Pioneer Day

This pioneer woman told Gabriela a story about a pioneer girl named Molly who would hide her little ragdoll in her petticoats so the Indians wouldn't steal it. She sat there listening intently.

The girls anticipated the Indians more than anything else. And they were dying to get up and do the friendship circle dance. They loved watching the show and the performers did a great job.

The girls got to beat on the drum they were using during the show.

They got a little buffalo shooting practice in. We had just recently watched Dances with Wolves on t.v. as a family, so I think the whole western Indian, buffalo, shooting thing was fresh on their mind and made the day more fun for them.

Then to Sophia's delight, they had pony rides. They actually got an extra long tern because they were watering all the ponies while the kids were sitting on their backs. Gabriela kind of went for a rodeo ride. Her pony was giving her all sorts of trouble, but she hung on tight and survived the ride. Miguel got worried and went over to stand by her.

Julianne and I went and made a harmonica while the girls were in line to ride the ponies. She is deathly afraid of anything with four legs. She would just cling to my leg and whine like the pony was going to eat her. Kind of ridiculous that our toughest, most agressive child is also the biggest whimp.

The girls took to this little pioneer kitchen set. They would pour water from one pan to the next and serve each other. Really cute. I've got find some of that stuff for the backyard.

We also made dolls out of corn husks.

One final story: as we were getting ready to leave, I was trying to get the girls to follow me away from the tea set and back to our bikes. Miguel was over looking at the blacksmith shop and as I looked behind me, I saw that Julianne and Gabriela were right behind me and assumed Sophia would follow too. We darted into the general store to check it out before leaving and when I came out, I noticed Sophia wasn't with me, but thought Miguel might of run into her and she was with him. So the girls and I checked out a few more of the pioneer buildings and I let the girls play a game, when up walks Miguel without Sophia. He said he hadn't seen her and then my heart sank. We had been walking around for about five to ten minutes with her LOST. I started looking all over for her among the crowd and trying to imagine what she would do or think if she knew she was lost. After searching for a while, my heart was racing even more. She wasn't in the pioneer village. As I walked out, I decided to go set all the stuff I was holding down in the bike trailer before doing a sweep of the park from one end to the other. As I'm walking to the bikes, I noticed this little head in the window of the bike trailer. It was SOPHIA. She had tears in her eyes and said she couldn't find us. I hugged her with all my might and then congratulated her on being so smart!!! I couldn't belive she had the idea to go sit in the bike trailer till we found her. Maybe it was divine inspiration on her part. I don't know, but I have to give her some serious credit for thinking so rationally. If it had been Gabriela, she would have roamed around or maybe went inside a teepee or something. That Sophia never ceases to amaze me. Love that girl.