A Brand New Day ... Tuesday

My days feel like they are all running together. I can't believe today is already Tuesday. We got up this morning and had some homemade chocolate chip waffles. Can you believe I actually brought the waffle iron with me? Hysterical .... and then we launched into doing some school work. As you can see from Erica's expression, she is very, VERY pleased to do Pre-Algebra at 8am in the morning. She is listening to Dr. Schwartz, her math professor via DVD. She did, however, manage to leave her test booklet in the desk drawer in Maine. How convenient .... I am going to have to order a new one this week. Aaaaarrrrrgggg........

After school, we took off for Manchester and went to the home of Robert Todd Lincoln. Robert was the only son of Abraham and Mary Lincoln that lived to maturity. He was a very wealthy man that owned the Pullman Railroad Cars Corporation. He fell in love with Manchester, VT and built this huge summer home with over 400 acres. This made for great conversation today. You can see in one picture the tiny bedroom with tiny bed. This was the butler's quarters. What was even more sad about this was how the floor was only finished with stain and a polycoat all the way around the room about a foot. It is said that they did that only for show - the owners would lay down a carpet because that was cheaper and then the room would look finished. So it was interesting for the kids to see how the servants had to live on one side of the home while the "rich men" got to live and be cared for in the huge, HUGE dining room area. I think I could fit four of my dining rooms in that one room. And the parlor? OMGosh ..... very rich with dark colors and a grand piano and books galore ... it was pretty incredible.

We also got to see a lot of Abraham Lincoln's personal items and see pictures of his wife and their grandchildren. The grandchildren left the home to the city of Manchester to create this museum of sort for the community. Abraham's top hat was not on display in the glass case. There was a little sign that it is being borrowed by Disney's EPCOT until October for a National Treasury show they are doing!!! I thought that was pretty cool! But we did see lots of handwritten notes by Lincoln and letters from presidents after Lincoln inviting his son to memorial dedications and things like that. It was very informative. I think we all enjoyed it. Scott .... not so much ... he had a killer headache all day long. I think it is the fact that Vermont does NOT have stinkin' fountain machines!!!! And yes, we have driven and been in every single convenient store in the greater 20 miles of Pawlet to find one. And they simply do NOT have them ... I don't know if he is reading the ORGANIC produce signs or not but he is simply OUT OF LUCK at this point.... with a "I NEED CAFFEINE" pounding headache ... lucky us ... :) LOL!!!