These are just some of the fun things that the children did in Mountain View, AK. Benjamin seemed to be especially fond of the blacksmiths. He wanted to see them no matter where we went that week. Who knew?!
This was the first thing we stopped to do. Geocaching!! The fact that it was in a VW made it even sweeter. The fact that it was 109 degrees (seriously!!!!) almost melted the baby into a blue puddle!
The children loved the swimming every night. We let them stay up late in order to swim. Our uber white family sunburns so easily that we just decided to swim at night. We had the pool to ourselves every time. Benjamin's great accomplishment was jumping into the 8 foot water (with a life vest) and swimming. Fun!
Handsome, sweet boy!
I love pictures of Livi walking with her Daddy. Awww.
This was very interesting to us. First, it has a tree growing out of the center of a huge rock. COOL! Second, Kevin said it reminds him of Aslan's Table.
Now, usually I don't find spiders, spider webs, spider monkeys, or spider veins to be interesting. But, a funnel-shaped web is something else. One of the ladies at the Folk Center told us what kind of spider it was. It was something simple like Funnel Spider, but I don't remember now. Sadly, some hooligan sweet, forest-dwelling animal destroyed it the next day, so we didn't get to enjoy it any more. Bah!
Benjamin made a corn husk doll in this room. I cannot even imagine working in the awful heat in the dresses that these women wear! Makes me thankful for today's more casual attire.
The final result. Even though it was a super cool doll, he was only impressed by the turkey feather!
Marching past the flowers.
Now, THIS is my kind of pet. Clean, low maintenance, quiet, dumb as a block of wood. Ah, it must be because he's made of a block of wood. I don't know who is more amused...me or Olivia.
Old school clothes washing.
Olivia's not sure if she likes this idea very much. Smart baby!
Benjamin LOVED this. "We should get one of these for our house. It would be so much fun to wash clothes like this," said the boy with the clothes that magically appear, cleaned and folded, in his dresser.
Yeah. Again, smart baby!!
I think that Olivia's favorite part of this trip was the animals. She got to see quite a few. I thought that she'd be afraid, but she wasn't. Benjamin was our child who would not enjoy this.
Looking for the perfect spot on the Picnic Swing.
This was pretty cool. I think that they would have ridden forever if the donkey would have kept going. The donkey was expressing his opinion about independence on this day.
Benjamin was quite fond of the printing press. He loved how the gears and things worked. He is his father's son. He even offered to organize all of the letters that the lady had!!
The GIANT letters!
MmmmHmmmm!
This was the leather shop. I think that Benjamin was more interested in the lady's machine than he was in her leather working. She really did pretty stuff. Oh, am I the only one that thinks that leather smells gross? Seems as though I'm the odd one in this too.
I really liked her hair doohicky things. I had to try it out. Very pretty, but not comfortable.
This is the craft area. Benjamin made a rock necklace. It was a very intricate design that consisted of 3 rocks from the ground outside and some finger paint. Benjamin was amazed! Go figure!
He also got to do a few rows on a beaded belt. He is good with detail stuff.
Music!!! Yay!! This group is actually led by that little 12 year old girl on the right. She plays the fiddle amazingly well!
There's my little Livi dancing her heart out. I love that she loves to dance. Benjamin says, "Mommy, music is for listening to!"
Ummm....I don't know what this is, but Kevin walked around it and looked at it for a while. He also took this picture. Feel free to guess at what it is.
This is in the Photo Shop. This man was so patient!! He explained how cameras work, how to make various types of cameras, showed Benjamin how to make his own, showed him pictures that he took, etc. He did everything shy of making dinner for us. Sheesh!
This was a camera that he had made out of a cereal box!!
I don't remember what kind of box this was, but Benjamin was amazed!!
I think that our sweet babies had a great time!!
