Exciting Detour! The World of Jan Brett

As we were driving back from Asheville a couple of days we pasted the Upcountry History Museum and they had a new exhibit! 

Miss Hayes and I really enjoy books written and/or illustrated by Jan Brett. She has a one-of-a-kind way of illustrating books that make them instantly recognizable to both kids and adults.  

One of her most recognizable books is The Gingerbread Baby.

Fun little fact! She would make gingerbread cookie dough and shape the cutouts to help her illustrate the pictures.

The museum had many of her paintings/illustrations displayed, here are some of my favorites!

And my absolute favorite!!

This is from the book "Hedgie Blasts Off" I look forward to reading this book when I get back!

One of the fun parts of reading is finding authors and illustrators that you enjoy each time you pick up their work. That's how I feel about Jan Brett, I enjoy finding and collecting her new books. I hope as you grow as readers you will find books that you love and you will share them with family and friends!

 

Biking adventure

Yesterday we spent our day with an educational adventure, today we learned more about Greenville in a different way: a fourteen mile bike ride! 

Learning about a new place is important and needs to be fun! Since we went to Biltmore yesterday we decided to get to know South Carolina by getting some exercise. Everybody needs to do that right? We started our bike at Miss Hayes' brothers house and rode along the swamp rabbit trail. 

We rode seven miles to Furman University, a local college and had a wonderful picnic lunch and explored a little of the campus. 

They have a large duck pond and we enjoyed feeding the ducks. Then we finished our trek today with the seven miles back.  It was quite a challenge for us, but was so much fun! 

Biltmore Birthday Bash

For Ms. Hayes' birthday, she wanted to visit the famous Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. George Vanderbilt started building the estate(house) in 1889 and it took six years to finish. There are 255 rooms, including a bowling alley, swimming pool, billiard room, gymnasium, 30 bedrooms, and 43 bathrooms. Can you imagine playing hide-and-go-seek in that house? There are even some hidden doors to get from one room to another.

Indoor swimming pool: the water was pumped four miles to the house from a mountain spring. The long black hose pumped steam into the water to keep it warm. The Vanderbilt's dog, Cedric, loved to jump in the pool when ever he could.

Bowling Alley: even though it only had two lanes many guests enjoyed playing while staying with the Vanderbilt's. The pins had to be set up by hand every time someone bowled.

George Vanderbilt's bedroom: each bedroom in the house was decorated very lavishly. In George's room each of the was was covered in 22carat gold. 

Nursery: Cornelia was born in this nursery along with her kids and grand kids being born in the same room.

Bedrooms: all of the bedrooms were elaborately decorated and themed. All of the curtains matched the beds and other furniture.

Kitchen: the house was very busy, but it included state-of-the-art technology to make the servants jobs  and time as efficient as possible. All of the pots in the kitchen are original to the house. This kitchen was the first in the area to have refrigerators.

Flower Room: the Biltmore was also famous for its gardens. Many of the flowers were cut and brought inside to decorate the home. The flowers were arranged in beautiful vases in this room.

The grand staircase was a beautiful way to travel through the four story home.

George was an avid reader, he had 23,000 books in his house and read an average of 80 books a year. Miss Hayes was a little envious of the library!  George married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser and they had one daughter, Cornelia. 

After a tour of the house we spent some time exploring the trails and land around the house.  We also made some time to have some homemade ice cream from the creamery at the estate. It was a wonderful day to spend celebrating a birthday! 

More adventures to come!

First Day in Greenville

Today has been a busy, fun filled day! We slept in because it was raining a bit outside. Once the rain let up, we were out the door and looking for our first adventure in Greenville, South Carolina. We had heard of a Senior class project completed by a high schooler here in town. He wanted to provide a fun way for kids to explore downtown Greenville so he wrote a book about well-known spots along Main Street. We wanted to explore the story ourselves so using the book and some clues we went on a scavenger hunt. Check out the link below to check out the story and our scavenger hunt! (Video is approximately 13 minutes long.)

http://youtu.be/d1Hne4tnXx8

We liked this story so much because it was a student who loved reading and his community and found a way to give back and get others involved. We challenge you to find a way to do an act of kindness this week like the boy who wrote the book.

Later in the afternoon we took a stroll through downtown and Falls Park.  This park was fun to explore because it had a river with water falls running through it.  There were also lots of walking and biking trails.  We stumbled upon an interesting tree, take a look for yourself! 

We are going to visit the Biltmore Estate tomorrow in Asheville, North Carolina! We look forward to sharing our adventures. 

At It Again

Ms. Hayes and I are at it again. We are headed to Greenville, South Carolina to visit Ms. Hayes' brother. 

We are hoping to explore the city, visit the Biltmore Estate, go hiking, and learn a little on our newest adventure. 

Ms. Crumrine, Ms. Hayes, and Ms.Jan waiting on our first flight!

Enjoy some pictures from our flight.

The last week

Hello WMSI friends,

It's been a quick week! I apologize for no posts this week, it's been a wonderful week with spotty wifi. Last Sunday, Miss Crumrine and I drove to Shannon airport to pick up Miss Hayes' mom and brother. It's been a quick week with stops in Clifden, Doolin and the Aran islands, Dingle, and Cork.  We have hiked Connemara national park, biked one of the Aran islands, drove the ring of dingle, and explored Blarney castle..and of course kissed the Blarney Stone!

We are heading home today.  It's been a great family vacation and I'm thankful to have enjoyed such a beautiful place. Thank you for reading the blog and keeping up with our adventures.  Can't wait to see all of you in August! 

Blarney Castle

Blarney Gardens

Fair well from Ireland!

Edinburgh, SCOTLAND

We made it!! Today has been our first full day in Scotland.  Yesterday we took a ferry from Larne, Northern Ireland to Cairnyran, Scotland.  What's a ferry? Glad you asked! A ferry is a very large boat that holds cars and people to cross different bodies of water.

After our two hour ferry ride we drove a couple hours to Scotland's capital, Edinburgh.  Edinburgh is another world heritage site. Miss Crumrine and I immediately loved the city with its old and new towns fused together. 

We began our morning with a short sightseeing cruise on the Firth of Forth, on the North side of the city.  This cruise enables you to see the sky line of the city, the two bridges (connecting the north and south parts of the city) and some wildlife.  Miss Crumrine and I had a great time, saw some penguins, seals. oil wells, and got a little sunburned!

After we got off the boat, we were able to take watch a lifeguard demonstration.  The Scottish lifeguard at the Firth are kind of like the coast guard.  Their  job is to keep everybody safe in the water.  The lifeguards were out at the docks today encouraging everybody to stay safe and showing them how they could be rescued.  They have helicopters, lifeboats, and rescue dogs.  Our favorite were the Newfindland rescue dogs.  They were extremely large and friendly.  We got to watch them practice rescuing people.  

Look closely for the seal!

This afternoon we explored the "old town" of Edinburgh.  We visited the castle and walked the Royal mile.  Miss Crumrine made a short video for you explaining the Royal Mile and the Castle.  We lucked out and happened to chance on a bagpipe player while making the video.  Welcome to Scotland!