Quick update on my dad...he came home from the hospital yesterday. Hopefully, he will recuperate faster at home and get some much needed sleep at night (without people coming in and out every 20 minutes).
I came home from Ohio on Tuesday and we decided that our very overdue trip to Sturbridge Village needed to happen today. We have been trying to go for months and something always happens (usually bad weather) to prevent it.
We decided on a family membership since we would have paid that much to get us all in anyway--and now we can go back as many times as we want for a year. Yay!
We loved it! Such a neat place. We knew it was going to be a fun day when we spotted this... (sorry for all the dreadful iPhone pictures. Maybe next time I will lug my big-girl camera around all day.)
bahahahahahaha....
They had sheep there and the kids had a blast feeding them leaves and grass.
Then it was a visit to a one room school house where a class was taking place. The teacher was calling kids up to the front to spell, but none of my kids were brave enough to volunteer. It was interesting to watch though.
We went to the pottery house and watched a very interesting demonstration. The kids were fascinated by the potters wheel and the small vase he was making. Outside, was this urn type thing full of water. There was a patch of clay nearby that you could add to it and then mix.
We then walked to a farm where a woman was demonstrating how to make cheese. This barrel was full of curds and whey. She is holding the curds and the yellow liquid is whey. There were flies swarming all over it. So gross! The completed cheese actually smelled pretty good, though. They flies, however, gave me pause.
To say the least.
Shortly afterwards SaraGrace got stung by a bee and didn't even cry. What a brave girl! In fact, she was showing so much courage that no one believed she actually got stung.
So that made her cry.
Outside the school was a jump rope. The kids had so much fun with this--it was SaraGrace's favorite part of the day. Jillian took this great action shot of Zoey in midair.
I'm sad to say that jumping rope looked so fun that I decided to take a turn, completely forgetting that I had surgery three weeks ago. Gah! I paid for that for the rest of the day.
We would have stayed a lot longer playing with the jump rope if we'd had a bit more time.
But alas...time was ticking...
They wanted to see the shoe shop so we stopped there for a demonstration. It was quite interesting to see how they made the soles of the shoes. At this particular shop, the shoes were straight and did not have a right or left. We told Jake he could have gotten away with wearing his shoes on the wrong feet back in the old days. haha
Jake and Zoey model a pair of new leather shoes.
There is a stage coach there that everyone wanted to ride but it was $3 each. I told the kids that if they earned the money before the next time we go, we can take a ride.
They decided to try their hand at this old fashioned game. Jordan and Zoey were the champs of this. Jake tried to hula with it.
Rides on this wagon were free! Jake REALLY wanted a ride so we waited in line for our turn to enjoy a 10 minute tour around part of the village.
A different farm, closer to the village center had a small barn and a fake cow that could be milked. Very fun--and no chance of getting kicked.
One of the houses was 'interactive.' You could use anything you wanted, try on the clothing, lie on the beds, play with the toys--everything. The kids had a blast! SaraGrace was so excited to get to try on 'old fashun clothes.'
These beds were made of straw and hard as a rock. UGH! I don't know how they slept on those things. SaraGrace thought this one was comfy. Go figure...
Jake checked out the trundle bed, which SaraGrace pronounced yucky. She didn't think much of the practically flat 'mattress.'
Me either!
And last but not least...the amazing gift shop at the end of the day. They have the coolest stuff in there. Of course the kids were all begging for things. Some who have birthdays coming up are putting in requests and the rest of them are hoping to do extra chores to make some money for our next visit.
