Inhabited Forts

Ed has been asking me to write this blog for weeks. Unfortunately, my days with Tate are long and Tate's ability to behave is often short-lived. This past week, we were in the "Man" room where Ed keeps a bunch of military paraphernalia and Tate decided that he wanted to get a closer look at Ed's bayonets. Yes, I said bayonets. I was typing away on the Internet for a brief period. Tate was being so quiet (first clue that Tate was into something he shouldn't be into). When I turned around, Tate had Ed's bayonet in his hand! I ran over quickly and relinquished the weapon from Tate and put it out of the way. Needless to say, I think that that made Ed nervous (I don't think that it was the bayonet thing. It was more Tate getting into all of his military things and the probability of putting a smudge or something on them) and he decided that it was time to break out our wireless Internet and install it, finally. So...here I am typing in the family room watching Tate. It's so nice!

Okay on to the real story.

A few weeks ago, Ed and I took take to Virginia Beach. The Army has two forts down there (yes, I said "fort", but people actually live there this time), Fort Storey (on the beach) and Fort Monroe (not on the beach, but very nice). Ed had to go to a conference at Fort Monroe and we stayed there as well.

We decided to start out at Fort Storey and expose Tate to the beach. I figured that it wouldn't be too bad considering Tate really enjoys going to the pool. It started off pretty well.





But Tate became tired and fussy.



Fortunately, we were able to get one final snapshot of Tate before we left.



So, we decided to head to our room at Fort Monroe. Fort Monroe is an old fort, but it's still in use. Some of the houses are gorgeous. I couldn't believe it. One of the homes was even used by Robert E. Lee -- Now a Major lives there.


The fort was pretty cushy -- Ed will never end up there. We're never that lucky (or maybe I should say that "I am never lucky"). Oh well! No more talking about military life.

Here are some pictures of the fort...

Of course we have to have at least one canon picture with Tate.

On our final day there, we had to check out of our room early while Ed had to finish up with his conference. So, I decided that we would play outside near a small playground. Tate really enjoyed being in the shade and playing while Daddy worked.

For some reason, Tate likes to play with strollers and especially the wheels of strollers.


And no, I did not put Tate into his stroller like this. Somehow he was able to maneuver himself into the bottom of his stroller. Of course, Mommy had to save the day and get Tate out of there.

Here's Tate during his first swing ride. He really enjoyed it.

A Slug Kegger

Yes, I hosted a slug kegger in my little garden.

The other day, I noticed that I had a few slugs feasting on the base of my zucchini plant. Of course I had to do something about this or else they would destroy my plant and I would be unable to harvest any zucchinis this summer. So, my mother suggested that I put out a small dish of beer to attract and kill the slugs. The beer itself doesn’t kill the slugs. They drown in the beer while trying to drink it. I guess that there’s worse ways they could go, right?

Here’s the product of my little beer trap.

I didn’t realize that by putting out beer, it would attract the entire population of slugs, plus a few more insects! Needless to say, I had to fill the little trap a few times until the slug population started to decrease.

I also thought that I would post a couple of pictures of my garden. It’s doing pretty well. I’ve been able to get salad greens, peas and various herbs out of it. Pretty soon, I’ll be able to harvest cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, and few other odds and ins. I’m very happy with the way my first small garden has turned out (These pictures were taken about a week ago. Since then, we've had A LOT of sun and my plants are HUGE now.).

This is my squash.

My cucumbers and green beans have decided to flourish together.

Here's one of my many tomato plants (I planted Roma, Brandywine, San Marzano, and Purple Cherokee).

Here is my melon plant. It should be interesting to see how it turns out.

Our Voyage Continues Without Any Fort Sightings...

We had a great time visiting Ed’s family. Ed’s sister and husband drove up to Wausau so that everyone could spend time together. I think that Tate especially loved the attention.

Meeting Mr. Bear...


Giving Mr. Bear a "Hello" kiss.

Hanging with his Mutti.



Mutti letting Tate be naughty (eventually she had to put the fake fruit up before Tate was able to destroy them)...

Going on a ride around the neighborhood.

Hanging with his Aunt.

What trip to the relatives wouldn't be complete without a bath scene?

Meeting the Neighbors.

Meeting the Neighbors' dog (Tate loves animals!).

While we were in Wausau, everyone got together and helped build Ed’s mom a little box garden.

Tate supervising our progress.

Project complete.

We also had an early gift unwrapping ceremony for Tate’s birthday.

After a couple of days in Wausau, we headed to Ed’s sister’s house in Kenosha (via the grandmothers). Our first stop was at Grandma Hanke’s house.

Then we made a quick stop at the Kenosha Zoo where Cherie introduced Tate to the new animals. Tate was so excited!

Our final stop was at Memo’s place.

I think that a fun time was had by all. The twelve hour trip back to VA wasn’t that bad. Tate was pretty tired and only had one meltdown, which lasted for about twenty minutes (I know that to some mothers/fathers twenty minutes seems like a long time, but Tate has had some legendary meltdowns. So…twenty minutes wasn’t long at all, for us).

Traveling with Tate

At the end of May, Ed was able to take leave for a week. We decided to drive (yes, I said “drive”) to Wisconsin via Michigan. We decided to break up the trip considering this was the first really long car ride for Tate. Ed decided that it would be best if we stopped in Toledo, Ohio, which was only a 6.5 hour drive, for the night. So, you might be asking yourself, what’s in Toledo, Ohio??? I wasn’t even sure what was in Toledo, Ohio. Of course, Ed knew what was in Toledo, Ohio. And it was….a fort! Who would’ve guessed that Ed wanted to visit another fort? You would think that once you’ve seen one or two of them, you would’ve seen them all – I mean, they all have high walls with buildings or some sort of living space inside of them, right? If Ed were writing this blog, I’m sure that he would be able to tell you all about the intricacies of the fort (i.e. how the angles of each wall and the placement of the canons helped to keep invaders out or anything along those lines). Since Ed isn’t writing this blog, I’ll just post some pictures from our trip to Ohio and some pictures of the spectacular fort that Ed and Tate visited (yes, I did not tag along that day. I was tired from entertaining Tate during the drive.).




Here is a picture of Tate taken during one of our brief stops on the way to Ohio.






Here are some pictures from Fort Meigs located in Toledo, Ohio. I didn’t go to the fort. So…I don’t know anything about it. I’ll just let the pictures speak for the fort.










The next day, we took off early for Mackinac Island, Michigan. The drive to the island was nice (even though it kept getting colder the further north we traveled). Before we boarded the boat for the island, we visited a couple of the tourist areas. So…guess where we ended up???






Yes, another fort! I must say that Fort Machilimackinac, an old French then British then American fort, was pretty nice. They had people there dressed up in costumes doing the daily chores as if they lived back in the era. The people did a really good job of explaining their various duties and chores. Also, the general restoration of the place was great.









We also visited the old lighthouse. Unfortunately, we were unable to go to the top of the lighthouse because they don’t allow young children (i.e. Tate) at the top. Can you believe that? It’s not like he wasn’t restrained in the backpack. All the same, we took a couple of pictures of the place.






After we finished touring on the mainland, we took the ferry to Mackinac Island. Tate was pretty tired at this point and was in and out of crankiness during the ferry over to the island.






Once we arrived at the island, we headed straight for our hotel so that Tate could take a nap. The hotel that Ed selected was wonderful. We had a room with a lake view. It was spectacular!






Our hotel is on the left of this picture.




After Tate’s nap, we went to dinner and then decided to walk about the town (the island does not allow cars on it. The only way to get around is either by foot or by bike or by horse). Tate really enjoyed watching the horses trot by. Whenever he would hear the clopping of the horses, he would perk up and look in the direction of the noise. It was so cute!








The next day, we toured the island and guess what it had??? Yes, a fort! This time, we saw a newer historical fort (is that an oxymoron?). Fort Mackinac was nice.












Tate enjoyed trying on the various hats again.






After we toured the fort, we decided to head to a butterfly exhibit. We thought that Tate would love it, but he was way too tired to enjoy the butterflies.

So, Ed and I had to enjoy them without him.

Butterflies are so majestic!

Once Tate woke up from his nap on Ed’s back, we headed to the church on the island, St. Anne Church. I always love looking inside old churches. Usually, they are so striking.

After Tate’s nap in the hotel, we decided to the Grand Hotel for afternoon tea. The movie, Somewhere in Time, was filmed at the Grand and they use that as an excuse to charge people ten bucks a pop to enter the hotel, if you are not a guest (of course). It’s kind of strange, they have people watching guard and attack you as soon as you come up the hill. Then you pay your ten bucks a pieces and they give you a walking tour guide. It’s strange (I know that I said that twice, but really…who cares that it was the location for Somewhere in Time???).

The hotel is also known for its front porch. Supposedly it's the longest in the world.

Okay, onto a more important story – tea time...It was nice (I must say that the best afternoon tea we ever had was at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C. – yummy!). They had all of the basics, little sandwiches and sweets – still yummy! And the staff was great.

As you can see, Tate wanted to partake in tea too, but he had to settle for his little treats that we brought along with us.

We left the next day for Wisconsin to visit Ed’s family. But…before we left, Ed wanted to stop off at Marquette’s gravesite in St. Ignace, Michigan on the Upper Peninsula.

An additional picture of Tate (I decided to post it because I think that it's so cute!).