Howard Family, Party of 5

After chores were done on Saturday morning, I wanted to get out of the house.

But we had the HARDEST time deciding where to go.

Jesse suggested Old Town & the Mormon Battalion.

To me, it sounded like kind of a snoozer of a way to spend a Saturday but since none of us had any better ideas, we headed down to Old Town.

And to my surprise, the Mormon Battalion museum was really really awesome. The presentation, the facilities, and the information was really way more than I expected and we totally enjoyed ourselves.

After the museum tour & presentation, the girls panned for gold:

They pumped some water the old-fashioned way:

And got a taste of what life was like before the invention of the washing machine:

(Later when Mariah was telling Nana all about our adventure, she told her about the washing board and said that they had "washed a board with old clothes", and we laughed and explained that they were using the board to wash the clothes, not the other way around. Lol!)

M&M took turns lifting the bucket out of the well:

They got comfy in a covered wagon:

And became honorary members of the battalion & got their pictures taken:

It was really a lot of fun & very impressive!

From there we walked around Old Town, and imagine my surprise, shock & delight when we ran into these:

Super gigantic hyndrangea bushes. Really they're more like hydrangea trees. The flowers weren't that photo-worthy, but that's how they have to be to get so many blooms year after year. I couldn't get over how huge they were.

Then Arissa & I toured the Whaley House.

I was disappointed because I didn't see or feel much of anything exciting. Arissa says she did. It's a creepy place for sure, but I think that's just because it smells ancient in there and it just looks creepy with all the old dusty stuff. I did like the unfinished needle-point sitting on the couch and the knitting needles & yarn in a basket by one of the chairs......I think Mrs. Whaley and I would have gotten along. :o)

It was interesting though, Ghosts aside, just because of the history and all the wonderfully old things inside. Arissa pointed out a sign on one of the tables in the parlor that said August 14th (the day we were there) was the Whaley's wedding anniversary. She thought that was pretty awesome.

After a full day of history and old stuff, we happily got in our air-conditioned car, went to Souplantation for lots of food we didn't have to grow ourselves, came home and listened to our ipods and watched some good old-fashioned tv. And I did some laundry and was thankful every minute of it that I wasn't born in the time of washboards and covered wagons. I know for sure I would have been a very very bad/cranky pioneer.

But it was fun being "honorary" ones:

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