Living History Farms

On Friday morning, I boarded a school bus in Gilbert in the pouring rain and headed to Living History Farms with Jared and the rest of the 4th. graders. My friend, Brigitte, was along with her son, Noah, and we spent most of the bus ride wondering (out loud) what we were thinking. We had the option of driving our own car to Des Moines, but we opted for the bus when we considered the price of gas. DUMB!! When we looked out the front window we had trouble seeing the road because it was raining so hard, and the driver wasn't even sure which exits to take! Brigitte and I were not very comfortable with our decision to even go on the field trip...especially since she was burning a day of vacation to spend the day in the rain!


Lucky for us, the rain stopped just as we got there. Yes, it was muddy, but if you walked in the grass right on the side of the path we were on it wasn't too bad. This is a picture of the class and one of our tour guides. Mrs. Jones is standing in the back. (You can't hardly pick her out because she just blends right in with all of the 10 year olds!)



One of the first places we went was the general store. After a short speech about how a general store operated the kids were allowed to buy something. As you can see, many of the boys chose the black hats. We thought they looked like a gang of Monopoly men! (For the record, the 2 ladies at the general store were EVIL! They barked at the kids if they leaned on the counter, or if they didn't unfold the money before they handed it to her. One of the classes were told that they were late and there wasn't any time for them to shop so they should just walk through, look around and leave. I'm thinking they were tired of living in the 1900's, but geez!!)

Riding on the tram....

At one of the places we visited, the kids were allowed to help make a rope, and then Mrs. Jones got to keep it for the class. She wasn't sure what to do with it, so she tied it around her waist....making her INDIANA JONES! (Funny, huh?!) While we were waiting for our tour around the animals she proceeded to tie up a couple of the naughty kids. OK, so it was Jared and Noah--but this gives you a little idea about the disciplinary practices at Gilbert Elementary! (Again....funny, huh?!)

I don't care what anyone says....Jared and I were stopped by the pig pen and it DID NOT smell like money!

In the furniture shop....Jared tried his hand at smoothing out this piece of wood. He was mostly interested in the coffin that was in the back, though. On the way out he told me "The coffin was screwed shut so we couldn't see the inside." I knew that would intrigue him!

The rain stayed away until we were walking back to the bus, and then it down poured again. It was a fun day spent with Jared and his friends even if it was a little wet and muddy. Next year he'll go to the middle school and his field trips are becoming fewer and farther between, so I better go on them while I can. Not to mention, I'm becoming less cool each and every day!