Final (maybe) Thanksgiving update!

The next day we got to worship at Woodland Heights with my Mom...whose feet were really swollen and painful. We later discovered she had a stress fracture in her heel. OUCH!
We had planned on hiking the next day, but it rained, so we went the next day. We went to King's Bluff and Pedestal Rocks, and it was so beautiful. I could post picture after picture, and not capture the beauty. I'll try to keep it to the best of the best.



We had to drive past Booger Hollow to get there!

Wednesday we spent helping Mom get ready for the big day, and on Thursday we went to my brother Mark's house for turkey and dressing and the works. :) Two college students from China joined the family, and it was fun getting to know them.

On "Black Friday" I did do some shopping, and got some good deals, too! Then on Saturday we went back home, and that about (finally!) wraps it up.

Another Thanksgiving Update :)

The Saturday before Thanksgiving at my mom's house, I sent the girls out to rake leaves.

Then Daddy (and Polly and her puppies) got there!!

And once they were finished raking, they did a little jumping. :)

Thanksgiving Vacation Part 3

The day after visiting Laura's home, we drove back to my mom's house in Conway. But on the way, we drove over to Mountain View, Arkansas, to the Ozark Craft Village. There was hardly anyone there, and I loved it! For those of you who've been to Silver Dollar City or Dollywood, it was like that without the rides. Lots of craft demonstrations and living history demonstrations. My kids were the only kids I saw, and there was a cabin with a garden and a schoolhouse and schoolyard that they got to play in as much and as long as they wanted! A woodworker taught them how to throw a real old-fashioned top (well, Mikayla figured it out, anyway). And there was a Christmas carol scavenger hunt, and an elf from the North Pole was hiding in the park for them to find. It was a lot of fun.

Doing a little laundry

 

 

 

Learning how to make corn husk dolls

Schoolhouse!

Rebecca was the teacher and tended the fire.

 

Tsk, tsk, tsk. Mikayla drew the teacher.

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Recess! We played with stilts...

...and built a log cabin.

Learning to throw a top

Learning to make a barrel from the cooper.

In the print shop

 

Merry go round!

Mule power

 

Aaand 4 days before Christmas, here's "Thanksgiving Vacation Part 2"

When the girls and I went to Springfield, Missouri, for the appointment service, we followed my brother Mark and my Mom up the twisty-turny Ozark highways, and it was sooo beautiful! Most of the fall leaves had already fallen, unfortunately, but enough were still there to make my girls get tired of hearing, "Oooo, look over there! Look at that view!" They humored me.
After lunch we separated from Mark and Mom and drove over to Mansfield to the Laura Ingalls Wilder home and museum. As we were driving, I saw this sign:

Well, I got very excited and got Jessica to try to get a picture of the sign. More about that later.

I l-o-v-e-d the Laura museum! We saw so many things from the books, and everybody saw something they thought was cool. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside, but here's the outside.

 Almanzo built the entire house, floor to ceiling, including the chimney, the kitchen cabinets, and most of the furnishings. They were an amazing couple.

After we'd seen everything, we were driving to our hotel and I started seeing the signs again and told Jessica to try to get a picture. She said, "Well, okay, but there's a REAL buggy!"

As you can tell, we were pretty excited about that. :) We don't see Amish/Mennonites very often in Arkansas.