Laura and the Swallows

A few minutes ago Isaac and I went over to see some swallow nests on a bridge near our campground. I saw some other swallow nests on a bridge on the river kids rafting trip. There were a lot more of them here though. There was almost 100 I think.

Yesterday we went to De Smet, SD, where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived. After we ate lunch in the park, we took a tour of her schoolhouse and two of the homes she lived in. My favorite part of the tour was when we got to look at all of the Ingalls family things in the last house - The House that Pa Built. After that we went down to the homestead. When we got there, our first stop was the dug out that was like one they might have lived in on Plum Creek. Then we wandered over to Ma's little house and the water pump.

While we were in Ma's house someone came and asked us if we would like to go on a wagon ride. On the wagon ride, we went to the schoolhouse, and we got to pretend we were going to school in one like where Laura might have gone. After we got back to the farm, we saw some miniature horses. The baby one was really shy, but once when I came up to it...it actually held still and I got to pet it for a few minutes. Then we went over to Flindt's Garage. Inside he showed us what the grass knots they used to burn in the fire in the winter probably looked like. Then he showed us how they ground the wheat into flour using a coffee grinder, and we got to try too. After that, I made a corn baby doll and Isaac made a corn super hero. I named my doll Rose after Laura's daughter, Rose. Then we both made jump ropes by twisting our own rope.

Shortly after that, Daddy arrived with the camper at our campsite. After dinner and ice cream from Dairy Queen, Daddy, Isaac and I took a bike ride down to the schoolhouse and up the rode by the homestead to the trees Pa planted. We climbed one of them, but we didn't go very high because they were so big. I'm so glad I chose the Little Town on the Prairie as my special place.

Abby