Little House on the Prairie Homestead

We were treated to a home cooked breakfast this morning of french toast, sausage, and fresh fruit.  We packed up, yet again, and drove out to the Little House on the Prairie Homestead.  We had heard about this area from the Cranes, who visited last summer.  Lily was adamant about making this stop.  She already knew of the three things she wanted to do after talking with Porter: play with the kittens, make a corn cob doll, and make rope.

 This is an example of a dugout.  The early settlers had a choice between a dugout, literally a room dug out of the side of a hill, or a shanty, a one-room, thin-walled shack.  The options were limited because there were very few trees on the prairie.  

 I'm honestly not sure who enjoyed the kittens more: the girls or James.

 A two week old calf

 Sarah Ellen tried, but couldn't get the water to come.  So mommy tried.  

She was skeptical.  

 But then it came!

Washing clothes the old fashioned way.  

 We rode in a covered wagon over to the one-room school house.

As punishment, the children would have to stand at the board with their noses in the middle of an X. Lily demonstrated for everyone.

 They took turns ringing the bell as we left.

 The girls made corn cob dolls.

We had to make another stop at the hay barn to the see the kittens.  James really was smitten with these kittens.  He had the camera and took LOTS of pictures.

Next, we were off to Decorah to visit the Berlands.  Karen and Paul are good friends we made in Charleston pre-children.  For some crazy reason they left us and moved back to Iowa.  They have been back to Charleston to visit us many times, but since I don't like to fly we have never been to visit them.  Well, we fixed that this summer.  We are off to stay with the Berlands!

 Welcome to Minnesota!

On this drive we saw corn - lots and lots and lots of corn.

We turned the corner to see two cute Berland boys waiting for us.  The girls hopped out and walked the rest of the way with them just like old buds.

Ahhhh, we are in a house, a real house!  We have our own room!  We had a delicious fresh meal with fruit and vegetables - nothing was fried or processed! The girls played downstairs and we didn't see them for HOURS!  We had adult conversations with other adults!  Iowa is looking good!!!