We Demand Tribute

Today we dressed up as ancient Celts and went and sacked Rome!

It was awesome.

And by, "we" I mean the three students. Someone has to maintain decorum. Also, Pixie said when we started that I could be a captured prisoner...but 10 minutes into it I was Boadicea. Again, Awesome.

After decorating our Celtic brooches, pinning on cloaks, and painting faces, we were ready to set off on our pillaging adventure that would eventually take us to Rome (where the money is!).

Allow me to introduce our warriors:

Pixie, with eagle eyes capable of spotting a vulnerable village from miles away:


Bud, the leading scout with a fierce roar:


And Wombles, when I asked him to look fierce:



After crossing the channel (street), we were off into the woodlands of Gaul.



Good thing there was a local water supply to refill our casks!


I did break character long enough to forbid them to actually drink it.

Here, Pixie spots a village.


Demanding tribute!


Richer villages paid two M & Ms each. If the Visigoths or Vandals had been there first, we only got one. Poor villages.

As we neared Rome, Bud found a pool with polliwogs. Good thing he'd worn his boots!


Actually, not such a good thing, as by the time we had reached the Alps he was complaining of blisters. As he explained, "Rubber shoes hurt after a while." But there's no going back when you're already to the Alps! (Plus I don't know that Wombles could have navigated the steep downhill return). I had socks on with my sneakers, though, and we made camp while I removed my socks and donated them. And actually, they were J's socks, since I didn't have any that were clean and sporty and white. Ah, the hardships of war. Not to make light of real hardships of war.

Moving on.

There it is! Do you see it? ROME! At the top of the hill (or seven)!


They were afraid. They were very, very afraid. And we partied with M&Ms like it was ...380 AD?



We did other things today, like math and spelling and phonics. But my guess is that none of us will remember that part very well.



PS Lest you worry that I am training up little imperialists, after we received the payload from Rome Bud was ready to return home the way we came to give the money back to the poor villages. Apparently "pillage" is not a concept he can absorb yet...and I can't WAIT to get to the Robin Hood era later this year!