ENCHANTED HIGHWAY!!

 

We traveled to North Dakota recently and had a wonderful time. There are so many wonderful things to do that don't break the bank!

The Enchanted Highway is an amazing, must see detour. If heading toward Medora for the music show or on the 94 please take the time to see this Guinness World Record breaker and meet the man who fabricated this metal art.

In the first picture is the "tin family" you can spot my husband standing under the tin mother he is 6' tall. If that gives you a perspective on how big these pieces are.

 

 

At each sculpture my girls (ages 11 and 12) stopped and made a wish. They climbed on some and just stared in awe at others. These are positively massive! Pictures truly don't do them justice.

Hannah pictured above is approximately 4'8" tall and is 11 years old. She's not really being attached by this giant baby pheasant. This sculpture is called the "Covey of Pheasants". It is about 9 miles north of Regent, ND.

 

There are also picnic tables at each sculpture so you can take a lunch and enjoy some family time. It's a great way to spend the afternoon. Both girls are pictured under this massive grasshopper.

 

The above picture you can spot right off of the I-94. It is called "Geese in Flight". It sure is magical coming off of the interstate and seeing this gigantic sculpture on the side of the road. 

 

The above was also taken at the "Geese in Flight" sculpture with a beautiful field of blooming sunflowers in the background. We were there in mid August which is when the sunflowers bloom. This is definitely a place for all ages. If you have kids or don't it makes one feel like a kid again.

 

"Deer Crossing" you can see how huge this is with both girls standing in front. Driving down the highway is excited because you can see these huge sculptures from far off in the distance and the kids get so excited. I have to admit I think my husband was getting a bit excited as well.

 

"Fisherman's Dream"

 

This sculpture was both of their favorite. There is so much detail down to every last scale on each fish.

Probably because you can climb around and become part of the art yourself. As you can see Hannah doing here.

This one is showing Teddy Roosevelt.

 

 

The above "whirly-gig" piece is interactive for the kids. Which was pretty neat according to my girls.

There has been so much work put into this. We truly appreciated our morning drive.

Once we got to Regent, we stopped in the kiddos got an ice cream cone from the man who made all of this amazing tin art and they bought a souvenir for their journals.

This amazing tree is made entirely of tin.

No admission costs, no tickets to buy just a wonderful day to spend with your family. Making memories with these kids.

After we were finished at the Enchanted Highway ice cream and souvenir shop we headed over to the Regent Museum...

 

This museum in Regent, ND is right across the street from the Enchanted Highway shop. It is definitely worth the stop! Be patient and if you have the time take the guided tour through the museum! It is so informative and funny too. Kayli and Hannah loved there time there. Kayli will be blogging about our trip to this museum coming soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Last Day to be 10 Years Old Ever Again for the Rest of Her Life!

               

          We’ve always had a tradition to celebrate the day before a birthday in some small way. Always saying, “it’s the last day before you turn eleven”, as in Miss Hannah’s case tomorrow. Last day to be ten and do one more thing a ten year old would do because you never have that chance again for the rest of your life.  Most of the time it’s something like climbing to the top of the tree or spending the night outside on the trampoline. But as the girls get older they are starting to become interested in other things. Before Miss Kayli turned twelve last November we took her to get a spa pedicure. It was a fun girls day but definitely not as childish as I would’ve hoped.

 

                Last Christmas, Miss Hannah asked Santa for one of the American Girl dolls. Her dad and I were a bit concerned due to the cost of it. But as we discussed it decided she wouldn’t be asking for dolls much longer and decided to get it for her. The temporary innocence of this request definitely pulled on both of our heart strings. Christmas morning she woke up and found the doll waiting for her, needless to say she was elated.

 

                Hannah will be eleven tomorrow. I am so proud of the young lady she is growing up to be but I must say each birthday is bittersweet. It’s hard letting go more and more. I know as I do it creates a trustworthy independence within her. I remember hearing somewhere that children learn to become trustworthy when trust is put in them. I love this sweet girl of mine and am enjoying this temporary time with her.  

 

               So, Hannah's last day to be ten years old we are going to take our sleeping bags and sleep on the deck, read spooky stories with the flash light held up to our face, meanwhile eating all kinds of unhealthy junk.

 

HAPPIEST LAST DAY BEING 10!!

 

DIY American Girl Doll Sized Luggage

 

 

My girls are in an American Girl Doll frenzy like a lot of other girls their age. However, I am not interested in buying an accessory for a doll that is more expensive than mine. So, my girls have started making them.

Miss Hannah desperately wanted a luggage set she spotted in a catalog we received. So what did I do?

Handed her some cardboard, scrap booking paper, ribbon and a gun...

...a hot glue gun, of course.

She had a blast! Not only did she make luggage but she also made little books for her doll. She was so proud of herself. 

Now, we love visiting the AG doll store when we can. It is quite a treat but there is something to be said about making something with your own hands. Nice job Hannah bug!

Switch-A-Roo

    

We raise about dozen hens at any given time and it just so happened

on this particular spring day a rooster showed up in our pen.

Now, this wasn't too big of a deal we've had random animals show up on our

property before. Last summer a dutch rabbit (black and white) lived incognito

on our property for about three months.

The weird thing about this rooster is he had a piece of rope tied around his

foot. It was ripped at both ends, clearly he escaped wherever he was being

tied up. Now, I've heard of tying up your dog, even a goat but never a rooster.

I called animal control. They wanted nothing to do with it but suspected he was

being used for fighting.

I guess they keep two roosters tied up next to one another to keep them

constantly riled up.

Sad...

They also do other things like embed razor blades in their claws.

I looked him over as best as I could. I couldn't catch him. He was afraid of humans.

The chickens we raise are used to humans and we hold them, carry them, pet them, etc.

So this was concerning.

I knew considering what I was thinking about his background I needed to find him

a safe home away from this area where he may be

captured and used for fighting again

and away from my hens. 

But I also liked the idea of having a rooster around our girls.

 

 

So we found a roo to keep with our girls.

In the cage is the roo a friend gave us who I named Donnie Wahlbird.

Outside the cage is the visting roo, who was later to be named Poncho by the family

we gave him too.

 

If you don't know two roosters together is never a good idea they

will constantly fight. May even fight until the death. Sometimes they can be

raised together and get along but I don't think it's very often.

 



 

These two were clearly not going to get along. After Donnie Wahlbird showed

up it was clear that Poncho was used for fighting. We actually took Donnie in the coup

then blocked off the door after Poncho entered to catch him. He was very difficult to catch.

 

They were constantly mirroring one another while outside ready to strike.

 

 

...and crowing...

 

...crowing some more...

 

 

But finally the job was done and we got Poncho off to a big farm with a new

family where he would be safe from cockfighting.

 

If you have information about cockfighting please go to the following links.

Please contact your local authorities.

I didn't have luck with the local authorities in my area but you may in your area.

 It is a very cruel and inhumane.

 

https://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/cockfighting

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/cockfighting/

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/videos/rooster-fighting/

 

Introduction

Hi There,

Thanks for taking time to stop by and take a look at our blog. My girls and I have decided to begin blogging our adventures in...

sewing,

quilting,

crafting,

farming,

cooking,

among other things. Miss Hannah is going to be eleven years old in a couple days and Miss Kayli is going to be thirteen this November. My age is a mystery even to me so it doesn't quite matter.

As we blog about our adventures I'm sure you will find that we are not perfect, make many mistakes, and quite frankly do things for the simple joy it brings and that is all. 

 

Let's side note for a moment...

My Dad was up visiting from his eight our drive (bless his heart) and during his visit I decided to make some pancakes. I cooked up the bacon first (don't add bacon to pancake batter this is just what we eat on the side for those who don't know) then added it to a 250 degree oven to stay warm. Anyhow, I added a couple handfuls of pancake mix, a few eggs Miss Kayli grabbed out of the coup, a cup of milk, a little bit of vanilla and started mixing.  Now, my brain was in other places as it often is during the ingredient adding, mixing and cooking process...however as I started to pour that batter I focused my attention on what I was doing, thought it would be a good idea by now.

It was runnier than normal...what the heck did I do wrong this time...

When, all was said and done we had crepes not pancakes and they were still good. But as I mentioned before our home is a home of mistakes and I truly believe we learn more from our mistakes than we do from doing it right the first time.



GIANT Kerplunk

 

This is a DIY Giant Kerplunk Tutorial explained by the lovely Miss Hannah, age 10.

 

Supply List:

30 - 40 dowels

8 ft of scrap wire fencing

3 2X4 pieces of wood

screws

An adult to help

Paint (if you want)

 

 

So, I was elected game leader with my friend in our 4H Club. Anyhow, we have to come up with some pretty cool games otherwise the kids get annoyed and bored. The sorta hard thing is that ages are all over the place! So we had to think of games that would be fun for ages from Kindergarten all the way up through High School. Not the easiest...

 

The above picture shows a simple base that my Dad made out of 2X4s. He made a square as you can see then screwed legs onto it. I don't think he wanted me to use his saw so he did all the cutting. Or he just likes playing with his tools. The fencing we had behind the goat barn as scrap so we just stapled it on with a staple gun.

 

Here I am posing with the assembled "Kerplunk" game. I worked on this in my Dad's shop with my friend (the other game leader) we had to crop her out of pictures though because my Mom said we didn't have permission from her Mom to post her on the Internet.

 

I'm getting ready to paint (please ignore my Dad's bike photobombing this picture).

 

 

Good thing this was in the shop my Mom said later on...we made a bit of a mess. But it was amazing art.

 

It was very sunny outside (where this picture was taken) so it's hard to tell but my hands are covered in paint. Some days it's nice to have hands covered in paint. I highly recommend it.

 

This picture (above) shows the dowels that we spray painted drying on our pool ladder. We used whatever spray paint we already had at home. I was hoping to have other colors but my Mom didn't want to spend money on spray paint. I guess I understand.

 

Thanks for taking a look. It's very easy to make. You can use anything for a base. Something I might have done differently is use chicken wire instead of the wire fencing. The dowels slid around a lot in between the squares especially with all the 4H kids going after them.