After our morning in the town of De Smet we headed back to the Ingalls Homestead. This is where we stayed in the covered wagon - it is full of hands on activities for the kids!
We started in the gift shop for treats for X and A and to watch the little video to start our tour.
The nicest part of the Homestead was that nothing is scheduled - we were able to roam all over at our own pace.
First stop was the exhibit building that chronicled the Ingalls' travels. A covered wagon to play in!
Then we checked out a claim shanty and a dugout. The Ingalls never lived in a dugout in De Smet - that was on Plum Creek, but it was still fun to see the differences and likenesses in the two. Both were TINY. To my knowledge, none of the buildings on the Ingalls homestead were original to the Ingalls (the claim shanty was a reclaimed shanty) but everything was set up well to tell their story.
In the shanty...
Look at the height of that "house" in comparison to my husband. My my it would have been crowded.
Dugout...all I can say is "gross." Ma was a good woman - I'm not sure I could have done it.
Dirt walls, dirt floor - the ceiling had board on it at this dugout but it wouldn't have in the Ingalls day (remember the oxen put it's foot through the roof?). Did I say "ugh?"
After the dugout we saw the hay roof barn (that had real animals in it!). I'm kind of in awe of how the homestead is run as a real farm and the livestock seem to stay on it without being padlocked or without a crew member staying over night. I could have walked up to the calf pen at 1 a.m. and hung out and no one would have been the wiser. There's a lot of mutual respect at the homestead between the owners and the guests.
Then we hit up the house. It was beautiful and very true to the books.
The room on the right would have been the addition Pa built to house Mary's organ and Ma's sewing machine.
At the house there was a "ma" there to help the kids make a button string, weave a rag rug, and do old fashioned laundry.
They were also able to roam the whole house and check out anything they wanted.
Xavier loved the laundry a lot. Machines, gears, etc. This was the area he wanted to go back to most but it closed before we were able to.
Natalee's turn! She asked for an old fashion laundry system for home!
Never to be left behind, little britches tried too.
After we thoroughly roamed the house and it's activities we went to the livestock barn. It's quite a building. Again, I think the mules and horses live there overnight when they aren't working. While we were waiting for our wagon ride to the schoolhouse, the kids explored upstairs with Mike and took some pony cart rides.
Still having a blast...my beautiful prairie girl...
Upstairs in the barn (from Mike's phone):
A stagecoach and a sleigh.
Xavier got a telescope and a straw hat in the gift store. Cutie.
Perfect picture...
Mia's fighting 80 shades of fatigue...
This is what Zayden did when everyone else explored...
Here comes the school wagon! I'm not too sure about those rubber tires... (wink)
The driver was so sweet - he let us load the sleeping Zayden in the stroller since it was small right onto the wagon so we didn't have to wake him up. Thank you, Sir. Zayden slept all the way to the school, the entire time we were inside, all the way back, and off the ride. Truly - thank you.
Another picture perfect moment. Natalee was so excited that when we arrived she was first off the wagon. The crowd was so sweet - they could see the sparkle in her eyes and offered to let her off first. She ran up to the school door ahead of the rest and I snapped this with my phone...my prairie girl going to school.
The teacher was waiting to greet us. She spoke to Natalee when she arrived and asked her about her reading abilities. I later found out why...
My sweet pupils.
Natalee calls her little Carrie.
...the teacher asked "Laura" to read before the class.
The teacher did several fun little lessons with the kids and talked a bit about the family and the school house. This was a fantastic adventure!
Try to solve it - I'll post the answer at the end...
{Love this.}
The teacher asked what this quote meant and Xavier raised his hand and said, "it means to not lie and to not be upset when someone has a cooler toy than you have." Not bad for a 6 year old!
He asked me to take his picture before we left.
Everyone got to ring the bell as we left. The kids loved that.
Natalee got a turn to drive the wagon on the way home.
She was very adventurous this trip and very excited to try anything she was allowed to.
When we arrived back from school we headed to the garage to make cornhusk dolls and ropes. Xavier loved this part - machines, you know!
Grinding more wheat...
We met another homeschool family in the garage - from Colorado. That was fun.
Making rope required 3 people. Xavier tried all 3 roles.
Zayden woke up in the garage and spent some time chewing on his toes. The weather began cooling down so he was happy in the breeze.
After the garage we were all pretty spent. The only thing we didn't do was trek to the church and check it out. I was bummed because I wanted to, but even Natalee was tired so I folded. We headed back to the gift shop as it has a beautiful front porch to lounge and regroup on. We got snacks and water out of the van for everyone and Mike and I worked on a plan for the evening.
(Buggy on the porch)
We decided to drive to the twin lakes as that was the last thing that Natalee (and I) really wanted to do.
The lakes were SO dry that I was convinced we were on the wrong road. I told Mike it couldn't be right - we were on a narrow gravel road with mud marshes on both sides, not water brimming to the edges as I remembered. I didn't even take a picture because I was sure it was wrong and we'd find the correct road later. He finally showed me the map, the road sign, and the "lake" pits. What a bummer.
This is what is looked like in my memory...
Full photo credit to: http://www.lundy5.com/2010/07/little-house-de-smet-sd-must-for-laura.html
Alas, we headed back to town, drove to a few other landmarks, the cemetery to see the graves and took the kids for something to eat.
By this time a full fledged storm was blowing in...and we were supposed to sleep in a tent. We kept our eyes on the radar and, when it only got more intense, decided to pull stakes and head to Brookings to a hotel. This took about an hour and the kids ate while we packed. As we pulled out the lightening hit and we weren't but 5 miles out when the rain began. God's grace. We prayed for the friends we'd met at the campgrounds and were grateful we had another option for the evening. Only one family had their tent tarped (besides the rain fly) - yikes. We pulled our weary and worn out selves into the hotel at around 10, showered everyone, and slept soundly through the night as the rain pelted the building!
What a beautiful day on Laura's little prairie!
{answer to the riddle - an egg}
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