Leap Day

My son and I did a little research on Leap Day and Leap Year.  Here is why we have an extra day every four years: "A complete orbit of the earth around the sun takes exactly 365.2422 days to complete, but the Gregorian calendar uses 365 days.  So leap years are added as a means of keeping our clocks (and calendars) in sync with the Earth and its seasons."  (You can read more interesting facts about Leap Year from The Telegraph here.)

For me, Leap Year means an extra bonus day added to the schedule, and since bonus days should be fun, I took the day off from work, and I let Lewie take a day off from school.  (Okay, I shouldn't advertise that too loudly, but Lewie hasn't missed any days from school yet this year.)  We played chase and hide-and-go-seek inside the house; I played MineCraft with him on the Xbox (I think he became annoyed at Mommy's lack of coordination there), and when the sun finally came out (it rained in the morning), we headed outside to play and work on his school geography project. 

Since Lewie is only in first grade, he isn't required to participate in this year's geography fair.  He confuses states with countries all the time.  But then, after considering the project some more, I thought we could make the project fun and interesting by focusing on our own hometown of Beacon Falls.  In order for young children to understand more about states and countries, shouldn't they first start locally? 

He had questions like, "Is there a president of Beacon Falls, and how many people live in our town?"  We didn't complete the entire project on Leap Day, but we did get a good start.  When the rain stopped, we hopped in our car and went to visit our Town Hall, library, churches, the train stop, and of course, our local parks (where Lewie spent the majority of his day on the swings). 

We still have more places to visit such as the fire station, police station, and senior center, but I must say we accomplished a lot in one day, and Lewie learned what it's like to meet people and ask important questions.  Besides taking regular still photos, Lewie brought his video camera and asked for a few interviews; my favorite is with our First Selectman.  (It needs to be edited somewhat, but Lewie did well for his first time.)

Here's what it's like to live in our little town...(in no particular order).

The Train Stop - This train runs to Bridgeport and then onto NYC.

Toby's Pond (One of our three town parks)

The Rimmon School House; this small building was one of the first two schools in our town. 
There must have only been about twenty children back then!

Entering our Town Hall.

Lewie posing with our First Selectman

Our library (inside the Town Hall).

St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church.
(This is my church from childhood, and now it's Lewie's.)

Lewie's elementary school.  (I went there as a child too.)

Our other church in town.  We often have our Cub Scout Pack Meetings in the basement.

Our favorite park in town - Matthies Park. 

The park used to be a summer residence for a prominent and affluent industrialist in the area. 
When he died, he gave the land to the town.

This was the summer residence, which now is an abandoned house on an island.

This is the way to the playground.

The falls inside the park.
(When I was little, I used to sit on this bridge and make a wish.)

Yes, we made Leap Day fun this year (and maybe even a little educational).  The geography fair will happen in a few weeks.  Wish us luck on the final project!