ON MY WAY!!!

Hi Bud,

Just a quick note to let you know that I started travelling last night and I am on my way home to see you.

It's getting really close.  I just can't hardly stand it!!!

LOVE YOU!!!
!!!!
!!!!
Dad.

So close now!

I can hardly wait!

Can you???

Love you like an I don't know what anymore!!!
Dad

Native American Transportation

Hi Buddy,

I had fun talking to you yesterday.  Soon I'll get to see you face to face.

The transportation I'll use to get to you, like cars and airplanes, wasn't around when the English settlers first met the Powhatan Indians.  They traveled in dug out canoes called quintans. 

Do you remember digging out a canoe in Jamestowne and how the soot from the fire got on you?  It was hard work!

Love you like the biggest dug out canoe ever,
Dad

Native Americans near Richmond

Hello Buddy,

Two of the big tribes to live in the Richmond area before the city was started by European settlers were the Monacan and the Manahoac.  The Monocan lived near the falls of the James and the Manahoac lived up on the Rappahanock near Fredericksburg.

This is a Manahoac Indian.

This is a map John Smith made from what the Powhatans told him about the Monacans.

They knew the Powhatan Indians and traded with them.  The Powhatan Indians especially liked the copper necklaces that the Monacan made.

Love you like all of history,
Dad

Native Americans in Virginia

Wingapo Patrick!
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That's how the Native Americans in Virginia would say hello when the first Europeans arrived here.  They were the Powhatan Indians who were a very powerful tribe of Native Americas in this area. 

 Their chief was named Wahunsunacock, but everyone called him Powhatan after the village he was born in.  At the time the Jamestowne settlers came in 1607, there were about 20,000 Native Americans in Powhatan's Nation. Powhatan controlled more than 32 chiefs who lived in more than 150 town and settlements!

The settlements looked alot like the one in Jamestown that you go to with Bobbie sometimes.

Love you like a brave native chief,
Dad

The Victory Bell

Hi Man,

You know that when Carolina plays Duke in basketball it's pretty important.  When they play them in football, it's important too.  In football, it's because it's a rivalry game.  A rivalry game is one that you like to win because you know the other team so well.  Some big rivalries are Carolina and Duke, Redskins and Cowboys, DC United and New York Red Bulls, and USA and Mexico.

The winner of the Carolina and Duke rivalry gets to keep the Victory Bell.  Since Carolina beat Duke this year in football, they get to keep the Bell.  Here's a picture of it.  Look how happy those Tar Heels are!

Love you way more than a win over Dook,
Dad

I could not love it more!

Dear Patrick,

I love my new picture so much, I couldn't even wait to tomorrow to tell you.  I LOVE IT!

I will print it at work tomorrow and decorate my front door with it.  I am soooooo excited.

I got a cornucopia of love for you,

Dad

Going to see you play!

Hi Bud,

Other than the fact that I'll be there soon, I think the most exciting thing is that I will get to see you play soccer.
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I think those are the best surprises.  When you think that you aren't going to get to do something fun and then suddenly, you find out that you will after all.
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Anyway, we will have a great time.  I can hardly wait.
.
Love you like an unexpected surprise,
Dad

Those lakes are great!

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Hello Bud,
.
The Great Lakes are really great!  They are way up north, and most of them are on our border with Canada.
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They were formed by the glaciers (big sheets of ice) that covered most of North America during the Ice Age.
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Here's a map with them.
.

Did you know that if you think of "homes" (H-O-M-E-S), it can help you remember the names of the Great Lakes? Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.
.
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Love you with love greater than the Great Lakes,
Dad.

Happy November!

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My good friend,
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Today is the first day of November.  I hope you remember to reset your clock!  In Iraq, they don't move their clocks at all, so there is no Daylight Savings Time.
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Because it is November, we are now in the month that I will see you again!  I can hardly wait.
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Love you every second of every hour,
Dad