Category Archives: Family

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Kraków, Poland

. European Destinations, Family, Family Travel, Poland, Train Travel . , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As their historical readings for 4th grade, Sean, Carter, and Ammon had been reading multiple books from the Holocaust: The Hiding Place, Irina’s Children & Anne Frank. Sean had read Schindler’s List by himself then he paraphrased / abridged, then taught Ammon and Carter some events that had happened with Jews and the Polish people in Krakow, Poland. Shindler’s Factory is almost 2 miles from downtown Krakow. By the time we finished the logistics of our Polish Summer, we knew we wanted to spend the most of our time in Krakow. We also decided to save Krakow for the end of our Caylor-Brown Polish Experience 2019. It was not just the engaging history and charming Polish architecture we were looking forward to in Krakow, but the geographic region is very much like Southeast Tennessee too: rolling hills, low-lying mountains, and lots of summer-green.

The 21st Century high-tech Polish passenger trained had taken 4 hours to get from Gdansk to Krakow. We had been anticipating Krakow for 2 weeks. The greenery of the Polish fields and the demure mountains of southern Poland pulled us like a magnet into the Krakow-Glowny Railway Station.

train_krakow
One of those adventurous, engaging European train rides from Gdansk to Krakow- July 3, 2019

By taxi, we found our wonderful apartment (full apartment – huge Great Room -living room/dining area/kitchen , hallway, bathroom w/clothes washer, and huge bedroom … like $75/night). The Caylor-Browns were neither disappointed with the apartment nor the city of Krakow.

Krakow_kitchen
You can tell by the size of the full kitchen kitchen how large the apartment is.

Milk Bar (s)– large cities in Poland have popular restaurants called Milk Bars. It’s cafeteria style and sells the same foods (perhaps a SLIGHT CHANGE of menu taking out some breakfast foods around noonish) all day long starting at 8 AM. If you find yourself at a Milk Bar in Poland be ready for lots of potatoes, beets, peas & carrots

I think we ate here at least once a day for 7 days.. well, almost. My most memorable moment was when, I think, a native Krakow couple was eating at this Milk Bar. The mentally disabled gentleman of the couple walked up to our table, grabbed a fork, and ate my remaining potatoes from off my plate!

The City of Krakow (associate the paragraph with the below photos)

I am really looking forward to returning to the St. Mary’s Basilica. It has been my favorite building of worship in Europe since I started traveling in 1984. I’ve only felt this spiritual connection one other time at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, but I was only there for an hour. I was in Krakow for a week. Each morning after my morning jog (finishing up around gulp!….. 6:30 AM!! Sunrise was about 5AM), I entered the basilica, knelt, and prayed. They weren’t just rote-memorized prayers, but Spirit-lead… everything from my family, to distant friends, to the Polish people, to world peace, to Milk Bars! LOL I really felt a spiritual connection while in the basilica. Wawel Castle is on a hill overlooking the Vistula River. The castle (begun sometime around 1038) sits over rock caverns one of which was the home of the legendary Wawel Dragon. The bronze, fire-breathing dragon is a leviathan of enjoyment. It breathes fire about every 5-10 minutes.

 
 



  • St. Mary’s Basilica
  • Wawel Castle
  • Vistula River
  • Wawel Dragon near his cavernous lair

There was a lot to do in Krakow proper, but I want to venture to some nearby attractions with you all: The Wieliczka Salt Mines and the Oskar Schindler Factory (Krakow Museum). The salt mine has 26 subterranean caverns. One of which is a chapel to worship. All the walls and sculptures in the salt mine are made of salt. If you go to Krakow for any length of time, you must take a tour of this mine: Well worth the money.

Huge Chapel in salt mine

From 1939 to 1944 Oskar Schindler, an official member of the Nazi Party, had an enamel factory in Krakow. Between the Krakow Ghetto ( walking distance to the Factory) and the Plaszow Work Camp, Mr. Schindler saved 1,200 Jews from extermination. In 1962, he was declared a Righteous Gentile by Yad Vashem, Israel’s official agency for remembering the Holocaust. According to his wishes, he was buried on Mt. Zion , Jerusalem. Thanks be to God for such human beings as Oskar Schindler.

Schindler’s Desk & Schindler’s Secretary’s Desk . One of only 2 preserved 1940 rooms of the museum.
 

Two more things:

Nazis topple Krakow/Polish History

1) There is an underground museum in the Market Square. It commemorates Middle Ages Krakow. We were not allowed to take photos, so I will allow Trip Advisor to give you all a tour. 

2) Several countries, Russia, Austria, and Germany (Nazis) have tried to erase Poland from the world: Literally. When people do this, they eradicate art (sculptures, STATUES), literature, music, and language. They wish to ERASE your identity …. your heritage. While we were at the Schindler Museum I took a photo of a photo where Nazis were toppling a provincial / national Polish statue attempting to erase history. Folks, since the dawn of civilization, groups have done unnecessary sometimes horrific atrocities. No person, city, state, nation, or empire is blameless. That doesn’t mean we erase the art, literature, and heritage from the past. We simply need not repeat man’s inhumanity to man. 

I hope you have enjoyed this Krakow blog. If you happen to be following chronologically, you are approaching my final blog of Poland. It will be a blog covering our trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau. As I write the final words of this blog, I am already very emotional in my soul with its preparation. I am praying that I will do the experience of Auschwitz justice and allow the Holy Spirit to guide me.

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Gdansk, Poland Summer 2019

. European Destinations, Family, Family Travel, Parenting, Poland . , , , , ,

I wasn’t pushing a stroller in the crowded Long Market this time. 10 years- old Carter and Ammon were walking and taking care of themselves in the streets of Gdansk this time.

Gdanks_bridge

In 2010, we had taken a day tour of Gdansk ( 20th Century European scholars may remember it with its German name, Danzig). Pushing strollers through the hot (there was a heat wave in the Baltic area that summer… temperatures in the 90s in Gdansk, Poland, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Stockholm, Sweden) was not comfortable, but there was something very likeable about Gdansk. This was one of those times an excursion from a cruise planted a seed, a goal, for the Caylor-Browns to return to an historical and charming European city. We saved and prayed, and God blessed us with a return in the summer of 2019. I’ve already shared Budapest  and Warsaw, and now I will continue with Gdansk.

Jogging in Gdansk

Jogging in Gdansk: Nostalgic feelings while I jogged ALONE at 6 AM remembering when I pushed and meandered with a stroller in 90 heat 9 years before.

The Millennium Cross above Gdansk Glowny is great not only for a photo op, but because of the bunkers with history mechanical/audio-visual history lessons.

Millennium Cross

Hill behind Gdansk’s Train Station that overlooks the city.

Gdansk_learn

Bunkers with life-size action figures (Disney World’s Hall of the Presidents style) depicting the history of Gdansk.

Gdansk World War II Museum

Overwhelming museum of Gdansk / Poland 1918-1945

World War II Museum: Gdansk, Poland. Man’s inhumanity to man. History is full of cruel people who make others their victims. This short video Jews in Poland World War II    shows how Jewish people were abused by Nazis before World War II. Take a close look. There are neither facial differences nor skin color differences. There is no way you can physically distinguish a Jewish person from a “Christian” ( or whatever the Nazi Germans/ Poles called themselves) here in these photos. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” As I get older and think about parenting, I have found a DEEP love and admiration for the Jewish parents who sent their children to other countries to have a chance at life; HEART WRENCHING.

Jewish Children

Jewish Children’s Monument

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Whippoorwills are late in 2020

. Family, Seasons . , , , , , , ,

Whippoorwills were VERY LATE this year. Like 5 weeks late! What’s up with that? Oh, well, I heard my first 2020 whippoorwill at 5 AM this morning. I had to take Buddy the dachshund out for his morning constitutional, and the little whippoorwill was bellowing away!

Okay, so I am now anticipating lightning bugs, katydids, and cicadas. Your up, summer 2020! Don’t let us down. We need a good and fun one.

whip_poor_will

Continue reading →

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Painting Mystery: Parenting Strategies on the Go

. Art, Family, Family Travel, Parenting Strategies on the Go, Uncategorized . , , , , , , ,

 

I’m going to leave a cliff hanger for the first time in my writing history, and, yes, it’s a shameless ploy to guide readers especially young parents to my book Parenting Strategies on the Go

Parenting Strategies on the Go

“Parenting Strategies on the Go” -Haven Caylor, Ed. D.

 

Ammon and Carter were born through surrogacy. Carter was born in San Diego (maybe 15 miles from the In Vitro Fertilization clinic), and Ammon was born in Mission Viejo. From beginning to end, God blessed every move/choice we planned from an egg-donor mother, to choosing two spectacular surrogates ( and their wonderful families), to donating our sperm, to the fertilization, to the implantations, through the gestations, until the births, we were blessed. Carter and Ammon were fertilized in February of 2008. When their surrogates were 6 months pregnant we combined a visit with them in San Diego with a personal cruise on Carnival Cruise lines out of Long Beach. When we ported in Puerto Vallarta and disembarked the ship, there was an artist who painted tiles with his pinky fingernail. In Spanish (you have to remember that I am fluent in Spanish), I gave explicit instructions to his apprentice how I wanted our “futuristic” painting to appear. We told him we would be very late returning, and he said there would be no problem. Even if the artist, Jorge López, wasn’t there, he would be, and he guaranteed that the tile would be finished.

IMG_0676

The Caylor-Browns Gazing into the Pacific Ocean at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – Jorge López

 

After a spectacular and long day in Puerto Vallarta, we did, indeed, retrieve our tile. It was BEAUTIFUL, but as we inspected it, we saw an error corrected. What was it? Well, in Chapter 4: Using Souvenirs as Teaching tools after you’ve been on the Go, you can find out. The painting blunder/cover-up still makes me smile and laugh after 12 precious years.

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Warsaw, Poland: June 26-June 30, 2019

. European Destinations, Family, Family Travel, Poland . , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

On the Vistula River: The Mermaid is the symbol of the city
Copernicus Science Center: Warsaw
Our favorite Polish dish: Pierogi!
The Marie Curie house & Museum that was a 5 minute walk from our house.
Tour of Warsaw with Lucas our guide.

Polish people never yearn for freedom. They fight for it! 

To understand the courage and resilience of Warsaw (and Poland) I want to take you all back to 1920. After 120 years of not existing as a country on the world globe, Poland had become a country again after World War I. It was strong, vibrant, and ready to blaze into the 20th Century as an independent nation. However, it had made two enemies, Russia and Germany, with rabid instincts to retake the lands they had held during those 120 years. Germany was too busy recuperating from the economic depression and high unemployment during the 1920s to pay much attention to Poland, but Russia with its newly instituted Red Army tried to take Poland in August of 1920. World History rarely teaches how Poland beat the crap out of the Red Army and they went running back to Russia leaving Poland alone to “enjoy” the Roaring Twenties.

Poland experienced two decades of peace and prosperity. It was the envy of Europe. Warsaw was bourgeoisie and lively. Back in Germany, Adolf Hitler had set Germany on a route to European as well as world domination. In a rare and short-lived alliance of political, polar opposites, fascist Germany allied itself with communist Russia to CRUSH Poland so they could regain “their” lands of the 19th century. Very few history books tell students that Poland almost recuperated from Germany’s September 1939 blitzkrieg. Germany had exhausted its ammunition, and Poland was ready to turn them back: Enter Russia on Poland’s Eastern front. Poland could not defend itself on both sides, and it fell.

 

Warsaw Uprising Museum:
Replica of the Warsaw Sewers where brave children helped to liberate their city!

One of the saddest parts of the Nazi occupation was the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto that housed 200,000 Jewish people. Jews from all over Europe had been shipped to Warsaw for their holding until they could be forwarded to extermination camps such as Auschwitz Birkenau or Treblinka. Two heroes (on opposite ends of the survival spectrum) emerged: Irena Sendler and Janusz Korczak. Irena Sendler was a nurse in Warsaw who with her resistance group helped save over 1000 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. Although she risked her life, was beaten, and tortured (like whipped the soles of her feet then they broke her legs), and almost executed several times, she survived and lived until 2008. Janusz Korczak was a children’s author (“King Matt the First”) and a doctor. He took care of the orphaned, Jewish children in the Warsaw Ghetto. When the Nazis decided to ship the Jewish orphans to Treblinka for extermination, Dr. Korczak refused to leave their side even after Christians and the resistance begged him to stay in Warsaw and fight. Janusz died with his children in Treblinka.

Janusz Korczak: National Hero of Warsaw and Poland

Janusz Korczak was a doctor and and a children’s author who refused to be separated from the Jewish orphans from Warsaw. They were all exterminated in Treblinka.

 

Americans call the August 1944 uprising to take over its city the Warsaw Uprising but the English words in Warsaw say Warsaw Rising. The people of Warsaw knew the allies were headed to Berlin, and when they arrived in Warsaw to help deliver it, they wanted to show them that they were a free city who had liberated itself. They fought for 3 months: men, women, children (ran electricity lines and utilized the sewer city with great effect), clergymen, EVERYONE. Part of the city was even FREE. However, German forces were still embedded in the city, and their supply lines were still healthy. The Polish people hoped and prayed that either the allies or the Russians could send help, but help never came. If you travel to Warsaw, the Uprising Museum is a MUST SEE.

Outside the Uprising Museum
Warsaw Uprising Museum:
Replica of the Warsaw Sewers where brave children helped to liberate their city!
Warsaw Uprising museum

 

The Germans may have been losing ground in Western Europe, but they were going to severely punish Warsaw for its uprising. Because so many Germans were still rat-nested throughout the city and could not be evacuated (Russian forces were just a few miles away waiting to pounce on German troops to arrive… if they arrived!), Germany gave all civilians 48 hours to get out of the city, flee to wherever, because the bombing planes were going to OBLITERATE the city, and they did. In the Uprising Museum, there is a 5 minute 3D video of the post-obliteration of the city. It looks like a nuclear holocaust: The church to the right is St. Augustine’s church. It was spared, not because the Nazis respected this Catholic Church, but because it held Nazi ammunition, foods, and medical supplies.

Bombed Warsaw October 1944
St. Augustine’s Spared Church: Only because it held Nazi ammunition

 

So, Poland became communist in 1945. The Polish people suffered greatly under communism, but they persevered.

Warsaw_communist

The Soviets took over Poland for 45 years, but they DID NOT take over the Pole’s spirit of Freedom.

 

In 2019, the Polish people are “loud and proud”. They refuse to allow foreign powers to tell them what to do with their people and their government. They are very nationalistic, and keep their wonderful culture flourishing. They love families. The Polish government even pays its families to have more children. The families spend time together, eat together, shop together, and go to church together. The Caylor-Browns experienced their awesome nationalism and hospitality, and we were so impressed. We definitely want to learn more Polish and return to Warsaw soon.

 

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Budapest June 2019

. European Destinations, Family, Family Travel . , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

Hovering over each photo gives a narrative of that photo!

Over the Danube looking Towards Buda Castle
Chain Bridge Looking towards Gephart Baths: Budapest
Széchenyi Chain Bridge: 1st bridge to link Buda & Pest
Central Market Hall
Beautiful, Elegant, yet tragic Empress Elizabeth of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

 

 

The Caylor-Browns thoroughly enjoyed Budapest June 22-26. Sean and I had been trying to go since 2008. Hungarian is such a difficult language, but most of the Hungarians were willing to speak English and help us.

 

Yes, we ate goulash, but we also found a delicious, Hungarian pizza called, “langos”.

 

Budapest_goulash.2

lagos

 

 

This 21st Century is an awesome time for Hungarians. Buda was the ancient site of this spectacular Roman city 2000 years ago. Pest grew through the centuries but then Asian Mongols invaded the city in 1241. They finally leave and the Maygars (Hungarians) try to recuperate. The Ottoman Turks then invade Budapest in 1541 and stay through 1699! Central European wars and political grabs leave the Habsburgs to rule the Hungarians (which the Hungarians never embraced…. it seems they liked Empress Elizabeth, Sissy, but who really knows) with lots of 19th and 20th Century turmoils. Next, defeat in World War I then German invasion and the expulsion and extermination of millions of Hungarian Jews, then Communist rule…. now…. freedom and pride in being a Hungarian!!! Sean, Carter, Ammon, and all advise to travel to Budapest. Aesthetically, with the Danube, we much prefer Budapest to Paris with its Seine, and we would choose to return Budapest over Paris any day.

 

Danube night cruise: Parliament at night
Budapest’s Citadel
Fisherman’s Castle: Buda Hill
Danube river: Dusk
Danube: Day cruise at Parliament

 

 

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Train Whistles & Granddaddy Alexander

. Family, Nanny & the Alexanders, Train Travel . , , , , , , , , , , ,

Train Whistles & Granddaddy Alexander

(Like Wikipedia, I welcome people to add names & pics… I will add things as I find them).

Update: October 21, 2020

I finally found my photo of Granddaddy Alexander’s 1914 Southern Railway Engine. The photo’s date is stamped July 22, 1914.

train_alexander

steamengine_TVA

(Thanks, TVA for the pic.. this is a restored, 1904 engine that ran on Southern Railway!) 

William Oliver Alexander : May 15, 1875 – June 29, 1935. Southern Railroad Locomotive Engineer.

Friday evening September 28, 2018 location = Collegedale, Tennessee, Collegedale Greenway 

I was jogging beside the railroad track headed toward’s Collegdale’s Southern University, and I heard a train coming: Sometimes it’s a BNSF train, and sometimes it’s a Norfolk Southern train. Traveling at about 35-40 MPH a Norfolk Southern diesel locomotive comes barreling into the clear. I smiled, kept jogging, and I waved. Of course, trains blow their whistles at the crossings, and the engineer had just passed the College Station Crossing. I had no idea if my waves would illicit a friendly blow, but THEY DID …. “Toot, Toot…. toot ,  toooooot”: I smiled from ear to ear and continued jogging. Granddaddy Alexander whom I never met (he died 31 years before I was born) immediately came to mind…. However….

Join me  the summer of 1988.

My dear friend of  mine, Loraine Morgan Hammontree (February 2, 1913- May 13, 1989) , and I had been cultivating our awesome, Varnell friendship, and she had said, “Uh, Haven, would you like to visit my sister (Ralph Morgan, I’m tracking you down for her name! LOL) in Dalton. She can tell us some stuff about Varnell from our childhood.”  Loraine’s sister was several years older than Loraine and she couldn’t drive, and neither could Loraine who had heart failure. I rearranged some of my busy, summer schedule (I was in town for the weekend from Lipscomb University Summer Semester where I was just about to finish my last year) , and we drove to Dalton. Loraine’s, sister was so hospitable and so sweet, and charming. I fell in love with her lovely demeanor immediately.

Loraine: Haven, I was just a kid and I don’t remember, but my sister remembers living in the Alexander’s house in Varnell. (Turning to her sister) Tell Haven about living there and Mr. Alexander.  Mr. Alexander was Haven’s great-grandfather.

Loraine’s sister: (With a huge smile). I didn’t know that! Let me tell you.  You know , Mr. Alexander had a fixed schedule, and we always kind of knew he was coming. He would begin tooting the whistle as he entered Varnell, and we would run down to the track. The train went right in front of the Alexander house, and he was going slow. Depending on what he had, he would toss it out to us kids. Sometimes, it was candy wrapped in sacks and sometimes it was bags of coal we needed for our coal-burning stove. It was like having Santa Claus!

Loraine: (Turning to me with a huge smile.) Yeah, just like Santa Claus, that’s just what I was thinking.

The visit was perfect, and I had spoken with someone who knew Granddaddy Alexander personally. I took Loraine home with a full heart and lots of joy.

Before I finish this Santa Claus tale of  Granddaddy Alexander, I ‘ve got to share one more thing (I could be dead tomorrow, and I want Carter & Ammon to know) LOL ….

Trains (Steam engines in the 1900s – 1930s) were steam engines and so different from the powerful diesels of today. The trains stopped at every “pig trail” in those days. Granddaddy Alexander’s route took him from Atlanta to Chattanooga. When stopping at the “pig trails”, boys from the local area would bring stuff (nuts, berries, live animals such as baby squirrels or baby opossums) to sell to him. He would buy whatever for a few pennies. On up the line, while stopping for water, coal, or passengers, he would let the animals go free. He sometimes would even take a baby squirrel or a baby opossum back to his house in Atlanta for Nanny, Madeline, and Florence to play with!  In a few weeks he would put them back in his pocket, take them to Inman Yard where his engine was then carry them back up towards Chattanooga where he would set them free.

Back to September 28, 2018-

As I turned around to face my jogging destination, I was overcome with emotion, and tears came unexpectedly into my eyes as I started sobbing  with happiness about Granddaddy Alexander as I trotted onward.

No one is ever perfect, but William Oliver Alexander was a good, caring human with a wonderful heart.  His girls (Mary Naomi Alexander Caylor, Gloria Madeline Alexander Kirk, and Florence L. Alexander Sheeley) adored him. Nanny always shared how he loved life, loved to joke, and loved nature.

With my memories and the wonderful avenue of the Internet and/or writing journals, I can keep Granddaddy Alexander and his story “alive”.

-Happy Saturday to all- Haven

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5 Seconds of Summer (yes this title is from the Pop music group)

. Family, Family Travel, Uncategorized . , , , , , ,

I wish I would have saved the date from this past spring, but one day as Sean, Carter, Ammon, and I traveled home from church the song “Want you Back” by the pop group 5 Seconds of Summer was playing on the car radio ( I REALLY like “Want you Back” ) . Ammon loves pop music, and she has practically a photographic memory of recording artists and what they sing.

I was driving and concentrating on the winding, country road that leads to our house, when Ammon asks Sean,

“So what does ‘5 Seconds of Summer’ mean, do you think?” It only took a few seconds for Sean to say, “Well, think about it like this…. What does the school year seem like when it comes to time during a year? “

Ammon: How long is a school year again?

Sean: 9 months… 36 weeks.

Ammon: How long for summer break?

Sean: Right at 10 weeks.

Ammon: The school years seems SO LONG

Sean: Does the summer seem to fly by?

Ammon: Yes!

Sean: I think that is the answer: the summer flies by, and this group randomly chose 5 seconds to show how quick it is.

We were practically to our driveway, and I said out loud, “Yep, I agree!”

How true, “5 seconds of summer!”

 

Haven’s Summer 2018 Time line:

May 25 = Dalton High has graduation

June 1 = Post Planning ends & my “summer” officially begins

June 6 = 1 Day Dollywood

June 20-22 = Gatlinburg, Dollywood

dolly_June20

July 8 – July 20 = Disney World, Daytona, Florida, & Savannah

Disney_2018

Ormond_2018

 

 

 

Savannah_2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 31 – Last Day of Haven’s Summer break

 

Our 2 week vacation really took a big chunk of summer vacation, but I want to add that I had 4 doctor’s appointments which took a lot of time as well. Out of the 4 appointments, I had an infamous colonoscopy which was a SUMMER DREAD & if you’ve had a colonoscopy , you know the process is 2 days and not just one because of the prep before the procedure. Other appointments were 1)dentist 2)prostate/urologist 3)dermatologist (another squamous scare that was just an inflamed scar) & 4) 6 month check up for when I changed internists last January and he wanted to check if my blood pressure was normal after 6 months of medication.

A blink lasts a little less than 1 second. So, from June 1, 2018 to July 31, 2018 I “blinked 5 times”, and my summer was over = “5 Seconds of Summer”

Now, for the blessings: I have good health, a good mind, and I have a job which I truly enjoy that begins again tomorrow. I am so blessed to be able to work and support my family. God is great, and “to every thing there is a season” . My blessed summer season is over. It’s time to move on to the next season of blessings…. Mmmmm perhaps, “30 seconds of a school year” for a new music group title?

 

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Family Travel with Young Ones

. Early Childhood Education, Family, Family Travel, Uncategorized . , , , ,

 

It’s Summer Vacation!

 

 

parent_go

 

“Parenting Strategies on the Go” was a joy to write, and it can help any parent to teach their children as they travel.

 

Decide your venue then decide

 

  1. What to wear
  2. What foods will be eaten
  3. What types of educational souvenirs can be bought
  4. How can you involve your child to have input and self-efficacy in helping to plan your family trip

 

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Happy 100th Birthday, Nanny!(They don’t count time in heaven by years… eternity ya know, but still )

. Family, Nanny & the Alexanders, Uncategorized . , , , , , , ,

nanny_1982

Happy 100thBirthday , Nanny! (They don’t count time in heaven by years… eternity ya know, but still ) May 15, 1918 – August 10, 1985.

Mary Naomi Alexander Caylor would be 100 years old today. She was born around 3 o’clock in the afternoon (a relative in Varnell, GA may have her birth certificate with the correct time).  Her parents had waited over 8 years for her. Nanny’s older brother had been stillborn in 1910.  She was born in Smyrna, Georgia in Big Ma’s house. Big Ma was a black woman who had turned her lovely Victorian, Turn of the century home into a home for borders.

From approximately 1924 until January 1936, Nanny lived at 1195 Niles Avenue Atlanta, GA.

Nanny_house

Today, My thoughts keep turning not to the grandmother I knew but to teenage Naomi who, without thoughts or cares, could go to downtown Atlanta AFTER DARK. Imagine if you will a 15 year old girl in 1933 going to downtown Atlanta with her best friend, Louise Hollingsworth and 10 year old sister, Madeline to see a movie at the Fox Theater or Lowe’s Grand!

fox

The three girls would walk from their house to Marietta Street (West Marietta Street now) to the Streetcar Stop. In 1933 there was an elementary school at the corner of Marietta Street and Knight Park. They would then take the streetcar to downtown. They would then return the same route after their movies were over. Doesn’t it just boggle the mind that they could do that? But yes, they did.

I hope and pray to write more about Nanny, Granddaddy, and Mamaw Wimpy this summer. I am doing this for Carter and Ammon. I want them and future generations  of Caylor-Browns to know more about how their ancestors lived in the 20thcentury. I know I am being a bit vain, but to my dear relatives who have disfellowshiped from me yet perhaps visit my blog you really should be sitting down with me to compare,  correlate, and confirm some of my memories. As you well know, I am not a fan of “false history”.