History Fair

Sydney & the Tennessee flag
Kelsey and Allie in front of the stable
More of Kel and Allie


Well, the History Fair was two days ago and we are almost all recovered. The day started horribly with tornadoes in West and Middle Tennessee and a tornado watch for all of us here in K-town. We headed out for school at 7:30 a.m. right as the skies turned pitch black and the rain began to fall in big, round globs -- Splat all over the windshield. I was praying silently the whole way to school for the Lord to please just let us get there safely. Then whatever was gonna happen could just go on and happen.

I told the girls we could not tune in to Disney on the XM radio this morning (something we do EVERY DAY OF OUR LIVES) because we had to set the channel to WIVK to listen to the weather. There was no music on the radio Wednesday morning, just DJs talking about how there were tens of people dead in Tennessee and how dark it was outside and how JUST NOW the storms had entered Knox County. Great, I thought. Then the streaks of lightning started and the thunder. Sydney was squealing every time she saw the lightning and Kelsey was commenting on how loud the thunder was. It looked like we were headed into the middle of hell.

So I pushed on, Joe following me two minutes behind so he could help me unload at school. We were moving through the flooded roads on our usual route and I thought we were JUST GONNA MAKE IT before the deluge when we got into a long line of stopped cars -- a huge sewage truck had overturned! So we got detoured onto this little one-lane country road. I had no idea where I was going. Needless to say, the stress level was fairly high in the car. I kept trying to remain calm and not make colorful comments on how bad everything sucked (something at which I am well-trained) so that the girls would not get scared.

Finally, after following all the cars in front of me, hoping and praying they were going the same way I was, we got back onto our normal route and made it to school just as the skies opened completely and dumped gallons of water all over us. I let the girls out under the overhang, dropped all of their stuff off, including the robotic horse and parked. By the time I got inside the building I looked like I had showered in my clothes. And I smelled like wet dog. It was gonna be a good day!

So after all of that and after setting up all of the girls' displays, getting everyone settled, the History Fair began. Most of the displays were very creative and the costumes were neat. There were several people there doing soap-making demonstrations, quilting demonstrations, etc. There were even Civil War re-enactment enthusiasts there to show off their authentic goods. The kids created little vignettes from colonial times, a tea party on the lawn of the White House, castles, ships, wigwams, you name it.

Kelsey and her partner, Allie, were, as I said in my earlier post, blacksmiths. They had a stable complete with forge, authentic horseshoes, hay and a robotic horse. They stood before groups and groups of people and explained their trade, their importance and even told stories of famous blacksmiths in colonial times. They looked and sounded great.

Sydney's class did their projects in their classrooms. Kindergarten through second grade are not involved in the BIG History Fair, per se. Their displays consist of tri-fold boards, costumes and any accessories they want to bring. Sydney did a little project on the Tennessee flag, the designer, the significance and its adoption date. She wore a t-shirt with the Tennessee flag on it and had red, white and blue ribbons in her hair. She constructed a flag out of red, white and blue clay. She stood proudly in front of her board for most of the day, giving her speech to every group that came calling. Surprisingly, the projects in her class were very entertaining and pretty detailed. There was old-time candy, homemade butter and even a log cabin made out of Lincoln logs. They were creative and very age-appropriate.

So all in all the day went well once we arrived at our destination safe and sound. Outside, it was wet and windy, but inside, it looked like a different time. The kids were excited, bubbling over with information they had memorized, costumed in great detail. All the time and effort put into the day was evident. While I was worn out after it had all ended, from set-up to clean-up, I was glad I spent the day with the girls, listening to their presentations and even learning some new things myself. It made an otherwise dreary, miserable day into a memorable one.