Bunnies and Chicks and Ponies, Oh MY!

Doodle belongs to a book group filled with other home school girls just her age called Liberty Girls.

This year we have been reading the Little House on the Prairie series.
We meet twice a month and discuss our latest book and have a fun activity that correlates with the book we have read.
We have so much fun and have become really good friends with our liberty girls friends.

Last week we all drove our families to the American West Heritage Center in beautiful Logan, Utah for a field trip.

Doesn't this remind you of The Sound of Music? I love those mountains!

We set the girls against boys in a game of tug of war.

6 girls to 3 boys.

The boys won.

It was a long battle though, those girls gave them a run for their money.

The tour guide that was showing us the pioneer games was amazing. She took lots of time with us and answered all of our questions and was so friendly.

They played a game with a stick and an iron wheel. You are supposed to roll the wheel down the stick. When it hits the ground rolling you're supposed to run behind it and keep it rolling by pushing it with the stick. It's a lot harder than it looks. After a while Doodle got the hang of it.

Baby Cakes had to try too. He has a little less coordination than the other kids, it was quite funny to watch him get frustrated. He had a hard time lifting the thing, it weighed almost as much as he does.

All the girls loved seeing the baby animals. This silly goat let all the kids pick her up. The volunteers that worked there were awesome. We were the last group of the day and we got the royal treatment. We stood and talked to the guy in charge of the goats for quite a while. That man knows his goats.

The sheep were fun to see. They had a black one and a white one. The girls were amazed at how much hotter the black one's wool was than the white one.
Another mom and I realized that between us and the other girls we had at one time or another had all the animals at our homes that they had there, except for sheep.

It was still fun for the girls to go and see the babies. The bunny was too cute and cottony.

In my humble opinion the ducks were too smelly.
*GAG*

This is a Shetland pony named Tinkerbell. Granted, we don't have a pony, but we do have a full sized horse. Close enough, right. Not to the girls. they thought it was so cool to see a mini horse. I did not think it was so cool. She bit Baby Cake's fingers and made him cry. I guess he has sweet fingers. But I already knew that!

One of the boys found a robin's egg that had fallen from a nest into the grass and had survived the fall. It was so pretty.

It made me want to come home and paint a room that color.

The highlight of the trip for me was the dugout and log cabin home they have there. They were fully stocked with pioneer artifacts from kerosene lamps to beds and quilts and cook wear. They even had tin cups just like the one Laura Ingalls got for Christmas one year. That was it, her whole Christmas was a tin cup. To her it was a big deal because it meant she did not have to share a cup with her sister Mary anymore. I think about that and I am so humbled. Think about our modern Christmases. In general we are so spoiled. We first read these books a few years ago and since then we have scaled way back on our Christmas offerings. Our kids get more than a tin cup, but we have tried really hard to give more personal and meaningful gifts rather than just more stuff.

Anyway, back on topic. I did not get any photos of the cabin or the dug out, which is just like the one the Ingalls family lived in during their time in Plum Creek (On the Banks of Plum Creek). I was way too busy being fascinated with all the cool stuff. I did not even realize my folly until I got home and down loaded the pictures. Oh well, I guess that means we'll just have to go back another time so I can get my pictures.

If you have young girls you must read these books to them. In my opinion they are required reading for girlhood. I love, love, love them. Doodle loves them. They just put things into perspective and make us really think about our lives and the things that are truly important. Doodle has learned from Laura Ingalls Wilder how to be kind and how to value life skills such as sewing and cooking and helping with jobs around the house. She has learned to love nature and being a kid. She has learned to love her family and to value education. She has learned to be obedient and honest. She has learned to love animals, especially horses. She has learned that sometimes we need to do things that are hard, even when we don't want to. She has learned all this and more from a woman who lived and died before she was even born.

Now that's the power of a good book.