We came back from the lake on Friday to refluff our stuff before we headed south to check off another item on our summer bucket list. Brynn had wanted to see Laura Ingalls' homestead in De Smet, SD.
We arrived to De Smet around 5:00 pm and got checked into our motel, swam for a bit and then got ready for dinner. After dinner we went to the pageant which is an outdoor play that depicts the stories of Laura Ingalls and her family during their time in South Dakota. It was a really nice evening for it, though a little buggy. We only made it halfway through the pageant before the girls started to get chilly and tired, so we headed back to the motel.
Unfortunately, none of us got much sleep in our motel room. The girls were sharing the second bed in our room and didn't seem to want to settle down. That and Brynn had caught Clara's cold or respiratory infection, or something anyway, and was coughing incessantly through the night. It wasn't until the early, early morning that we realized being the closest to the AC unit was not doing her any favors and she switched places with Daddy and all but ceased her coughing. I felt so bad. When she woke up she was feeling much better thankfully.
We headed back to the area where the pageant was held which was the Ingalls family homestead.
They had a lot of fun things to do, touch and see from the dugout house to a couple different shanty style homes where you could play with and touch the different things inside each house.
Doing the laundry. It was interesting how Brynn thought this way of doing laundry was so much fun, but struggles to find the fun in the automated way she's accustomed to at home. ;-)
After finishing the wash, it was time to go to school. We loaded up on the covered wagon and Clara drove us to the school house. It was so neat that they let her lead the horses. As you can see, one of the farm employees actually as the reigns behind her, but Clara took her job very seriously!
Here we are in school. Clara looked like Strawberry Shortcake with her bonnet on. Haha.
Brynn drove us back from school.
More fun things to do and try out: the girls tried their hand at milling wheat into flour with this hand mill.
And they made corn cob dolls.
And jump ropes!
This was one of the most precious sights. This little pony was just the right size for Clara. She had a blast taking it for a little ride.
Brynn drove a cart pulled by the smaller horse and the larger horse was going along behind.
Clara really like to try out the beds in the houses.
I liked this photo even more after I noticed the little boy touching his pregnant mama's belly in the back room. :-)
Brynn had been reading all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books in the series so she was filling in with info and details from the books as we were touring the homestead. Both girls had a great time and really got into the activities that you can do there. It really was a nice setup and they do a good job.
I had taken different videos of some of the things we did, but my phone died on our way home, so that was a lost cause. :-(
We hit up Dairy Queen before we left town. Just like real homesteaders. Ha.
After we were done in De Smet, we traveled less than an hour over to Uncle Lester and Aunt Shelly's house in Wolsey to stay the night. We sure had a fun time. We were able to go swimming in the same pool that Tessa and I would always go swim at when we'd come to stay with Shelly in the summertime. It all still looked pretty much the same save for the diving boards have been replaced with slides.
Silly monkeys! :-D
Thanks for having us Lester and Shel! We had a blast staying with you guys.
We arrived to De Smet around 5:00 pm and got checked into our motel, swam for a bit and then got ready for dinner. After dinner we went to the pageant which is an outdoor play that depicts the stories of Laura Ingalls and her family during their time in South Dakota. It was a really nice evening for it, though a little buggy. We only made it halfway through the pageant before the girls started to get chilly and tired, so we headed back to the motel.
 |
| We were able to go on a wagon ride prior to the pageant starting. |
Unfortunately, none of us got much sleep in our motel room. The girls were sharing the second bed in our room and didn't seem to want to settle down. That and Brynn had caught Clara's cold or respiratory infection, or something anyway, and was coughing incessantly through the night. It wasn't until the early, early morning that we realized being the closest to the AC unit was not doing her any favors and she switched places with Daddy and all but ceased her coughing. I felt so bad. When she woke up she was feeling much better thankfully.
We headed back to the area where the pageant was held which was the Ingalls family homestead.
They had a lot of fun things to do, touch and see from the dugout house to a couple different shanty style homes where you could play with and touch the different things inside each house.
Doing the laundry. It was interesting how Brynn thought this way of doing laundry was so much fun, but struggles to find the fun in the automated way she's accustomed to at home. ;-)
After finishing the wash, it was time to go to school. We loaded up on the covered wagon and Clara drove us to the school house. It was so neat that they let her lead the horses. As you can see, one of the farm employees actually as the reigns behind her, but Clara took her job very seriously!
Here we are in school. Clara looked like Strawberry Shortcake with her bonnet on. Haha.
Brynn drove us back from school.
More fun things to do and try out: the girls tried their hand at milling wheat into flour with this hand mill.
And they made corn cob dolls.
And jump ropes!
This was one of the most precious sights. This little pony was just the right size for Clara. She had a blast taking it for a little ride.
Brynn drove a cart pulled by the smaller horse and the larger horse was going along behind.
Clara really like to try out the beds in the houses.
I liked this photo even more after I noticed the little boy touching his pregnant mama's belly in the back room. :-)
Brynn had been reading all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books in the series so she was filling in with info and details from the books as we were touring the homestead. Both girls had a great time and really got into the activities that you can do there. It really was a nice setup and they do a good job.
I had taken different videos of some of the things we did, but my phone died on our way home, so that was a lost cause. :-(
We hit up Dairy Queen before we left town. Just like real homesteaders. Ha.
After we were done in De Smet, we traveled less than an hour over to Uncle Lester and Aunt Shelly's house in Wolsey to stay the night. We sure had a fun time. We were able to go swimming in the same pool that Tessa and I would always go swim at when we'd come to stay with Shelly in the summertime. It all still looked pretty much the same save for the diving boards have been replaced with slides.
Silly monkeys! :-D
Thanks for having us Lester and Shel! We had a blast staying with you guys.
Comments