Yesterday we went on an amazing field trip to Washington on the Brazos. If my understanding is correct, as there is SO very much to learn of Texas history - it is the site near the Brazos river where the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed, and Texas seceded from Mexico and joined the United States.Texas history is very interesting. Most of it involves weapons and battles. I have so much to learn. My friend told me the other day that the area we live in was a neutral ground that nobody wanted because it was so overgrown. You have to see the dense ground covering in the Big Thicket to understand this statement.
The weather was lovely. We started the day
by seeing Barrington Living History Farm that showed the home of an affluent doctor, Anson Jones and his family in the early 1800s. It had something called a "dog run" - which is a style of house that had an hallway running right through the center. It is considered early-Texas air conditioning. You can see it here from the back - the steps walk up to a hallway that goes all the way through to the porch that is on the front of the house. The dining room and bedrooms open to this "dog run". I have seen a lot of older houses here with this style and wondered why the 
house seemed to be divided in half. I wish I had taken a picture with a better angle on this house. It is said that this is where the family did most of their living.The kids got to pick cotton, saw an ox demonstration, made some toys from that time period, and got to do all sorts of things. We had a picnic lunch at an absolutely beautiful park near the river with a nice playground. The weather was perfect. We had such a good time. It was a fun day getting to know our new friends and our new state better.
On a sad note today - I went outside this morning to take something to the trash, and saw that our cat, one of the kittens from our cat's first litter was laying in our yard - dead. We have all been pretty sad about it all day. Even Travis - he had really taken a liking to this big, fat tomcat baby.
