Lachen celebrated his 7th birthday with a party entirely of his own inception. He wanted three friends to come, Conor, Jeffrey, and Henry, and his brother. He wanted to go to the Minute Man National Historic Site which chronicles the fateful day of April 19, 1775 when Paul Revere did his midnight ride, the minutemen came out from their homes to stand up against the British regulars, and the battles of Lexington and Concord were fought. Now, that battle road where the fighting occurred is a popular biking route, and there are lots of bikers pedaling along. There are plaques every few 100 feet marking the time of day and night the British soldiers marched through, where the skirmishes happened, and that sort of things. The interpretive center features an exciting presentation about the battle with cannon sounds, flashing lights like musket fire, and storytelling by people in period dress. Lachen LOVES this place. To be truthful, he also loves the gift shop where a boy can find all manner of compasses, quill pens, tricorner hats, Revolutionary War plastic figurines, and endless commemorative regalia.
Following the trip to the interpretive center, we took the boys back to our house, and they feasted on what Lachen determined to be war camp food: meat (beef jerky & hotdogs--all organic, but still :( ewww), cornbread, apple cider, caramel apples, and a fabulous recipe for a Colonial era cake a la Aunt Lizzard which we made into cupcakes. Lachen permitted no balloons, ice cream, or frosting as those things would not have been in the war camp. Snakes, however, were allowed, compliments of Jeffrey's dad, Paul. He hails from a farm in Anamosa, Iowa, and while he and I have many things in common, an interest in snakes in certainly not one of them. You'll be glad to know I had the pleasure of seeing the snake again the next day, dead, in the street, about 200 feet from our house. Again, ewwww.
Back to the party...Shawn and the boys had set up a tent for battle planning and strategizing, which also worked well as a locale for eating meat on a stick. The boys, I mean Minutemen, headed out into the woods around our house and rooted out all lingering bloody backs (a.k.a. Redcoats--Lachen knows several synonyms for them.) Shawn read the book about the early presidents of the U.S. from the Mittmans, and Lachen opened his gifts of geology kits and Legos. This was also on his order, because kids don't open presents at their parties in Massachusetts. They wait until all the kids have gone home. But, I let the birthday boy rule the day; Massachusetts social norms be damned.
Lachen had what may go down as the birthday party of his dreams. The parents came at dusk to fetch their minutemen, and everyone stayed well past dark. So, I think everyone was having a fun time. Lots of grass stain by the end of the evening, but no blood. And really, in my book of parenting, that equals success.
Here's the link for more information for all burgeoning historians like Lachen: http://www.nps.gov/mima/index.htm And, for your listening pleasure, here's a bit of the annual Birthday Storybook Reading by Daddy. And, yes, that's Reilly you hear who is feeling left out after snitching a caramel apple.
