Field Trip Friday: Lyndon

  We didn't really take a "field trip" per se this last Friday, but we had a lot of fun in the process!  We had rescheduled our Sleeping Heroes (documenting Civil War soldiers) at Lyndon Cemetery from the week before, and boy are we glad we did - the temperatures were SO much better and we got to hang out with more of our buddies too!  We documented over 55 veterans and even found a Civil War nurse!

We had a great time.  It helped that Shorty was in an agreeable mood for wandering through the stones.  He didn't last the whole time, but for a 1 year old, he did excellent!
  Then we ate a picnic lunch at the city park and just played. 

my monkeys:)

  Mom really wanted to go to the Osage County Historical Society too, both to make it an official "field trip" and to visit with a fellow researcher there.  It turned out to be a quick trip (ie. mostly chasing a toddler up and down the aisles) but Bubby got to see some cool fossils, Mookie liked the handiwork, and I found a G.A.R. picture for my research!

checking out the fossils

 

 

an identified picture of the Lyndon G.A.R. band (thanks to the Os. Co. Hist. Soc.)

  I'm thinking next week we may venture north and check out some territorial Kansas sites!

Swapping!

We recently found this great little group on Facebook, Homeschool Swapping Adventures.  We had previously been a part of another postcard swap group where we swapped postcards with families from across the U.S.  We received about 30 of the states, and when I found this group had a postcard swap we made it a goal to pick up the ones we were missing.  For the postcard swap, you can swap with 7 other families each month.  We exchanged with Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama, Japan, and England (we're still waiting on this one). 
  So far so good, but the swapping opportunities are not limited to postcards.  We also participated in a Geo-box swap with a family from Georgia.  A Geo-box is where you exchange items that symbolize your state.  Geography freaks that we are, we were very excited to learn about one of our southern states! 
  It sounds like you can set parameters for swapping, but we and our swapping family, just jumped in and it worked out nicely:)   Here is a pic of what we sent. 

  We included a Kansas archaeology curriculum (of course), flyers and pamphlets from all over the state, some Wizard of Oz stickers, a postcard we send out with our postcard swaps, honey (the state insect is a honey bee), sunflowers (state flower), buffalo bookmarks (state animal), Russell Stover candies, and several other worksheets & fun trinkets:)  
  Our swapping buddies sent us (my picture isn't the best because I had hidden the camera from Shorty and forgotten where I put it, so I used the phone's camera): 

a Georgia mug, Coca Cola glass, some Georgia bracelets, fans, a Lego keychain from Legoland (of course this caught Bubby's attention), a dolphin (Mookie latched on to), and shell, apple snacks, a science experiment from their Science Center and some great fliers and pamphlets, and other neat trinkets:) 
  The kids are all ready to jump into another swap again, and the site offers new swapping opportunities every month.  So I think that this is just the start of our swapping adventures:) 

First Field Trip Friday of the Year!

Downtown Burlingame.  Streets wide enough for oxen teams to make a u-turn

  This week we started our school year.  I know, I know you're thinking "What!?!".  Think of it this way, we start school when it's hotter than blazes here in Kansas and then let out in late March/early April when it's getting nice!  We've done it the last couple of years and it's worked out great, well, except for this year when it was still cold when we let out, but one out of 3 isn't bad:)
  One thing we started last fall was "Field Trip Fridays".  We've been aiming for local and low cost for most of them.  Today Bubby chose the Schuyler Museum in Burlingame.  The Schuyler Museum used to be Burlingame's school and it has been turned into the town museum and research center.

  It's a typical small town museum, but it seems like we notice something new each time we go.  Burlingame has been around since the 1850s.  An uncle of Hubby's, George Bratton, was one of the town founders. 
  Today we got to see inside the military room, it's usually locked for security reasons.  It was lined with reproductions and donations of uniforms and accessories from every war in the United States.

  One of the favorite parts of the museum for the kids is the coal mine exhibit...

  Ok, so I had my flash on, but this room is lit only by black lights and just thrills them to no end:)  They thought it was pretty cool when I told them that their gggg-grandpa J.J. Parrish was a coal miner there.  One of the best ways to get kiddos interested in history is to make it personal!
   Our trip would not be complete without me making the kids wait while I do a little research (I like to torture them a little, actually it becomes torture for me if I make them wait too long!).  This is what I found today:

it is a picture of the Burlingame G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) members.  Unmarked.  It was a new acquisition to the museum and they had it displayed in hopes that people would identify the gentlemen in it.  Oh, how I'd love to know who they all are!  After documenting all those soldiers in Burlingame Cemetery last year I've come to feel like these guys are my buddies:) 
  After a totally successful field trip, now we're wondering what's on tap for next week!

A Morning of Horses

Our Keepers of the Home scout group had a simply wonderful meeting today - every girl's favorite subject - horses!  Mookie was SO excited! We met at the house of one of our buddies who used to be a jockey.  Sitting on her lovely porch, we started out with the going over basic terminology.

Next we learned about the proper brushing, maintenance and mannerisms of horses, followed by saddling and bridling.

Some of the families in our scout group either have or work with horses often, so the older girls took turns in showing how certain things were done.

Then came the best part - riding!

Each girl worked according to her own ability.  So, if they didn't need just to try out riding, they worked on training, etc...

We are so blessed to have such a great group of scouting friends!

Go Fourth!

 This week has been a hectic and a blessed one.  This year we skipped out on some of the big firework celebrations in our area and just did more family time.  We started off our 4th of July celebrations with meeting some of our out of state cousins for lunch.  It is always a blessing when they come to town!  Since they were on their way to a glider competition, they gave the kids a sneak peek and even let them sit in it!

Bubby in the cockpit

It was all the kids could talk about for hours! After that, we took the opportunity to go further south to see my folks at the gravel bar where they like to camp.  The kids wade in the water, play in the sand and get all kinds of dirty:)

blowing bubbles at the gravel bar

    On an absolutely beautiful evening, we went to one of our favorite spots, the Lawrence Arboretum.  We took our time, admired the trees and the rainbows that hung in the sky:)

   The kids took great pleasure in putting on a show for us last night of the fireworks they had picked out.  I am simply amazed at how Shorty is really unconcerned by the noise.  The kid has no fear.  :)