Down time

I think I learned something really important today about taking families to family history sites.  It's Christmas so we spend the time relaxing and being together as a family.  We had specifically come to England over Christmas so that we would have a few down days--something our whole family really needs.  You can't go visit anything on Christmas day so I didn't feel the pressure to be "educating" the kids.

It turns out that scheduling downtime into your family history trips is really important, and something that I would highly suggest for your own family history adventure.  The kids were already on overload and we were just getting started.  They just couldn't soak much more in.  And tired children of any age are not fun.  Having a day to do nothing was really helpful.  We watched TV in the evening getting a full dose of British TV.  That was fun.  "That Dog Can Dance" and the Christmas episode of "Downton Abbey."(fun for me since you won't be able to see it in the states for quite a while--yet a sad sad episode) :(  And of course the Queen's Christmas message.  After relaxing, we are finally getting over the jet lag and ready to go tomorrow. 

So make sure you have a little down time for the kids to relax when you take them on a family history adventure.  Even a few hours in the evenings helps.