IT'S A FIELD TRIP!!!

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."                                                                Dr. Seuss 

With that being said.......

Quote found on pinterest.com

Field trips are great! They are a fabulous way to experience what you are learning about. 

     Our class had the opportunity to take a field trip to Michigan City to visit a homestead that was a working farm over one hundred years ago. We embarked on a journey to Bailly-Chellberg Homestead.

   It was a great day and we learned and saw many things, including that our GPS could be set to "Boy Band" and sing us the directions! We carpooled for the trip over. This leg of the journey is always so much fun with this group!

Our trusty driver Mike and his 'boy band' gps, with Krystle and Lynnette....

Clare and Krystle cheesin' it up....

and Maria and Jeni flashing their 'orbit smiles'...

The first half of our field trip, we had a guide that took us through many outbuildings including a fur trappers storage house.... and explained about how life was back then. We were able to tour these cabins, homes and outbuildings.

Our fearless guide, Kelly, Steph, Syd and Krystle are paying close attention...

Some of us really jumped into that time and really got a "feel" for what it might have been like........

Mike and Lynnette...Checking things out from a different perspective....

And some of us were a wee bit skittish about the very steep stairs in this cabin....

Steph....being so brave....

But, if you really look at those steep, steep stairs, it is easy to see why Steph may have been slightly nervous...I know I was....take a peek.....

The oh so uncomfortable feeling of falling forever was at my minds forefront....

Explored a little more....

Then we took a walk through the woods following a gorgeous path.

Randy and Mike

 Nature was abundant and it was a beautiful day!  "Look Steph...more stairs!! LOL

Part of our gorgeous walk, it couldn't have been a better day for this walk....

We had to stop and investigate, snap a picture or two...

Wendy and Clare...I wonder what she sees?

There was so much nature, and when the time is taken to enjoy your surroundings, there is so much magic in nature that so often goes unnoticed.....Do you see it? It's an enchanted place.....

Look closely.....

....use your imagination. A picture like this would make a fabulous writing prompt.....

A perfect little home for fairy's is found off of the beaten path
 on its own little circle of moss. Can you imagine?
These little toadstools were so tiny....

And then some of us really got into it and looked very close...and gained a different perspective with a "worms eye view...."

...and that would be Clare. (Do you think she found the fairy homes?)
Kelly looks like she is saying "Shut up! You did not just do that!"
Hahaha...we know each other so well...

Along the way, were more old buildings from the homestead....How interesting....

And then the path opened up into a beautiful meadow, and there was .....

It was really fun to see as well as imagine how they lived so long ago. What we take for granted, such as running water would have been considered a luxury...

After touring the inside, it was time to go outside.

Maria patiently awaits....

 This place is so peaceful and so beautiful...I know I would be very happy and content to if this was where I could call my home.

After poking around outside, and taking some more pictures, it was time to take another walk to the family cemetery where we would all sit down for a picnic. 

The Catalpa Tree!

Syd, our fearless fearless leader ;)

Lynnette, Mike (with his eyes closed), Kelly and Krystle

     I was simply amazed when we got to the family cemetery. There were no upright grave stones any longer, but there was a raised square that was huge. You had to walk up the steps and it was covered in soft grass with this beautiful wooden cross in the very center. There was a concrete walkway all around the perimeter and around the cross. It was absolutely gorgeous.....