It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Today was our Homeschool Immigration unit on Ellis Island. It was given by Jennifer Steward and it was wonderful.  Ellis Island was re-created in the church auditorium and there were 85 homeschooled kids who showed up dressed as steerage passengers from Europe.   They all went through the many procedures it took to be accepted into America, or turned back if they didn't pass.  We then had a lunch of potato soup and bread, got pictures taken in costume to put in with the unit, did quilt blocks, wrote a page of what they had learned and generally learned a lot and had a good time doing it.  Hurray for interactive, immersion type learning!  

But can I relate the happenings on our way to this great learning experience?   Hmm?

The day started with all kinds of upsets and vile attitudes (the word "vile" in this post is not overused) and it made us end up blasting out of here late. We were not one minute from home when there were a flock of wild turkeys in the road and two of them didn't move to the side, so I had to slam on my brakes to avoid a feathery collision.  Not two minutes later we smelled bacon. Oh!! Did the crock pot full of the best potato soup I've ever made tip over? Yes, indeed it had. All over. As in total loss. Twenty servings.  My contribution to the Ellis Island experience, now embedded in car carpet, spilled over our changes of clothes, a skateboard, books, backpacks, etc.  We stopped on the side of the road to clean up the back of the car and we could still see home from the road.  Should we have seen the writing on the wall and turned back then?  Perhaps.  But we were also taking our cat in to be neutered. All the preparations had been made, it seemed like we should push on, so push on we did. And almost immediately the cat's insides decided the stress was too much. Oh, is  there a more vile smell in the world?  I think not!  We had to stop and empty the cat carrier, late or not.  Okay! Back on the road. A few more turns...cat urine. Now really, *that* has GOT to be the most vile odor ever!    More turns, more intestinal production, another stop.  Certainly we must be at the end of this by now and things will start looking up. No.  He ended it all with diarrhea, mixed with the mess already in the carrier and now all in his fur. There was no emptying anything after that and we had a full hour and a half drive left. All this had happened in the first five miles out, before we even hit the highway.  It has to rank up there with one of the most stressful trips I've ever encountered.   I'm surprised they didn't kick us out of  Ellis Island and send us all home. 

And that's the way we did things around here today.  I'm hoping we got it out of our systems because we've got another long drive tomorrow. But no more soup or cats.