As all good stories should go, I have saved the best for last!

Our day in Stirling was my absolute favorite, and I firmly believe the entire family enjoyed it about as much as I did. It was the perfect Scottish holiday kind of day. As in, we even saw men in kilts playing bagpipes. It was the cherry on the top of our UK holiday sundae.

I’m not trying to be all sunshine and rainbows, glossing over the struggles. This was truly one of those rare, extra joy and excitement kind of days that you cannot plan for. Days like this just happen, and you have to enjoy them when they come.

I’m not even sure which thing we did that day was the coolest. We did four things, and they were all pure joy.

I’m not even exaggerating. So let’s just begin at the beginning.

I’d booked our Stirling Castle tickets in advance. You can do that here. They have a family discount package, which is a good thing since every single place we went required five tickets, but all of these U.K. historical sites have family deals on their tickets.

After our nice Holiday Inn Scottish breakfast, we all piled into our rented SUV and drove towards the castle. We noticed a sign about Stirling Bridge and decided to take a short side quest to check that out. It was the site of a major Scottish battle about a thousand years ago.

The weather was even perfect, though only for that short time.

It was pre-storm weather, which I personally adore. The temperature is low and the clouds are so thick and full and gray they are almost blue. The wind is whipping, humidity is about 99%, and the entire Earth tells you, “Look, you got three minutes before everything is soaked.”

But even with all this warning, it feels so exhilarating outside in that cool, windiness that you just dare it to give you five more minutes to enjoy being outside in July in blue jeans with no sweating!

We frolicked about the Stirling Bridge, took a few photos, and dashed back to the car as the first drops of rain began.

But the real fun began when we arrived to the castle gates, paid for parking, and met the jolliest person we’d met yet in the U.K., a smiling, bearded Scottish gatekeeper who seemed genuinely happy to meet us. Up to this point, no one in England or Scotland seemed at all interested in meeting us. No one had asked us where we were from. This was a delightful change.

The man at the gate thought it was hilarious that we were the third car that morning with Americans from Virginia, and he’s right. That is pretty bizarre. What’s the deal, Virginia?

It kept only threatening to rain and dropping a few drops. Only Alan and Daniel had rain jackets, and we had only one umbrella. The rain held off another few minutes as we entered the castle grounds. At the gates, we met another friendly Scottish man. He asked us where we were from and what all we would see in Scotland.

We told him we were just seeing Stirling and Dumphries. He was like, “Dumphries!!??”

Laughing, he asked, “Why would you go to Dumphries? I mean I have family in Dumphries, but what’s in Dumphries?”

So I had to explain there was one castle there we would visit. Plus, it was just on our way back south. I was giving us a jump on our road trip to Heathrow Airport. The funny thing is that we heard this several times that day, “Dumphries!? Why are ye going to Dumphries!?”

This man was another jolly Scot with a red beard. Daniel was already loving this place. There were red-headed people everywhere. Plus, Daniel has always had an appreciation for a rainy day. I have many photos of him standing outside in the rain, for fun.

And Scotland did not disappoint on the rain. As soon as we entered the castle walls, the rain came pouring down.

We were still outside, so we hid under a stone archway and did our best to stay dry until it passed. Alan ran back to the car and fetched an umbrella.

The pouring rain slowed to a mist, and we walked about the castle gardens. It was the prettiest garden I’ve seen in ages, so I took a lot of photos.

Once Alan rejoined us, and the rain stopped, we walked along castle walls and explored all of the outer buildings of the castle, like the kitchens.

You know how we love to walk on ancient walls!

First of all, look at these gorgeous views of Scottish nature!

One thing Stirling Castle is famous for is being where the Highlands meet the Lowlands. You can see the hills of the Scottish Highlands in these photos, and it’s beautiful.

Then we finally made it into the castle itself, and I have photos to share with you from that too.

We spent just as much time outside as in because it was so nice there!!

The people we met were what made our Scottish experience a notch above our English experience, in my opinion.

The Scots were far more interested in talking to us. They made us feel welcome. I’ve said several times, the Scottish remind me of American Southerners.

Southern hospitality must have come from Scotland!!

Hear me out. This makes sense. Many, many of the people who settled the South were of Scottish ancestry, my own ancestry included. Did you see Gone with the Wind? Mr. O’Hara was Scottish too. I mean sure he was fictional, but still!

This man was in full costume as some kind of artisan I think. I can’t remember what he was supposed to be. What made him special is he took the time to talk to our kids. He asked them where they are from, what all we were visiting in Scotland. Then he took us to the window, and told us more about Scotland, the Highlands, and things to look for. He was friendly and helpful and also funny.

This tour guide asked the boys, “Where are you from?” And the boys had the hardest time understanding him enough to answer his questions. It was so funny. He was a great sport about it. Then he was another one to say, “Dumphries!? Why are you going to Dumphries!?”

According to the Stirling Castle website, from 1110-1603, almost every Scottish monarch either lived, died, or was crowned at Stirling Castle.

The place is so huge, we did not even see all of it. I believe we missed both the chapel and the Highlanders Museum, but we saw about all the rest.

This was the day it finally occurred to me that I could bribe my family to smile for photos. Inside the castle, I told them, “Hey! If you all smile for this photo, I’ll let you get a coke with lunch!” Boom. Problem solved, and I was only out a few pounds for cokes.

Another cool feature of the castle is these elaborately woven unicorn tapestries, hanging in the Queen’s bedchamber. These were made in modern times off patterns of medieval tapestries.

After touring the main areas of the castle, we made our way to the cafe and the gift shops.

I was a big fan of the Stirling Castle Cafe. They had a plethora of baked goods to choose from, and best of all, they had gluten free bread! We were all excited about the bakery selection!!

While we were in the gift shop, the bottom fell out of the skies! Everything and everyone was drenched.

We decided to we were happy with what we’d already seen and headed for our nice, dry SUV. Not far from the castle is the site of the Battle of Bannockburn, and we wanted to go see that too.

The Battle of Bannockburn site

When we saw the men with bagpipes, we all thought, “Ohhh yes! This is excellent!”

No one wants to visit Scotland and not see a man in a kilt playing a bagpipe! It’s such a unique trademark of the Scottish! We only had one whole day in Scotland, so this was a gift.

We headed into the visitor’s center. You need to tickets to get in.

It is not expensive. The whole family is only $25.00. There’s a full Battle of Bannockburn experience film, which we missed because we got distracted by the festivities of the day. Then there’s the park and memorials.

The thing the boys had the most fun with though, was the costume room!

We tried on everything they had in there, and they had a lot! The quality of the costumes was unlike anything you will find anywhere else! The gear was made of fine materials, and we’ve never come across anywhere like this in America.

Just as we were finishing up in the costume room, a Scottish man, complete with kilt, appeared. In the thickest of genuine Scottish accents he invited us out to the Battle of Bannockburn commemorative service. He said it was starting in ten minutes.

Turns out, we happened to be there on July 22, almost the anniversary of the famous battle that took place there on July 23 and 24, 1314.

This battle is a big deal. It was during the First War of Scottish Independence. Scottish King Robert the Bruce led his troops against King Edward II and his troops. The English had a hard time with the boggy terrain, and this Scottish victory was the turning point of the war.

We got to follow this parade into the Memorial with the bagpipes and drummer playing.

The Society of William Wallace coordinated a whole commemorative service of the battle. They did the bagpipes, a speech or two, and a few songs.

The service was stirring. You couldn’t help but feel the call to go fight for Scotland! Of all the countries I’ve visited, this one is definitely my favorite. I don’t just say that because more than a third of my ancestors were Scots. Scotland is a darling of a country. The landscape is beautiful, but it’s the friendly and down-to-earth people I like the most!

Well, what’s wonderful about Scotland is the people and also the fact that the sun did not beat down on my fair, freckled skin, making me sweat buckets. I was made for this cool, wet place!

They had a musician there, a man with a guitar, named Ted Christopher. Ted played a few of his songs for us and invited the whole crowd out to a local pub afterwards.

Ted’s music is very good. You can check it out here. We enjoyed it all so much, Alan went straight over to Ted after the service and chatted with him. As it turns out, Ted travels the world with his music. Alan enjoyed talking to him, and Ted even gave Alan a copy of his book!

I headed over to the Robert the Bruce statue with the boys to look around.

Afterwards, we headed over to the impressive and enormous William Wallace Memorial.

You can see this monument all over Stirling. It’s even more impressive than our Washington Memorial in Washington, D.C. It may be around the same height, I don’t know. The way it’s perched on top of a mountain makes it impossible to miss.

I absolutely love a good cardboard cutout photo opportunity. You can see the joy on my face! My children meanwhile……they prefer to make the funny faces, even in cardboard cutouts.

You drive uphill to get to the Monument. Then there is a shuttle to drive you up to it. We’d already bought so many tickets over our time in the U.K. We decided to settle for just seeing this one from the outside and visiting its cafe and gift shop.

This coffee shop was my favorite!!! Not only did they have delicious drinks, but they had all sorts of baked goods, and two gluten free options!! I had actual choices!! Traveling is exhausting though. Alan took a nap while we were here.

We bought a few things from the gift shop too, and then we headed to our hotel in Dumphries, a couple of hours away.

My allergies bothered me this entire trip. That’s why I was wearing glasses instead of contacts. My eyes kept itching and swelling, and I was always sneezing. So much sneezing. So I was concerned about how old this Holiday Inn looked from the front.

I was relieved to find there is actually a newer building where the rooms are.

And what is to see in Dumphries??? This castle!

We saw Caerlaverock Castle on our last day in the U.K. Then we drove down to Heathrow Airport. That was a solid six hour road trip, with lots of stops for food and such.

The rest areas we went through on our way back to the airport were large and nice. The English may be famous for drinking tea, but there were coffee shops everywhere!

Our last night in the U.K we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn London Heathrow Airport, where I had the meal I’d been looking for the entire trip!

Gluten free fish and chips!!! You cannot go to England without eating fish and chips, and being gluten free had put a real damper on that for me.

Our hotel served this in their restaurant. Caleb was a good sport and went down to the lobby to eat with me. The others had pizza ordered to the room, and believe it or not, it was reasonably priced!

This was the perfect way to end our U.K. vacation.

Thank you for hanging with me through this series. Most vacations are a combination of travel struggles and triumphs, but this one was a pure blessing, hurdles and all. Navigating unknown train systems are always a pain to me, but once we left London, we had our rental car and didn’t need the train.

Family vacation is always worth the expense.

It’s the most concentrated together time you can get. I feel like it bonds the family together to go on adventures together. That’s what it’s all about, whether it’s a huge vacation like this one, or a day trip to a state park. I’m so thankful we got to do this. Our time with our children at home is so short, and I want to enjoy it while we can!!

The post Visiting Stirling Castle was My Favorite Day in the UK appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Last year my cousin Amber sent me a VHS video clip of an interview she did with our Maw-Maw back in the 1990s.

In this video, Maw-Maw told us there is a cabin in Tannehill State Park that once belonged to our great-great grandparents.

Once I learned we have an ancestral home on display in Birmingham, Alabama, I knew we had to go check this out!

My kids love it so much when I drag them out on these sorts of adventures. Ha!! No, they hate it when I make them go exploring with me, but they lived. Plus, I think they even enjoyed it a little bit, whether they admit it or not.

Our extended family hosts a family reunion at Tannehill State Park every year. However, my little branch of the family has never been to the reunion or to the state park at all. We are not from the Birmingham area.

I was so excited to finally get to explore it and find the family cabin!

We piled up in the van in the blazing Alabama July heat. Of course, we took a stop at Buc-ee’s on the way!

When you first pull in to Tannehill State Park, you will pay a small fee at the gate. Then you will come to this grander old home in the front of the park. This is the park office.

This park boasts over a dozen genuine pioneer cabins. Eleven of them are available as overnight rentals.

I was delighted to discover that our family’s pioneer house, the Williams House, is one of the rental cabins! Plus, it is modernized to include heating and air and indoor plumbing.

I’m not sad that they modernized the cabin. If this park service had not taken on these log cabins and made them into nice rentals, we would not still have these homes to enjoy today. I love that the park keeps them in tact for generations to get to see.

We obtained a map from the park office, found our house, and drove right over to the Williams House.

Thankfully, no one was staying in the cabin at the time. We were able to climb on the porch and walk all around the place without trespassing on anyone’s vacation. If I’d thought this through more, I could have asked park staff to let us look around inside since we are family of the original owner. They might not have let us, but we could have asked.

The sign in the photo above sits in front of the cabin. It tells a little about the family who built and lived in this home. My great-great-grandmother was one of the ten children who was raised in this cabin.

Jim Williams was my great-great-great-grandfather. He was born in a town called Pitchers in Tuscaloosa County in 1859. By 1870, they lived near Calera, Alabama.

Jim’s father was born in North or South Carolina, where his people lived since migrating from England in the mid 1700s.

The 1870 U.S. census lists Jim’s father, Hilliary Williams, as a teamster. Ironworker unions didn’t form until 1896. Therefore, this 1870 census occupation of teamster refers to a man who drove a team of horses or oxen pulling a wagon, often for the Army.

By 1880, Jim was twenty and working in the iron mine right there near Birmingham. Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park tells the story of the area’s iron and steel industry. That makes Jim’s house a perfect fit for this location.

In February of 1881, Jim married Martha in Tuscaloosa County. Martha lived from 1861-1943. Martha’s people migrated to America in the 1790s, from Germany, to South Carolina.

Jim and Martha had ten children, and my great-great-grandmother was their firstborn child. According to the sign, Jim was a coal miner and a farmer. By the time of the 1900 U.S. census, he is reported only as a farmer.

The 1930 U.S. census reports that this house was located on Greenpond Blocton Road in the town of Kingdom in Bibb county, Alabama.

The censuses also tell us that Jim and Martha could both read and write. In 1930, they owned their home free and clear with no mortgage. By 1930, they had lived in this house for a little over forty years.

By 1930, James and Martha were seventy and sixty-nine respectively, and they still lived in this house. They had a seven-year-old living with them named Gertrude. She was their granddaughter. Gertrude’s mother was Leona Williams, the second of Jim and Martha’s seven children.

Leona died in childbirth in 1923, leaving behind several children. It would appear that the baby lived, and that baby was Gertrude, raised by her grandparents, also in this house. That’s just going off what I could find in the census reports.

Jim died in 1938, at the age of seventy-eight. I believe he died in his home.

Martha went by the nickname “Mattie”, and she moved in with one of her grandsons and his family in Birmingham after Jim passed away. Mattie lived to the age of eighty-two. She passed away in 1943.

The whole scene looks so picturesque from this angle, even in person. You can tell they added on a back portion, which I’m sure was necessary with ten children.

We enjoyed walking around the front porch and swinging on the porch swing. This took me back to the days of childhood, back when all of our grandparents had a front porch swing. That was such a pleasant staple of southern homes back then.

Perhaps there was a loft up top for such a small house to sleep so many? I know some of the log cabins in the Little House on the Prairie series had lofts. My hope is to one day get to go inside the cabin!

I am sure the park service has fixed this cabin up a great deal. It was donated in the 1970s, and I don’t know if anyone lived in it after 1938.

The Williams family was probably conscientious and kept it up well in its day too. I’m making that assumption going off of my great-grandfather, their grandson, who I knew personally until I was ten.

Great-grandaddy hung a photo of this cabin up on his wall. He was proud of it.

Great-grandaddy was always so impressive to all of us too. He was a preacher, a farmer, and a carpenter. Plus, he was a kind and gentle but strong man. He loved to make sure the kids were entertained and to take us fishing in his little catfish pond.

Great-grandaddy had a wood shop, chickens, vegetable gardens, and goats. He built his own house in the 1940s and lived there until he died in the 1990s. We all loved him. He was very generous with all that he possessed.

The women in the family all appreciated how he would sometimes be found washing the dishes in the kitchen.

Knowing that Great-grandaddy’s mother grew up in this house, I can bet you anything she and her parents were salt of the earth people too.

I absolutely love places like this one. It hearkens us back to a simpler time, a time of bare feet, shelling peas, and no internet.

Who knows if Jim and Martha even had electricity in this house? Alabama Power company was not founded until 1906. Maybe they eventually did get power. I’m really not sure.

However, if you book a stay at this cabin, or others like it in Tannehill State Park, they do all now have power and indoor plumbing. If that is not appealing to you, they also have “primitive cabins” available for rent, with less modern amenities.

Other park attractions:

This little train that runs around the park was a charming, fun addition. Our younger boys simply had to ride it. It is functional too though. Tannehill is on 1500 acres. This train is a fun way to get around and see more of the park without having to use your car.

Pioneer Farm

There are several different sections of Tannehill Ironworks State Park.

The cabins are scattered throughout several different park areas.

I liked that the Williams cabin is basically the anchor of the Pioneer Farm area. It made it feel extra special. They have it set up like it would all go together. You have the cabin in front. Then behind it are the rest of the Pioneer Farm buildings. They have a corn crib, blacksmith shop, and several other buildings all right together.

Alan and I have always taken our kids to pioneer and colonial historical parks like this. These places usually include a blacksmith shop because they were an important part of that way of life. One time when our oldest son was in first grade, he and a friend drew out a map of their own theme park design. I thought it was so funny because their theme park had a ferris wheel and all sorts of rides. Then in the middle of their theme park, there was the blacksmith shop. BAAAhahahaha!

There is a lovely stream that separates the Pioneer Farm from the restrooms, mill, and picnic area.

We spent most of our day over by the Williams house and Pioneer Farm. Thanks to the heat, by the time we finished exploring this area and rode the train, we were beat.

Tannehill Park keeps going and going though. Since we were so tired, we loaded up in our minivan and drove around the rest of the park.

Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park has so much to see that we didn’t have time to see half of it.

The other areas of the park include several campgrounds, another creek, the Iron and Steel Museum and Visitor Center, an event center, a Country Store, the Cane Creek School, and a country church and cemetery. One of these spots was also selling ice cream.

In the back of the park, there is even a Furnace Area with an archaeological research site. I would have loved to have seen the archaeology part. It would also have been nice to visit the museum. Maybe next time.

We did manage to drive by a few of these places and take a photo of the church. It was pretty.

I don’t remember where the church was from or what denomination it was. Maybe Methodist?

On our way out of the park, we saw these lovely deer, having lunch by the road.

I would tell you to visit the Tannehill State Park website to see a schedule for this year or to book a cabin, but their site is currently being redone.

You can try that link to see if it’s back up.

In the meantime, there is also a Tannehill park Facebook page. They will announce events there.

This is such a happy memory. I love that we got to go see this tangible piece of our family’s history. Even if you aren’t from Bibb county, I think it’s a fun outing for a family who likes to camp, fish, hike, or visit museums or historical parks.

You should also go if you have a kid who loves trains. That alone would have made some of our toddlers ecstatic.

I’m so proud of the hard working people that I come from. Maybe some day I will get to move back to Alabama and have a little place of my own too.

I have a good excuse to go to Tannehill and visit the cabin again too. My mom and my brother still haven’t seen this place. Maybe they will go with me.

If you like exploring historical parks, check out these other past adventures in photos:

Pioneer Park in Troy, Alabama

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Gettysburg Battlefield, Pennsylvania

The post Exploring Our Family History in Tannehill State Park: A Beautiful Place to Take Your Family appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

***When you purchase through links on my website, I do collect advertising fees from the Amazon.***

Best of all, these books each have a different character-building lesson in them. They are beautifully illustrated too.

When you shop online, it is hard to know what exactly is in any book you have never read before. That can be problematic as a parent, with so many weird, competing messages being blasted out to our children.

So I’m here to tell you exactly what you will find in these new books for kids!

All opinions here are my own. I did read each book, and I even asked the authors to provide a giveaway copy for my readers! So I am extra excited about that. Giving fun stuff away is my favorite.

Now let’s see the new books!

I have read every page of each of these, from digital proof copies, supplied to me by the authors.

#1. Lincoln’s Big Adventure

There is so much to tell you about this one! I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

In Lincoln’s Big Adventure, you follow a $5 bill on his way through life, changing hands many times. In fact, we begin the story with Lincoln (the $5 bill) hanging out with some other money in a piggy bank. So cute.

What is great about this book is that it teaches giving, kindness, saving up money, charity, and helping others in a way that is a story and isn’t preachy at all. In the end, Lincoln gets to feel like he made a big difference.

It’s a heart warming story with a good message, and your kids will definitely learn a lot from this book.

Plus, I have noticed kids often have a fascination with money and how it works. This book will teach them more about that too.

A neat bonus here is that the book includes both English and Spanish. The Spanish is right below the English on the page. You can practice your Spanish while reading this book.

I also like that it is written by a Christian author and school teacher, Jordan Saez. You can find more of her books here.

#2. Fred The Oversized Watermelon

This is a super sweet, deep, and emotional book. It has an awesome, rarely heard message in children’s literature these days.

Fred is larger than all of the other watermelons. No one will befriend him, not the watermelons nor the other animals and fruits. For a minute, things are looking real bleak for Fred.

Children’s books do not often go this sad either, but life does, and that’s just facts. But do NOT despair!! That is one of the key themes of the book, the not despairing.

I hesitate to tell you the ending because it is a total spoiler to the story, but I know as parents you need to know the message.

So here’s the spoiler. Scroll fast to the next book if you don’t want to know. Ha!

This completely took me by surprise because books so rarely mention this aspect of God, the not being alone because you have someone watching over you.

Towards the end, Fred meets Duck. Duck represents God in the story. He shows up with a message of pure HOPE and love.

Duck has been watching Fred all along. He brings up the little good things that happened amongst the sad times and how he sent those. He reassures and loves Fred when no one else will. It is excellent. It reminds me of a Max Lucado book.

This book is written by Kendal Clawson. In the front of the book, Kendal dedicates the book to her nieces or nephews and reminds them that there is always a God in heaven watching over them. That is a vital thing to teach our children.

#3. Swinging for Joy

This is a sweet, heart warming story about a little girl and her dog and how they help a little boy in distress.

The dog is named Joy, and he is sort of a magic dog. Well, maybe he is magic, and maybe he isn’t. What he does are all things dogs do. He finds things with his nose, he comforts his girl, London, and he is her best friend.

Our dog does that too. In fact, that is the reason I insisted on buying our boys a dog even though I have never been a dog person. (Yeah, I know, crazy cat person here.)

I LOVE how in this story London sees a boy crying at the playground and heads straight over to help him.

This is EXACTLY the sort of behavior I want my kids to display, caring about other people and acting on it. It is also what we want others to do for us in our time of need.

This is a story of faith. You can use the way she believes in her wishes to her dog to encourage your kids to look to God to help them with their problems.

Another thing I liked about this story is this line, “All you have to do is believe..”

Kids are often not taught to believe in anything. This book teaches believing in something bigger than yourself. Just make sure they know the thing to believe in is God. If he can create a world, he can help you find your keys.

There is also a cool reference to some historical heroes from Alabama in the book, that I especially enjoyed. But since I’ve already let out so many story spoilers, I will let you discover that one for yourself.

The author of this book, Aishah Hight, focuses on writing on themes of kindness, hope, and overcoming challenges. That is exactly what kids need.

Now let’s give away some new books!

Our winner will receive one copy of each of these three books, in the mail, directly from the author. If you’d like, the author will even sign your copy!

To register for the giveaway, click on the tabs in the Rafflecopter below. You can comment below, or you can visit my new Facebook page and click like.

You have two weeks to enter the giveaway. I will let you know via email if you win, so you must provide a good email address that you check regularly.

Rules: You must live in the United States and have a valid email address so I can notify you if you win.

Your kids will love this! Good luck!!

The post 3 New Children’s Books for Summer & A Giveaway! appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

We make this trip down south to see our family every single year. Alan had to switch jobs back in June, so this year we pushed the pilgrimage back to August. I kept thinking by August “things” would be better. But alas, August is here, and things still look like a bowl of mush.

Alan had to get special permission to even take leave and travel so far during all this mess. With permission secured, we packed our bags and hit the highway.

We left town in a downpour comparable to what I would imagine was seen in the days of Noah and his ark.

Cars were pulled over on I-95 to both the left and right sides of the road, as the water was almost impossible to even see through. Giant diesel trucks were everywhere. It was rough, but we trudged forth.

Our faithful canine companion was tucked safely on her little chewed-up dog bed in the van floor between the middle seats. She is a champ of a traveler, though she did take some fascination with a random truck driver at a red light in the D.C. area who she barked at a bit. No idea what her problem with him was. He seemed to get the message and inched forward. Ha!

By the time we got through Baltimore and Washington, D.C., the weather cleared up. Hurray!

We only drove five hours the first day and knocked out the remaining eight on day two. This trip went more quickly than past ones, as we did take fewer stops.

Thankfully, at this point in the pandemic, August 7th, we did not have any trouble finding places to take a bathroom break or get food.

Have you ever suffered an electric shock from a car charger?

Our minivan has a charger in the back row, which the boys like to fight over. They use it to charge their modern day Gameboys. We were in the middle of settling a dispute over who had the right to charge their Nintendo in that space, when Daniel suddenly let out a dramatic “Yow!” He was in deep distress, and all attention turned to his giant blue eyes and upset face.

Apparently, there was a small pencil in the charger, and he reached down to grab it out. He touched the lead and the metal all at once, which gave him a solid shock. He was shook up.

Then all the boys, including Dad, started to tell their shock stories.

One was especially hilarious. Our son was sitting in his sixth grade class, ironically enough, listening to a lesson on electric current and graphite. He thought to himself that his pencil tip was like graphite, so he PURPOSEFULLY stuck his pencil in an electrical outlet! My son let out a yelp and was forced to explain himself to both teacher and class. The way he told it was pretty funny.

This was news to me.

I had never heard this story. Plus, I had no idea that so many of us have suffered shocks! Caleb and I are the only ones in our family who have never been shocked. This is also quite ironic, considering Caleb was the toddler who got caught by all three kinds of mouse traps.

We all had a good laugh over the electrical shock stories. I love how we all feel so close during family vacations. Vacations are an essential part of family life. That opportunity for everyone to step away for their ordinary engagements and have fun together for a while is refreshing. This time builds bonds and heals hurts.

One of the boys has Siri on his device set to “Indian accent,” and we got to listen to him ask it silly questions.

Biggest whiner of the trip: The dog.

Rosie was happy and quiet for most of the five hour trip, but any time Alan got out of the van to pump gas or run into a store, the dog whining began in earnest. It was as though she thought he was never returning. Alan is her master, and she is completely devoted to him.

Now that Alan works from home, Rosie spends all day everyday lying in the floor of the room where he works. Some days Alan goes into the office to work, and Rosie will still spend the day lying in the floor of his room, waiting for him to return.

We ended night one at a Hampton Inn and Suites in southern Virginia.

Hampton Inn’s Covid Changes

Most corona changes are mild: wear a mask in the hallways, smaller numbers of people in the elevator, etc. The only change that annoyed me was breakfast and coffee.

For breakfast, you had to put in an order of what you would like from a menu, by midnight the night before. We only arrived at the hotel at eleven-something, so I felt rushed on that with very little brain power, but we got it done. Plus, you had to sign up for a breakfast pick-up time. I did not like that level of committing to a wake up time after a late night, but it didn’t bother Alan. He always gets up early.

Once you go down to breakfast pick-up, you had to wait in a very long line, which always feels counterproductive to me in the age of rona.

Coffee is no longer self-serve, which makes sense. You had to got to the front desk and tell the clerk how to fix your coffee. I tried to just make coffee in my room, but it was a different system than I am used to. I did not have the patience for learning new things, so downstairs I went for the desk-clerk-served coffee.

The good news is the coffee was delicious, and there was no line for that.

How was there no line for coffee? Everyone else had the energy and functioning to figure out that tiny alien coffee maker in our rooms?

We were back on the road by 9:45 on day two. With four children, that feels like an accomplishment. Yes, I am serious. Some people, (I mean me), have trouble getting up before 7:30 these days…

More on our Bama vacation on our next post!

If you are considering taking a road trip in the age of rona, and have not decided yet, I say GO! Yes, COVID is everywhere, but you can take precautions in one state about as well as another.

Happy summer!

The post Successful Annual Road Trip to See Family During the Rona appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Alan pleasantly surprised me a couple of weeks ago when he announced that he had cashed in our hotel points and made reservations for us to spend July 5th in Ocean City.

Say what?? Granted, Alan can be very spontaneous, but this was even better than a last minute trip. This was a PLANNED vacation surprise! Wahoo! I had not even suspected that he was planning something like this. We have been basically stuck here. You see, not only is there a pandemic which we respect and take precautions for, but Alan is in the military. He is not even allowed by the government to travel beyond some specified radius for now. Don’t ask me what the radius is exactly. I haven’t bothered to look it up, but all I know is we are required to basically stay in place.

Alan and I went to Ocean City seven years ago, for a marriage retreat, but it was in winter. We have never been to their famous boardwalk. The children have never been down there at all. So this was something to get excited about!

John David actually said, “Well, I am excited because of staying in a hotel, so yeah!”

I was a little nervous about pulling off social distancing in such a crowded location. Catching coronavirus is certainly not on my summer bucket list.

In fact, I have only two items on 2020’s summer bucket list:

1. Do not catch coronavirus, and do my best to ensure the family does not catch it either.
2. Go to Alabama to visit our family.

So is it possible to pull off social distancing while taking a beach vacation?

Yes, I mean, not perfectly, but just as well as we do at home anyway. We ate out once and got take-out twice in twenty-four hours. Normally, we would not need to venture out for food or eat out as frequently as that.

I think anytime you go out and especially eat from a restaurant, it is a risk. Right? But I mean obviously, some risks are going to have to be made. Even going to the store carries some risks, but people do have to eat.

Before we left, I looked up Ocean City’s current COVID numbers.

Their numbers were even lower than our own county, so that was a plus. There just comes a point where you need to get out of your own house for your mental health, and we were definitely at that point.

Bathroom stops

I am happy to report that bathroom stops are possible. Royal Farms abound at every turn in eastern Maryland and Delaware, and their restrooms were open, so this was not a problem. I cannot say what level of cleanliness they were because the kids and I did not take any bathroom breaks. The trip from our house to Ocean City was only around three hours. Did you know that I have a bladder of steel? It’s an attribute I’m quite proud of. Once, in high school, I held it for thirteen hours, from Alabama to Texas. You see, public restrooms give me the eebidy-jeebies.

Our entire family is pretty crazy about Sweet Frog. This is a frozen yogurt place that lets you add all kinds of toppings of your choosing. It is also a Christian company. We were delighted to discover it was right next door to our hotel!

Hotel Stays with a Family of Six

Hotel stays have to be planned out very carefully when you are trying to room six people together. This requires that you book a suite that has two queens and a pull out sofa, or two rooms of almost any description joined together. This time we had two joined rooms, and it was so spacious and wonderful. Both rooms had queen beds, pull-out sofas, and full kitchens. Plus, one room was handicap accessible, so it had about two feet of extra width everywhere. Home 2 suites is also pet friendly, or at least this one is, so we highly recommend this hotel!

We originally booked a pet-friendly hotel, thinking we would bring Rosie with us, but in the end we decided to send Rosie to her boarding place. She stays at a doggie daycare that is run out of the owner’s house, so I can assure you, she probably has more fun there than she does at home. Rosie loves getting to go play with the other dogs.

The Golden Age of Parenthood

We are smack dab in the middle of the golden age of parenting. It is glorious. No one is in diapers, needs bottles, or needs help using the potty. Everyone can bathe themselves and wash their own hair. Meanwhile, no one can drive yet, so we always know where everyone is and what they are doing. This is our golden age.

I should also mention that we also left ALL video game devices at home so we did not have to settle any fights over turns.

Our Biggest Obstacle: Feather pillows!!!!

There are only a few things that could allergically ruin our vacation: cashews, peanuts, fire ants, peas, or feather pillows. Thankfully, our boys know how to avoid their food allergies with excellent accuracy and very little anxiety. Fire ants do not live this far north, so that only leaves the nemesis of at least FOUR of us….feather pillows.

It never even occurred to me to be worried about this, but it brought great distress and a little bit of asthma to our evening. Thankfully, I never travel without adult and children’s Benadryl. Several of us had to make make-shift pillows and switch beds, but I am happy to report that we did not end up at the ER. I cannot BELIEVE I was careless enough to forget to bring an inhaler. It has been a year since anyone needed one, so it never crossed my mind.

Yes, the beach was still somewhat crowded. It was Sunday, July 5th.

That did not mean we came into contact with anyone at all though. We set up our blanket about twelve feet from the nearest group, just as we normally would anyway. I did have to try harder than usual to stay away from other people in the water.

John David and Daniel were ALL about the ocean. I loved watching them enjoy it so much. That was another golden age of parenting moment. No one was so small that I had to worry about their every step. I stayed close to them, constantly scanning of course, but it was nothing like those years where Caleb would take off running in the opposite direction or J.D. thought he could just plow right into the deep waves with no fear whatsoever. I was made to be a big kid mom!

You may be thinking, “It’s not as pretty as Florida.”

Well, no, it is not as gorgeous as the Gulf of Mexico. It was fun though. Really it was exactly what we needed.

Daniel told me early on, “I got pinched on the toes by a crab!” Isn’t it sad how we naturally think kids are wrong sometimes? That is exactly why I FULLY deserved that very real, quite startling, pinch I got on my big toe an hour later from a crab that I could not see in that dark water.

We saw many crabs, of all different sizes that day. Maryland is not known for its crabs for nothing. In fact, their prevalence makes me wonder why it costs so much to eat them. Ha!

Alan buried the boys up to their knees, per their request, and then headed back out for some swimming. Why do kids love to be buried in the sand so much? Ick. It is not for me.

Pool Time!

According to the CDC, you are not at risk of catching coronavirus from swimming in a well maintained pool or hot tub. I think it is the chlorine that we have to thank here.

Home 2 Suite’s pool policy was that you sign up for an hour at a time for the pool. No more than ten people in the pool at any given time. The great thing about this was that we had the entire pool to ourselves for most of the time. We thoroughly enjoyed our pool time. It was badly needed. The only swimming we had done this summer was the day the boys swam in the stream at Rocks State Park.

Longboard Cafe

This restaurant was next door to our hotel, so it was an obvious choice. We lucked up and got seats right away, and the food was delicious. I am quite pleased to say that everyone was on their best behavior. It went much better than last week, when the boys had not been out in forever.

Childhood Problems

We noticed at dinner that Daniel looked all pouty, so Alan asked him what was wrong. Caleb said, “He’s just mad because he didn’t get to push the buttons on the elevator.”

I laughed. Kids do not like it when you laugh at their problems, but it is so hard not to laugh!! We worked extra hard to make sure Dan got to push elevator buttons on the way back to the room.

Home 2 Suites Breakfast

They did still have the free breakfast. You just had to pick it up and carry it to your room. I had one of those microwavable sausage biscuits, and we made coffee in our room. The kids, as usual, all ate cereal, and everyone was happy.

The Boardwalk!

Ocean City’s boardwalk is famous. I have heard people talk about it ever since we first moved to the DMV (D.C./Maryland/Virginia area) nine years ago. The boys did not care one way or the other. They are funny like that, but I could NOT wait to check it out.

However, locals advised us to steer clear of the boardwalk at night this trip. There has been violence in recent weeks. Not ones to ignore sound advice, we decided to do the boardwalk on Monday morning rather than Sunday night. We enjoyed Sweet Frog by our hotel instead, and no one was disappointed really.

It looks so fun, doesn’t it? But the amusement park was not open when we went. Arcades did not seem like a good idea during the ‘rona either, and we weren’t hungry because we had eaten the free breakfast at the hotel. Plus, the sun was beating down on us with very little shade available. I can see where normally it is actually more fun at night.

We stayed at the boardwalk all of thirty minutes and then headed back home.

I would have been perfectly happy to remain in Ocean City all week.

But then you know how much I LOVE the beach. Like everyone else, I am tired of staying in my house all the time. I officially miss regular life. Yesterday, I was so sad to be back at my isolation island full of people fussing about their video game controllers, I just sat down and watched reruns on Netflix all day. That left me feeling even worse, so today I am aiming to be more productive.

I am already starting to daydream about our next getaway. Alan has resubmitted paperwork to take leave to visit family in August, so now we wait to see if it will be approved. Here’s hoping!

The post Overnight Trip to Ocean City, Maryland During the Pandemic appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Do you vow every summer to make sure your kids still read and write over the break?

I know I do. Then I am always thoroughly disappointed when no one wants to do anything of the sort. In fact, as a mom of all boys, I feel like all anyone ever wants to do is stare at screens all day. That is our battle as a generation.

Every year I enter in with delusions of grandeur, but that is okay. Yes, my intentions are good, and I do manage to get some work out of all of them, in spite of their protests.

I get it. This is summer. They don’t have to spend all day on writing, but five or ten minutes could help them stay sharp.

Here is a big lesson I have learned over the past fourteen years: The easier their work looks to them, the more likely they are to pour a little effort into it without melting into a whiny puddle in the floor.

My boys typically turn their noses up at all journal prompt books or even keeping a diary. However, when I simply hand them a simple looking worksheet, they can fly through that fairly quickly.

These journal pages are a little different than the usual writing prompts I have found online because they were tailor made for our house fiction writer. Once or twice during this past school year, of first grade, he cranked out twelve pages of a fiction story, so I would not call him a reluctant writer. Yet here we are in summer, and he is not writing anything at all. I made these journal pages to get his juices flowing again.

Next time I make a pack of these, I will do non-fiction pages for my nine-year-old. In our house we seem to have two who prefer writing non-fiction (which is me too, so I can fully relate to that), and then I have my two who enjoy fiction writing.

My best tip for encouraging summer writing:

Rewards, rewards, rewards! I do not mean big exciting rewards. Just use the one thing that they actually want to do to hold over their heads. ha! At our house, that is video games. You do your journal, brush your teeth, and do your chore, then you can play your games for a while, and I will leave you alone.

You know I have all boys and do not know a thing about raising girls, but I tried to make these pages usable for both boys and girls. Instead of going with a theme, I made them all completely different to keep it interesting. I thought the green one turned out odd, but my son said it looked like the most fun to him, so I kept it.

Good luck! I hope these will help you with that summer slump!

Click here to print all of them.

If you have a verbose writer, the lines will not hold all that they have to say. Encourage them to just flip the paper over and finish on the back. I wish we had that problem here. Instead, I have to say, “Can you write a little more details please?”

Click here to print the pack.

The post 5 Printable Summer Journal Pages to Get Your Kids Writing appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

The beach is my favorite place to go in the summer, but it can be expensive and dangerous for a family full of pale skinned people. This year we actually managed to take a thrifty trip to Miramar Beach without getting sun-burned!

Alan and I are always dreaming up fun things to do together as a family, and our efforts are often met with …….resistence.

One of our fellas actually lamented, “I don’t want to go to the beach. I just want to stay home and hang out at the house.”

Sigh. Well, perhaps we were hasty in taking a beach trip the very second that school let out, but that’s life. Children are still at the mercy of the parents’ summer schedules. We are at the mercy of their’s the rest of the year.

When I was a child, I would have never said, “I don’t want to go to the beach!” I don’t think I ever did go to the beach until I was around 13 years old, and it was something I was exceedingly grateful for.

That just goes to show that the more accustomed to wonderful things that a person is, the less we appreciate those wonderful things.

John David was not the beach-resistor. He couldn’t wait to go, but once he got there he was soon disenchanted and ready to head to the pool.

Have no fear. The moment the reluctant boy sat foot on the beach, he never complained again. In fact, Alan took all the other boys to the pool after an hour, while I stayed at the beach with Joshua until I began to worry about our sun protection.

Look closely to see a small boy in a yellow shirt, stealing a float from an older brother. He made the snatch, and he fled the scene. Joshua and I sat and laughed.

To be fair, it wasn’t stealing exactly. We share the floats. He decided it was his turn. Caleb, who was using it as a basketball net, but was pausing to fetch his ball, didn’t notice until JD was safely on the opposite side of the pool.

I was extra careful about sunscreen this year, and it paid off. I brought 0 sun-burned people home from the beach. Hallelujah! 5/6 of us are as fair as fair can be. This was an accomplishment.

My sunscreen strategy was simple.

1. Try to keep everyone indoors between 11am and 4pm.
2. Re-apply every 1.5 hours.
3. Wear a cover-up as much as possible.
4. I wore a seriously ugly hat, and so did Alan.
5. Put swim shirts on the kids.

Egypt wasn’t built in a day, so we settled for the Sphinx and a pyramid.

WWII airplanes flew over in honor of Memorial Day.

Thrifty, thrifty, thrifty

Our other big objective this year was to spend as little money as possible on the vacation. I think that’s always been a goal for Alan, but in the past I secretly didn’t care. This year I cared just as much as Alan.

Our thrifty strategy was also simple.

1. Our condo was free. Alan’s grandparents let us stay at their place, and that’s why our family has gotten to go to the beach so frequently over the years. (Gigantic thank you to Alan’s grands!!!)
2. Only eat out once/day, and that will be a lunch.
3. Buy enough groceries to have plenty of snacks and easy to assemble meals so that no one will even ask to eat out. Success!
4. The condo has a pool. The beach is right across the street, so there is no need to pay for any other activities.
5. Rent a Redbox movie instead of going to the theatre. (Remember, we have to hide from the sun for several hours/day.)

Joshua and Daniel were all about the net fishing. They caught quite a few tiny fish and crabs.

Would you like our meal ideas that made this possible? It was so simple it’s almost embarrassing to list them.

Breakfast

cereal, eggs, and Pop-tarts

Since they are normally not allowed Pop-tarts, this is a humongous treat. I was curious if pop-tarts were any better than donuts, so I looked it up……They aren’t better, just different.

By the way: 1 Krispy Kreme glazed donut = 22g carbohydrates and 11g fat

1 Blueberry Pop Tart = 38 g carbohydrates and 5g fat

Cocoa Pebbles cereal =  25g carbohydrates and 1g fat

Eggs                    = 0.6 g carbs and 5 g fat

……Sooooo that’s why we don’t normally do pop-tarts. One of my boys gets crazy hyper from all that sugar. At least with the cereal, they get the protein from the milk to help my conscience. There’s no way I’m COOKING 3 times/day. Breakfast has to be easy.

Eggs are the clear winner, but not all of us can eat the eggs. I have a son with an egg allergy. Sad, right?

This one is allergic to nothing, and he likes his eggs dyed green and served with sausage.

Lunches and Dinners

Micro-wavable hamburgers. We are sort of fanatical about these because they are delicious, they are real, and they are brain dead easy to make quickly.

We also served egg sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, yogurt, and hot dogs while we there. It was only a 3 night vacation.

Next year maybe we’ll do a no-eating out at all policy because that would have saved us another $90, believe it or not. $90 was how much we spent on the groceries for the whole weekend, and yet that’s what it costs to take our family to a restaurant, other than fast food.

And by the way, it was a free of incident beach year too! There were no ER visit, no jelly fish stings, no rain days, and no sunburn. Ah, yeah. We fall more in love with Destin every year.

I’m 1/2 daredevil like Caleb.

I used to swim to the sand bar, and I CANNOT go to the beach without getting drenched from head to toe. It’s not possible. I don’t know how you do it. Moana was right. It DOES call you.

…..but I’m now 1/2 skiddish. I’ve been stung by jellyfish a few times, and y’all, that HURTS. Plus, I see fish and shadows, and I start to panic. Ah, if only I could have stayed young and dumb.

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k]neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

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The post The Thrifty and Sunburn Free Trip to Miramar Beach appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.