A Little History and Peach Picking Fun

One of the great things about both my husband and me being teachers is having the ability to take fun road trips during the summer. Today we decided to visit Montpelier in Orange, VA, which was the home of James Madison. Being a history teacher, my husband loves to visit historical sites. We have found that they can be fun, educational family activities. This trip was no different.

The tour began with a short movie about James Madison. I will admit that this was not my favorite part of the tour, but it was informative and my girls managed to sit still the entire time!

After the film, our tour guide began to take us around the grounds of Montpelier. (We went on the family-friendly tour, which was well worth it because it kept my girls interested because much of the tour was geared towards kids.)

It is a gorgeous house! (There is no photography allowed inside the house, so I do not have any pictures to share.) They are doing a lot of archaeological digging around the property to learn more about the Madison family. My girls enjoyed watching them dig for artifacts, and they got to go into the Archaeology Lab and look at samples up close. We all found it to be very interesting!

We pretty much had the freedom to go where we wanted to on the grounds. We talked to one of the archaeologists working and she told us the tree pictured below is a "witness tree" that had been on the property since the time James Madison lived there. My girls found this fact to be really cool!

After we left Montpelier, we decided to go peach picking at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville, VA. (It was about a 40 minute drive.) We have been peach and apple picking at this particular orchard before. It is one of our favorites! You have the option to pick your own peaches or buy some already picked, but we always walk to the orchard and pick our own. The girls love it!

After we picked peaches, we sat on the back deck area of the orchard and ate peach cider donuts. They are AMAZING!!! The view is also incredible, but the donuts are what make the trip so worth it!

We had such a great day! It is nice to stop our crazy, scheduled life for a day and just have fun!

-Trina

Comments

Happy Memorial Day!

Grab a cup of coffee and get comfy! Here is mine below! I felt like I needed my coffee to take the preparation for this project on! On Saturday, my family and I had over 3 other families for a pool party and cookout. Here are some of the things we did! My homemade cold brew iced coffee! On Friday, I ran errands collecting supplies for the party. I came across these cute paper platters at Target! They were great for holding the hamburgers, hot dogs and buns. I also picked up some bubbles for the little kids, some juice boxes and water bottles, and of course, some pool floats and noodles, it was a pool party after all! Is there anything Target doesn't have?! Here are a few of the decorations I put up just to make it a bit more festive. These would be great for a 4th of July or Labor Day party too! Paper banner Luminaries with battery operated candles on my island with some M&Ms Patriotic wreath on the bathroom door Now, on to the adult fun stuff! W...

Stranded! September 14: Movies

This month's Stranded Linkup hosted by Shay at Mix & Match Mama and Erika at A Little Bit of Everything is all about Movies!! I don't know about you, but this is a tough one! I love so many movies! I think these three I could watch over and over and over. I think that I have to go with my all-time favorite movie as a child for the first pick. 1st Pick Oh my gosh, you guys! I LOVED this movie SO much when I was little! Hayley Mills is my favorite! This version was the only one in existence when I was young, so I am biased and think this one is MUCH better than the Lindsay Lohan remake. 2nd Pick I mean, who doesn't love Will Ferrell and his crazy antics?! And in a holiday movie!?! We have watched this so many times during Christmastime and every other time of the year! My kids can quote many favorite lines! 3rd Pick I think this one needs to be a newer comedy that my husband and I have watched so many times. I LOVE Paul Rud...

Ladies Who Link: May Edition: Memorial Day Plans and Summer Kick Off!

It's the 3rd Thursday of the month! That means it is time for Ladies Who Link with these lovely ladies! Allie at A Gal Named Al , Lisa at Coast to Coast , Tara at Mommy In A Nutshell , & Holly at Pink Lady We would love for you to add your thoughts to our linkup! At the bottom of the post, add your link so we can check out your Memorial Day Plans and how you are planning to kick off Summer! Every Memorial Day for the last several years, our closest group of friends comes over with their kids to celebrate! We hang out by and in the pool, have some drinks, eat some food, roast marshmallows and make s'mores by the fire pit! And this year will be no different! Last week, I went to Target (where else?!) to stock up on some fun party things for the kids. Because let's be honest...if the kids are having fun and occupied, the adults are having fun too! I love to have these around for parties! They are so convenient! I got them from Par...

Moms' Coffee Date

Search This Blog