YUMMY

For dinner tonight we went to a resturant made famous by Maxwell Klinger (Jamie Farr). It seems while add libbing during the filming of MASH, Farr/Klinger (both are from Toledo) mentions a real resturant that he liked from his old neighborhood. The resturant is Tony Packos.

http://www.tonypackos.com/index.php

The food was okay but the real draw to the place is all the signed hot dog buns! Jacob loved the place so much that he hugged the waitress when we left!

Miami and Erie Canal

Last week we studied about the Erie Canal. The big one in New York, and the smaller two that are in Ohio.

The one in New York goes from Lake Erie in Buffalo to Albany. It is 363 miles long, spans 40 feet from shore to shore and is at least 4 feet deep. The workers who built the canal earned 30 cents a day.

The Miami and Erie Canal traveled from Toledo to Cincinnati. It was around 250 miles long. It was the same width and depth as the New York canal. The boats were pulled by mules, donkeys and horses and traveled at the fast speed of 5 miles per hour. The canals were put out of business by the railroads. After all trains could go as fast as 30 miles per hour!

This part of the Miami and Erie Canal is in Grand Rapids Ohio. The town use to be Providence but most of it burned down. The canal and the lock were filled in with dirt. This part of the canal including lock number 44 has been refurbished and is now part of the Ohio Metropark system. We got to ride on a flatbottom boat pulled by mules. The boy who usually walked the mules was between the ages of 8 and 10. They called him a Hoagie, because he had to eat on the run and it was usually some meat between slices of bread.

We had a great time. The park is beautiful and kept very nicely. We come home tomorrow. Then only a month until the big trip.

Sauder Village

Got the computer working again today...YAY!! We got up this morning and checked out of the wonderful hotel. I really hope we can visit here again.

The village was huge! So much to see. We all liked the museum and all the old equipment and tools. Jacob and Michael washed clothes on a washboard. We learned the difference between straw and hay. Animals sleep on straw and eat hay. Straw is the stems of wheat and hay is plants and grasses that animals eat. Oh, and straw is yellow and hay is a greenish color.

Another thing we thought was interesting was the "summer kitchen." It is a completely separate building that family would use to cook all their food during the hot months. They would close up the main house during the day, open it back up in the evening to help it cool down. By cooking in the other building it kept the heat from the stoves out of the main house making it more comfortable for sleeping.

We had a great time, and we are all worn out.

Awesome hotel!!!!

We drove up to Toledo today. We picked up Alyssa then drove about an hour west to Sauder Village in Archbold. This hotel is very nice, and reasonably priced :) The lobby is beautiful, the pool area/breakfast are has a really big tree in the middle of it. We swam, had dinner in a barn and then the kids swam again/played table tennis and air hockey. Tomorrow we will go see the village.

http://www.saudervillage.org/home/default.asp

I am very happy to be posting tonight. This is the first time I have computered on my own at a hotel!! My laptop is kind of old and didn't want to turn on for me. So if I don't post tomorrow its probably because I can't turn on the computer.

We started school today!!!

I started school for the boys today. They so need the routine. We are just doing half days for a while. I want to have them learn a little about the places we will be visiting soon. We will do most of the studing about our trip out west while we are traveling. We will be in the car a lot so we might as well have school.

Today we are doing math review. I had each of them take a test last week and the web site gives me printable worksheets for what they need to work on. Its called mindsprinting.com. They also do reading and science I think, I was mainly concerned about math so we haven't done the other tests yet. They also wrote in their journals did a back to school activity about themselves, read silently then I read a book about pioneers to them. We will be visiting a pioneer village in Ohio at the end of this month.

We LOVE Woody the Kentucky Wiener!!!!!

Last Thursday we went to see one of our favorite writers. Her name is Leigh Anne Florence, she is the author of the Woody the Kentucky Wiener books.

I met Leigh Anne early in 2004. Anthony met her a few months before, he had only been with us about 3 months at that time. He was 7 then and angry. He didn't talk to me very much, but one day he came home telling me about this dog that came to his school. He just kept talking about the dog and telling me the story. He talked more to me in those 3 or 4 days than he did the 3 months he had lived with us. I thought she must have made a big impression on him. And when I read in the newspaper that she was going to be at Joseph Beth Bookstore I knew I had to take him. When we got there I was surprised to see the title of the book, "Woody the Kentucky Wiener...The Adoption."!!!! Leigh Anne talked to everyone then read the book. At one point the book talks about the mom wanting to find a dog who needed a home. Anthony turns to me and says "we needed a home." Another parts says the puppy was small and tan and black. Anthonys says, "I am small and tan." And the end of it says "now you are part of our family." And Anthony says, "just like us."

At the end of the story Leigh Anne always asks the audience who they think is the most happy. Everyone always says "Woody." But I told Anthony I thought it was the Mommy. Then Leigh Anne tells everyone that its the Mommy and the sister already there who are the happiest :) Then they turned on the song "Who Let the Dogs Out", and Leigh Anne's husband Ron bring out the dogs. Anthony was captivated and quite honestly so was I!!! After this book signing Anthony was different. He talked to me and he wasn't angry anymore. That was 4 years ago and we now try to go see her every summer. She has a special place in my heart and all my boys love her.

If you go to her web site you can see Anthony getting his booked signed on that glorious day in Feb. 2004.

http://www.thewoodybooks.com/

Click on pictures then scroll down until you see 'more feb. 2004'

He is in the one with her sitting at the desk signing his book. You have to click on it because you can't see him in the thumbnail.