Lives, Fortune, and Sacred Honor

Something that many don't know about me is that I am a history junkie. Not a history buff. I'm not one to be able to rattle off a bunch of names, dates, and blah blah blah, BUT I love to learn cool stories about history. After all, those people in the history books were just that: people. People that were motivated and sometimes inspired to do important things. My absolute favorite time period is early American History, and in particular, the American Revolution. Man! Sometimes I get goosebumps when I hear stories from that time. It's humbling to know that people were willing to pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor (as was written in the Declaration of Independence) aka EVERYTHING they valued, so that they could establish a land "choice above all others". I just feel so connected to those people, for some reason. I am pretty much obsessed with learning all I can about that it.

Sometimes, I'm super nerdy about it too. I was doing some research about Paul Revere's ride (just for kicks, not for school, work, etc.) and came across a dead link on the Paul Revere House website. I was frantic! I just wanted to read that page! haha! I actually wrote an email to report the dead link and asked if they could send me a different link to the info (and they did)!

Anyhow, over the years, I have come across, or been referred to, many great books, both novels and kiddie stories, that are amazing and can be used to teach ourselves and children about the rich heritage of our nation. I'll just share two, for now. Both of these are children's books that are truthful, captivating, informative, and most importantly, they portray the people we've come to know as heroes, as ordinary people that made choices and acted upon what they knew to be right.

The first:
"Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?" by Jean Fritz

I love this book! It tells lots of information about the infamous King George and shows him in a light that we do not often see him in. I highly recommend this book, as well as ALL other books by Jean Fritz. She has written tons of books about history and all are phenomenal.

The second:
"John, Paul, George, and Ben" by Lane Smith

I love this book because it is written in a lighthearted, humorous tone that kids find fun and also because it portrays the Founding Fathers during their childhood. Also, there is a true/false section that debunks some commonly known falsehoods used in the story (like George Washington and the cherry tree) and also gives some interesting lesser known trivia.

Walking in LA

On Saturday I went on a great adventure with Nancy, Jacob, and Josh and Dylan. We did an entire day in LA using only public transportation. It was my first time ever using public transportation so locally and it was way cool!
We took the Metrolink to Union Station,

then we took the subway for a while

then ended up on a bus, which dropped us off right in front of the La Brea Tar Pits. I hadn't been there for a long time, so I was excited!

I LOVE this kind of stuff! I'm a nerd when it comes to historical stuff and things like this totally blow my mind!

We went through the museum and saw some of the bones that they've excavated from the tar pits and got to learn about the history of the land.

Next, we walked down the street for a little while to catch the next bus. The section of the street we walked down is called the "Miracle Mile" and it has tons of museums.

Is it dark where you are? If so, the LA County Museum of Art has JUST what you need:

LAMPS! Lots of them!

Anyways...we took the bus to the Third Street Promenade and walked around a little bit. We saw Buca di Beppo and decided to eat dinner there. It was delish!

Next, it was off to the Santa Monica Pier. We walked on the pier a little bit, but mainly spent time on the beach.

I was a little nervous since it was only the day after the California coast had been struck by a little tsunami, as a result of Japan's huge earthquake. I know that by the time it got to us, it was negligible, but it was also the first time in my entire life that there had ever even been a threat to our area, so I was allowed to be a little nervous. : )

It was the boys' first time at the beach and they were loving the sand...especially throwing it.

After hanging out on the beach for a little while, we caught the express bus back to Union Station and took the Metrolink back home. It was such a fun day and was totally different than our typical outings. We mainly took the trains and buses because Josh and Dylan are fascinated with them, but we adults thought it was pretty awesome too!