Today we stayed on the homestead and enjoyed all that it has to offer.
Mother Nature apparently thought we needed to truly experience the prairie so we had warm, but strong, winds all day long! I can't say it made me have any interest in living out here! Ashlyn commented that she didn't realize there could be wind like this with rain or cold.
The horse's name is the same as Little Bit's.
Ready to ride.
Nobody knows what happened to the original claim shanty that Pa built on the homestead but town records give us the dimensions so they built one the same size. This is the room the 4 girls shared after Pa added on the first addition (2 bedrooms). The "main room", that was the whole house for the first year, is twice the size of this bedroom.
The whole shanty as it would have looked after 1883 when Pa added another room to house the organ they bought for Mary.
Kids could try their hand at doing laundry outside the shanty.
We took a wagon ride out to a school house. Not on it's original site, and not where Laura taught, that one burned down and this was built in it's place and continued to be used until the 1960s.
Inside the kids dressed up in bonnets and pinafores. And a retired teacher told about school back then.
The water bucket and dipper. So hygenic.
The exterior of the school. The teacher said up to 30-some students attended there!
Little Bit got a turn "driving" on the way back.
When we got back from the wagon ride the big girls had to love on the horses.
The colt we met yesterday was happy to see us. He's only a month old and friendly as can be. Comes up and rubs against you if you're ignoring him.
Little Bit wanted to drive the pony cart so Lexie rode along.
Ashlyn took a turn driving the pony cart too but I didn't get a picture. She said the guy told her that pony doesn't have to be tied to the rail between rides, she stays put EXCEPT during the summer they stop at 6:30. That pony can tell time and right at 6:30 if she isn't tied up she'll start toward home lol.
The pony waiting, not tied, between rides. I love how she rests her chin on the rail.
Lexie's turn riding the horse.
Ashlyn's turn. Notice the colt waiting for her to come love on him some more.
Even though the Ingalls never lived in a dugout in SD, there's a replica of one here on the homestead. Based on the indentation left by the one on Plum Creek, I think this is pretty accurate as far as size.
I knew it was small, but the thing that struck me when I went inside was that somehow it being dark and having dark, solid, thick walls made me feel a LOT more claustrophobic in the dugout than I have in the various small cabins and shanties.
Shudder . . .even realizing that it would be warmer in winter and cooler in summer, I'm not sure I could stand to live there.
While the Ingalls' shanty is long gone, they do have a claim shanty from the time period that they moved to this property.
After we'd finished exploring Lexie decided to hang out on the front porch of the gift shop since their WiFi seems to ONLY work there. Later, I went looking for her and didn't see her on the porch at first, then I found her tucked into a corner of the buggy they have on the porch lol
And finally, one last cat picture. The cats are super friendly. This little guy had been "talking" to us then went over in the sun to sleep but instead of laying flat on the porch he decided to lay with his neck bent at a terribly uncomfortable angle against the planter leg. And promptly went to sleep like that.
Mother Nature apparently thought we needed to truly experience the prairie so we had warm, but strong, winds all day long! I can't say it made me have any interest in living out here! Ashlyn commented that she didn't realize there could be wind like this with rain or cold.
The horse's name is the same as Little Bit's.
Ready to ride.
Nobody knows what happened to the original claim shanty that Pa built on the homestead but town records give us the dimensions so they built one the same size. This is the room the 4 girls shared after Pa added on the first addition (2 bedrooms). The "main room", that was the whole house for the first year, is twice the size of this bedroom.
The whole shanty as it would have looked after 1883 when Pa added another room to house the organ they bought for Mary.
Kids could try their hand at doing laundry outside the shanty.
We took a wagon ride out to a school house. Not on it's original site, and not where Laura taught, that one burned down and this was built in it's place and continued to be used until the 1960s.
Inside the kids dressed up in bonnets and pinafores. And a retired teacher told about school back then.
The water bucket and dipper. So hygenic.
The exterior of the school. The teacher said up to 30-some students attended there!
Little Bit got a turn "driving" on the way back.
When we got back from the wagon ride the big girls had to love on the horses.
The colt we met yesterday was happy to see us. He's only a month old and friendly as can be. Comes up and rubs against you if you're ignoring him.
Little Bit wanted to drive the pony cart so Lexie rode along.
Ashlyn took a turn driving the pony cart too but I didn't get a picture. She said the guy told her that pony doesn't have to be tied to the rail between rides, she stays put EXCEPT during the summer they stop at 6:30. That pony can tell time and right at 6:30 if she isn't tied up she'll start toward home lol.
The pony waiting, not tied, between rides. I love how she rests her chin on the rail.
Lexie's turn riding the horse.
Ashlyn's turn. Notice the colt waiting for her to come love on him some more.
Even though the Ingalls never lived in a dugout in SD, there's a replica of one here on the homestead. Based on the indentation left by the one on Plum Creek, I think this is pretty accurate as far as size.
I knew it was small, but the thing that struck me when I went inside was that somehow it being dark and having dark, solid, thick walls made me feel a LOT more claustrophobic in the dugout than I have in the various small cabins and shanties.
Shudder . . .even realizing that it would be warmer in winter and cooler in summer, I'm not sure I could stand to live there.
While the Ingalls' shanty is long gone, they do have a claim shanty from the time period that they moved to this property.
After we'd finished exploring Lexie decided to hang out on the front porch of the gift shop since their WiFi seems to ONLY work there. Later, I went looking for her and didn't see her on the porch at first, then I found her tucked into a corner of the buggy they have on the porch lol
And finally, one last cat picture. The cats are super friendly. This little guy had been "talking" to us then went over in the sun to sleep but instead of laying flat on the porch he decided to lay with his neck bent at a terribly uncomfortable angle against the planter leg. And promptly went to sleep like that.
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