This is the Place

After our zoo visit and lunch with the cousins, we handed Bear off to Grandma and headed off to This is the Place Heritage Park. It was awesome and the girls learned so much about their pioneer ancestors.  It also helps that we are reading the Little House on the Prairie books!   As you can see above, we learned all about pioneer chores, including washing clothes, and "vacuuming" the rugs.

The girls also got to learn about all different kinds of pioneer kid games. Rolling a hoop with a stick is NOT as easy as it looks!

At another house, the girls got to try their hand at carding wool. They learned all about how the wool is shorn (sheared?) washed, dried, carded, spun, dyed and then knitted or woven into things.  They also got to meet and pet one of the angora bunnies and see how his fur is used to make yarn.

 My favorite part of the day was the Native American dance demonstration.  This troupe performed all kinds of native dances in the beautiful costumes. The "MC" guy explained all of the dances, like where they came from and when they were done, traditionally.  I loved (and still do) going to the PowWow in Heber all growing up but this is the first time I've ever heard an explanation about the dances and their singing.  I was extra-glad the girls and DMP got to see it, and that they got to see a really neat hoop dance (my favorite!).

Then it was off to make crafts!  The girls made a spinning button pioneer game/toy (EJ is really good at it, actually) and they made real rag dolls.  EJ named hers Mary, and Birdy named hers Laura. It was cute!

Next we saw the school house. It was really cool because it is a replica of the one-room school house that was in Heber, UT.  The girls learned all about what school was like for kids there, including discipline (I told Birdy to make a "sad" face because she was in trouble...)

This is the Place was one of the highlights of our trip. It was so neat and there was so much to see and do. We definitely needed more than half a day. We missed the Navajo camp, riding ponies, more cabins and houses, a train ride and the girls were especially sad to miss out on panning for gold. Next time!