Thursday, July 9, 2015

I Have a 10 Year Old!

I cannot believe that Anna is double-digits now!! It just doesn't seem possible.
We spent her birthday week in Iowa! We were quite busy. And these pictures are all jumbled up in their order...I don't know why it does that, but I'm not messing with moving them! It takes forever. Anyway, we went to Pump It Up, Living History Farm, and Glazed Expressions!


My kids have never been to a place like this...they LOVED it!!


 Living History Farm was so much fun! It was really fascinating. They have an Indian Village (from the 1700s), and farms from 1850 and 1900, as well as a town from 1875. The kids loved it. Behind me, you can see what looks like rough scaffolding. It's actually a drying rack in the Indian village.

 They had 3 different Indian dwellings. This was the bark house, made from tree bark. This was their summer dwelling. The man in the Indian Village was very knowledgeable. It was fascinating to learn all about it all.


 Of course there was a teepee. He said it took the women just a few minutes to set up and was very heavy to carry.


 At the 1850 farm, there was a small cabin, a tool shed, a chicken coop, an outhouse, a smokehouse (where they were actually smoking several hams-it smelled heavenly), pigs and cattle. It was fun to see the pig pen and tell the boys, "This is why I call your room a pig sty when it's messy!" :)


The farmer was in for a lunch break. He said they'd just had a wedding a couple days before, so they would be having wedding cake for dessert! He also told us that land was about $1/acre and glass for the windows was about $1.26, so having glass windows was a pretty big deal!



 The didn't have chickens in the coop while we were there.


 The steer were tied together but were free to graze wherever they pleased. I have to admit I was slightly unnerved not to have a fence between us and them! You can see the pig pen in the background.



 Grace slept for part of the tour ;)


 The 1900 farm was Anna's favorite and I'm sure you can tell why! This is Sam. He's a Percheron...HUGE! They have 3 or 4 horses at this farm, but Sam was the only one in the barn.



 This is in the corn crib.


 This farm was much, much larger than the 1850 farm! It has many outbuildings and a very large barn. They had chickens and cattle and horses and pigs.


 Grace's reaction to the animals was hilarious. She would make this sound...I couldn't tell if she was excited or terrified! 



 Then we went back to the town from 1875. They named it Walnut Hill. There were houses and stores and a blacksmith, doctor, newspaper...a fully functioning town in 1875!


 Jacob LOVED playing the pump organ!


 They also have a "House & Home" exhibit. It was still a bit under construction, but it was fascinating. They had displays of different kitchens from throughout the last century, as well as toys and technology. It was really interesting to see how the food changed. From the early 19th century, where the refrigerator was full of fresh milk and produce and the cupboards only had baking items like flour and baking soda, to the 60s and beyond, where the refrigerator was either mostly bare or full of boxed, pre-made foods and very little produce and the cupboards had lots of boxed, pre-made foods.



 In the running for the favorite part of this day was getting the eat at The Machine Shed!





 Grace started her "sleep moan" as we walked back to Living History Farm to tour the town after lunch. ;)


 (Sorry for my horrible posture in these pictures. I had a severely messed up neck!)
This is an animal treadmill, basically!


 They used it to churn butter! They would put a sheep or a well trained dog on the "track" and as it walked, it would turn the wheels that would make the churner go up and down and churn butter for you! Ingenious for 1875!


 This is another version of the same machine.


 The General Store




 There was a loose sheep in town! ;) Anna tried to pet it, but it was definitely not a pet sheep! She couldn't get any closer than this before it ran off. It was a good example of "the grass is always greener on the other side" lesson for the kids. Ha!


 The blacksmith shop was fascinating! He said by 1875, the blacksmith was mostly a repair shop. They rarely made anything because by then, there were factories back East that could produce things more cheaply than they could anymore.



 Next was the doctor's office! The kids were a bit appalled at the lack of sanitizing that happened back then! He showed them a metal tongue depressor and asked them how they thought it was cleaned between patients. When he showed them, by wiping it on his shirtsleeve, they all gasped and said, "Ewwwww!!!" 


 And the lack of privacy. The waiting room was also the exam room, so unless you were having something very private examined, the whole waiting room got to be in on your doctor visit! It was also the surgery room-that exam chair folds down into a surgery table.


 Of course, Miss Nothing-Gets-By-Me-Anna noticed the saw in the medical cabinet. She asked, "Why is there a saw in there?!" So we learned about amputations in 1875! Ha ha!


 The drug store was fun, too! He showed us how they made pills back then.

 Grace wanted to help!




 The kids got to try their hand at grinding cinnamon sticks with a mortar and pestle. Jacob loved learning that cinnamon was often prescribed to relieve gas. Boys!


 Grace needed a break from the stroller, so she went into the visitor center and explored the cracks!


 Birthday presents on her birthday!




 Papa and Binga got her an AWESOME pack from Rush Revere!! The kids have loved reading these books. She got a notebook, TedTea Bear, some stickers, and the first book on CD!


 She loves TedTea Bear :)


 Kids are excited for our first big road trip in the new Tahoe. The boys quickly become not-so-excited...there's no DVD player! 


 Aunt Cara has been sewing!! Anna still loves having matching outfits with Grace. 


 More pictures from Pump It Up...





 We also took the kids to see the movie Inside Out. They loved it, and even Grace did great!


 Back to some more pictures from Living History Farm. Riding the tractor out to the farms.








 Playing checkers at the house in Walnut Hill, 1875. 


 Grace thought the chicken bone was quite tasty!


 Anna and her cousin Audrie were supposed to go on a trail ride the day before we left. It ended up storming and the trail ride got cancelled. :( Anna was pretty bummed, but Binga came up with the brilliant idea to go to Glazed Expressions instead! You go and pick out a piece of pottery to paint, then they fire it for you and a week later you can pick it up! We used to go almost every time we visited, but we hand't been in years and years. They've expanded quite a bit and do several different mediums of painting/art.


 Anna had fun. Not as much fun as a trail ride, but still fun! :)


 She requested my "famous chocolate cake" for her birthday. :)


 She is so good at getting Grace to sleep in the car. She just holds her hand and talks to her or sings to her and within a couple minutes, if even that long, Grace is asleep. Sometimes I worry that there are too many years between these sisters and they won't ever be close. But then I see things like this and I know that they'll be very close, despite the age difference.


 I asked her what she was doing, looking out the window for so long. 
"I'm just imagining that there are horses running along in the fields. Sometimes I'm riding them."
She is amazing. Fierce and sweet, obedient and rebellious...all mixed together with a million other emotions! 10 is a tough age...she wants to be considered a "grown up" but she still wants to be a little girl at times. This is new territory for all of us, but the most difficult for her! She is a joy and a challenge :) I wouldn't trade her for the world!


Grace has the best big sister in the world (and the greatest Aunt Cara to keep making matching dresses!).

Happy Birthday Anna Rose!!! I can't wait to see where the Lord takes you!

No comments: