Petersburg, Virginia

The siege of Petersburg lasted nine and a half months with a total of 70,000 casualties. This was the final decline of General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.  From here General Ulysses S. Grant cut the supply lines to Petersburg that ensured the fall of Richmond on April 3, 1865.  It was just six days later that General Lee surrendered. Owen loved seeing all the cannons and Milton loved being able to get out on the grass. We also visited Grant’s Headquarters at City Point which had a very excellent overlook of the James River. 

Thanksgiving 2017

This year we were able to host Thanksgiving at our house.  A very exiting event for me in that this is the first time we have been able to host a sit down meal with family. After the 10+ years of going to Thanksgiving at Sara and Bob's farm it was great that they were able to come up. Every year the YMCA holds the Turkey Chase race on Thanksgiving morning.  When I was in high school I would volunteer in the mornings starting at 6 am handing out the race packets for that day.  This year we signed up Damon for the 10k which was around our neighborhood.  The race went up Pooks Hill Road and onto Linden.  Damon placed 45th overall out of 3087 and 6th out of 129 for his age division.  His overall time was 39:07 with a pace of 6:19. Not too shabby.

Thomas Stone National Historic Site, Maryland

The site was established to protect the home and property of Thomas Stone, one of the 56 signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. His home and estate were owned by the Stone family until 1936.

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, Pennsylvania

Hopewell Furnace was in operation from 1771-1883 as an iron plantation. The Federal Government acquired the property in 1935. The restored buildings include a blast furnace, the ironmaster's house and auxiliary structures including a blacksmith's shop, a company store and several worker's houses. The site's most prosperous time was during the 1820–1840 period with a brief boom in production during the American Civil War. In the mid-19th century, changes were made in iron making including a shift from charcoal to anthracite. This change rendered smaller furnaces like Hopewell obsolete. Owen liked seeing the huge water wheel and bellows.

Fort Washington, Maryland

Fort Washington is at the mouth of Piscataway Creek overlooking the Potomac River.  The river makes almost a complete right angle turn with Fort Washington being at that corner.  Directly to the north is Washington DC and to the West is Mount Vernon. Both are easily visible from the top of the Fort's battery. The first fort on the site was Fort Warburton which was built from 1809 to 1814.  During the War of 1812 it was destroyed and then the British were able to continue their movement to burn Washington in August of 1814.  The new fort built on the site became Fort Washington. At the time of the fort's completion, it was the only defense for the Nation’s Capital until the Civil War.  During the Civil War a circle of temporary forts was built around the city. It was used throughout all of the subsequent American wars. During World War II an attachment of the Women's Army Corps was stationed at the fort. Then in 1946 the fort and grounds was turned over to the National Park Service. I am happily teaching Owen the importance of national park passport stamp collecting.  Owen and Milton even have their own books. Owen loved seeing all of the cannons i.e. "boom"

November 2017

This month was Thanksgiving where we were happily the hosts.  With our fancy new table and having a home large enough to support people coming over, we were thrilled to put together Thanksgiving.  We had my parents and my cousins Sara and Bob.  They live on the farm that has been the location to many of my Thanksgivings in the past.  Damon and I did the bird and most of the sides.  The day before my mom and I prepped a couple of the sides which were recipes from my great grandmother who my mother was very close with. 

Owen is doing very well in school and having a lot of fun with his friends.  We go to the playground after pickup and there are about 5 kids total who also stop for a bit before going home.  Owen's best friend is Ethan who lives just down the street from us. Owen adores Ethan's mom and will almost run to see her more than Ethan.  Owen loves to ask all of the parents where their respective children are.  Such as "Where is Ethan?" only to have Ethan standing right next to him.  Owen is having a tough time with nail biting, but we are trying to break the habit before it gets too ingrained.

Milton now has 6 teeth with the lateral incisors coming in. He is sitting up really well.  Milton loves getting his chow and playing with the puff cheerio things.  Milton was a bit sick with the illness that all of the kids seem to have passed around.  Those several days did not have him and I on good terms with him waking up every 2 hours during the night. Milton adores Owen and watching Owen go around will almost always make him laugh.