Almanzo Wilder's and the Zoo

Randy is reading the Little House books to Sophia right now. She absolutely loves them!! Farmer Boy, the book about Laura Ingalls Wilder's husband when he was a boy, actually took place a farm he grew up on right outside Malone, NY. Last Sat. we decided to take the short 3 1/2 hour car ride there and take the long way home through the Adirondacks which was beautiful! It was a fun day.


After our picnic lunch, full and ready for our tour!



The house and barns.


Standing under the shade of a tree that was there when Almanzo was too! They believe the tree is 200 years old, Randy did the math and said it was probably around 60 years old when Almanzo was just a boy.



Checking out Trout River, where Almanzo and his father fished, washed the sheep and collected ice. Somehow, amazingly, no one even got their toes wet in our family that day!



Everyone is worn out! Taking a break on Almanzo's yard at the end of our visit.


At the Zoo

I don't know if you can really see the tigers but you can see everyone getting a good look at all 3 of them. We had a lot of luck seeing almost all of the animals. It was a great day to be at the zoo.


"Thank you, Aunt Kathy!" Everyone (except Kathy and me) enjoying their cold yummy popsicles. Timmy was red, white, and blue from head to toe!



Aunt Kathy taking everyone to pet the elephant. Only Alex and Max were really brave enough to do it, the other 3 will have to try again another time.

Alex Went to Boy Scout Camp

Alex went to boy scout camp July 29 - August 4. He seemed to have a really good time, and is talking about going back next year. This is the tent he and 3 other boys slept in.


This is a picture of the camp leaders jumping in the swimming area with their uniforms on. The most exciting thing that happened for Alex in that water though was he learned to swim!!!!!!!!!! Which if you know Alex that is no small feat. We are so proud of him! He has been afraid of trying much more than getting in the water all his life, so this was amazing!


This is where he and the other first year boy scouts spent most of their time working on advancements.


This is where he ate all his meals.

Monday - the final day of vacation

We went to a naval museum on Monday morning. This is a picture of the inside museum. It was a small museum but had a lot to look at. Here's Randy and the kids looking at a model ship.

Outside there were a few planes and a tank.

The highlight was the ships outside. There was a submarine, the USS Little Rock - which was huge, and the USS Sullivan. We toured the USS Sullivan which was really cool, especially being from Iowa. It was a very good self guided tour. But it was incredible hot and we decided we wouldn't tour the other ships. It was actually cheaper for us to get a membership for the year than pay regular price so we're hoping to go back and see the other two ships.

Then it was off to Niagara Falls!!

I just love Niagara Falls so I was so happy Randy suggested we stop there. There you see us by the falls and on the Maid of the Mist. It was incredibly windy that day. The Maid of the Mist was like a shower, despite the rain ponchos we were soaked. Before we made it back to land though, Sophia asked, "Why didn't we go in it?" She thought we were going to go into the falls. Henry was not feeling well that day and had a couple episodes of fits and was generally just grumpy until after the Maid of the Mist when we were on the observation deck right before we left all of a sudden a switch flipped inside of him and he was all better! That is our vacation. We had a great time!

Sunday (and still on vacation)

Sunday was a big driving day, we even got off the scenic routes and hopped on the interstates for awhile. But before doing that we stopped at Marble Head Light House in Ohio. It's on a peninsula along the northern coast. We couldn't tour the light house or the lighthouse keeper's house because they were closed until 4 and we were there about noon. But we ate lunch and then . . .

climbed around on the rocks and. . .

watched the sailboats. And then ...

the 3 youngest crashed.

After we left the resort -Fri. and Sat.

Friday we left the resort. Check out time was 10:00 am and our kids and Sara and Eric's were eating ice cream treats (to clean out the freezers) outside the cabin at 10:03 before we left. Randy and I and our crew took the long way home. We took a scenic route home through a National Forest and then drove along the coast to a small town outside of Port Huron, MI. It was great to take these less traveled roads and really see the country. I was amazed at how much we miss when we take interstate, though it's good when we want it/need it. This is our first rest stop along the way, it was a cute little stop. With a water pump and pond to look at. But the wind was blowing just right so it stunk if you got too close to the port-a-potties!



For dinner we stopped at a place along the coast with a playground and lighthouse across part of the lake. We walked down the pier and looked around.


Our first stop Saturday was the Port Huron Museum which was actually 4 stops, very close together along the St. Clair river. The bridge to Canada near by was called the Blue Water Bridge, which was a very appropriate name, the water was amazingly blue! It looked dyed, like the color of toothpaste. This is the lighthouse that is part of the Port Huron Museum stops. We didn't climb it. Alot of us had open toed shoes on that wasn't allowed and we decided we just had time to look around.


Next was the Thomas Edison Depot Museum. It was a very small, yet very hands on museum. Really geared for kids, which was wonderful for us. I had thought we might skip it, but was very glad we changed our minds.


After the Thomas Eddison museum we had lunch at a very close park, you could see our next stop (a lightship) from where we ate. There was a squirrel that was very interested in our food, and got too close in my mind. I think it would've ate out of our hands had we offered it something, but I didn't really want to feed it. We also got to see a couple large ships go by. Everyone loved that.



The Huron Light Ship was the 3rd stop in the group of museums. A lightship, we learned, is used in areas a light house can't be built. It was a small ship and a quick little tour. The 2nd picture is of Randy, Tim, and Alex in the engine room.


Our last stop in Port Huron was Carnegie Center. It was a small museum, the best part was display after display of model ships and somehow I didn't get any pictures of those. But here is one of Randy showing the kids a display on mechanical advantage, only the display is set up incorrectly so he's explaining how it's actually not mechanical advantage. There was also a farm display (that didn't allow pictures), the highlight for the kids was the life size plastic calf the kids could bottle feed, brush, and put a halter on. There was also a display of a wide variety of instruments as well.


Saturday we went to the National Shrine of the Little Flower, St. Therese of Lisieux. We went to mass and only got to look around at the sanctuary while in mass, because there was another mass following the one we went to and our kids weren't cooperating. But Alex and I took a look at the adoration chapel and we got to look around outside. This is most of the tower (with the crucifix on it) below what you can see here are 5 angels, each taller than me. It was 104 ft. tall according to a brochure and was very impressive.


Here are all 5 kids in front of the statue of St. Therese of Lisieux. Then it was off to the hotel for dinner and swimming for the 3 older kids. Henry wasn't feeling well and Timmy needed to go to bed.

Thursday, our last full day at the cabins.

Late Friday morning we rented a canoe and Eric got a kayak. We had a really good time. It stared to sprinkle and that wasn't even to bad, but the sprinkles got heavier and cold so we all headed in off the lake. The rain continued all day, and definitely cooled things off. Later Aunt Renee and Uncle Eric braved the water slide and blob in the pouring rain, unfortunately I didn't think to bring my camera to watch them. But here we are before the down pour.


Here's Parker, me, Sophia, Oliver and Randy taking out a canoe.


Here's Uncle Eric taking Henry for a little ride.


Alex rode in a canoe and kayak all by himself!

Day 6 in MI - Wednesday

We ended the day celebrating George's 1st birthday! His actual birthday is July 27, but our family was so glad Joe and Renee would celebrate it early so we could celebrate with them.

We went to a White Pines Pioneer Village after the lighthouse but before George's Birthday Party. The pioneer village was made up of about 30 buildings most of them set up as a variety of building during pioneer times. There was a general store, home of a lawyer complete with a jail in the basement. A building with a fire truck, a blacksmith, and a doctor's office with a booklet on parenting your children - that was the best find to me. It was both interesting and amusing. But there's Sophia and Madison at the school.

Most of the kidos playing checkers at the general store.

Alex and Grandma by the loom.

We also checked out the Breakwater lighthouse and climbed to the top

Here's Dale (Stiles), me and Sara all the way at the top!

Here's our crew trying to climb the lighthouse.

Vacationing Day 5 -Tuesday

The day started with almost everyone, including Randy, Alex, Max and Sophia going off to raft, canoe, and kayak. But Margaret, Sara, Parker, Renee, George, Henry, Timmy and I went to the air conditioned children's museum, called Sand Castles. It was a short little drive and well worth it. The look on Henry's face here says it all (sorry I chopped your head off Margaret.). The kids loved it!! And didn't want to leave. There was a wide variety of places to play and fun was had by all.


Henry and George in the sand together.


Henry and Grandma at the Bubble table.




Parker is snacking on plastic bread sticks from the grocery store, as Timmy pushes a little grocery cart.

This is actually the first thing the boys jumped on when we walked into the museum. I wasn't sure they'd play with anything else the whole day.


A friendly game of Scrabble, late in the afternoon between Aunt Kathy, Max and Alex. Sophia watched and drew all over everything.


We went to Coco and Chris to cool down in their air conditioned cabin before dinner. They brought their dogs and so of course the little ones had to get in one of the empty dog cages. There's Sophia, Henry and Timmy taking their turn.



Sophia and Max coloring.



Uncle Eric was fishing Tuesday night and let Alex come along. Alex caught a fish!! Eric, being a very good uncle, was trying to show Alex how to take the fish off the hook and got stabbed with the catfish spine.