Mansfield & Springfield,MO Trip

In June, we visited Mansfield, MO with our friends the Mulhearn's! We made a stop at the Laura Ingal's Wilder House. We didn't realize how short Laura and Almanzo were! From there we drove through the Amish community in Seymour on our way to spend the night in Springfield.

Jack and Leah, aren't they cute!

An Amish horse and buggy! The girls were in heaven!

Swimming at the hotel pool in Springfield! We took up the whole pool!

Jack, our little fish!

A full day made for very tired kids!

The next day we visited the Wilson's Creek Civil War Battlefield. My boys love this kind of stuff, especially the biggest boy. . .DAD! Here dad is giving Alec and Jack a lesson on how they loaded and fired cannons back then.

A kids group shot on the porch of one of the houses at the Wilson's Creek site.

And last we stopped at Bass Pro. Here everyone works on their shooting skills! Below, Brian ever so patiently gives Jack some help and a few pointers!

Carol and I found a new bookstore called "Redeemed Music and Books" in Springfield. It is a homeschool mom's paradise! We were both overwhelmed at the amount of used curriculum and books they had there. Needless to say, it is now a "must stop at" site whenever we go to Branson! We had a great time hanging out with the Mulhearn family. We found that we travel well together. We got lots of looks when we went out to eat! 12 kids and 4 adults make quite a group plowing into a restaurant. It was such a blessing to see our children be so well behaved and considerate of each other. It was a great trip for all of us!

The Rendezvous at Fort de Chartres

Another May excursion was to the Rendezvous at Fort de Chartres in Prairie du Rocher. Aunt KK and the mighty munchkins met us for a day of fun! The boys absolutley LOVED this. The teepees and the cannons were a big hit. And of course the ax throwing, which was Jack's favorite!

Mairin & Teagan!

 

Alec gets in on the ax throwing!

 

Jack gets a few pointers!

Springfield, Illinois trip

On May 15th, Ryan's birthday, we decided to take a day trip to Springfield, IL. We visited the Lincoln Museum and Home site. The kids had a great time at the museum, learning a lot about that time in history. Their "Civil War Battles in 5 min." display was really incredible. We got a little wet in the rain while touring the Lincoln home site, but we were prepared and a little rain didn't dampen our day!

Jack and Abe hanging out!

Jack after a long day !

The Lincoln's Home

Below are pictures of the really nasty storm we drove home in. Baseball sized hail doesn't sound good from inside a moving vehicle! On a funny note, Taylor cracked us all up when she snapped the picture and got back in and shut the door. The lightening was so close that the thunder would shake the van. When the over head light automatically went off it happened to lightening at the same moment and Tay, with a resigned sigh, says,"Great, the power went out!" At that Ry, Liv and I started to crack up! As we were composing ourselves, Taylor smacks her forehead and starts laughing with us, realizing that we were in the van! So it's become yet another in a long line of Davis family inside jokes! These pictures were take 3 minutes apart, it seriously went from day light to darkness that fast!