Vacation--Day Seven Valley Forge

We had originally planned on visiting Philadelphia first and Valley Forge after, at the last minute (as Matt was stuck in the hotel doing something for work which would have made us much later than planned for Philadelphia) we decided to switch locations. We also realized that there was a special Junior Ranger tour offered that day but not the next.

First we went to the visitors center....have I mentioned the cutout signs before? This one was actually pretty cute.
We then figured out where we needed to be for the Junior Ranger tour and left for the appointed spot.

Carter in front of the Parade Grounds

The group getting ready to start the tour--us and a group of cub scouts and their moms/siblings

Our guide was really terrific--he really knew so much and told it to the kids in a funny and interesting manner. Here we were learning about the huts they built and the life they had at camp. The kids are writing in the Junior Ranger books to complete the activities needed.
The ranger lined them up and taught them about formations for shooting muskets, marching, and the all important aspect of not shooting the guy in front of you.
We then cut into the parade grounds and learned about the water available, wildlife, and more aspects of the soldiers life.
Midway through the parade grounds (at least the section we walked) we startled 4 deer--then 3 more came out a few seconds later. We counted 3 more during out walk.
We opened one of the historic houses at Valley Forge. Caroline had been nicknamed Colonel because she new answers to several questions and she had already known how to hold a musket (from our day at Gettysburg). So Caroline presided at the flag raising while the cub scouts carried the flags. Afterwards we got to tour the house.

The grounds were just beautiful--Matt caught this flower.A picture with the Ranger--and the Junior Rangers

Matt had a conference call to make, and Alex and Aaron conveniently fell asleep (I promise--no benadryl was involved) so I took Caroline and Carter to a few things while Matt sat in the car with the little boys.

NAKED AND STARVING AS THEY ARE
WE CANNOT ENOUGH ADMIRE
THE INCOMPARABLE PATIENCE AND FIDELITY
OF THE SOLDIER
--Washington at Valley Forge, February 16, 1778

Valley Forge and Philadelphia had storytelling benches run by Once Upon A Nation. They were free and we all loved them--the storytellers were amazing and we had a great time learning about Valley Forge from them.