October 11-19, Snapshot Summary of our Break Week: My BFF Retreat

October 11-19, Snapshot Summary: My BFF Retreat
Saturday, October 11
The whole family went to my sister-in-law, Brenda's house. We enjoyed a lunch together, played games (Majong, Cosmic Encounter, Apples to Apples). Brenda played some Atari bowling with Alex. Katie made a spaghetti dinner buffet. We played more games, watched a video of the play we had done last year, "Once Upon a Time," looked at last year's yearbook and then Sam read from Percy Jackson Greek Gods.
Sunday, October 12

We had Panera bagels and cream cheese for breakfast and played Apples to Apples. The family packed up and left and then Brenda and I packed up

and left for the B & B, Trent Hall in Saint Mary's county. We stopped by the Saint Mary's Visitor's Center and got information and directions.

Once at Trent Hall, we were given a tour of the property from a golf cart.

We had a picnic lunch at the dock, explored the place and...

then had hot tea on the porch and talked and talked.

We went to Bert's 50's Diner where I had a hot turkey sandwich and Brenda had a roast beef sub.

We went back to the B & B for wine and cheese by candlelight. I read The Rocket Boys and Brenda read a book she found in the Inn, The Teenie Weenies before bed.

Monday, October 13

We woke up to a lovely breakfast of fresh fruit,

granola and sour dough toast with coffee, of course.

It was raining, so we explored the house.

Later the weather cleared, so we went to nearby Leonardtown, Maryland with ideas of shops to go to, most of which were closed (Columbus Day.)

We did wind up going to an antique store where I scored a coffee table for $30 and Brenda got the perfect lamp for the BFF suite and a few other little things. We were on our way to our next destination and as were were passing a church, the noon-time hymns bells began playing, so we sat at the bench right in front of the church and shared the sounds of the bells together. When the hymn ended, we started to leave, and then another hymn began, so we sat back down and listened some more. After the hymn finished, we went to a Comic book store, which was a combination comic book store and cafe. I bought comic books (for .25 cents!) and D&D Next. Brenda bought a couple of presents.

Next we walked down the street...

and decided to go down to the wharf, where we saw a heron.

We enjoyed the compass rose, which includes the thirty-two points of the directions of the wind. Eight points which are larger and darker in color represent the eight major winds. Each point is labeled with the Roman name that was commonly used in the Middle Ages for each wind — Tramontana - N, Greco - NE, Levante - E, Syroco (replaces Siroco) - SE, Ostro - S, Africus (replaces Libeccio) - SW, Ponente - W, and Maestro - NW. The smaller blue points represent the eight half-winds and the smallest red points represent the sixteen quarter-winds. Then, we went to the Natural Foods Store. As soon as we arrived, we noticed that the chimes outside were ringing. It had bins of herbs and spices and we bought some of them. I bought some that I will be needing for the recipes that we will be doing for our geography-culture studies. We also bought some butternut squash soup for our dinner. We also both found interesting things. As we were checking out Brenda noticed the cashier, Autumn, had a Keep Calm and Carry On button and she asked Autumn if they had them for sale. Autumn said that they didn't and that she got it in England and insisted that Brenda take the button. As Brenda checked out, I went outside to sit at the picnic table, but the chimes did not ring until the moment Brenda walked outside.

Next we went to the Speakeasy Coffee Shop for lunch, but lunch was no longer being served.

They did let us take a peek behind the bookcase

at the Speakeasy bar. We tried two other places that were recommended, but they were closed, so we went back to Bert's 50's Diner. I had a Ruben and Brenda had a grilled chicken salad, which was big enough that she saved half to take back to the Inn to have with our soup for dinner.

When we got back to the B & B, we had a cup of tea and chatted on the porch. I had trouble making decisions all day, and so I made up my mind that the next decision that was to be made, I was going to make it. Brenda asked me who should go first for the bi-plane rides in a WWII-era Stearman we planned to take the next day and I immediately said, "You!" which cracked us both up.

Later, after dinner, we had wine and a chocolate-ginger pattie for dessert...

all by candlelight in the kitchen easy chairs. Brenda read the Teenie Weenies and a Decameron Tale, and some from In His Steps, which tells you of the breadth of her interests. I stuck with the Rocket Boys.


Tuesday, October 14

We had another lovely breakfast at the B & B.

Brenda told me about a dream she had had the night before in which we had gotten into a big bubble and that I was afraid but Brenda said that it was going to be alright. We took that as a sign that we'd be safe flying today.

This time we discovered a lovely wooden grasshopper on the porch. The house is so vast, we were always discovering new things.

It was a pretty day and we were glad because we got a phone call from the pilot and he said that it was a "go." It has a fabric-covered frame, so you can only walk on certain areas (in black), has a wooden propeller and has a hand-crank start-up. The pilot joked that the plane had a rubber-band in it and that he needed to crank it up and after crank it, said that he thought that was about 15 minutes worth of flight. Brenda went first, as planned. The pilot gave us a history lesson on the plane as we taxied down the runway. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Army Air Corps used Boeing's Stearman aircraft as a trainer extensively during World War II, and in fact, more than half of the military pilots from that generation received flight training in such a plane. The pilot had just come back from a weekend at Massey Airport, (which is only 20 minutes from my house) where he had given bi-plane rides, so he was a bit tired, but he became excited as he saw our enthusiasm. It was like nothing we had expected -the ride was smooth, very little bumping, like floating in space. He pointed out places all around the area, such as Sotterley Plantation. At one point, he offered to let us fly the plane for a few minutes, which was nerve-wracking, but fun. Then he did figure-8 maneuvers...banking to the right and then to the left, so that the wing was perpendicular to the land. When Brenda had her flight, she asked the pilot to waggle the wings at me before they landed. My turn was next, and I was able to fly around a cloud. After the flight, Brenda bravely drove over the Solomon's Island Bridge, as she is afraid of bridges. On our way back to her house, we stopped by Nagoya Asian Bistro for a late lunch. We shared a scallop hibachi, and pork dumplings (pot stickers) and miso soup. Then we arrived back at Brenda's house and had a kale salad with ham and cheese on it and watch The Danny Thomas show that had the pilot for the Andy Griffith show while we had pumpkin pie.
Wednesday, October 15 Brenda had some household appointments (furnace man and law care guy) so I checked my email and downloaded some photos for the family to see.

Then Brenda called her hairdresser and we went there for a little make-over for me.

We made gingerbread with chocolate icing, had sandwiches for lunch and hot dogs, baked beans and cole slaw for dinner. We watched The Princess and the Cabbie, which is about a young woman who struggles with dyslexia, and had coffee and gingerbread.

Thursday, October 16 Brenda made a pizza and I made salads for lunch so that it would be ready when we got back from our errands. We went to the dump, stopped by a produce stand (closed), went to a consignment shop named "Cherry Pickers" because Brenda is keeping her eye on a Russian Midshipman-style hat for Quentin. I bought a school Civil War map and Brenda bought a couple of books. We went grocery shopping for the weekend. I enjoyed looking at all the gfcf things they had, which are not available at my local stores. We went back to Brenda's house and had the homemade anchovy pizza and salad. We rested a bit and then went out to the library that Brenda volunteers at. She showed me all around and then I found a few items at their book sale.

We then went to the Chesapeake Beach boardwalk. We went back to Brenda's house to make dinner.

We had bought a pumpkin pasta sauce at the store so I made a dinner of apple sausage, butternut squash, spinach and whole wheat penne in the pumpkin pasta sauce. It served 8, so even though it was delicious, we had lots left over. We watched Cagney and Lacey and ate more gingerbread with cappuccino.

Friday, October 17 I had leftover cold anchovy pizza for breakfast! We went to a Grief Support Group. The counselor was very nice and Brenda read a children's book on grief that she had found at the library, Life is Like the Wind, which I recommend for anyone who knows a child that is struggling with grief. We cried. After the meeting, we went next door to the Boys and Girls Club to inquire about the play The Twin Beaches Players are doing, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was to open this night and the director was still working on the set.

We went to Panera for lunch and I had Autumn Squash soup, Squash Ravioli and Acai Tea. Brenda had the soup with a Turkey flatbread sandwich and lemonade. Then we went to Office Depot so that Brenda could buy a wireless mouse and I picked up some pencil boxes (22 cents each) and some index cards for the boys. We then went to K-Mart for their summer clothing clearance sale (everything was $2 each). Brenda bought some fun pants! We went back to the grocery store for some things we had forgotten. We then went back to Brenda's house, reviewed all we had done, ate Shrimp Orzo casserole and waited for my family to arrive!

Once they arrived, Sam read to us all out of Percy Jackson Greek Gods and then we had a sundae bar.

Saturday, October 18 We had Panera bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, and then we played games. Then Steven and I left and had lunch at Nagoya Asian Bistro while Sam and Katie made lunch and Brenda did some art projects with the kids. After lunch, Steven and I took a walk on the boardwalk. Then we played more games, and then it was time for dinner -take-out Mexican dinner. Then Brenda treated us to a play while Steven stayed back at her house with Alex. Alex played a series of games for autistic children that Brenda had found on her i-pad. We love going to the theater and enjoyed it very much, even though the directing wasn't the best we had ever seen. Back to the house for more sundaes.
Sunday, October 19 We had a big breakfast of sausage, eggs, Canadian bacon and hash browns and played more games. Katie, Brenda and I went back to the sale at K-Mart so that Katie could buy some clothes and then back for lunch of grilled cheese and soup. We watched some of The Infinite Worlds of H. G. Wells, and then packed up to come home...

but first we stopped off at the homeschool Harvest party, where they played games...

made crafts, had dinner, made s'mores...

and in general had a good time. We made it home about 11:00.

How was your week? Join me at...

• Weekly Wrap-Up by Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
• Friendship Friday at Living and Learning with Our New Normal
• My Week in Review at Home to 4 Kiddo
• Collage Friday at Homegrown Learners