Little House on Rocky Ridge
This morning the clouds were dark, rain drops were falling, and the weather report said high chance of thunderstorms. So, we decided to take a break from the lake. We drove south to Mansfield, Missouri which is where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived for the last 63 years of her life and where she wrote the "Little House" books.
Alex is a huge fan of the books (as am I) and has read the entire series multiple times as well as Little House on Rocky Ridge which begins a new series about Laura's daughter, Rose, by a different author.
There is a museum and the farm house they lived in. Another house where they lived for 8 years while Rose lived in the farmhouse is down the road. We were able to tour both houses which was very interesting and visit their graves at the Mansfield cemetery. They were one of the first homes in the area to have electicity and Almanzo had devised a water system so that they had water in the homes. He also built a lot of their furniture and lamps.
We learned that Laura Ingalls Wilder was only 4' 11" which is only an inch taller than Alex! All her kitchen cabinets were very short. It was fun to learn some of the quirkly little things about her. She turned their formal dining room into a music room because she said there was no need for a dining room in a farm house. She also had a pass through put in between the kitchen and dining room and little window seats in the kitchen so that others could visit with her while she worked.
We listened to Little House in the Big Woods on our drive from Seattle and Laura was tickled to be able to see Pa's fiddle, which is mentioned often in the book, on display in the museum. She also thought the spring house was pretty neat. Even after they got electicity and had a refrigerator, Almanzo still kept his goats' milk in the spring house.
Alex was thrilled all around and bought herself one of the books in hardback to add to her collection. She's contemplating a bonnet, but couldn't decide and we'll go to De Smet, South Dakota for more Little House adventures later in the trip, so she has about a week to make up her mind.
The drive through the Ozarks was beautiful and allowed us to see more of the state. Somehow I didn't expect it to be so lush and green.
Dan and the girls are off at the pool again. It gets chilly as the sun goes down, but it doesn't seem to slow the girls down much. We need to get a few things from the store tonight as tomorrow morning we have a pontoon boat and tube rented for more fun on the lake.
Alex is a huge fan of the books (as am I) and has read the entire series multiple times as well as Little House on Rocky Ridge which begins a new series about Laura's daughter, Rose, by a different author.
There is a museum and the farm house they lived in. Another house where they lived for 8 years while Rose lived in the farmhouse is down the road. We were able to tour both houses which was very interesting and visit their graves at the Mansfield cemetery. They were one of the first homes in the area to have electicity and Almanzo had devised a water system so that they had water in the homes. He also built a lot of their furniture and lamps.
We learned that Laura Ingalls Wilder was only 4' 11" which is only an inch taller than Alex! All her kitchen cabinets were very short. It was fun to learn some of the quirkly little things about her. She turned their formal dining room into a music room because she said there was no need for a dining room in a farm house. She also had a pass through put in between the kitchen and dining room and little window seats in the kitchen so that others could visit with her while she worked.
We listened to Little House in the Big Woods on our drive from Seattle and Laura was tickled to be able to see Pa's fiddle, which is mentioned often in the book, on display in the museum. She also thought the spring house was pretty neat. Even after they got electicity and had a refrigerator, Almanzo still kept his goats' milk in the spring house.
Alex was thrilled all around and bought herself one of the books in hardback to add to her collection. She's contemplating a bonnet, but couldn't decide and we'll go to De Smet, South Dakota for more Little House adventures later in the trip, so she has about a week to make up her mind.
The drive through the Ozarks was beautiful and allowed us to see more of the state. Somehow I didn't expect it to be so lush and green.
Dan and the girls are off at the pool again. It gets chilly as the sun goes down, but it doesn't seem to slow the girls down much. We need to get a few things from the store tonight as tomorrow morning we have a pontoon boat and tube rented for more fun on the lake.
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