Field Trip to Mount Vernon

5 Moms...13 kids...FUN!

What do Teacher Moms do in the summer?? Take their OWN kids on field trips!  This July (holy cow it was the hottest day of the summmer - heat index of 112!) we ventured to the home of George and Martha Washington, Mount Vernon.  Even in the heat it was an awesome adventure!

Of course we learned a couple things that we'd like to share :)

Starting our Tour!

Planning Your Trip

What to bring...
Printed e-tickets
Refillable water bottle
Camera/Phone
Jogging Stroller if you can - pebbled streets can be tough

Preorder your tickets online and print them.  It is okay if you forget to print, they can still access your tickets, but preordering allowed us to select the tour time we wanted. If we had waited until we got there we might have gotten stuck with a tour that wouldn't have worked with the kids...like during lunchtime :/

Visit http://www.mountvernon.org/tickets to order your tickets.

Selecting a Tour Time:  The Estate opens at 8 am in the summer but since we are 1.5 hours away we planned a 10 am arrival and it was perfect for an 11am tour.  We arrived, got great parking, hit the potty (15 kids!) then visited all the stops on the way to the tour.  The hour was just enough to see everything and then get in our time slot spot.  The house tour is now air conditioned!! Soooo nice!


Lunch Time

Picking their President!  (great caption Colleen!)

After the tour it was a great time to take a lunch break.  We packed a lunch and ate out by the car (ahh Memory Builders), but some in our group got lunch at the cafeteria which had Pizza Hut and other quick service foods.  There is also a reasonable restaurant there if you have time to spare. The gift shop has something for everyone including this statue....

Inside Events
Okay did I mention the HEAT yet...so after lunch needless to say the kids were not so eager to go outside again, although the grounds are huge and there is just tons to see.  We opted to tour the inside portion of the museum and it did not disappoint!  In fact there was a kids room with costumes to dress up in and puzzles and coloring sheets -it was great!!  Then there was a theater with a short movie.  This was a favorite among the kids because when the cannons when off your seats shook! And when it snowed...yup snow in the theater!! Sherry, one of the moms, remembered this from a fieldtrip she took with her class and it was what motivated us to choose Mt. Vernon. It did not disappoint!

Connor was drumming along - so cute! 

Outside Event
By this time in the trip, some of the kiddos were ready for a nap just in time for a car ride home.  A small group of us walked up to the gardens one more time before we planned to leave too.

As much as we wanted to walk down to the Pioneer Village it was just toooo hot.  To our luck though, while we were walking around the Upper Garden, the drum line arrived!  It was definitely worth the wait!

The Drive Home
Okay epic mom fail here!  Yes I know how bad Northern VA traffic is, but remember my trip to DC last month - it was so easy!  Well my darlings there is no HOV access lane where we got on 95 South at least from my GPS. Grrrrr!  The trip home took For.Ev.er! Not that I would have cut the time at the Estate any shorter, because you are going to hit traffic no matter what, yet honestly I would have driven the extra 10 miles into DC then turned around and hopped on the HOV lane and cruised home.  By the time we hit the the Thornburg exit, DQ was calling our name.  Hey ice cream for dinner..why not!!

To all my Teacher Mom friends...we rock this Mom thing! I can't wait for our next adventure!

Taking a Break...Saratoga Springs, NY

Our trip home to NY was to help my mom after she had surgery.  My sister and I were able to sneak away for an hour and run the kids to a park down the street.  There is so much I miss about where I grew up and we rarely get to "vacation" when we vist.  So even though we only had an hour...the time was priceless. 

Interactive Fountain FUN!!
Geyser Park ~ Saratoga Springs, NY

Swing Time with "Aunt Monkey" 

 Even with all the stress of traveling this July you can't beat the simple moments!  Memory Builders for sure!

Memory Builders

The second week in July consisted of unpacking and repacking for another trip to NY with a few swim dates smooshed in there.  For our second 10 hour car ride in 4 days we realized we really needed to break up the trip and stop as much as possible to let the kids run around and tire out!

When I was a little girl my mom always packed a picnic lunch wherever we went and we would have roadside picnics all over Upstate New York and much of Vermont!  "Memory Builders" she would say when we asked why we couldn't go to McDonalds.  At the time, eating a sandwich and chips in the middle of winter from the back of the car was less than appealing, but she was right we have always remembered it!  Obviously it wasn't for the "fun of it" but we got to go so many places because of her thifty Memory Builders.

Here is a quick glance at our Road Trip Memory Builder  :)

counting tree rings after our picnic

We packed a picnic of cheese, crackers, and fruit (okay okay we also stopped off an exit and got some pizza to go geesh I tried :0),
and thanks to iMaps searched our location and looked for a park nearby.  We didn't find a park but we did find a picnic pull off with the entrance to some PA State Park Trails.  It was perfect and the drive to it was gorgeous.

We ate, we ran around, we threw the ball and we got back in the car.  Definitely a MEMORY BUILDER!  Thanks Mom for teaching me to slow down and remember what is important.  My kids will definitley remember this over the McDonalds drive through!

Math Monday Update

Multiplication practice lives on... Checkout this fun printable.  http://deceptivelyeducational.blogspot.ca/2011/09/milk-chocolate-multiplication.html  We are having a competition to see who can come up with the most multiplication problems using the dots chart.

Tip:  We printed the sheet and slipped it in to a plastic sleeve so we could use our dry erase marker on it to reuse and reuse. Works great!


Connor is a rising 2nd grader and would rather polish up his addition and subraction skills.  Check out these super cool Angry Bird Printables!  They are so fun.

http://www.coloringsquared.com/printable-coloring-sheets/angry-birds/angry-birds-addition-and-subtraction/#.Udq2KPnigfU


These are both also pinned on my Simplifying Mommy Pinterest Board.  :)  

Simple Family Fun - Stony Brook NY State Park

Every year we make the trek up to NY for the Fourth of July party on Loon Lake.  Since two of the three kids were asleep for the fireworks, I didn't get any pictures. :( But... the the kids love getting up early to use their brand new fishing poles from Grandma!  (somehow we get new ones each year :)  This is the first year though that they actually each caught a fish on their own!

Morning  Catch on Loon Lake

Aside from lounging in the lake, although our 18 month old just wanted to swim to the floating dock and back over and over and over - this kid has no fear - so there is not much "lounging",
 we love to go and visit Stony Brook State Park.  

This is my favorite stop on our annual visit. Not only is is BEAUTIFUL but you get a good work out walking to each of the falls. This is definitely not something you want to miss if you are in the Western NY area. This park is located in Dansville, NY and has lifeguarded swimming holes, picnic areas, clean locker rooms and an awesome playground!  Check out their website to plan your visit http://nysparks.com/parks/118/.   Nothing beats a simple family walk along the falls. 

Simplifying Spaces - Magnetic Chalk Wall

Mommy Bucket List Project #2 - Create a Magnetic Chalk Wall in the Kitchen.

A few years ago I made wine cork board to hang in the kitchen as decor but also a place to hang the kids' artwork and school project.  We have a stainless steel fridge and guess what...it isn't magnetic! The super cute wine cork board worked great but now the corks keep falling off so I decide to try this out.  The jury is still out on whether or not it was a great idea.  It looks great but isn't as functional as I had hoped.  

Materials Needed:

• Magnetic Primer
• Latex Chalkboard Paint
• Painter's Tape
• DROP CLOTHS
• 2 Roller sponges for smooth surfaces
• Paint pan
• Long Sleeved Shirt to wear while applying the primer ( I was covered in black flecks from this step and had to use gasoline to get it off of my skin)

Tips and Lessons Learned:

Magnetic Primer  - The magnetic primer is messy.  When you roll it on your space it drops black flecks everywhere.  Be sure to have surrounding surfaces covered. The can says to do two to three coats, preferably three thin than two thick.  After two coats, I tried one of the Leap Frog Fridge Farm (heavy) magnets and when it stuck easily I figured I was good to go.  NOPE!  After applying the top coat of Latex Chalkboard Paint as it suggests on the package the same magnet wouldn't stick. :/  Grr I painted to the floor so the baby could play with this toy in this space now it won't hold.  

Chalk Board Paint - Easy and wonderful!  Paints the same as any other latex paint which means easy clean up too.  With plenty left over I plan on using this for other spaces and/or projects.

Magnets:  It seems that decorative magnets have trouble sticking because they are heavy.  I have had success with large flat (sheet like) magnets like the kind you'd stick to your car.  We have a bundle of Upward Sports magnets that I'm using inside of a plastic presentation sleeve then sliding the paper in that to display.  Not the ease of use I was hoping for but it is working for now.  :)

Favorite Part:  The kids created a chore chart for summer. See blog post here.  We put the charts in plastic sleeves so that we could use dry erase markers to check off completed chores.  Yay with a magnet inside the sleeve the chart sticks to the wall!  AND I found a 3 pack of  Magnetic Dry Erase Markers at Dollar Tree that stick to the wall too!  

Final Verdict - I would have done a smaller space and laid on the primer super thick.  I still don't have a vertical space for her Fridge Farm and Letter Factory (we are using a cookie sheet instead) but I do like the way it look and the kids seem to love it!  For the most part this is a mommy win and it does Simplify the Space!  

Magnetic Chalk Wall

Math Monday: Multiplication

Really only four more weeks of summer!!! UGH gotta get on this math plan! Okay so the kids really wanted to brush up on their math skills this summer.  Calculating their chores (see previous post) has been great but during today's rainy day we finally hunkered down and tackled the multiplication chart.  

Goal = simply look at the relationships between numbers as they multiply

Is this the best way to "teach" multiplication? Most likely no but the kids had a great time doing it and discovering the patterns themselves.  My rising 2nd grader hasn't really been exposed to multipliation except in skip counting so it was cool to hear his rising 4th grade sister explain things to him.  :)  

Next step?  

• Keep looking at the sequence of numbers until they stick (yeah yeah we don't memorize times tables anymore...and that my friends is why my 9th graders cannot calculate tax!!) 
• Make up songs or visit the songs already available 
• Download and Print the Number Family Cards or create own flash cards
• Make a yard size multiplication chart out of a shower curtain, tape and paint

Visit my Pinterest Board: A Simplifying Mommy for the links

A blank copy of the Multiplication chart is in the Printables Tab above.

I fount it at http://www.memory-improvement-tips.com/printable-multiplication-chart.html