Day 6: Laura Ingalls Homestead

Warning:  This may be a long post.  Get a snack or come back when your kids are in bed and you can read uninterrupted.

If you haven't already you MUST MUST MUST visit Laura Ingalls Wilder's Homestead in De Smet, SD!!  You MUST!!  Boo says it is better than Disneyland.  You will wish you could wear long dresses and wash your clothes by hand.

We actually arrived at the Homestead close to midnight.  When I made camping reservations, we booked an RV site and a LARGE COVERED WAGON!  Our family of six, trundled over the warm grassy prairie with a milky full moon shining down on us.  As the kids got settled into their beds and Gaston went to use the facilities, I sat on the steps of the wagon with the warm wind and looked out over the wheat and oats and corn and hayroof barn and little house on the prairie.  It was surreal and  lovely.

The next morning we got our visitor stickers.  Everything about the property encouraged kids to touch and interact.  We started with a visit to the dugout house made from sod and the shanty.  Then we moved onto the hayloft barn, with 3 tiny kittens that the kids fell in love with.  We all tried out the pump at the well and Grandpa gave lessons on how to throw water out of a bucket.  Legoguy and Wild Thing ended up just throwing the bucket itself along with the water.

The next place we visited was the little house with its garden.  The owner of the property was our guide that day and quickly came out of the house and started the kids in on washing clothes with a washboard and wringer.  Boo told me that if I bought her these items, she would do all of the wash at our house by herself.  All day long they would watch and wait for the washing station to be free so they could go do it again.

We took a wagon ride from the bigger barn to the school house, which was about 1/2 mile away.  The kids all got to take a turn at steering the big draft horses and were quite proud that they managed to keep them in line.  The school house was not original to Laura's time, but was very similar to the one she taught in.  They kids were all encouraged to dress up with straw hats for the boys and dresses and bonnets for the girls.  The teacher guide gave us a peek into life in a country school house and even had the boys come up and count by 2s and the bigger kids participate in a spelling bee.  After that we all got to ring the school bell and headed back to the barn in the wagon.

Our next stop was Flint's Garage, where the kids got to ground wheat with a coffee grinder, learn how to twist straw to make it burn slower, make rope, and make corncob dolls or superheroes.  Since we were there for the day, we returned several times and now have a large corncob doll family and enough rope to tie Grandpa up with.  The boys made lassos out of their rope and were practicing their lasso skills on a metal calf outside.

There was so much to do!  At the barn they had pony rides, which was Wild Thing's favorite part.  The pony's name was Toby.  They had an exhibit with excerpts from each of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. They had a lovely and very air-conditioned visitors center where we browsed for quite awhile and the kids played checkers.

That evening Gaston, Wild Thing, Grandma, and I walked to an old chapel near the property.  It was quite humid and the sun was melting persimmon on the horizon.  On our way back to the covered wagon, the town's fireworks display started.  A lovely end to a lovely day...