Super Scouts

Just an update on our Scouters. There was a Court of Honor tonight and Abe received his first Palm and Johnny got his First Class and several other merit badges. Abe also was recognized for being an Honor Scout, Adventurer, and doing the OA Brotherhood. Dad also got the OA brotherhood and an award for his service to the troup.

We're proud of our boys!!!

Back to the Ol' Grind Stone

School has started again in the Muldowney household. Dad taught his first full day of classes this past Thursday, while the rest of the fam fam started on Tuesday September 2. Everyone is homeschooling, but unlike previous academic years everyone is on a strict schedule.
Abby and Bekah are in the 3rd grade and seem to be enjoying at least some of their work. Little Abskergail claims that spelling is the only good part of a school day and isn't too enthusiastic about anything else. Science is Bekah's favorite subject but she also spends a good deal of her free time on the piano. Johnny, who's in 6th grade, really enjoys the set time for each of his subjects. He loves Science and English, which really isn't a surprise because any moment he has to himself you'll see him with his nose in some sort of book, whether about nature or simply a children's classic. Abe is officially a high schooler, which means early morning seminary starting tomorrow. This guy is partly responsible for the change in the way we've been pacing our schooling. Last year he set a great example by being incredibly strict with himself and having a lot of success. His favorite part about school is just how organized everything is. Already a budding linguist, Abe takes 3 languages (he dropped a couple and added some since last year) one of which is his favorite subject, Russian. He also loves Science and History. Lizzie is drawing her secondary education years to a close. This is her Senior year so she's decided to be as dedicated to her academics as possible by joining everyone's craze of following a schedule and is actually enjoying it quite a bit. Her favorite subject thus far is English, both of the courses she's taking in this subject, although she believes that the best course this year will be seminary with Abe. She's simply thrilled for it, especially since it's the last one she'll have to take EVER AGAIN.
All in all it been an excellent start to the school year and the kids seem to be enjoying themselves. Hopefully it's the same for papa over at VFMAC and mama who is the tireless supervisor of our tight schedule. We kids are indebted to them.

The Finale to a Fabulous Summer

This weekend wise Mother and Father Muldowney decided that it would be good to have one final hurrah before Papa had to don his uniform and school started for the kiddies. It was decided that our little excursion would be to Gettysburg, a place not all of the younger members of the family had been to. After securing a hotel and finding someone to watch the puppies, we headed out. The drive wasn't too bad, only taking about 2 1/2 hours, and the rain let up shortly before we arrived at our motel. Unfortunately our original lodgings did not have room for us, some sort of strange error on their part, and so they put us up in another motel only a little way down the road. Abby and Bekah were ecstatic about the room arrangements (Lizzie shared with them) and the TV right in front of their bed. We all relaxed a bit before heading out on an evening adventure. Our location in terms of the town of Gettysburg really couldn't have been better. We walked down the street and were soon among the original buildings and shops that celebrated the Civil War time period. Interesting sights included a bat hanging on a window sill, a part of a fence that had bullets and bits of metal in it from the battle, Dirty Billy's Hat Shop (run by a guy dad met during his Civil War Reenactment times), beautiful dresses, a leopard spider, and about a thousand different Ghost Walk tours (which Lizzie REALLY wanted to go on, but it was decided that such an activity wouldn't be appropriate for all ages). Mom and Dad treated everyone to ice cream at this really awesome malt shop, the oldest in Gettysburg. Everyone enjoyed tasting each other's choices and talking about the old posters that showed how cheap ice cream used to be... Unfortunately it certainly isn't that cheap anymore. After the ice cream we headed back to the motel only stopping at a little gift shop for a moment.



The next morning Dad, Lizzie, and Abe all went to the store to get the food for the day while everyone else enjoyed the luxury of having a TV. When they got back, Dad talked to us about what took place in this little town over 150 years ago. Our first stop was the Cemetery Ridge, the high ground that the Union held against all odds and where the Gettysburg Address was later given. There we read the inspiring words of Abraham Lincoln in that address. It was incredibly moving to read it and then see the hundreds and hundreds of graves of the men who had consecrated that ground with their blood. The saddest and most humbling thing of all was the amount of unknown soldiers who lost their lives for the future of this country. It made us wonder, where would we be know if the United States had been split in two and North America was divided into 3 and not 2 countries? Just a thought.


Our next stop was the museum which was amazing. The videos were very informative and it was interesting to see all the items from that time period. What was really cool was to see how many people from each state were enlisted in the army and what side they were on. Even in the south there were only two states that did not have any men in the Union Army. The majority of people, it seemed, were in favor of the United States remaining as such. We then went to the largest monument in the park and went up a terrifying and unending circular staircase to observe the battle field. It was incredible, although it was good Mom decided to stay down in the car. She may not have enjoyed the descent. Our last stop was Little Round Top and Devil's Den. We didn't actually go to Devil's Den, because the place we thought was Devil's Den turned out not being it, but Little Round Top had a beautiful view and great rocks that the kids enjoyed climbing on. At that point we were already late so we just headed out of town back to our home in Wayne bringing with us wonderful memories of our experience in Gettysburg.