Birthday Weekend

Birthday weekend?  Weekend?? You say... yes... weekend.  My birthday was on Saturday so Mom was nice enough to come up and watch the kids so James and I could have a night away.  Yea!  A night without hearing kids cry and a morning when I don't have to get up at 6:30am(or before!)!!  I wanted to get away but not travel too much so we decided to to go to Atchison.  Well... apparently there was something going on in that little, lively town because all the bed and breakfasts were full!  Who knew!  So we looked around(fyi, looking at B&B's on the internet can be addictive!) and I found one in Fort Scott.  Not a whole lot to do in Fort Scott but that was the point... not to do alot! :)  We drove down Friday afternoon.  As we were driving James decided to take a little detour- he saw a brown highway sign.  You know the ones... they tell you that an historical site is located at the next exit.  We had time so he thought we needed to go see the "Marias Des Cygnes Massacre" historical site.  On the way down the several dirt/mud roads we had to take...

and the several signs we had to follow...

we discussed whether it was a massacre of "white folk" or Native Americans.  Once we got there we realized that it was either... we aren't really history buffs if you haven't noticed. :)  Here, you can read the sign...

Can't read it??  Well, I'll summarize.... so you don't have to Google it...
 On May 19, 1858, approximately 30 men led by Charles Hamilton, a Georgian native and proslavery leader, crossed into Kansas from Missouri. They arrived at Trading Post, Kansas in the morning and then headed back to Missouri. Along the way they captured 11 free-state men, none of whom was armed and, it is said, none of whom had participated in the ongoing violence. Most of the men knew Hamilton and apparently did not realize he meant them harm. These prisoners were led into a defile(along the Marias Des Cygnes river... hence the name), where Hamilton ordered the men shot and fired the first bullet himself. Five men were killed.
Ok, so I didn't summarize it, Wikipedia did, but now you know. :)
Anyways, that was a nice detour... we got back on the highway and James saw another brown sign.... yes, we did stop again... this was at Mill Creek battlefield where there was a civil war battle in Kansas- who knew!!  The Union won(Yea!).  I didn't get a picture because the place was closed and it was just a sign... which you won't be able to read in a picture anyway.
So then we continued on our way to Fort Scott and checked in at the Levine House.  Pretty nice.  Here's our room(don't mind the mess... forgot to take a picture when we got there)

The bathroom was huge with a two person shower and duel shower heads!

We went to eat at the Buffalo Grill... yummy... and then went to get ice cream... because even though you are away from home you still need your nightly ice cream snack. :)

On Saturday we had a yummy breakfast and drove around a bit before going to the Fort at Fort Scott.  Here are some pictures.  It was a bigger area then I thought it would be.

The visitor center and Fort hospital

 The "parade ground" and other buildings

The soldiers "bedrooms"  I think I got the "time out" bed! :)

 Here are pictures of the kitchen. 

I thought the ovens were interesting... and look how deep they are!

James is laying on a long wooden slab in the prison area... I guess that's where the "cat naps" took place while guards were on duty.

I apparently did something wrong...

After we got home, I made some manicotti for supper.  It was really simple and really, really good!  If you want the recipe go here.  While the manicotti was baking we had fun with balloons Mom got!

Yes, some of that "fun" was gang up on Mommy. :)

After supper was cake and present opening.  I requested a DQ ice cream cake and James got me one! 



It was a great day/weekend! :)