Beckley West Virginia Coal Mine

Today we went on a field trip with Tyler's 4th grade class to a coal mine in West Virginia!  How cool is it that we go to another state on a field trip??!!  Tyler thought it was great, especially because he says West Virginia is his favorite state - I still don't know why he says that.  Anyways, we had a very long (or what seemed like a long!) bus ride to the mine.  It was only about 1 1/2 hours, but on a bus when your legs are as long as mine, well it's not too comfortable!  The drive was gorgeous.  All the trees are turning here and they are so beautiful.  We had a lot of fun going into the mine and hearing the tour guide tell us things.  The tour guide was great, he was an older man who used to work in a mine.  One funny comment from one of the kids really made us laugh.  The tour guide was saying how the miners were only paid .20¢ for a ton of coal, so the boy asked the tour guide if he was only paid .20¢ when he worked.  Everyone laughed at that. 

I am so glad I didn't have to work in a mine - the conditions sounded almost unbearable.  The ceiling height was never more than 36 - 48", so you had to crawl into the mine and all around inside the mine.  There was no electricity, hardly any light.  They had very tiny lights that they could use but only would last for about 1 1/2 hours at the most.  They had to lay on their side to pick the coal and to shovel it into the wagon.  And, the mine went back about 7 miles!  Imagine crawling back 7 miles to pick coal on your side - 20¢!  They had to rent their houses from the mine for $4 a month, so I can't imagine they really ever were able to have much.

This coal mine was closed in 1910, and is just a museum now. 

 Example of 1 ton of coal - they could produce about 4-5 tons of coal a day/per man.

 This is where the superintendent of the mine lived.  About 10x bigger and nicer than where the miners lived.

 It was so gorgeous!!

 The old school house.

 We rode a little train into the mine.

Back Then Field Trip

Brenalee's class has been studying the past.  Today we went on a field trip to a museum that is actually an old house that was built here in our area in the early 1800's.  We also toured an old school house and learned how different it was to go to school back then.  Brena asked me if I grew up driving a horse and buggy...ummm really Brena??!!  She wanted to wear her pioneer dress because she said she would fit in at the old house.  She sure did and she got lots of compliments on it from all the tour guides.  I just wish she would have kept her matching bonnet on!

16 weeks

This poor baby is not getting nearly the attention the first two did!  I finally did manage to get another photo.  I am sad my gym clothes don't look as cute on me as they once did, but it's all for a good cause, I keep telling myself that!  Everything is measuring right on track.  My due date is still 3-3-13, not that that means a thing for me since I can't go into labor on my own.  Maybe the 3rd times a charm??  I have thoroughly enjoyed feeling this baby start kicking and moving all over.  I love how excited the kids are and how they like to talk to the baby and pat my tummy.  I can't wait for them to finally be able to feel the baby kicking.

Lock 'em Up!

For a scout field trip, Tyler and his den went to the police station here in Blacksburg.  We had a great tour guide that gave us a very in depth tour of everything in the jail.  We went into the center that takes the 911 calls and talked to the operators there, we got to talk to multiple officers, went into the 2 jail cells, had mug shots taken, took all the kids finger prints, looked at the breathalyzer machine, went into the SWAT truck, and played around in the police car.  The boys loved it!

Friday Night Tradition

For a long time (when Tj is home!) we have had a Friday night tradition of pizza night.  We make our own pizzas and I thought we had perfected it and that it couldn't get any better!  But, we have changed the way we do it since we moved to VA.  For some reason I really didn't want to heat up the oven - and the house!  We had dinner at a friend's house before we left FL, and they had made pizza on the grill.  But, they put their pizza on a pan and put it on the grill.  I didn't want to mess with that.  So, we just stuck ours right on the grill.  It only took the first time to figure it out - it was a little messy, and I realized I needed to cut a whole pizza in half and only do half the dough at once.  So, my recipe makes 2 pizza doughs, I roll the dough into 4 balls and make 4 pizzas instead of the two.  It's great because it doesn't heat up the house, and it's even quicker.  I think it takes maybe 5 minutes to do a pizza.  It is so yummy! 

Here is our old post here on pizza night.

This is a deceiving picture, because I'm the one who actually grills the pizza!  I think Tj was just helping put the pepperoni on his.

 My very favorite margaretta pizza with fresh tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella.  SO good!

Gettysburg

What a great time we had at Gettysburg!  There was so much to see!  2 days wasn't enough - we'll have to go back.  I am LOVING living up here in VA - we are so close to so many great historical places.  We have lots of things to do to keep us busy.  It was about a 4 1/2 hour drive from our house to Gettysburg.  We left Friday after school and got to Gettysburg around 9:30 that night.  All day Saturday and Sunday we toured the battle grounds, museum and visitor center.  They have a wonderful video to watch at the visitor center and an awesome cyclorama - which I didn't even know what one was until we got to Gettysburg.  It's a huge 360° painting.  It was done in the 1800's by a French painter.  It was really amazing.  What a great family trip!

 Inside the museum

 It was so beautiful there!

 Loved the reenactments

 On top of Little Big Top - we saw a couple get engaged at the top of the castle - it was cute.

 At The Angle

 Near the spot where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

 Devils Den

 Devils Den with Little Big Top in the back.