A Short Sidetrip

  Last year was the 150th anniversary of Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence.  The Watkins Historical Museum created a special exhibit featuring it.  I've been dying to go, but hadn't taken the opportunity.  Yesterday we used an orthodontist appointment & our flat travelers as an excuse to finally make it to the museum. 
  The price is right only a suggested donation of $2 per child & $3 per adult.  There are 2 main floors of exhibits.  The first floor used to be a bank and still has the teller windows in place. 

They had some great exhibits on basketball, Langston Hughes, the Old Sacramento cannon and of course Quantrill.  I was most impressed with the Quantrill exhibit.  It was interactive.  Bubby loved using the touch screen to interact with the route of the raiders. It also had some artifacts left over in the aftermath. 

Bubby and Shorty with "Old Sacramento"

I learned something new with the Old Sacramento cannon.  It was used in the Mexican-American War, was moved around during the free-state battles, and ultimately fired in Lawrence in celebration of Kansas being admitted into the Union as a free state. 
  Upstairs of the Watkins used to be the land offices.  They had some local history items and a large Victorian play house that the kids were able to enter and play in.  They were thrilled!

Definitely worth the trip.  We'll be visiting again, Mookie had opted to stay at home, but was bummed when she heard our stories.  I didn't get to see all of it myself, so I welcome the opportunity to go back:)

Flat Traveler Adventures: Atchison & Leavenworth

  Daddy was gone this past week.  Usually when he has a big trip & we aren't able to come along, we plan some nice distractions for ourselves.  We decided to spend a couple of days with Ducky and Grandma & take them with us on our field trip.  We've been pretty busy with our trips this month.  We're hosting 2 flat travelers, one from England & one from Idaho.  I love doing the flats because it really makes you an ambassador for your area.  You need to get out and show what makes your area special.  The kids have been dying to do some specific things in Atchison, and since a it's the birthplace of a notable Kansas figure - Amelia Earhart, we went for it:)
  We started out our tour of Atchison at the statue of Deafy Boular.  He's a very distant cousin of ours (I wrote a blog on him here if you're interested in him further). Aside from all he overcame, he's amazing for the fact that was featured in Ripley's Believe it or Not for laying 46,000 bricks in less than 8 hours. He laid most of the brick in the streets of Atchison.

Mookie, Shorty & Deafy (and Longneck the giraffe)

 Our next stop was the historical museum where there is a display of Deafy's boots and other Atchison memorabilia. 

Bubby checking out Deafy's boots

The kids enjoyed the museum, but they LOVED the train exhibit outside even more! Especially Shorty, they're his favorite:)

You can't beat getting to climb on and explore trains.  Just the engine was open, but getting to crawl up on the stairs and peek in the windows was a thrill in itself.
  Our next stop was Doniphan Cemetery.  We were trying to track down some ancestors (no luck), and document stones for Find A Grave (huge success).  Some of us were not quite as dedicated to the cause though...

Bubby "King of the World"

That's ok, we'll just call that part of the day PE;)
  Heading back into town, we got out and stretched our legs at the riverfront park.  Its a lovely area with some interesting historical markers.

Ducky and Mookie at the Lewis & Clark display

  Our last stop was in Leavenworth where we picked up supper and headed to the riverside railroad park.  This is a favorite stop on our way to Jamesport.

Shorty loves it because the possibility of train spotting.  We almost didn't see one, then came the distant whistle of a train.  Bubby & Mookie got into a position on a ledge where they could get a good picture of their travelers when the train passed.  It was going to be great, right by the bridge with them in a perfect spot to be safely close.  The train got closer until we could see that it only had 3 cars on it - and it was really traveling!  I snapped the shot...

and the photo op turned into one that we laughed about the rest of the way home:)

Unknowns from Woodson County, Kansas

  A couple of years ago I was blessed to have a cousin let me copy all the photos out of a photo album that had been my great-grandmother Minnie (Schaede) Murray's.  Some of the pictures were identified, but the majority were not.  I'm going to share them here in hopes I can find someone else to help me identify them:)  Minnie grew up in Neosho Falls, Woodson County, Kansas and died in LeRoy, Coffey County, Kansas.  The Yates Center pictures are most likely either Schaede, Yeager, Krien, or other branches of her family.

Cabinet card taken in Yates Center, KS.  Most likely the seated woman is Minnie's mother Amelia (Krien) Schaede

Field Trip Friday: Lawrence

   Today was WAY too busy.  It was field trip Friday and we have flat travelers in the house, so that means that we were looking for Kansas-y things to do.  Well, only because we had to.  Overdue books in Lawrence changed our plans from roller skating in Topeka instead.  From what I understand, the overdue book is the constant battle of a homeschooler - but I just need it for a little longer for this thing we're studying.... The next thing you know - BAM! Overdue fines! But I digress...
   Gas is terribly expensive and to try to ease the pain of the cost in our pocketbook but still do all the fun things as a homeschooler we cram as much into our time in the bigger cities as possible.  Here was the progression of our day: Target for shopping, an oil change, a drive-thru bite to eat, the KU Natural History Museum, the library, a stop to see James Naismith's memorial, Hobby Lobby, a stop into Sonic's happy hour for a drink, and then to Wells' Lookout for a photo op.  Whew!  But we did it! Here's some pictures from our day:)

Meet our travelers: Hero Harry & Longneck

  The kids had been dying to go to the Natural History museum.  The exhibits really never change (although they had updated some), but how can you top dinosaurs, bugs & that animal panorama?
  Bubby is in the stage where he wants to look at every. single. exhibit.  In the animal panorama, for example, that meant finding every animal that was listed on the guides in front of the glass, etc...  Needless to say, we were there a while.  It took some work keeping a toddler busy through the whole museum, but we managed to make everyone happy, even if some of us did make laps:) 

Shorty in a moment of patience in the panorama

  We had never been to the Naismith memorial before.  Bubby was super excited, because he'd read a biography on him late last year.  Shorty tried to take home a KU basketball from the memorial, but he didn't get far:)

Some ornery brother is giving Mookie rabbit ears in her traveler picture

 Aside from all the interesting stops, the best part of the day was the weather!! 65 degree temps!  After single digits at the first of the week we were ready to be outside!  Come on spring:)