Field Trip: George & Grandpa Elmer

  We weren't necessarily going anywhere today.  A crammed schedule ahead of us was looming and I was happy to stay put.  Then you throw in something we needed to get to Ducky and the opportunity for a free showing of George Washington's inaugural Bible and we were off!
  Thursday I was checking my Facebook newsfeed and found this on one of the local history groups I belong to via the Kansas Grand Lodge:

How often is that going to happen 1/2 hr. from where you live?  Even if we didn't need to get something to Ducky, we just might have made the trip anyway ;)
  We met Ducky at the hotel hosting the event.  When we walked in we saw a room with a sign saying something about Masonic historical items.  We saw Bibles and assumed we were in the right place.  Wrong place, but we took a look around anyway.  We found some wonderful old Bibles, including a Martin Luther Bible from the 1680s.

Reminded me of our trip to see the Passages exhibit in Springfield.  While Ducky ran around with Shorty and Mookie and Bubby explored one way I rotated the other and found this:

A bunch of old Masons on the steps of the Kansas capitol from 1914. Cool pic and wouldn't mean anything unless your great-grandpa was a Kansas Mason.  So I scoured the picture and found him!

The archivist had told me that the guys in the front couple of rows especially were only the top guys.  Grandpa Elmer Gentry was the highest level Mason you can be, so I wasn't too surprised he was among the group.  To tell the truth, him being a high level Mason isn't something I'm particularly proud of. But, it is part of our family and history in general - so it opened another teaching moment for the kiddos.  I've said it before, but there is such an advantage to helping the kids personalize history.
  I almost could have gone home after finding that.  For a genealogist something like that can make your year!  But, in all seriousness we couldn't miss George's Bible.  So on we journeyed.

This gentleman brought the Bible from New York where it is housed with one of the Lodges there.  I have blanked his face because I did not ask to take the picture.  He did a fantastic job of telling the kids the story of how it came to be used by Washington for his inauguration, which Presidents have used it since and misc. other stories (Shorty was giving me a run for my money at this point so I did not have a chance to listen to the whole speech which I was sad about but not unexpected with a lively 4 year old boy).  The gentleman encouraged the kids to come behind the Bible and get their pictures taken.

Pretty darn cool!  It makes me wonder how many things like this are out there and available to visit for the general public, but aren't widely known.  We feel very blessed to have had this opportunity!

Little Things: Sale Barn

  In continuance of our stopping to do the little things, this week it was the "sale barn".  I am ashamed at how long it has taken us to do this one.  On the edge of our little town is the livestock auction house.  It is a popular place to grab a lunch and watch the cows on Mondays.  We have lived in town 15 years and I. have. never. been. :( I think the knowing of how busy it can get and not wanting to make a faux pas (especially with kiddos in tow) has been my main excuse in recent years for not going.  But no more.  Shorty had it on his list and was getting adamant about it.  In fact I heard about it all last week after we missed it on Monday.  The only reason I remembered it today was because I was lying in bed last night and then I heard the mournful mooing of the cows waiting for the big day.  I made Hubby promise to remind me.  And we didn't forget :)
 

waiting for the auction to start

We arrived just before sale time to get good seats.  Wow!  Those auctioneers had it down to an art form getting those cows and bulls through the arena.  Fast paced for sure!  The kids' favorite parts were the young calves and then the longhorns (there were two), which rekindled excitement of an upcoming trip to our much loved Wichita Mountains. 

longhorns

We saw numerous buddies and had a grand time. The kids are excited to go back and so am I.  So, no more fear of the unknown and another "someday" off the list!

Free Day with a Twist

  We shuttled Hubby around for work one day this past week, but it wasn't a normal free day, we had a furry companion with us too.  A couple of weeks ago we took in a miniature pinscher for a friend while they are away.  She has some health problems currently so she needs us to stay close at hand, so she got to come with us.
  We started out our time at the Kansas Historical Society.  Pup stayed in the car while we played in the Discovery Area.  It was a beautiful spring day of about 50 degrees, we cracked the windows and set a timer for a half hour in the play area.
  We really enjoyed the newly re-vamped trails section of the play area.

We'd loaded the covered wagon before, but this time I made them add up all the packages to see how much they weighed.  Bubby is carrying over 1500 pounds in the picture.  Boy is he strong ;)
After our time was up, we headed outside to the playground.  Pup and the kids enjoyed the cool, breezy day and mom, well, she just sat and took it all in :)
  Our next stop was to the library.  We set another goal of a half hour.  When gas was so high and we were cramming all kinds of errands into a day in the city, we got this down to an art ;) We came out loaded down with books and took Pup to the park across the street for some leg stretching.

This accomplished one of my goals for the year.  To take time doing little oddities along the way.  We do the big trips and do them up well, but to stop and go to that tiny park right across from the library that has those cool gargoyles salvaged from a historic Topeka building - even just for a few minutes.  Doing those things you always pass by, but don't take time to do - that's what I want to do more of this year!  One checked off of the list :)
  Daddy was working in rural Shawnee County which allowed us to oogle wonderful historic houses like this one when we were dropping him off and picking him up. The big kids have come to appreciate looking along the way, Shorty begged to watch a movie and Mommy responded with "watch the movie that is going by out your window..." lol.  Poor kid...