Friday's Tattler

We started our day with cereal and a trip to the bathroom. Then it was off on the bus. The kids were great travelers. We stopped at the nursing home in Boonville, and we sang and visited with he elderly. We stayed about forty-five minutes.

Then it was off to Lincoln. We stopped at the museum and saw the artifacts of the pioneer days. The big question was, "What was the pioneer's most important possession." And the answer was given by Luke. It was "The ax." Kudos to him.

The children seemed to enjoy the day. It was a beautiful day, cool, crisp, bright, and even the animals were not adverse to being in "the children's sight." We saw a big black snake and a rabbit - not in the same picture, I mean no one was chasing anyone!

Lincoln's Boyhood home is an excellent child's introduction to history. Mr. Louis did our tour was wonderful and gave us a really good tour. The children asked so many great questions, I think even he was impressed. Aaligah asked how the pioneer managed to build his cabin when the logs were so heavy. Mr. Louis said, "The first long, the heavy one was dragged to the site by a horse. The other logs were cut from poplar which is much lighter and easier to manage. They could lift the poplar."

Some of the boys who were listening kind of looked at the cabin and then at one another. I think they were trying to figure if they or maybe their father's could lift what appears to be a very very heavy object!

We learned about starting a fire because one of the children asked about "what happens when the the fire goes out?" And the answer involved a flint, a piece of metal, and a burned piece of cloth. The kids were fascinated.

The children loved the animals, and they loved the workshop where Mr. Louis talked about all the wild animals near the farm the pioneer family would see and use. There were timber wolves back then, and bears. Mr. Louis dressed Austin up in a bear skin and had him play the bear, which he loved. We saw the pelts of beaver, gray fox, wood bison - now gone - mink, coyote, and others too numerous to write here.

The garden was growing at a nice rate. The children recognized the shape of the tee pee, and we told them that it was for beans. We saw dried beans from last year called"tough britches."

They were making some kind of cheese indoors, and some had already been made and there were hanging balls of cheese in the trees.

We ran through the woods to the farm, and then walked our way out on about a .5 mile hike. It was simply beautiful.

We had a super picnic, and the children ate 12 loaves of bread with any of nine sandwich fillers. We had homemade cookies, chips, a whole watermelon, carrots, pickles, and water.

Next week we will go to New Harmony. Hoping to stop for ice cream up there before we come home. It's been a great summer already!