Little House is still a Big Part of our Family

It's been a few months since we took the girls to the Little town on the Prairie, but we are still talking about our trip and enjoying bits of Laura in our home. 

Miss M had to give a presentation in school on a famous person whom she admires.  At first, she was thinking of Taylor Swift, but after awhile she changed her mind and chose Laura Ingalls Wilder.  "There is so much to admire about Laura.  Her whole life was an adventure."  Miss M said and I agreed.  She focused on how different the Little House television series was from Laura's real life.  She wrote about how the show started out pretty accurate, but as the years went on the plot included made up characters and events.  Miss M pointed out that Mary actually went blind in real life way before she did on the show!

Of course, "we" had to put in a few hours of research watching the Little House series on Hallmark Channel, finishing up the books, and reading lots of websites devoted to Laura's life.  Miss A has now become a great fan of all things "Laura" too, and we often watch a little bit of the show before school.  The other day, Miss A told me that she wishes she'd lived in Laura's day.  However, when I explained what "all" that meant; chores, no TV or computer, sharing a bed with M, and oranges and red mittens for Christmas, she did change her mind.

Miss M did a fabulous job on her project, putting together both a creative and in depth display board and a great power point.  Not surprisingly, she came home with an A and kudos from her teacher for going above and beyond.   Now, she's trying to come up with a way to go to Missouri to see Laura and Almanzo's homestead.  A girl can dream.

I love that a great family vacation has now become such a big part of our family life.

Vacation Wrap Up: Sioux Falls

Our final stop on our trip to Laura Ingalls's homeland included a visit to "The Falls" at Sioux Fall and a walk around their downtown. It was a hot and steamy day in South Dakota, but that didn't stop us from traversing over the rocks to enjoy the sounds of the roaring water.
 

I realize in relation to Niagara Falls this is a tiny little fall with very little water, but for the middle of the Midwest its a great little scenic view.  The Falls Park is clean, accessible, and a wide open space to wander and explore.

Plus, its entirely free.  Even the observation tower that allows you both a great view of the falls and of the city itself is open to the public.  What a treat.

Downtown Sioux Fall or DSF as they call it had some adorable shops, a fun little cafe we had lunch, and a great used bookstore where we found almost all of the Laura Ingalls books for a fraction of the cost.  Miss A and Miss M now own all but Farmer Boy for the low cost of $19.00.  Miss M has already started on reading every book.  Miss A and I have decided that we'll start from the beginning of the series and read the books aloud this fall.

An enjoyable afternoon in Sioux Falls was the perfect wrap up to our trip to South Dakota, plus it was the capstone of our "water tour" as we saw Gavins Dam on the front end of the trip and the Falls on the back end.

Finally, we got to witness the flooding that the Missouri has caused all the rest of the way home.  Amazing.  Entire farms are underwater and on more than one occasion we were driving on the interstate between sand bags and with rushing water just feet away.  Wow! 

We had a fabulous trip, but were thrilled to get back home and make the most of our final days of summer.

Winding Down Our Laura Journey

Our afternoon at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead wouldn't be complete if we didn't have some time with the ponies.  The girls loved their little ride on the buggy.  Miss A thought the pony was adorable.  Miss M too, at least until the baby pony decided to take a little nib on her back.

Miss M was bitten by the baby pony.  Who according to the staff is a little ornery.  Really?  Not only did the pony try to take some of M's skin, we saw it rolling around in Ma's garden and flower bed.  Bad pony!

At our final stop at the homestead, there was a replica of the wagon that Laura, Pa, Ma, Mary and Carrie would have traveled in around South Dakota.  Miss A and Miss M could hardly believe how small it was.  We told them that people would have traveled across the country in something similar filled with all their earthly possessions.  I think they were thankful our form of transportation was roomy, comfortable, and air conditioned (and that we brought a DVD system for movies)

I can't say enough about how much we enjoyed our visit to Laura's Little Town on the Prairie.  We had the best of both worlds; hand on experiences for us to do as a family and a chance to walk in history at the homes and homestead. 

We finished our day with a dip in the community pool and a picnic dinner at the city park!  Miss M even treated the family to ice cream at Dairy Queen using a birthday gift card .  A perfect way to top off our visit to De Smet.  When we laid our heads down that night back at the Heritage House, I think all of us dreamt about being a prairie pioneer.  Well, maybe P had a dream about college football or insurance!

Our trip was almost over, but we still had a fun things on our agenda.

Homestead Experience: Hands on De Smet SD

Our afternoon visit to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead was a complete "hands on" experience.  While our morning was full of Wilder history, our afternoon was an opportunity to try out pioneer life on the prairie and on the same land that Laura's family homesteaded.

But before we headed to the Homestead, we stopped off at one of the "postcard" locations the spot where Pa planted Cottonwood Trees.  Five of Pa's trees still remain. 

The Homestead Site has a replica of the types of homes the Ingalls lived in before building their home on the land.  They had both a sod house built in the side of a hill and dugout.  We decided that we would have wanted both, one for summer heat and the other for winter cold.  The smell in the sod home would have been a little bit too much for me.

At the replica of the Ingalls home, the girls got to try their hand doing Laundry Prairie Style with a wash bucket, plunger and a clothes line.  Miss A said she could have stayed here all day trying to do laundry.  Miss M was in agreement and both girls even came back later in the day to do a few more "loads."  If only I could get them to do the real wash at home.

I'm thinking I might adapt Ma's Weekly Routine at home.  If I can just convince Miss A to do both the ironing and mending, I'll be golden.  Miss M can handle the wash and hanging the shirts on the line.

Next up was our Wagon Ride to the Schoolhouse.  It was a pretty smooth ride thanks to gentle mules and nice wheels.  I think the Ingalls ride into town was a much bumpier one.  The girls got to "drive" the mules on the way home.  They loved holding the reigns and talking to their charges.  What fun.

Our schoolhouse visit, complete with a teacher, was a treat.  Not only did the girls get to dress up in adorable little smocks and bonnets, they sat at desks like Laura and Carrie would have and learned all about the one room schoolhouse and what that meant for a student.  At the end of the "school day," there was even a spelling test which both girls passed.  Miss A had to spell Cat and Miss M spelled Prairie.  She missed the first time due to the prompt that there were a lot of "i's" in the word, just not that many.

After school, it is was time to try our hands at some rope making and corn husk doll creations.  Who knew how much fun it is to make your own rope, poor P even "bleed" a little in the process of making one for Mr. C.  Thankfully, it was already a deep red rope!  Miss A again was fascinated with the machinery and loved shucking the corn cobs. 

Pioneering is fun.  With sundown still a few hours ahead, our fun wasn't over yet.

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Homestead: The Historical Tour

I have way too many pictures of our fantastic trip to De Smet, but since this is my way of journaling and scrapbooking these days, I'm going to go ahead and just inundate you with all of them.  By the time I actually get around to putting them in a scrapbook, I'd hate to have forgotten the details.

The first part of our trip down "Ingalls Lane" was in the town of De Smet at the Laura Ingalls Memorial Society.  Here they have the actual Surveyors House that Laura, Pa, Ma, Mary and Carrie lived in that first winter.  It's been moved from the original site, but inside it's intact and contains artifacts from their home.  Because of the age of the home, no photos were allowed.

Amazingly, they considered this little three room home to be spacious.  In fact, they would often have up to 15 guests sleeping on the floor in the winter for days on end.  There really was only the main room with a stove, a small room off the main that had Pa and Ma's bed and a loft with a bed and dresser (real one that Pa made) for the girls.

On the site, there is also the Brewster School that Laura first taught in.  The school was originally 12 miles north of town (a four hour wagon ride on a good day) and it is small.  The girls loved hearing about how the boys and girls would bring Lard and Bread Sandwiches for lunch and if they were lucky, they would also bring baked potatoes in their pocket to keep their hands warm on the long walk.  The potatoes would then go into the school stove to stay warm until lunch.

Miss M could hardly believe the Laura taught school at age 15 without a high school diploma.  The fact that she did this to help her family pay for Mary's Schooling at the Blind School in Iowa only made her thankful Dad hasn't asked her to get a job to pay for her brother's private schooling this fall.  Just wait M, it could still happen!

The De Smet School where Laura and Carrie attended is in the process of being refurbished.  It's remarkable that under all the layers of wallpaper, they found in tact many pieces of the blackboard including a drawing of a child's face from the 1880s.  Amazing.  Miss M and Miss A could hardly believe that the walls were all covered in blackboard at one time, because that's how they wrote out their math facts, took tests and memorized long essays by writing them down on the blackboard. 

No Smart Boards or Laptops in those days.

It's amazing to think of how challenging it was to go to school on the Prairiey from the long walks to and from, the lack of writing materials, and the fact that boys were often needed to work the fields and missed numerous days.  The school year would only run from Mid October (after harvest) to early March (before planting) and several days to weeks were missed due to blizzards and bad weather.

Yet somehow, I think those children learned more in their daily life than my children do going to school nine months a year!

Miss A and Miss M could hardly believe the you would have to go outside for water.  No indoor plumbing or water fountains here.  Miss A thought it was fun that the doorbell for the school was actually inside the door.  Both girls are also considering adding Chalk Slates to their Back to School list.  I'm just not sure that Target carries them these days!

This is just a start to our trip.  More Laura to come.