St. Meinrad and Lincoln

It was a go, go, go day yesterday starting with a quick breakfast and then out the door by 9:00. We went to the nursing home up in Boonville where my mother once lived, and we sang. The kids did a great 50 Nifty United States and then the Pledge and the Star Spangled Banner, and we hugged and introduced ourselves to the residents and then we were off again. I was proud of all the kids who sang so well. I heard Addie especially.

We arrived at Lincoln National Park, did the rest room thing and then visited the museum where Kanin was the child who named the ax as the most important tool the pioneers had, and he won a Klondike bar. David also won a Klondike bar.

We ran up to the grave site of Lincoln's mother, and some of the kids were keen to know who was buried under the little markers. I told them children; that a family did not have just one or two kids, but many children - as many as 15 or 17 kids in a tiny home, and many of them would die because there was no medical help back then. Lots of the older girls were very interested in this.

We then plowed then through the woods to the picnic station. We then went up to the farm and visited with Sam the Ranger who gave the kids a lesson in furs and animals. Very apt for our program this summer. The boys loved the animal skins.

We visited all the new baby animals, the chickens were everywhere and then we were off again for Monte Casino with a very hungry bunch. Remember these kids like to eat all day long!

Monte Casino is a small shrine to Our Lady of Monte Casino high in the hills just east of St. Meinrad. My children made their First Holy Communions there and it's near and dear to me. We had a big lunch of ham, turkey and cheese sandwiches, cheese, peanut butter and jelly or honey, egg salad, tuna salad, homemade cookies, carrots and apples and pickles and chips. They ate the WHOLE thing.

Then it was off again to St. Meinrad and a tour of this Romanesque church. St. Meinrad is a Benedictine Archabby and one of only seven in the whole world. It's a beautiful big place and as close to a Medieval castle as the kids are going to get in this neck of the woods. It's always so much fun to compare Lincoln to St. Meinrad. One is the work of one man; the other the work of a community. Interesting.

We toured the Chapter Room at St. Meinrad which is quite magnificent. The Chapter Room is where monks four times a year confess their Monastic faults and are corrected by the Archabbot. It's also a place where the community of monks can get together and hash out difficulties.

We went to the big garden with the circulating water and the kids just loved it. We walked through the garden which is lush and beautifully planted. Then it was off to visit some of my friends in the graveyard. I think I know about 1/4 of them. I always like to visit this very peaceful place when I'm up at St. Meinrad. The kids were fascinated. Wyatt asked who was buried in the tomb under the crucifix.

This was a grand field trip for a first one. I was proud of the kids who for the most part behaved very well. There was some running in the church, but they settled down and behaved as well as they usually do. Next week is the Louisville Zoo.