The Glass House! - Nov 10

This week on Wednesday I was able to be a parent chaperone/driver for Chloe's first class field trip as a 2nd grader. The whole class was transported from their school on a short trip to a place that if you are from the area you have probably driven by and wondered about it. In San Ramon(right off San Ramon Valley Blvd) seemingly planted in the middle of nowhere there is a white picket fence surrounding a pristine looking Victorian home. This home is known as "The Glass House" which, as the woman explained on the tour, makes people think perhaps it was named that because of something to do with the actual glass in the home when in fact it has everything to do with the last name of the family that lived there. The home is adjacent to a large farming property and actually the home was previously moved(and then restored) in it's entirety from a completely different part of San Ramon to it's current location back in 1998 or 1999. Basically, it's a home that belonged to a family that was originally more or less where it is now way before San Ramon was the gigantic city that it has become. I actually really enjoyed the tour and learned things that I'm sure I could have looked up online but where is the fun in that?

The class was split in half and while half the class did the inside tour, the other half stayed outside and learned about chores of the time period as well as some games that the children of that time might have played for fun. The kids had some practice sweeping the porch as well as beating the dust out of the rugs and brushing sheep(not actual sheep). All of the kids seemed to really enjoy everything but the thought of not having an Ipad certainly seemed to upset a few of them. LOL.

The inside tour started out with the boys and girls dressing up in some "period correct" clothing (except for the hats over fear of spreading lice) and the kids got a kick out of that. We then went room to room from the parlor to the kitchen to the bedrooms where we learned about exciting things such as the actual "ice box" and the kids favorite thing, the "chamber pot". If you're not sure what that is, google it. =P

An interesting trip and I think the kids actually enjoyed it. There certainly were a few nutty kids in the group but overall it's amazing the difference over AND of the Kindergarten field trips we took. LOL.

Just a few snaps from the day. Have a great weekend, folks~

-B



Chloe's car buddy and partner in crime for the day, Adele