Not Quite Indiana Jones

   I don't think I've mentioned before, Hubby is an archaeologist.  The man can eat and sleep archaeology:)  There haven't been any Indiana Jones types of adventures yet, but he has had to dodge tornadoes and even be wary of bombs while doing survey on a military base.
  Every year for the past five years we have had a wonderful opportunity to go and work with his best buddies at a dig down in the panhandle of Texas for two weeks.  It is a field school that brings in about 25 students from all over the States and even Canada.  This year Hubby was in charge of an excavation called Eastview which was occupied approximately 650 years ago.  It's really cool because the houses burned and in addition to the other artifacts there are these large burnt timbers that used to be the frame of the house!

a corner of one of the houses at Eastview,
you can see the timbers have been circled by Hubby's trained eye

  Bubby spent several days out on site with dad.  He was so excited for the opportunity to do more digging this year, usually he's just helped with the water screening.

Bubby at the water screen

  Shorty wanted to "diggy" too, but he has to wait a while to get into the serious stuff.

When we weren't out helping or visiting dad, we took off to do some sightseeing.  Some old favorites like the Citadelle art museum in Canadian - the most cool and fun little art museum we've been to.  It is set up in an old church that a family turned into a home and then to an art museum.  Wonderful art inside and out. This year we took our annual Father's Day picture on the grounds.

We also had to visit the windmill museum in Spearman.  We went a couple of years ago and the kids loved it.  They were eager to show Shorty around this year:)  Sometime we're going to make it to the alligator farm that's in town too!

And a new one for us, the Mid-America museum in Liberal, Ks, which we really enjoyed.  It had some great hands on exhibits for the kids as well as a ton of planes!

We also just got to hang out at what is called the "lab house" where we get to stay when we're down there.  It was nice to do just every day stuff on such a long trip!

Shorty blowing bubbles

Mookie's fairy house she made

In the evenings there were some great hands on activities from atl atl spear throwing to flint knapping.

Bubby and the atl atl spears

Bubby wanted to try his hand at flintknapping (making tools) this year.  I grudgingly agreed.  They were working with obsidian, which is super sharp.  He did great though! Not one cut on his self!  I won't say anything about his magnetism to cacti.  I kid you not, the past 3 years in a row, but I didn't say a thing! ;)

This trip is always one we are so anxious for every year.  Getting to see our old buddies, making new friends, seeing new territory and having new learning experiences - just an invaluable experience!  Getting away for two weeks is kind of hard with kids (we're usually ready to be home), but we wouldn't trade it for the world!