A Wedding, Silver Dollar City, a Battlefield and Guttenberg

  This last field trip was one we've been waiting for for a few months.  One of our very dear friends was getting married in Springfield, MO. A bit of a trip, but something we wouldn't have missed for the world.  Of course it sparked thoughts of what can we do along the way.  One thing presented itself when Mookie won a couple of Silver Dollar City tickets through our local library's summer reading program.  SDC also had a special going on where people born in 1976 could get in free, so that took care of my ticket too and Shorty was free because of his age!  We only had to purchase one ticket - not bad for a family of five!

A picture of the Co. I boys I found recently

  On the way down we stopped at Wilson's Creek Battlefield.  This was great for the kids because it gave them an opportunity for another Junior Ranger badge, and great for me because some of the Burlingame, KS Civil War Veterans from Co. I of the 11th Kansas Cavalry fought there. 
  The battlefield had limited displays when we were there because they were in the process of revamping the old ones.  They had a really interesting auto tour and they also have one of the biggest collections of west of the Mississippi Civil War items.  You can find their virtual museum here.
 

Looking up at Bloody Hill at Wilson's Creek

  The staff at Wilson's Creek was excellent.  They gave Shorty a Junior Ranger badge so he could be like big brother & sis.  They also copied items for me from their collection & told me to contact them if I thought of anything more. 
  On we went for a short stop at Silver Dollar City and then out to supper.  We ate at McFarlain's in Branson where they placed us at a table that rose during our meal.  Hubby and I were let in on the secret.  They couldn't figure out what mom & dad were snickering at.  They kept looking around to find someone that was going to sneak up on them with a wacky sombrero or sing a silly song to them.  It wasn't until the table was up to their chins that they finally caught on.

 The next day we arrived at the City as soon as it opened and we shut it down.  My family has been going to Silver Dollar City every five years since I was five.  It is one of our favorite trips as a family.  We can't wait to go with my folks on our regularly scheduled on in a couple of years.

 Before the wedding celebration on Saturday we needed something to occupy our time.  Hubby found the exhibit "Passages" was in Springfield.  Passages is a collection artifacts that take you through the history of the Bible.  When we were in Dallas last year we had seen that it was there, but didn't make it.  Boy are we glad we took it in in Springfield! The collection included actual Dead Sea Scroll fragments, cuneiform tablets, Bibles throughout the ages as well as other Biblical texts and artifacts.  Essentially the whole exhibit was full of Bible history, world history, science and just a perfect side trip for us in general! They had wonderful interactive displays, hands on things for the kids to do, as well as animatronic characters.  They even had a scavenger hunt for the kids.  I'll tell you what, if you want a kid to get absorbed in a museum, give them a scavenger hunt!

Transcribing a line of text in Latin with real ink!

Shorty listening to St. Jerome talk about his life

Watching a working replica of a Guttenberg press

They even had a play area for Shorty

The exhibit said that it would take you 2-3 hours to finish.  Well, we took 3 hours and could have spent more time! We literally had to drag the kids out of there.  We definitely packed a ton into our trip, but hey, it was school!  I think we'll take tomorrow off;)

Tom & Huck

  We've not been to the gravel bar much this year, but this last week we made the trip to see Ducky and Gigi while they camped.  It is one of the 3 ancestral stomping grounds that put me immediately at ease (it and the hills in Platte & Buchanan Cos. in MO as well as the area around Atchison, KS).  We took a buddy with us this time.  What fun we had!

One of my favorite gravel bar picture places

  From the moment we pulled in, Bubby and his buddy were on the ground running.  They took off exploring the area.  Thankfully it was cool so we didn't have to worry about ticks!  The first project became building a raft.  Ducky provided fishing twine & they made up the plan themselves.  They were so proud!

  Of course, they wanted to try it out.  Oh, I am not an adventurous soul, so I squirmed and hemmed and hawed and then caved.  How can you turn down two excited boys? The first attempt ended a little soggily...

 They added some bigger logs for more buoyancy and success!  Of course we had them to a rope we held and they rode close to shore, but it was enough:)

Well, it got a little river weary by the end of it all, but they had fun!  They are now nicknamed Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn! ;)
  The next day they were up at daybreak and Ducky took them out fishing by a fire on the gravel bar.

Then was a tour of all three gravel bars which led to some of them being covered almost head to toe in sticktights.
  The boys weren't the only ones having fun, Mookie went exploring to capture some lovely wildlife shots...

And Shorty was happy just following adventure where he could...

We came home tired, stinky and dirty but we wouldn't have in any other way:) 

Field Trip Thursday: Museum Crawl pt. 2

  Daddy had to travel to NW Missouri again for work today, so we got to tag along - yay!  Field trip!  This is one of the reasons we considered homeschooling in the first place, being able to be together more as a family when Daddy travels alot.  So today this meant visiting more stops on the Museum Crawl in St. Joseph! 
  We started out at Missouri Western State University where they have a Walter Cronkite memorial. 

The Missouri Western mascot

  We were a little early and walked the campus while we waited for the memorial to open.  The kids smiled and greeted the college students - yes homeschoolers are so unsocialized;) 

  The kids had no idea who Walter Cronkite was prior to our visit today, and to tell you the truth without the Museum Crawl, we might never have visited the memorial, but I'm glad it was a good prompt to do so.  The Crawl has certain questions you need to fill out at each stop. Both kids set out to work trying to find the answers while I chased a rambunctious Shorty (he did not tolerate Walter very well and we spent alot of time pushing buttons and riding the elevator and climbing the stairs).  When their questions were finished you could so see the learning styles of the kids come out.  Bubby is a sponge - he wanted to read & watch everything.  Mookie was content to learn a little, but when she accomplished her goal, her interest started to wane without much as far as interactive displays.  We gave Bubby 45 minutes and then had to drag him away. 
  On to the Remington Nature Center.  The kids had been dying to see this one last time and we had to skip it.  I am so glad we were able to give it a good chunk of time today - well worth it! 

  In addition to the questions we needed to complete for the Crawl booklet, the Nature Center gave us a scavenger hunt to complete.  There were 12 miniature plastic apples hidden all over the Center for us to find.  It took us a while, but we found them (with a little help on a couple).

You can see the red apple in the rattlesnake's mouth

  The displays here were great.  They had dioramas, bees, a water cycle and the favorite - animal tracks.  The tracks would appear and disappear on the sand when the narrator talked about them.

animal tracks

Water cycle - you can see the Missouri River in the background

  One of the other favorites was the trail of St. Joesph history.  They started you out in a cave with the Native Americans and worked you through European settlement to modern day.  Lots of hands on things and videos for all kinds of learners.
  This is what I saw most of the time...

I lost track of how many times Shorty and I looped through the history trail (stopping in the saloon with the cool doors each time to get a pretend drink) and back to the animal tracks and then back to the history trail...   I am so glad the other two are independent learners because I didn't do much except keep the short one busy:) 
  We would have preferred to walk the trails outside too but we needed to meet up with Daddy.  The meeting place was actually at the town of New Market, MO which is where my gg-grandpa Oscar Mauzey was born in 1859.  The kids played at the playground while we waited for Daddy to arrive.  It was neat to look around and wonder what structures might have been there when Oscar was alive. 

Resting on account of "stage 4 hiccups" (2 hiccups every 4 seconds)

We had a pretty cheap day today, Walter's memorial was free & Remington cost us $5 for all of us.  The favorite was the Nature Center, but they enjoyed all of it.  I see another trip to St. Joe for museums in our future.  The kids are hooked!