something as simple as a slab of bread with a generous amount of well-aged sharp white cheese could be so delicious?

A familiar Colonial sampling the wares at Crown Point Bread Co.

But visitors young and old came rushing over to the nearby military encampment when the drummers summoned the soldiers with the call to arms.  Members of the rifle and musket companies and the dragoons of the First Virginia Regiment gave thrice daily demonstrations of their skill throughout the weekend, engaging the audience in various battle scenarios and skirmishes that might have taken place during the 18th century, bringing history to life for young and old.  

It was a big weekend for our oldest boy (pictured below), as he turned 16 over the summer, which meant he actually got to load and FIRE the musket (versus just going through the motions and pretending to fire) . . . and he got to borrow a prized regimental coat to complete his "kit" for the event.  He was in heaven, as is evident from the photos below.

Our own much-loved members of the 1st VA musket company

It doesn't get much better than this!

The encampment

Oh my, who is this handsome fellow?  (Lol!)

Eligible young musketry men and their commanding officer

Executing a right-wheel maneuver to get to the battlefield

Demonstration by the 1st VA musket company

A few of the dragoons

Thanks for the wonderful time, Mr. Washington . . . can't think of many better things to do on a cool, pleasant fall day!

Great Falls Park

We've been cooped up for much of the summer helping the little guy recover from major back and leg surgeries, but we were finally able to make an excursion to an amazing national park everyone has been telling us about that's only about 15 miles from our house!

Great Falls Park is where the wide and mighty Potomac River chokes down and flows through a narrow gorge as it heads toward Washington DC and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.



The result is a breathtaking stretch of whitewater and waterfalls that meanders through the jagged rocky outcroppings of Mather Gorge, on the border between Virginia and Maryland.

The rapids vary from Class II to Class V and higher.  I don't know if my Dad ever saw this on any of his many trips out to DC for work, but I know he would have enjoyed looking at and "scouting" the river to find the best and safest route through and around the hazards.  This stretch of the river is definitely not navigable in a drift boat, but the kayakers downriver were playing around in the rapids and having a great time.

Other "Fun Facts":  

-  Washington D.C. and the surrounding area relies on the Potomac watershed for the majority of its water.  

-  The park ranger at one of the overlooks was telling tales of the various high water marks (see photo below) that have occurred over the years due to quick melts of particularly large snow falls, massive rainfall, and the like.  Apparently the river will back up and flood here very quickly because it's narrowing down from about 1000 feet wide upriver to about 75 feet wide as it makes its way through the gorge. 

-  George Washington surveyed and spent much of his life in and around the Potomac Basin, and he led an effort to construct a canal system on the Virginia side of the river to facilitate trade and commerce upriver.  

-  The first canal system only operated about 30 years, but it was replaced by a canal system on the Maryland side of the river that still exists today.

We'll definitely be back to this beautiful place before winter sets in, and next time we'll bring our picnic basket!  

Giving It A Shot

Our oldest air rifle shooter has had an opportunity this summer to do some practicing with the local precision air rifle shooting club that the high school rifle team kids participate in during the "off season."

[Note:  We would be remiss if we didn't send a shout out and thank you to our awesome and dedicated 4-H leaders and shooting sports coaches back home for giving him the solid foundation and shooting skills to make this even possible for him--you know who you are!]

In contrast to the 4-H "sporter" class shooting he has done previously, this is "precision" air rifle, which is more competitive and serious and is challenging him to take his game up a notch.  In the high schools out here, it is a varsity sport kids can compete in, and many kids continue competing and shooting in college and beyond.

It's also "cha-ching" (i.e., more expensive, requiring much nicer guns and lots of other equipment--shooting jackets, shooting pants, special shoes, rifle scopes and more--in addition to the usual prone pads, slings, gloves, spotting scopes, stands, sand bags, kneeling rolls, shooting glasses, ear protection and the like).

Shooting prone

Thankfully, the club has equipment that new kids can use when they first start out, but there will definitely be an investment in the sport if he is given an opportunity to seriously pursue it at a competitive level.

Coaching and making adjustments for his "lefty" form

In the meantime, he is getting some excellent coaching . . .

Resting in between targets

having some early success . . . and having a great time doing it!  

Not bad for a new kid!

It doesn't get much better than that.  :)

IceKid!

Introducing . . . ICEKID . . . the latest superhero to join the Marvel Universe, whose namesake is the legendary IceMan of X-Men fame!  

His superhuman power is staying icy "cool" in extremely stressful and scary situations.  

The other superheroes have had to pick up the slack in the universe somewhat recently as . . . almost two months to the day after a major spine surgery . . . IceKid underwent his SECOND major orthopedic surgery of the summer at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Children's Hospital in Baltimore, MD.  

In the capable hands of his amazing surgeon, this kid recently had the first of what will be several planned procedures on his legs and feet to help straighten them out and provide a better base of support for his wiry superhero frame.  

Most teenagers would lament the summer lost to either having surgeries or recovering from them, but true to form this kid has been upbeat and uncomplaining throughout.

To speed up his recovery, IceKid has been using the latest technology to keep his legs at a cool 45 degrees.  This "IceMan" machine (see photo below) is a unique "cold therapy" system that recirculates cold ice water from the cooler through thin pads that are ace bandaged around his knees.  No more leaky ziploc bags of ice water!  

Special message from IceKid himself:  "Carpe diem, and enjoy the last month of summer!!!"

Rock On!

He's BAAAAAAACCKKKKKKKK . . . (cue EPIC drum solo with a crazy amount of cymbal crashes at the end)!!!

Our apologies that things have been quiet on the blog front lately.  We've been keeping our "carpe diem" close to home for the past six weeks as we've been helping the youngest member of the corp recovers from his first major orthopedic surgery.

At the end of May, we made the trek up to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Children's Hospital in Baltimore, MD, where the little guy underwent spinal fusion surgery for scoliosis.  The 5:00 a.m. report time put us on the road in the wee hours of the morning, but we were all wide-eyed and awake as we checked in and waited in the waiting area to be called back to surgery.

Waiting to get called back

True to form, his sunny disposition and positive attitude kept a smile on his face (and everyone else's . . . nurses, doctors, anesthesiologists, and anyone else that popped in to talk to him!) right until the moment they wheeled him back to the operating room.

Ready to roll

Dad got to suit up to walk him back

Let's just say that was the longest six or so hours of our lives!  Thankfully the surgical nurse would step out of the OR periodically and call updates in to us in the waiting area, so we generally knew how things were progressing.

What our incredible surgeon was able to accomplish for him was nothing short of miraculous!

We spent one day in the intensive care unit . . .

And six LONG days in the hospital, but he was determined to fight his way through the fog of the pain killers to start his rehab right away.  He was able to walk with support when we left the hospital, and he walked in the front door of the house when we got home. 

Drum stick therapy

View of Baltimore out our hospital room window

We knew he would be taller, but it's still hard to get used to seeing him fully 2-3 inches taller and holding his own in the lineup with Bro and Dad.   

Boy, were we relieved and surprised when he was able to sit behind the drum set three weeks after the surgery and gently start playing again.  By week four, it was as if he didn't miss a beat, sitting tall behind the drum set and working his way through one of his Rush faves, "The Trees."

Behind the drums four weeks post surgery

Earlier this week, we headed back up to Baltimore for his six-week post-op visit with Dr. Sponseller, his amazing orthopedic surgeon.  He was pleased with the recovery so far and the xrays showed that everything looks good.  Huzzah (as our reenactors would say)!

Posing with Dr. Sponseller

It seemed only fitting to take a moment to celebrate the good news, so we headed down to the Hard Rock Cafe at Baltimore's Inner Harbor to have some food and check out the "merch" in the gift shop.

Rockin' a fedora at the Hard Rock Cafe

We are counting our blessings and raising our goblets of rock in gratitude to the amazingly skilled Dr. Sponseller and to this brave kid who continues to rock our world each and every day!

OBX

We finally made a quick, exploratory trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina last month (or "OBX," as the locals call it).

For those who don't know, the Outer Banks are a grouping of very narrow barrier islands that stretch out into the Atlantic Ocean and run 200 miles along the entire length of North Carolina's coastline and up into the far southern end of the Virginia coastline.

For our nautically-minded readers, the Outer Banks are also known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic," because there have been so many, many shipwrecks there over the last several hundred years on the shallow shoals during storms and in battles.  Even Blackbeard's pirate ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, ran aground on a sandbar near Beaufort, North Carolina in 1718.

We unknowingly planned our trip for the same weekend that Subtropical Storm Ana was headed for the South and North Carolina coasts (the first of the 2015 hurricane season).  Had our hotel rooms been refundable, we might have picked another weekend, but since they weren't, we threw caution to the wind (pun intended) and launched forth, figuring a tropical storm would just add to the adventure.

It was a soggy Friday evening slog from Northern Virginia to the beach.  Once we got off I-95 and were headed down the peninsula, the rain and winds were pretty terrifying exciting!  Yes, some big weather system was definitely coming.  We collapsed in our oceanfront room on the top floor of the hotel in Virginia Beach just before midnight and listened to the rain batter the windows much of the night.

We woke up the next day and could see that we would have had a spectacular view of the entire stretch of beach off our hotel patio, except the fog that had settled in overnight seemed determined to stay put for the day.  Bummer!

We took a long stroll on the boardwalk and checked out the sights and scenes of Virginia Beach, but because we were anxious to get to the Outer Banks and check into our hotel in Nag's Head before the storm really hit, we headed south in the late morning, promising ourselves we'd explore Virginia Beach more another day.

Much to our surprise, instead of getting worse as we headed south, the weather actually got nicer, and we ended up having spectacular weather for the rest of the weekend.  (Subtropical Storm Ana made landfall in South Carolina and worked its way up the North Carolina coast shortly after we departed--what luck!)

The first planned stop on our Outer Banks itinerary was to stop at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, just south of Kitty Hawk.  This is where, on December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright succeeded in making the first human flight, which measured 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds!  There is a monument erected on top of Kill Devil Hill that marks the site of the hundreds of glider flights the brothers took to learn about flight and prepare them for their first powered flight, which took place on the field below.

After checking into our hotel in Nag's Head, we headed out to the beach behind our hotel and plopped ourselves in the warm sand and sunshine for several hours, just taking it all in . . . gorgeous, peaceful, sunny and mild.  There were lots of shore birds, including brown pelicans, that kept flying back and forth along the beach.

Among the highlights of our exploration of the Outer Banks were our trips to see the iconic lighthouses. Bodie Island Lighthouse has been around since 1872, helping to keep sailors and ship captains safe as they navigated the shallow shoals and inlets nearby.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was built in 1870 and is just over 200 feet tall, making it the tallest brick lighthouse in the world.

We also went to the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island, which is where, in 1587 (30 years before the Pilgrims!) Sir Walter Raleigh established the first "permanent" British settlement in American.  This is known as the "Lost Colony" because some members of their party returned to England for more supplies, and when they returned years later, the Fort they had set up was plundered and the people who remained behind were gone.  There are several theories about what happened to them, including that they went to live with the natives on Croatoan Island to the south, but no one knows for certain.

Stone erected in memory of The Lost Colony

The Oregon Coast still has our hearts, but the North Carolina Outer Banks are a close second as far as beaches go.  Can't wait until the next chance we get to do more exploring out there!