sotterly and dreamcoats

on Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and headed to sotterly for a breakfast picnic. bucket list and passport! - √
(it was bright)

love these goofy girls! chris was crabknocking and lexi was young adulting.

it was so delightful, I don't know why we've never done a breakfast picnic before! I made mini muffins, and brought yogurts, cheese, crackers, fruit, and juice, and it was all so nice.

they have farmer's markets there each Saturday, so after our picnic, we went over to check that out.

they had a free hayride around the plantation, so we hopped on.

my little Hungarian girl, and I. she's going back to her roots. (my papa's family came over from hungary) and now matt's got another girl to call Budapest's best. (;

the girls brought sissy's baseball cap, and all took turns wearing it.

i'm telling you, it was bright!

the hayride took us all the way around the plantation and down the hill to the water.

so beautiful there!

the small white building on the left was an original slave quarter. it might look small (and it was) and primitive (that too), but this was actually very progressive for the time period. most slaves then didn't have their own "home," they had to sleep in the halls and kitchens of the masters homes.

matt was excited to see some historic planes fly over.

laney-bug loved the ride.

we sweet-talked our driver into letting the girls take turns "driving."

then we went and took a tour of the grounds. inside the slave quarters.

they were dying to go upstairs, but, as this is an original cabin, it wasn't safe. it was surreal to be in this tiny house where such humble beings lived. this tiny cabin once housed a family of 21 (same dad, 1st wife had 7 kids, 2nd wife had 12).

the slave children didn't have to start working in the fields until they were 9, but our guide told addie that she would probably have had to take care of the little children throughout the day, and do other chores.

blah.
from that somber experience, we walked to the gorgeous gardens. they have volunteers come monthly to tend the gardens, and we happened to be there on a working day.

after the gardens, we saw the "necessary," and then into the house.

it was hot by this time, and there were not a lot of seats we could use, so our tour guide sat us right on the floor.

t'was even bright inside. ;)

the home was refurbished, at great expense, back in 1910, when it was bought by Herbert saterlee, who just so happened to be the son-in-law of one j. pierpont morgan. so money wasn't really an object.

a lot of the pieces are original, and others are antiques that were brought in. we loved the cool game table!

and the spinning wheel, just like in sleeping beauty.

it was a really good tour. even though it was really hot by this point.

I love getting the girls to take pictures of us. this one is not bad!

j. Pierpont morgan's china!

francy-nancy took this one too.

we walked around the grounds a little more. Delaney was obsessed with the smoke-house (kids are so weird) and I loved the gardens. then we went back over to the farmers market, where we bought some fresh tomato's and cantaloupe. then we did our 9th marker rubbing, and hit the road.

we grabbed a quick chicfila meal, and next adventure was to see the summerstock production of joseph, and the amazing Technicolor dreamcoat. this was our second summerstock production, (we saw grease! last year) and they do such a nice job! it's one of matt's favorite sunday movies, so the girls are well versed in the songs and loved it. one of my primary kids was in it both years, another good reason to go see the show.

the rest of our day consisted of cleaning, pool time, bbq, and baths. a wonderful summer Saturday.