Sword in the Stone

It's a good thing this is our middle ages year. A large part of Disney World is about stories taken from those eras, so it was a fun addition to this year. We have the weekday pass, so there's less people around.

Legoland

We went on a homeschool outing to Legoland. It opened earlier this year and the group rate was quite a deal. The gardens were beautiful, the lego sculptures are pretty cool and the waterskiing lego men are entertaining.

Practicing driving

Harassing the sleeping knight

Ocmulgee National Monument

Ocmulgee National Monument: I didn't do any prior research on this park and was very pleasantly surprised to see something totally different from all the other parks we've been to on the east coast. This is a prehistorical site with artifacts from 9000BC... And the main building is pretty cool architecturally too. It was another hot day in GA though. 

There is an entrance to the mound on the left.

One of the old type signs in the NPS system

More Atlanta area National Parks

We went to two outdoor parks today : Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield and Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. It was a very hot day , over 100, and we mostly stayed in the visitor center at Kennesaw and did the JR program inside. At Chattahoochee we went in the deliciously cool water.

Canadian Geese rarely make it to S. Florida

Martin Luther King jr. National Historic Site

Martin Luther King jr. National Historic Site: We really haven't discussed his significance yet, so she got what she got from the Junior Ranger program. I think segregation and racism aren't a real part of her world, so some of the exhibits probably didn't make much of an impact.

Jimmy Carter National Historic Site

Jimmy Carter National Historic Site: I had been to Plains, GA once before as a teen on a road trip with my parents I think. I remember the peanut obsession. Anyway, I'm not sure how much Cowgirl got out of this side trip, other than that someone can come from practically nothing to become President of the US with a lot of hard work and a little luck. Maybe that's a good enough lesson. He's definitely done a lot since he's been President.

One room schoolhouse - working on her Junior Ranger book

Sweeping the yard.

Checking on the animals

Getting an animal interested

Road trip to Atlanta

We took a road trip to Atlanta for Cuong Nhu Training Camp. Along the way we stopped and camped at Georgia Veterans State Park. The day was over 100 degrees, but temps were comfortable at night. The lake nearby cooled off the area nicely. We also had a chance to find a geocache, and the state of Georgia has a whole series of geocaches in their state parks, with little prizes for collecting so many. It's a cool idea to get people to visit their state parks.

Swimming at the "beach"

Our girly campsite

Veterans parks have military stuff!

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

Castillo de San Marcos: I love this place. It's so old, compared to the rest of Florida. This trip included another family, and the menfolk went to Daytona for a car show, so we took the kids to St. Augustine. I managed to get Cowgirl to finish her Junior Ranger book, but the two boys thought it was too much like school and kind of quit. Although once they saw the cool little badge she got, they wanted to do the program, but we only just finished by closing time so they were out of luck. It also happened to be Girl Scout day, there were local Girl Scouts that were in period costumes doing period things. I thought it sounded like a very cool program.

Loud noises coming up next!

Meditating in the chapel

Visiting Vietnam - round 2

I didn't plan on visiting Vietnam again so soon, but certain events came up and we are now going to Vietnam again.

New York City National Parks, Day 2

Today involved a boat trip to Governors Island National Park. We didn't get a chance to do the Statue of Liberty because I didn't plan enough in advance to get tickets. I want to go into the crown again.

Map inside the departure point.

The View

History

Inside the fort

New York City National Parks

We went to some National Parks in the city of New York and did the Junior Ranger program for the ones we could. Today we visited 3 parks:

African Burial Ground:

She's got the world at her feet!

Federal Hall:

Washington was our main man for this trip.

Found a friend

Castle Clinton: By the time we got here it was closed. So we toured around the outside a bit.

Trying to attract a bird

Visiting Family

Once Tet is started, people spend the first couple of days visiting family and friends. We took a bus to 

Rạch Giá, which was where my mom grew up. And went to visit several different spots where she grew up and people she knew. Here is the kitchen of a house of a neighbor.

These are the water storage jugs, covered to keep mosquitoes out!

 This is the family of one of moms cousins, and the sides of the house is tin. There's a hammock in the bedroom, it's actually a pretty small room.

We went to a temple where my moms grandparents are interred.

Moms Grandparents

In front of the main temple steps

Being tourists! Although the temple is doing well, there's a big addition being built.

She loves the mopeds!

 After the trip to the temple we went back to mom's cousins house for dinner. The concrete floor is a recent addition, it used to be a pond where they'd keep their own fish.

Charcoal braziers

No tables needed around here!

Dinner involved grilled seafood. We had bought some fresh shrimp and fish.

The old red roof part is a bit of moms old house. It's been taken over by newer buildings. I find it bizarre how people just add on there.