Old Sturbridge Village

Last Friday we let Mia skip school and we drove down to Old Sturbridge Village in southern MA. Claire was taking her kids because they were having a Home Schooling day with lots of extra activities and we tagged along with them. As we were parking the car, Mateus leaned over to Mia and almost in a whisper directed her to "make sure you don't tell anyone you are a 'schooler.'"

We had a great day. We left the house in Claire's van at around 8 30 and we didn't get home until almost 6. No one napped except for Biance who fell asleep in the car on the way home for about 45 minutes and there were no major breakdowns or tantrums all day. I think the kids, and probably the adults too truth be told, were just so happy to finally be outside after such a long, cold winter that almost nothing could have brought us down. It really was a beautiful day and such a cool museum.

One of the first things we saw were the lambs. Lennon was especially excited about them.

Shortly after, we came upon a couple of chickens. Lennon didn't want to get to close in case one of the chickens "might pick" him.

We saw a guy boiling sap from a maple tree to make maple sugar. He said out of every gallon of sap, about 95-98% of it is water, so it takes quite a while to get a decent amount of it. Lennon was much more interested in climbing on and off this rock and narrating as he went. "Now, I'm climbing back on top. Now, I'm walking back down. Now, I'm stepping up on the rock..." And so on.

Our crazy kids. We hiked up a hill that was still mostly covered in snow and kind of slick. Had a banana snack at the top and the kids danced, twirled in circles and conquered huge climbs, like this rock.

Trying out the craft of Cooper

I thought you might say that.

Lennon held this piece up to me upside down and asked, "like this?" "Sure" I said, "that's good." He then turned it the right way and said "I thought it was supposed to be like this?" He likes making me look stupid.

Silly Boo, posing with a branch

This is just before lunch. Lennon had accumulated about 5 branches which I made him leave outside of the cafeteria. This was when I asked him to run to catch up with the rest of the gang going in to eat and he said, "No, Mommy. I'm not going to run. I'm going to walk. Running, is falling."

Mia and Mateus trying to fit in this tiny little cabinet before lunch. It was only about 6 inches deep.

Lennon feeling the weight of an old fashioned iron.

Our little domestics, hand washing Bianca's hat. As we were leaving, Bianca turned to Claire and said, "I can only leave for a minute. I have A LOT of washing to do."

This whole shaving kit was glued down. Lennon tried with all his might to use it nevertheless.

This little girl can find a basket anywhere in the world. She loves pretending to be Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

Climbing the fence to see the huge bull.

Lennon fed the bull some of his pine branch. The bull ate it at first, but then seemed to decide that it was not really that good.

I just thought this sign was funny. There was a whole exhibit about old guns and military stuff. We didn't spend too much time in there cause it was late in the day and the kids were pretty much toast by then.

Mia and Mateus looking out the window of the pretend outhouse on the playground. Quite a strange piece of play equipment if you ask me. Lennon was in there and said he was going to go potty. I told him to make sure not to actually go potty. He assured me he was just pretending and then squatted and said, "poop, poop, poop." Nice.

Riding the bull.

Claire stayed with the little kids at the playground while Mia and Mateus made tin candle holders. While the little kids were playing, Bianca told Claire, "I am his wife and he is my human."

Lennon must have spent ten minutes pretending to fill up this bucket with water from the well and then taking the water into the house for Bianca to cook and wash with.

In the car. Bianca passed out. Lennon finished off a bag of freeze dried strawberries, which always has a ton of red "dust" at the bottom and makes a huge mess, as you can see. He also seems to be able to make more of a mess eating than any other living creature I have ever known. It's pretty much amazing. He stains almost everything he wears.

Lambs, chickens, bulls, cows, candle sticks, pretend potties and guns. What more could you ask for in a day? Early in the day Mia told me that she definitely wanted to be home schooled for third grade. And the saga continues...