Legos and Musuem-911 Revisited

Santa brought Maddie the Hogwarts Castle this Christmas. This weekend Brian and Maddie decided to get down to business.

They knew it was going to big and a long term project. Little did they know.....

When they got the package open there were 3 different instruction books and 10 bags of legos! They've got a system going now of doing a bag or two then taking a break for while before attempting the next set of things. Here is where they were at yesterday afternoon:

However by this afternoon we have the beginnings of a castle!

I am wondering if I will have to break my deal a little bit and read a couple of the books next year. Maddie doesn't understand some of the things in the castle and its giving some of the story away!

 

And then someone realized that Momma has an excellent setting for taking up close pictures of small things....hmm.....

Harry

Hagrid

Whoops...we aren't supposed to name this dude!

The army is amassing to come get the parentals! Look out!

 

This afternoon we made a trip to the NYS Museum in Albany to view an exhibit on the Civil War and so Maddie could make a Civil War Era paper doll.

 

 

While she was coloring Brian and I took turns looking at The Marshall House Flag. This was a confederate flag a man flew over his hotel in Virgina and could be seen from the White House. It was captured by a NY regiment who went there with the express purpose of cutting it down. One of the soldiers was killed by the owner of the hotel and became a hero on the northern side. He was from Malta. The flag has undergone some restoration but obviously it is quite beat up. The notes stated that people probably cut out parts for souvenirs just like they did with the Star Spangled Banner.

Once we were done we went into the Civil War Exhibit to learn about New York's role in the Civil War. It was interesting. New York paid quite a bit more in taxes than other states and we had a large industrial role as well. Gun smithing and making iron for the new iron clad ships. New York also played a large role in the abolitionist movement.

 

Photo by Maddie-as you can see someone REALLY likes Momma's new camera!

 

Brian and Maddie checking out an exhibit

Maddie next to the uniform of the NY Zouave 11th Regiment-they captured the flag above!

Maddie inspecting a cannon

 

 

After this we headed over into the Adirondack section. Here we bumped into a new exhibit that was totally unexpected. A family trailer from Ground Zero. It was a private space for the families of the victims during the recovery and construction time.

 

We've been through the 911 exhibit previously, read children's books about it and discussed it as best we could with Maddie. I have to say though I think this exhibit brought home the amount of people this affected. She was able to see all the notes left behind, a poster of the firemen who died, another poster of the port authority employees who died and all the well wishes for the families from all over the world. It was really amazing how much stuff was packed into such a tiny space. I'm glad we happened upon it next to camping in the Adirondacks and that we were able to see it now, when she is older and understands more.

 

Then we lightened things up a bit by finding a moose for Poppa!! Really Poppa, there he was just strolling through the museum to say hello....or maybe not.

 

Vacation is now officially over...back to some real life tomorrow!