Fort Hayes

We started off the birthday girl’s big day with a nutritious (haha) bowl of Fruit Loops.

Then we piled into the cars and headed to Ft. Hayes to do some mining. Ft. Hayes was the movie set for Dances With Wolves! I need to re-watch the movie now that we’ve been there!

Peanut loves puddles!

We wandered through the little “town” and saw all the antique items.

Happy birthday girl!

Daddy being silly.

An old wooden piano that still worked.

The other grown ups thought it was kind of a “dud” spot, but I really liked all the old antiques and store fronts.

Everything looked really authentic.  Here is the post office.

The kids liked it.

They did have a little “mining” area but it definitely wasn’t the experience the other adults were hoping for.  I thought it was about right for our two girls.  They loved it and looked on the chart, finding several “gems” that matched.

We didn’t stay too long, but I was glad we went!  Cute kiddos!

Our Hotel and A Drive

Peanut was getting such poor naps during the days that we kept putting her to bed really early.  Then we would take the video monitor next door to our friends room and play cards while the kids watched a movie.  It worked out really well and the girls would fall right to sleep when we got back to our room.

After our day at Storybook Island we relaxed at the hotel for a bit.  There was a nice big porch area where the kids could play and the adults could sit and rock, read, visit, or play cards.

Miss L had brought lots of games to keep the kids entertained.

We ate dinner which turned K into a masked tortilla bandit :) and then headed off to try to spot the elusive herd of buffalo.

We skipped the Needles Highway this time and went straight down to the “Wildlife Loop” which was supposed to have herds of buffalo roaming free.  We saw two. Both completely alone and in wooded areas. I always thought they lived on plains and stuck together?

One.

Two.

We did see quite a few pronghorn, and when we were stopped to look at these a family came by in a pickup (going the other direction) and said they’d just seen 100’s of buffalo so we got going in hopes of seeing them!

But all we found was a few deer. :(

We must not be very good buffalo hunters. :P

We headed back to the hotel and Daddy read the girls some books before bed.

Next up: birthday!

Storybook Island

Warning: picture overload!  Miss L found an awesome place to spend our Thursday!  It was called Storybook Island and it was a free park put on by the Rotary club. The entrance looked like a castle, which the girls LOVED!

They were SO excited after driving by and seeing all the fun things to do there!

It really was like a little fairy tale land.  Every few feet there was another storybook character waiting.  The first ones we saw were the three billy goats gruff and troll as we came over the bridge. 

Then Boo was enamored with Rapunzel and “Eugene” above the entrance!

Humpty Dumpty was falling off the wall and onto their heads! :)

The kids had to dig in the sand for a few minutes.

Before running off to explore, and boy was there a lot to explore!  Here’s the crooked old man, with a crooked old house…

There’s the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker!

And Captain Hook’s pirate ship.

Close by was Peter Pan’s house where he lived with the Lost Boys.

Then just down the path we found the three little pigs, complete with the wolf trying to get into the brick house!

Each area was sponsored by different groups of the town.  A little tunnel led to the Hundred Acre Wood.

Peanut found someone just her size!

S, N, and K.

Cinderella’s coach!

Daddy locked in jail.

The Cat in the Hat’s house!

It was too wet to play so we sat in the house all that cold cold wet day.

Peanut fit right in with the dwarves.  Can you find her? :)

“Puppies” was one of the games the kids had been playing all week so they were delighted to find the 101 Dalmatians set.

How about one of them pic-i-nic baskets??

The girls kept seeing a little train riding around the park so when we finally made it over to the station we bought them tickets to take a ride.  Peanut had to be accompanied so I went with her.

Peek-a-boo!

Drinking fountain in the lion’s mouth.

My little Jonahs.

What an AMAZING place!  We were there for hours and we didn’t even hit each thing.  If we lived there we’d have to go at least once a week!  So neat!!!

And of course we just had to buy the girl’s a book at the gift shop!

The perfect day for my three bookworms. :)