Independence Rock

Yesterday we read a children's story/picture book from the library about the Oregon Trail. At one point in the story the pioneer kids painted their names onto Independence Rock. So we decided on a whim to write our names on the (sad looking) Independence Rock on our wall. We interrupted our reading to do it (you gotta take the opportunity when it knocks!) then went back to the rest of the story afterwards. We put our names, the date, and our ages (although the pioneers probably didn't put their ages). It was a fun experience.


"I'm writing, but Alexander writing. And Alexander wants to write on the piece of paper but it's not a white piece of paper, it's a brown piece of paper. It's supposed to be Independence Rock. And pioneers wrote their names on that like Alexander and Mamma and Lincoln did on that. So you can see a picture of me doing that too. And pioneers liked to write their names on that too, because that's a special time to do it." -Alexander


Alexander was so obliging for the pictures!


Maybe we should have used a Sharpie so it would show up better.

We just got a whole bunch of great pioneer library books. I was thinking of doing a post about them. Amanda, I'll pass them on to you when we're done. Or you can come read them at our house!

Here are some Independence Rock photos I found in a Google Image search:

historytogo.utah.gov/.../photo_exhibit/13.html

http://myancestry.org/pictures/IndependenceRock.jpg

www.caspercomsci.com/pages/wyoming.htm

Porter Rockwell Trail

We can squeeze this into the "theme." It's the Porter Rockwell Trail and we might as well visit all things Rockwell. Kids loved it. I loved it. And I got sunburned.

We Are the Bison

4/23/09
 
When were at Antelope Island last month we had some really good carside views of the bison. We kept our distance and stayed in the car, then passed out paper and pencils and sat for about 45 minutes while we all drew the huge, impressive animals. When we left Alexander complained that he still wanted to draw the buffalo. Sadie and I made up these words to the "We Are the Dinosaurs" song by Laurie Berkner. At first it was "bison" (to be correct), but Alexander makes us sing "buffalo" when we sing it at home. I guess the syllables fit better that way.

We are the buffalo (bison)
Grazing, grazing.
We are the buffalo,
We eat the green grass.

We are the buffalo
Stampeding, stampeding.
We are the buffalo,
We run in a mass.
We run in a mass.

Lehi Natural History Museum

For our informal closing day of Westward Ho! we went to this museum. The computer was on the blitz so they let us go in for free! Always an extra plus.

The obsession with birds of prey continues.

They had a nice little native American area. Both the boys agreed that their favorite part was playing the drum.


Daniel Boone-or so he says.

Lehi is oozing with Porter Rockwell history. I learned last semester in my American West history class that Porter Rockwell was held at gun point while passing the point of the mountain. He was able to shoot the man before he was shot. We won't go into too much detail with the boys about him.

Pioneer Tour in Salt Lake City

Here is a Pony Express Monument dedicated by President Hinckley at This is the Place. Owen, Olivia, Levi and Peter pose in front of a horse switch.



Levi and Olivia enjoy the free space and chasing unsuspecting Canadian Geese.


After that we had a quick stop at the Salt Lake Cemetery to visit the Hinckley Family grave.

Nothing like a quick ride up the elevator to the 26th floor of the Church Office Building. The boys drew a lot of attention from the sweet elderly ladies conducting the tour. They thought the "cowboys" were cute.

And last stop: The Beehive House to tour Brigham Young's house.

WHEELer farm

April 2, 2009
I happened to have a dentist-ish appointment across the street from Wheeler Farm, so I packed up the boys and we went to the farm afterwards. It was cold, but bearable for an hour or two. Since we started learning about covered wagons we took pictures by any old farm equipment that even slightly resembled a wagon. Here are some fun shots:

 
This bedless wagon was great for getting a close look at the axles and wheels

 
A plough, but it has wheels and an axle!

 
I'm not sure exactly what farm chore this was used for, but it looks wagonish (Yes, Alexander is wearing his Batman pajamas shirt)


Alexander was asking about the barbed wire (he's pointing at it with a stick here), and I realized that we never really did the barbed wire inquiries in the "Last of the Old Cowboys" section. So, I quickly explained here. Now can we put another cow on the wall?

This Is The Place Monument

3/17/09
Salt Lake City, Utah

With the promise of warm weather we visited This Is The Place Monument (but not the Heritage Park where you have to buy a ticket) to picnic on the grass, read a cattle trail book we wanted to finish, draw and log, and soak up some old west pioneer spirit in the historic place where the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake valley. The day started off chilly, but warmed up later (must have been the luck o' the Irish). After awhile we took a walk along the statuary path, where we saw several pioneer and early settler memorials, including a fun Pony Express monument. The Pony Express Line actually passed through this canyon, I believe. It was fun for me to see that monument since I'm reading a book about the Pony Express right now. We'll have to come back to here later when we officially get to that section of our theme.
 
Alexander's drawing of This Is The Place Monument. Pretty good, eh?

 
It was hard to get both boys to hold still at the same time in front of the monument


Alexander pushing an iron handcart. The real pioneers had a little more success in getting their handcarts to move.

In February we took a trip to the pioneer museum in SLC. Lucky for us Siena was in town too. Owen poses in front of a handcart.

Parts of a wheel: hub, tire and spokes. We know those well.

Looks like this pioneer company is ready to depart for their next adventure.

The song says You Don't have to push a handcart, but we do anyways.

Brigham Young

We learned about the life of Brigham Young and the influence he had bringing the saints to Utah. The next day we visited the Beehive House and The Daughters of Mormon Pioneers Museum. Both are free and very interesting. Brigham Young's house ran like clockwork. He required for his children 8 hours of work, including school, 8 of play and 8 hours of sleep. Peter liked seeing Brigham Young's top hat and Owen liked the toy room.

I couldn't find my camera that day so these are bad cell phone camera shots.

We walked over to his grave in a near by park but unfortunately the gates were locked. We were lucky to have Mark with us this day. He had a meeting downtown so it worked out perfectly.

Measuring Wheels

Sadie and Levi measured many wheels around their house. I did this with my boys too. They really liked using the measuring tape. I believe it was their first introduction to inches and they caught on. I'd like to do more with measuring distance, weight and size. Any great ideas?