Happy Thanksgiving from Squanto's daughter

In honor of the first Thanksgiving I went to school this past week as Sacajawea for the Jedi Knights class. They just completed their Lewis & Clark Expedition. I memorized facts and managed to turn it into a 45 minute speech about her life. Not much is known about her life, but I was creative in my telling and created a fun and interactive life store. (She was 100 years after the first Thanksgiving btw.)

I then went up to the school a 2nd time as a Wampanoag Indian--daughter of Squanto--and read a Thanksgiving book to over 15 classrooms. It was a blast. I made the entire costume, so I wanted to wear it moer than once. I even hand sewed beads onto a leather belt and sewed even more beads onto my ribbon headdress. My Mama would be sooooo proud.....

Marengo Cave Visit

The reflection of this lake was breath taking!

The weather was in our favor when the Gym BF came to visit--thank goodness. We couldn't have asked for better weather to go visit Marengo Caves. There are caves throughout IN and KY, but this one had been given rave reviews from my entire dental staff. I checked prices and bought us the 2 - 4- 1 passes online. I'm so glad I did. We had a great time! Our guide, Savannah, was amazing. I think J-Bird had a man crush on her as he was glued to her the entire tour. Or maybe he was  glued to her because he just had to be first....whatever the case may be the boys were well behaved and truly enjoyed exploring the caves.

The last time they were in a cave was with Papa in Colorado and they were only 3 & 5. I believe they will remember this visit more than the last one.

We went on two different tours. One was 1/3 mile and the other was over a mile. We got to see stalagmites and stalactites. We got to try and stick a penny in the mud ceiling (no luck there.)

The glare reflected from the flash.
Horrible picture. 

KY Bourbon Trail Day Three

So, in order to do the Bourbon trail in the most expedient way and to make sure we were conserving gas--we went to the Evan Williams Speakeasy Tour located on Main Street in down town Louisville. One of the most spectacular views in Louisville is by walking across the Big Four Bridge. I've done this with most of the visitors who come to the knobs. (If we didn't walk on it, we drove by it and I pointed out the Louisville Belle--a steamboat Prince Charming worked on.) I planned for us to park on the IN side of the bridge, walk across the bridge and downtown to the tour at Evan Williams. It was over a five mile walk....oh gah...On our way to the bridge we encountered a Color 5k. The people in charge of the road told me to 'just go around the runners.' FAMOUS LAST WORDS. I am talking to Gym BF about how stupid and annoying it is that they don't close down the road. As I'm pulling in to the parking space at the bridge I notice (and hear) sirens behind my car. I WAS BEING PULLED OVER. WHAT?!?!? Yep, I was told I was driving haphazardly and was a danger to the runners who were wearing headphones. The way I was swearing in and out of the runners was reckless. He gave me a warning and I went on about my way. I had to vent for the ENTIRE walk across the bridge, but after we started drinking Bourbon I was better....

After awhile the tours get a bit redundant...FUN FACT....so for the Evan Williams Tour the GymBF and I decided to step up our financial investment and go on the Speakeasy tour. You have to know the pass word to enter the pub and once in the room you are transported back into the years of prohibition. It was a great tour. Our guide was dressed in attire from the 1930s as well a the decor of the bar. We got to try a 23, 12 and 9 year old Bourbon. We also got to try a Rye Whiskey not even available to the general public until January! That was super fun. Since we went on this tour we were allowed to buy Bourbons in the gift shop that not everyone else can buy. That was really cool!

I really LOVE Evan Williams Egg Nog, so Gym BF treated me to an early Christmas present. Five down, four more to go....

Kentucky Bourbon Trail Day Two

On Friday we dropped the boys off, went for a walk, cleaned up and hit the road for day #2 of drinking. You just can't beat the Bourbon trail. The state of KY has limited the samples--only 2 ounces, so not enough do to any kind of damage. Good thing since I dislike  Bourbon.

Day two was down to Bardstown, KY--home of Bourbon. We went to THREE! We hit up Jim Bean, Maker's Mark and Heaven Hill. We also went to Mammy's Kitchen in Bardstown and I was extremely disappointed. According to TripAdvisor it was a great restaurant. I don't know if it was due to the lunch crowd on a Friday or what, but it was super slow and put us in a rush to get to the last distillery! The pie--however--was a coconut cream pie that was pretty darn good...as the GymBF told me about a 1,000 times that day.

The first stop was Jim Beam. It has a great and interactive tour. You get to add the grain to the masher, fill a White Oak barrel and bottle your own Bourbon. There is tasting throughout--of the grain mash, of the White Dog or 'Ghost' Bourbon as well as Bourbon straight out of the barrel with the charred oak floating around in it.

GymBF was asked to help fill up a brand new barrel of Bourbon. I caught a lot of funny pics, but thought I would spare him the embarrassment! HA! If you are his friends and want blackmail pics, email me! :)

GymBF thumb printed his own bottle of KnobCreek. Kinda exciting!

Jim Beam is a great tour. I have now gone on it twice. I am a Jim Beam expert. HA! It is fun to hear the different tour guides. The one thing I heard on EVERY tour--and remember, I went on NINE is...

FUN Fact! (And they all start with that...fun fact...) There are more barrels of aging Bourbon in the State of KY than there are people!

























After Jim we went to Maker's Mark and Heaven Hill. Heaven Hill only had one tour left for the day, so we were forced to drink $249.99 Elijah Craig, $189.99 something or other and McKenna and Larceny. Heaven Hill also makes Early Times *my fav* Old Fitzgerald and Evan Williams. They distill a LOT of Bourbon.

It was fun to taste 20PLUS year Bourbon. Tasted the same to me, but what do I know???

KY Bourbon Trail Day One

The gym BF came to town---I think it was to see me and the boys, but his ulterior motive was to drink the best Bourbon in the United States....and that is found in the state of KY. He was here for six days and we spent four of those days visiting the nine disterillies on the KY Bourbon Trail. We started in Louisville at Bulleit. It was a great tour and not too far from my house. We got to see the only historic Cooperage left from the old days! I had been on three of the tours when my Dad came to town, so after a few more days of this I knew I was going to be a walking, talking knowledge head of Bourbon! (And I am!) 

We 

After our tour of Bulleit it was time to take the GYM BF to the most notorious place in Louisville--Churchhill Downs. Thankfully they run fall races from Nov. 1-29, so we were in for a treat! We took Obe Wan's advice and placed on money horse to place. There are three types of bets: Place, Show, Win. Horse Gambling is more difficult than it looks. I lost $21 and made 9. Whatever. We enjoyed the races and we had the place to ourselves.

GymBF and the boys

Halloween has come and gone...

So, I've been MIA. It is okay because the holidays are here and I have been super busy! Making costumes, entertaining guests and raising brilliant little boys! (I'll get to that in a future post....)

I realized I didn't even post pics of the Jedi Knights for Halloween. I find I am not scrapbooking as much as I used to and only took three pictures of the boys on Halloween. Kinda sad. I don't know if I just don't like it, don't want to do scrapbook without my girls or what!?! I hope to catch up again because I don't want to have tons of pictures on my phone and none printed for my boys. I hear that is more the trend than not, but how sad. :(

EVERYONE loved the Foxy costume from Five Nights at Freddys! He was a smashing hit. AND I mean that literally as he couldn't see diddle squat out of the mask. We did turn on the glowing lights in his mask and it creeped little kids out. I would say if Obe Wan couldn't walk in his costume, it was a successful Halloween! He picks the darnest things to be!

Witch, Foxy & Pirate

We trick or treated at some friend's house in Louisville. Around 7 we left and came back to our HOA Halloween party for another round of candy! It was odd not going to Nana's work and getting a horde of candy. We are learning as we go as to what we do when we are away from family. New traditions are being made....

J-Bird = Pirate
Obe Wan = Foxy the Pirate
Squared = NBA Player (Neighbor kid)

Book Review: My Wild Family by Laurent Moreau

The cover and the title made me anticipate a story about animals, but much to my delightful surprise I found My Wild Family by Laurent Moreau to be a book about what makes each and every one of us special. The narrator describes each member of her family and puts a picture of the animal she feels best represents their personality within the confines of daily life. She tells us her brother is strong; we find her brother on a school playground with his peers except he is a glorious gray elephant!

I have to admit it took me a minute to grasp the person being described was an animal. I had to flip back to the beginning and find the animal being described and then I had an "Ah-HA" moment. Clever. The vivid colors and the scenes kept me grinning like a fool as I kept reading this book. How great to think of my family as animals---oh how my brain was already thinking of how to use this in the classroom....

In the classroom: (My favorite part)

Run to your nearest Dollar Store and buy a pack of cheap paper plates! Now, read My Wild Family to your classroom; make them identify the author and illustrator of the text (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.6.) " With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear" (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7.) This ensures your students become familiar with the animal being a representation of a member of the narrator's family.

Enlist the help of your librarian and allow your students to go to the library to select a book about an animal they believe they are; thus, answering the last question the text asks, "What makes you special?" 

On Sale Date: November 3, 2015

ISBN: 9781452144238