Tourists

Last Friday my Dad went to Costa Rica for a mission trip. I had told Mom a while back that I would go stay with her for a few days while he is gone. After taking Dad to the airport on Friday, Russ, Chloe Jo and I went to change our licenses and tags over and around 5:30 that evening Chloe Jo and I finally got on the road to go to Missouri to stay with Mom.

My grandparents are celebrating their 60th (!!!) anniversary this year so we started working on party stuff on Friday, worked on it all day Saturday and Sunday. This is good because we have gotten a lot accomplished and all of the supplies bought. We weren't planning on it being this way, but that's okay. So Monday my Mom went to work and Chloe Jo and I decided to go to Mansfield, MO to see Laura Ingalls Wilder's home. I have always wanted to do this and I'm so glad we went!

I think Chloe Jo was pretty excited about going, too! I read all of Laura's books when I was young (and am now itching to read them again) and I am looking forward to reading them to Chloe Jo when she gets a little bit older (maybe they will be the first chapter books we read because chapter books are so special to a child....Lassie was the first chapter book my Mom read to me).

 We were able to tour two of Laura's homes. She lived in them both during her adult life and they are where she wrote her books.

 I imagine Laura sat on these same steps, maybe shucking corn, when she lived in this house.

 This is Laura and Almanzo's farm house. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside. I was so fun to get to see furniture that Almanzo built and where Laura sat to write. I loved getting to peek into this part of her life.

 This is the stone cottage that Laura and Almanzo lived in for 8 years. Their daughter, Rose, had it built and gave it to them for a Christmas present! While they lived in the stone cottage, Rose lived in the farm house. Rose later decided to move to the northeast and Laura and Almanzo moved back to the farm house because the stone cottage was just not home.

 Our tour guide took this picture for us. It was raining when we went through stone cottage so they also let us borrow an umbrella.

 After touring the homes and going through the museum, I decided to go to the cemetery to see Laura, Almanzo and Rose's graves. Rose was married for a short time and then never remarried so she is buried with her parents.

 Laura and Almanzo's stone only had their last name on the back.

 Rose's stone had a whole paragraph!

 After finishing up in Mansfield, I decided to go out to Bakersville and check it out. Bakersville is just north of Mansfield and it is an old pioneer village. We didn't have much time to explore so I filed it away in the back of my head so that we can go again at a later date.

 I love old pioneer villages. Going through this village made me really want to go get an old time photo taken! I'm going to ask for that for my birthday I think!

 Chloe Jo also loved exploring the village.

 There were several shops and most of the display items were also for sale.

 My favorite shop was the apothecary. It smelled so good when you walked in. I love the smells of spices and dried herbs.

Chloe Jo was especially fascinated with this water wheel and the pond of gold fish the water flowed in to.

 She was very disappointed that this wagon didn't have a horse attached to it! HA! She is so silly because she doesn't want anything to do with horses when we get close to them!

We had a very fun day and I am looking forward to going back to Bakersville with the rest of the family soon!