We spent the morning at the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was a fabulous and informative museum. We gave the kids an assignment to take notes about Lincoln, his life and his mission. They were to take the information they gathered and write a one page report in the first person about Lincoln and then perform it to the family. The kids did a fabulous job on this assignment. I am going to use their research for our blog today. Lincoln was born Feb 12, 1809 in Nolin Creek, Kentucky. In 1812 Lincoln's brother Thomas died at infancy. In 1818 His mother died from milk sickness which basically is when a cow feeds on poisonous plants and a human drinks the milk from that cow. In 1828 Abe's sister dies while giving birth. Also that year Lincoln was hired to take a flat boat down the Ohio and Mississippi River to New Orleans. This was a 1200 mile journey in which he was paid $25. Unfortunately he legally had to give the money to his parents. ( I have to mention what Peyton said "Daddy when Lincoln got the $25 for floating down the river did he get a $5 with his face on it?") In New Orleans Lincoln witnessed his first slave trade. Lincoln moves to Illinois and gets elected to Illinois General Assembly. In 1842 Lincoln marries Mary Todd. Together they have
4 sons. Three of his son's die at a young age. November 6, 1860 Lincoln is nominated the 16Th President of the United States. April 12, 1861 Confederates open fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston and the Civil war begins. Lincoln first asks General Robert E. Lee to lead the Union Forces but he declined because he said he couldn't fight against his own soil. Lincoln went through many generals with little success (he did not feel as if they were aggressive enough) before he found ultimate victory with Ulysses S Grant. Jan 1, 1863 Lincoln issues the Final Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in territories held by the Confederates. Nov 19Th, 1863 Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address. Nov 8,1864 Lincoln is re-elected. April 9, 1865 Gen Robert E Lee surrenders to Grant. Finally, in the words of Peyton.."April 14, 1865 Lincoln went to a play and "BOOM" h
e died! At the end of the Museum you got to make a speech on why you should be the next president. We all pleaded our case as to why we should be the Hulsebus president. We then made campaign posters to increase or chances. After our final plea's we went to the voting box. Although I used threats of constant chores and Liver and Onion dinners, I did not win! Peyton was nominated President! I think it was his speech about how he promised to bring, "joy to every one's heart." Well, he has taken his presidency very
seriously by reminding us all why he "The President" doesn't have to do choirs and since he is President he gets to tell us all what to do. I think he is going to be impeached soon for the lack of JOY. After the museum we drove north to Breman, Indiana to the RV capital of the US. Did you know, 1 out of every 2 RVs are manufactured here. Although that is appealing, that is not why we decided to drive this direction. We are in the middle of Amish country! I'm s0 excited!
You see, when I was a teen I joined my grandparents for a month on their year long RV adventure. We went to Hershey, Pennsylvania and visited the Hershey factory. Well, next door was the Hershey amusement park. My cousin Jim (who's month overlapped mine by a week) and I insisted that we get to go to the amusement park. My grandparent's really wanted us to go with them to the Amish country. They said that amusement parks are all over the place but you don't get a chance to see and experience people of another culture. We argued with my grandparents telling them that the Amish sounded boring. Finally, after much debate and a little whinning, they dropped us off at the amusement park and they went to see the Amish. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the amusement park I have always silently regretted not going with my Grandparent to see the Amish. I am so excited to be able to have the opportunity to do so now. I will take lots of pictures and report back on my experience. One more funny quote from Peyton to close out today's blog. "Mommy you have to see this, this is real life, this really happened, horses are pulling a cart with wheels in the road with real cars driving next to it." He had seen a Amish buggy going by and was quite taken a back that something could go that fast with out an engine. Love and miss you all!
