Ein Sehr Guter Tag!

That's German for A Very Good Day, which is exactly what we had when we visited The Landis Valley Farm and Museum!  We arrived, prepared to use a coupon for a few dollars off of our admission, then saw that military and their immediate family members get in free.  Of course, that made me happy and when Jeremy's mom and sister asked, they let them in free too.  Has to be the most liberal military discount program I've ever seen.  ;)  We walked through the museum which was interesting and held all types of artifacts, mementos and photos of the Landis Family.

When we walked outside, we were trying to orient ourselves to the cryptic map and adjust our eyes to the light when we saw HORSES!  You can imagine with 4 little girls with us, there was a bit of excitement.  The man with the wagon stopped and offered us a ride around the property, telling us about the various buildings and their history.

We are all loaded and ready to go!

I love that they take care of the little details... like hiring this man to sit on a rocker on the porch of the General Store.

I love these stars.  They always remind me of home!

A true story of old meets new.

This man had chopped peaches and made a crust.  He was just waiting for his coals to get to the right temperature so he could bake his peach pie in a dutch oven.  I like to bake, but I'm fairly certain I couldn't do it over an open fire!  Not to mention the fact that he has to sit in front of a roaring fire in August.  I know it's PA and all, but it's still not cold!

The kids enjoyed the gun making demonstration.

At some point in the future, I am going to have to host an event here.  It is absolutely beautiful in it's rustic charm.

Flax
I have to think that it is only due to God imparting wisdom to us that anyone could have ever figured out that they could tear down a fibrous wheat and beat it silly to produce a substance that could be made into soft fabric.

Demonstrating the spinning of the flax into thread
Do you see the bench looking apparatus that is to the woman's left?  There are a bunch of nails attached to the wood and they would take the rough flax through the nails to remove the lower quality flax and the thicker casing.  That is called towing.  What they were left with was this...

And that is the origin of the term "towhead"!

Marshall, Zachary, Lauren, Abby and Amelia appeasing their Mothers and posing for a picture after a tour of a house.  Can you spot the towheads?  ;)

We decided to bring our lunch with us as I saw on the website that they had plenty of picnic tables you can borrow.  We found this nice one in the shade and had some fresh picked apples, peaches and Panera bagels with cream cheese or Nutella.

I may be biased, but I think we had the 8 cutest kids there!  No contest!

After lunch, we kept walking and learning.  This man is a blacksmith.  He is showing us how you can bend and shape hot metal.

I love when he is engrossed in learning.
I heart this boy!

Abby and a rendition of the first baby bottles.

Amelia's reaction to hearing that the people used to eat squirrels.

This is a cage that you would keep the squirrel in if you wanted to keep him for a pet.  I guess if you got hungry, you could then eat him.  :P

Meemers and Marshy outside of the tin shop.  They were just enjoying sitting on the bench and talking.

The rarely seen "Worn Out Amelia"

Lorry and I have had a running joke about when, inevitably, genetics is going to catch up to Little Ms. Sarah's hair.  Looks like it was today!  The heat and humidity were just too much and she grew a curl!

Lauren joined them for some cousin love!
Later as I was looking at this picture, the resemblance between Amelia and Lauren was just amazing.  You can certainly tell these kids are related! 

This is a shot of Abby at around 3.  Looks a lot like those 2 girls above, huh?

Abby and Noah dressed in the finest tin outfitting.
(And what appears to be an older couple in the background who are jealous of the younger generation's dapper appearance.

**Note to self.  Be careful of your facial expressions while in the background of other people's photos.  You never know what they may do with them!**

I am SOOO grateful that my kids were able to spend this time in Pennsylvania getting to know and making memories with their cousins.

Before we left for the day, we stopped by the gift shop.  Abby picked up a really cool doll to sew.  I will be sure to post her picture when she finishes it.  She is working on the final touches of the dress now and then has an apron to do.  While we were on the 2nd floor of the gift shop, we found this hilarious sign.  What's the common man to do in case of emergency???  I got in trouble for taking a picture in the gift shop (Of course, there was no sign telling me not to, so I had no idea), but it was TOTALLY worth it.

What a fun day!  Abby says Williamsburg is next when we get back living on the East Coast.