July Family Fun

Our Family Fun Day was on July 19th, and it was my month to plan. We made a trip to Marietta - only about 45 minutes away. We visited the Marietta Museum of History, the Marietta Square, and the Confederate Cemetery. It was a very interesting trip, and all of us enjoyed it very much. I was surprised because the boys really enjoyed the Museum of History. There was one room devoted to military history. I think the boys could have stayed in that room for hours on end.


Here's Jonah trying out a gun on display. Both boys enjoyed that. The gun was very heavy! He looks like a natural, too.








Inside the museum, I found a very familiar object. My grandfather used to send me postage stamps and goodies in cigar boxes. I've seen many kinds over the years, but the Tampa Nugget was the only one he used. I even have several of these boxes in my personal memory collection. I was very surprised to run into one in a museum!








Here's the picture of a small rose in a container garden outside of the museum. I just thought this picture turned out very pretty.








Jaydin enjoyed posing with this statue outside of the museum. This 'chicken' has a lot of Marietta history painted on it. It was very neat to see. Obviously, it's a take-off on the Big Chicken in Marietta.











Then, we hit the square for a little shopping trip. While we were thinking about what to do next, I got this great picture of Jaydin snuggling with Jared.








I'm quite sure that EVERYONE realizes that I couldn't possibly pass by THIS store without stopping in. :) I didn't spend much, but I certainly had a great time looking. They carry many items that Michael's, JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby stores do not. I don't have a local scrapbook or stamping store except for the big chains (and not even an Archiver's!!), so this store was a rare treat for me. :)





This church has beautiful architecture, and I couldn't pass up a chance to take a picture of it. Don't you think it's beautiful, too? It's just off of the square in Marietta.








When we arrived at the Confederate Cemetery, we had to find a place to park (parking in a cemetery is rather .... tricky). We ended up here.....right next to the "slave lot." How very sad that only 4 of these graves have names associated with them.










These are two pictures from the Confederate Cemetery. The first is a field of grave sites, and the 2nd is the Confederate Memorial arch located in the cemetery.



Sadly, this was not the only vandalized stone or memorial in the cemetery. Not only is it disrespectful to the dead and the family of that person, but it destroys so much history in the process. :(







Here are a couple of interesting things we found as we walked through.

What an interesting grave stone. It's so intricate and has such an unique design.






Ummmmm ... ok. Tell me ... am I the *only* one that sees a face in this stone?? I don't know if that was intended or not, but it's very eerie to me.










Flying high above these long-gone soldiers is the Confederate battle flag. Like a lonely sentry, the flag unfurls in the wind and flies proudly in the midst of many graves of unnamed, unknown soldiers that fought and died to protect all they believed in. It was a lot to think about as we strolled along in on our Family "Fun" Day.






Here's my girl. Yes, what she's standing next to is a grave stone. I believe, though, that it marks a family plot and not just one grave. That thing was HUGE.







And the last shot of the day (although, it wasn't taken in the cemetery) ........


The 3 kids. I love this picture of them. :)








Live the life, and live it well. (we only have 56 days before we leave for Florida and our cruise!!!!!)