Celebrating 13!

Today was a fun day! We celebrated Maddie's 13th birthday a couple of days early so we could invite friends and family to the encampment at Saratoga National Park. We had a great time riding the tour road, visiting the re-enactors and ending it all with a picnic lunch and twix parfaits (with a very off key but rousing round of Happy Birthday!).

Twix parfait all ready to go in canning jars! Easy to carry-no cutting needed. 

Maddie made brownies for the rangers...who were very excited to have us there but even more excited to get brownies!

Dueling Cameras!

First stop the encampment!

Soup was boiling away in that pot and boy it smelled good!

Micah wasn't sure about the noise of the musket demonstration and Norah was kind enough to keep him company.

We found this lady using the glass to burn her initials into the bottom of the bowl. This was a new one on us! She explained that she was part of the cannon team. Her job is to light the slow match and the cannon. She is able to use this to light her slow match on super sunny days like today! The French sold this tool to the Continental Army.

Micah got to try!

The whole gang together!

He said "Wait! Who is the birthday girl!"

one more time! HUZZAH!!!

Ah, and then it was time to drill. This was not planned. They just jumped on having so many cheerful children I think!

Naomi was not getting left out of this fun!

Even if the gun was bigger than her.

Ah, that face, the "Oh darn, now I can't be a lefty any more!"

Bill helping Naomi tamp down the powder!

HUZZAH!! 

Kids with Buddy and Baldwin

Micah might be under that umbrella talking to Eamon!

It was good fun and now we are all pooped!! More birthday fun to come this week.

Maddie's first meal cooked by her!

All going good!

Homemade sauce and homemade meatballs

And here it is! Spaghetti & meatballs and Caesar salad with homemade dressing and croutons.
 

\It was delicious and she did a GREAT job! Now she just has to do it again next week and the week after that and......

The Vanderbilts and Doctor Who

Today we set off, rather late, to visit the Vanderbilt Mansion and Pandorica, a Doctor Who themed restaurant.  I think vacation is catching up with us! We all slept late. It was another beautiful day. We have been lucky all week because the weather has been as near to perfect as you can get!

First we took a tour of the mansion which was amazing. There is so much detail and so much to see.

entryway

skylight

The men's study...sorry I didn't take one of the women's sitting room. It was boring in my opinion! Good thing I wasn't a rich society woman in the 1920s I guess!

Maddie, Buddy and Baldwin. 

The entryway from the second floor

Louisa Vanderbilt's bedroom based on the Queen of France's bedroom. The rail around the bed is called "The birthing rail" because people would line up there to watch the Queen give birth. Poor woman had no privacy!

After we were done with the tour we made our way back to the visitor center to get the lay of the land since we had arrived right at the start of a tour of the house. We had a really good talk with the ranger about the grounds. The grounds are the oldest continually landscaped grounds in the country. There are trees dating to the 18th century and many of them are unique. He pointed us in the direction of the formal gardens and said it was about a 2 minute walk. Perhaps that is true if you are not a 4H forestry family! We took our time and examined the trees. Lots of fun!

Sugar Maple-looks like 3 trees but is only 1! The branches from the original trunk started to touch the ground. In those spots they grew roots and became new trees! 

Honey Locust tree which is dated to the 1700s

The mansion is having some repair work done. 

Gingko Tree from the 18th century...you can see little Maddie below it for size!

WE have to identify this one I think...or it might be another shot of the honey locust....

Weeping birch

Maddie next to the weeping birch branches

Looking up the trunk of the weeping birch

Maddie said this would be her lunch, school and reading spot if she was lucky enough to live here! 

View from the pulloff just down the road and still on the grounds of the mansion.

The next stop was the Doctor Who restaurant! Maddie will have those pictures on her blog.....