Summer 2014 road trip Day 10

We woke early to play with new friends. I saw only glimpses of the kids for a few hours, and did some laundry and enjoyed the peace and quiet. The kids eventually got hungry and came back to camp, and so we ate and got ready to go to Fort Gains. You can read all about Ft. Gaines and Ft. Morgan, and the battle of Mobile, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mobile_Bay What really impressed me about this fort was the raw quality of the experience. The fort was partially restored, but visitors’ movement was unhindered by railings keeping them on a particular path. People could fully explore all nooks and crannies as I they were battling soldiers of the Civil war! It was refreshingly dangerous, particularly the several stone spiral staircases plunging into the rooms below the stone fort walls, no safety rails to keep small children from falling to injury or death on the jagged stairs a floor below. Good thing my kids know and follow the “hug the wall” rule in such places. The fort had a working blacksmith shop with two blacksmiths making all kinds of replica pieces for the fort and to sell. The woman blacksmith used large nails and hammered them into tiny cutlasses for the kids, stamping their initials on each. We spent several hours roaming the fort, imagining the battle, looking at maps and pictures, and generally having a great time! Everyone eventually got pretty hot, so we loaded into the car and headed to a BBQ place with an ice cream stand and bounce house out front. It was a great choice. The BBQ was phenominal, even for a meat hater like me, and the ice cream was homemade soft serve. There was not a trace of chemical flavor or gratuitous fat. And the kids got to jump in a bounce house with a family of 5 kids who loved to jostle and wrestle every bit as mine do. Splendid! Tonight we played in the water for several hours and The Screamer had his first beach experience. He LOVED it! He wore his floatie and floated around on his back the entire time, screaming and throwing a tantrum when we went to shore to build a sandcastle. It’s not that he hates sand. He just didn’t want to leave the water! I think we have another swimmer on our hands. I have also discovered that My Lion has a nasty cut on the bottom of his foot with a blurry red line running up to his ankle from it, and he is having a pretty hard time walking normally. Nice. I should probably take him to urgent care, but instead I drenched it with tea tree oil and packed it with powdered golden seal. I think he’ll pull through, but I need to watch it very closely. We don’t want to lose a foot on this trip!