The Bloodiest War in History...and cupcakes!

My dad has always been a Civil War buff.  Me?  I hated history growing up.  Truly.  So boring, right? 

Now?  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  Even my pastor makes fun of me by asking what I've been learning with J during school ;-)


Well, back in February, we found out that the original Emancipation Proclamation was going to be at the HMNS Civil War exhibit for 2 weeks only (come to find out it was the only location this would be presented before it was put back in the vaults in DC!).  We hooked up with Becky and her grandson, who also have a family membership to the museum, and we shared our discounts with a few other families who wanted to go with us from our co-op.  

 It was A.MAZ.ING.  Not only did we learn so many cool things, both reading and hands on, about the civil war we hadn't learned before but we also saw Abraham Lincoln's actual signature on both the Emancipation Proclamation and the original 13th Amendment.  It was one of the most powerful things I have ever seen in a museum. 


Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit but did you know both the Confederates and the Union used rustic versions of hot air balloons to search out enemy soldier camps?  Did you know that one of the most renowned Confederate spies was a woman named Rose?  Did you know that each line of the 13th Amendment was written by a different person, each line of handwriting unique, so everyone at the signing had the chance to be a part of the process?  Well, now you do, you're welcome ;-)


We also toured the rest of the museum as usual :-)  It's always so fun to share it with friends!

Mr Allen helped J go with the group on the new Geovator that takes you on an imaginary trip down through a few of the earth's layers.

The boys tried to one up each other to see who could produce the most energy.

The new Harold van Pelt gem carvings collection.  This skull was carved out of quartz.

Two of our pals decided to go on the GyroXtreme, they thought it was awesome!

If you live close to a natural history museum I highly encourage you to visit as often as you can.  Yes, it can get boring to a kid after an hour or so, but then when you are studying something (like Genghis Khan this year) and they remember seeing real artifacts and information about that person (2 years ago we went through a Genghis Khan exhibit) or event, it just makes it stick a little better. 


For a special end to the day...we hit Sprinkles Cupcakery.  This was actually our first time to visit (even though it was previously mentioned in the Terra Cotta post) and it was the perfect treat!