Vacation, day 7

Day 7 of vacation landed us just outside Indianapolis, IN at an interactive history park: Conner Prairie. I have to admit...when Andy first mentioned a day set back in the 1800's, I was a bit leery of it being "fun". He had a point though--our kids just eat up these educational places, so away we went!

It was AMAZING. Totally AMAZING.
According to the CP website, "Conner Prairie" is set around the life of William Conner, who, in 1823 built a huge house overlooking a flood plain that became known as "Conner's Prairie". In the 1930's, Eli Lily, who had a passion for American History, found Conner's house, forgotten and falling down. He bought up the land and opened it to the public--to teach what textbooks can't teach! In the 1970's, it became a living history museum--where staff live and speak the time period they portray. This year, the 1863 Civil War Journey: Raid on Indiana opened to the public.

But back to the visit of day 7: Guess what? The day started out looking like it was going to be a wash with rain all over the map. Ironically, the entire week we were on vacation, Mr. "Obsessed With The Weather" had promoted Friday (day 7) as a beautiful day--sunny and 70 in Indianapolis. That didn't turn out to be a reality. But, even the weather we had did not give Andy a point in the weather game--turns out that the overcast and few sprinkles we felt most likely kept a lot of the crowds away from Conner Prairie. We really couldn't have asked for any better weather--it was overcast, but pleasant!

Our 1st stop was to the area that depicted frontier games at Lenape Indian Camp.

Our 2nd stop was the petting zoo/barn...which the big girls LOVED and Colin and Ava HATED. When uploading the photos, I actually said "WHERE are the girls with animals?!" --my job was keeping Colin from screaming while the girls fell in love with goats and kittens.

We then moved onto the "town"....what life was like in the 1800's...visiting a home where workers were actually carding and spinning wool, the blacksmith shop, the garden, and a typical homeowner who was busy tending to the jobs of the day-making bread.

Above, the middle left photo shows Ava giving the blacksmith 3 quarters--he asked for 3 quarters to fix our horseshoe and when she took up "3 quarters", his response was "What kind of funny money is THIS?!" It was then that we really appreciated the living history part of Conner Prairie. The employees REALLY lived out their parts for us.

Below, we were visiting the general store, Colin is using a very large broom, the kids visited the 1 room school house and played with the toys of the times...stilts!

We learned interesting facts about school in the 1800's--in a person's lifetime, they were lucky if they received 6 months of schooling. And, school was in session Monday-Saturday from 7am-4pm...only during the non harvesting seasons.

We visited the doctor--again, another really good 'acting the part of the times'. This doctor was HILARIOUS. It just so happened that a few of us were struggling with the cold that Colin had on day 4/5 and it was the perfect "condition" for us to report to the local doctor. Ellie was freaked out, as the doctor appeared to be willing to put a leach on her neck!
To watch the dr part 1, click HERE.
To watch the dr part 2, click HERE.

The kids took part in gardening--getting rid of rocks, hoeing, and pulling weeds. Hey...speaking of weeds...now that they know how to pull weeds, I have new job for the girls....
Video of the garden experience is HERE.

We also saw the new calf that had just been born...

After visiting Prairietown, we headed toward the new exhibits on the Civil War.
Another AMAZING area....very interactive and educational. The highlight of this portion was the purchase of the "Little House on the Prairie" bonnets.

We also were trained how to be a part of the army for the Civil War--we learned how to walk in step and then were ushered through a display of the actual attack of General John Hunt Morgan's raid on Indiana. To see a portion of our training, click HERE.

Another fun part of the day was visiting the candle making demonstration. The beeswax was so interesting--the pot of wax was a very hot pot, but as soon as it drips off the candle after dipping, the candles are cool to the touch! To see the candle dipping, click HERE.

After that fun, we headed back to the entrance where they had an inside play area for kids. The children had such a fun time dressing up and playing "house".

Ava and Colin got to work tending to the house while Jayna milked the cow and made butter...and Ellie shot some hoops! Andy enjoyed the leather couches for parents and I got to shop in the Conner Prairie store all by myself....ahhhh.

Conner Prairie was one of the highlights of the vacation and we'd definitely recommend this to EVERYONE. It was amazing and one place we'd for sure want to visit again.

After our day at CP, we headed out for some BBQ and then to our last hotel. By this time, 4 of us were struggling with Colin's cold....and we were anxious to get home.