Mangum Reunion Part 2

These reunion entries are going to end up a lot like the 'Lord of the Rings' extended editions: very long, but well worth the time invested.

Monday was the historical Plymouth day. We went to one of our family's favorite stops: Plimouth Plantation, which is a re-creation of the original Plymouth village, circa 1627, complete with houses, working farms, and people dressed up and play characters. I loved it as a kid, and it was a lot of fun for everybody.

Here's Lena with her cousins Max and Jake inside of a traditional Native American dwelling. As you can see, Lena is terrified, and Jake is bored.

Here's Lena, with Dad, cousins Michael, Haley and Amanda, and Aunt Rachel. Lena had several favorite activities while we were there, including throwing dirt into the canoe. She also liked...

Chasing the chicken. Here she is with Grandpa Mangum (aka, Dede) and Amanda trying to get the chicken. She kept saying chicken over and over after she saw it, and then eventually said "Yum" as she pretended to eat chicken nuggets. Smart girl.

Below are some examples of the village, including a view of the village rooftops as well Kathleen with Lena in the stroller, with Uncle Marc, David and Uncle Don looking on. Luckily it was only 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity, so it was a comfortable day.

Below is Dad, Lena and Mom in the traditional Native America dwelling.

Next it was onto the Mayflower II, a replica ship of the actual Mayflower, complete with cramped quarters and live animals (kidding about the live animal part). Here are some pictures from that visit.

As you can see, the Plymouth Day was a ton of fun, and we all came away historically enriched. The biggest disappointment was that we had planned on going to the Ocean Spray Cranberry Museum, but it no longer exists. How could a place that gives away free cranberry juice samples ever go out of business? Kathleen is still trying to recover from the disappointment. (And you think I'm kidding.)

Tuesday was Lena's first trip to the beach. It went very well, especially after we put on Lena's shoes and she would actually stand on the sand. Here are some pictures from the beach.

Unfortunately this was our only beach day. Lena got a heat rash (the house was not air conditioned and remember -- we live in Wisconsin, where summer hit a month ago). So we unfortunately avoided the beach the rest of the week to help Lena recover.

The rest of Tuesday was a girl's day out (though somehow Lena stayed with Dad). The girls went to the infamous Christmas Tree Shoppe, which is basically a huge craft/bargain place that still gives me nightmares from the bored hours I spent there as a kid/teenager. But the girls loved it.

The Dads and Dede took the boys (plus Lena and 3-month-old Bria) to McDonalds (where Lena finally got her chicken nuggest) and then candle pin bowling. For the uninitiated, candle pin bowling is like like regular bowling -- except very different. The pins are skinny, and the ball is the size of grapefruit. You get to toss three balls, and we kept the bumpers up.