Laura Ingalls Wilder Road Trip!

While my husband was off on a Guys Weekend, the girls and I decided to have an adventure of our own. We chose to do a Laura Ingalls Wilder road trip, hitting up 8 states and covering thousands of miles!

Yes! Let’s hit all of these sites!

We started off in our very own state first – kicking it to Pepin, WI for the Little House on the Big Woods. This site is a wayside off of the highway, so you really don’t ever have to worry about the hours of the house. We’ve visited before, but it was a great spot to kick off the trip! We had not been to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in town, though, and that was the perfect place to buy some bonnets to carry us through our trip, and look at some artifacts from Laura and her family.

Reading “Little House on the Big Woods” at the Little House on the Big Woods!
Playing a game at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum

Our next stop was all the way in Deborah, IA, but it was a pretty drive along the Mississippi into Minnesota and down to Iowa. It also didn’t feel like a long drive, as it was a little less than 2 hours from Pepin. We got to see Laura Ingalls Wilder’s real height and try hard tack. You can see it was a real hit….

My fourth grader is almost as tall as Laura Ingalls Wilder was
Can you tell she LOVES hardtack?

Next it was off to Almanzo’s church in Spring Valley, MN, where we just made the last tour of the day.

There was a museum inside the church, and through the tour, we got to take part in a bucket brigade. Seems like a crazy way to have to put out a fire!

We drove past the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, MN and then off to Sanborn, MN for the Sod House on the Prairie. This was really interesting to see, as you could see the layers and layers of sod. We definitely got the prairie vibes at this stop, which was actually at a farm. When we pulled in, we felt like we were visiting someone’s house!

Very prairie!

Our final spot of the day was in Walnut Grove, MN, where we stopped at the Laura Ingalls Dugout Spot. This stop was beautiful! It also is Plum Creek, from the book “On the Banks of Plum Creek.”

Reading “On the Banks of Plum Creek” while actually on the banks of Plum Creek!
Crazy to stand in this spot!

The next morning, we got up and hit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, MN. This museum was really fun, as it was set up like a town, with a lot of areas for the girls to explore their imaginations. We went for lunch in Nellie’s Cafe, which was across the street.

Playing in the kitchen, while wearing the dress up clothes
They were excited to play the pump organ!
Shopping at the General Store

Then we drove to De Smet, SD for the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Homes Tour. We also visited the DeSmet Cemetery to pay our respects to the Wilder family. We then visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead also in DeSmet, which was a very fun place to visit, as well, as you could learn to do laundry the way people did during this time period, go to school to see what that was like, and make your own corn dolls and jump ropes. We stayed overnight at the Homestead, getting a covered a wagon as our lodging for the night.We even got an intense prairie storm featuring hail and hefty winds. We took shelter in the bathroom because we weren’t sure how the canvas of a covered wagon holds up to hail, but it turns out we were the only ones concerned!

Someone didn’t like her pretend teacher (me)!
At the school in the Historic Homes Tour
Ringing the school bell!
Grinding the wheat on the Historic Homes Tour
Playing a fiddle similar to Pa’s on the Historic Homes Tour
At the Ingalls’ gravesites
Cart ride! At the Laura Ingalls Homestead
Making a jump rope
Laundry time
Driving the horses and cart for our ride to the schoolhouse!
Now it’s her turn to tell the horses where to go!
Living the prairie life!
Home, sweet home for the night!
That’s some big hail!
Check out the mammatus clouds!
Inside our wagon, ready for bed!

Our next day did not feature any Laura Ingalls Wilder sites, as we had to drive all the way down to Independence, Kansas. However, we did stop to see things because I don’t like driving that long without some fun stops. We went to the Oz Museum in Wamego, as both of my girls are fans. We also stopped at the Tallgrass National Prairie Reserve to imagine what the prairie looked like during Laura’s life. We saw the biggest grasshoppers, and felt the intense summer heat.

We followed the Yellow Brick Road in Wamego, KS
Tallgrass National Prairie Reserve
We saw the biggest grasshoppers here!!!

The next morning, we were back at it, checking out the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites in Independence, KS. We also jumped over the state line into Oklahoma to visit the Mickey Mantle childhood home. This whole day was an interesting collection of dirt road driving. Good thing I got a rental car!!! We then went on to Mansfield, MO, where we visited Laura Ingalls Wilder Home. After that, we drove to the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis to view the special nighttime showing of the Chihuahua sculptures.

Little House on the Prairie in Independence, KS
More spots to explore at the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites in Independence, KS
Petting the donkeys at Laura’s sites in Kansas
Laura’s house in Mansfield, MO
Standing next to a full-size replica of Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura’s favorite house in Mansfield, MO.
Missouri Botanical Gardens

Our final day of our trip was spent in the City Museum in St. Louis – a favorite of our family’s. It was fun to climb and jump and frolic after so many days in the car. We then drove all the way home to WI again. It was a great car trip, and the girls read the Laura Ingalls books in the car throughout the trip. It was a very fun road trip that was fun to do just as us girls! ❤

These fish tickle! (At the City Museum in St. Louis)
Lots of fun to be had at the City Museum
Climbing on the roof at the City Museum!
These bugs made it all the way from Kansas to WI on the front of our rental car, surviving a rainstorm between St. Louis and WI!

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

Mommy Camps, Week One

With all of the usual summer camps and classes canceled, I decided to help my girls have some adventures this summer of our own. For my first week of summer camp, we did three different ideas rolled into one. I figured there’s no way I can fill 8 hours with just one theme for 5 days. Instead, I created more of a collection of classes for the girls to explore some of the things they have interests in. For week 1, this included writing, movie creation, and cooking camps.

I actually tied the writing and movie camps together. The first day last week, I had the girls write a script for a puppet show. They had to keep in mind how many puppets they could easily switch between. They also needed to be sure to develop a plot. This was mainly aimed at my soon-to-be 1st grade daughter. My soon-to-be 5th grader didn’t need as much coaching on the elements of a story, which was good. I was able to help my youngest while my oldest went off on her own to work.

Then I had the girls pick out their puppets, and I had old socks available in case they wanted a character we did not have. That way, they could make anything they needed. They were sent off to practice their show 3 times to work out the kinks and character switches. After that, they performed the show for each other (and me & my camera!). Voila! Movie #1 was done!

Fun with puppets!

For day #2, we read some fairy tales from Grimm’s Fairy tales and then read some twisted fairy tales (I have a thing for crazy twists on these classic stories ever since I had a teacher have us right our own twist. My favorite one to read is “The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs” by Jon Scieszka. It’s told from the viewpoint of the misunderstood wolf!). I then tasked the girls with writing their own mixed-up fairy tale.

For the movie part of this adventure, they could either choose to act out their story, or perform it as another puppet show. Surprisingly, they mixed it up!

Day #3 featured the girls working out their very own newscast. Since they’ve been writing newspaper stories for their summer paper, I had them start their articles for that for the writing side of camp. However, I teach music lessons on Wednesday morning, so I typed out a nice guide to creating a newscast and how to split up the headlines, special feature, weather, and sports portions of the newscast. They then had to work out their parts and once my lessons were done for the morning, I recorded their newscast. I then put it all together in a quick iMovie, and added a nice news fanfare lead-in and closing. Boom. Done.

Day #4 involved the girls learning how to persuade their parents with a persuasive essay of their choice (Wormy chose to advocate for a game night, and Squid asked for a time turner from Harry Potter…oh boy). We then talked about how these same skills were used when companies make commercials – aiming for a certain audience, selling their points to change people’s minds about their product, etc. The girls then wrote, practiced, and recorded their own commercials for a product of their choice.

All of the movies I’ve made of the girls are housed on their very own unlisted playlists on YouTube that I have created. I will then be sending out a link to family to watch videos, if they are interested.

On Friday (day #5), we finally had a break in a heat wave we were having, so we took a break from the writing and movie work and played outside. The girls also had a dance recital tonight that they practiced for each day, as well, so they got extra time in practicing outside.

For the cooking part of our camp, the girls have been making food from the America’s Test Kitchen for kids subscription box that Squid’s awesome godmother bought the girls. I decided it was super awesome they can make these fun recipes, but I wanted them to also know the basic things – you know, survival food! Their cooking this week featured Mac & cheese (from a box), tacos, corn dogs, spaghetti, and grilled cheese. I am happy to report that I was able to stand in the kitchen and tell the girls exactly what to do without doing a single thing myself. They truly made dinner for us completely. And, added bonus – both girls can cook noodles, brown meat, and flip things in a frying pan. You know, those important skills….

I love kids’ knives! They both aren’t scared to chop things up because the knives aren’t scary!

So, stay tuned for next week….I think we’re going to do ukulele camp and photography camp for certain. We will see what else we need! There have been requests for the rest of our movie camp ideas to come along as well (stopped animation is on the list!)

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

Extra! Extra! Read All About It

I know it has been a LONG time since the Car Full of Harmony was up and running. My apologies! I got a bit involved in some school projects and trying to make some meaningful lessons for my students, and by the time I was done with that each day, I was all technology-ed out.

However, it’s SUMMER! After taking a week or two off of online learning and just enjoying life getting up when we wanted and playing when we wanted, we are now getting into a schedule again. We tend to operate best on schedules. Since this will be a long summer without our usual swimming lessons, summer classes, camps, vacations, and other fun adventures, I’ve decided to create “Mommy Camp.” However, instead of spending 8 hours or more a day doing the same types of activities, I’m creating more of an hour of activities for each day on each idea.

Our first ‘camp’ has been Newspaper camp. The girls are going to be creating a (small) newspaper each week with the news from our house. They are responsible for brainstorming story ideas each week, writing their article, and adding photos to support their story. They have been super excited about this. We discussed how each story has to have a “Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How” to it. We have practiced interviewing to put in direct quotes whenever possible to enhance our story telling. We’re just getting started, but as their editor, I am rather proud of their enthusiasm and work on it. I have not heard a groan yet, which is rare for a multi-day project!

Obviously with a 4th grader (oops, I mean going-into-fifth-grader) and a Kindergartner (oops, soon-to-be-first-grader), their writing styles will differ greatly. It has not been too hard to let them work at their level. It has been a great way for Wormy (my youngest) to get practice writing and forming ideas in a structured manner, and it has given Squid the opportunity to embellish her dramatic flair. I used Adobe Spark Post to create the paper itself, as I’m trying to learn a new skill as well.

The next camp we will be adding to our fun will be “Movie Camp.” I’m going to have the girls create different kinds of movies – YouTube demonstrations/reviews, TikTok, stopped animation, puppet shows, acting out their own story, and those crazy animation things you do on a pad of Post-it notes when you’re bored! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Since I don’t like to include the girls’ real names and works in my blog, here’s a picture of our cat eating the Cat Grass that was featured in Squid’s article!

Mmm, tasty! And the first thing I’ve ever grown with incredible success!!!

Lisa WernerLeave a comment