1866 Independence Day

 We took the boys up to Shoal Creek Living History Museum. It's about 15 minutes from our house. On the first friday of the month they have reenactments and all the building open. Today happened to be super fun because it was the 4th of July! :)

 The boys went to the chickens first and honestly I think we sat there for 20 minutes before we could convince them to look at the rest of the properties! Luke told me several times that he wanted a farm and chickens and a dog and a horse. ME TOO! :)

I realize there are 3 chicken videos, but they were our favorite part.

 They were sweet little chickies. I was suprised at how friendly they were. The boys were feeding them grass. The chickens would give them a little peck and that would make the boys laugh and scream. ha!  And the chickies made the sweetest little sounds!  ha ha! Who knew they would like them so much. The boys named a few after choosing which one was theirs. Gid had Optimus Prime, Owen had Scrooge, and Luke had Pippy. or something like that.

Luke called to us and was super excited about the wheel house. :) I think that's what its called anyway. Next to the chickens, this was his favorite place to visit. Owen told me all about how the wheel worked in this video. ;)

(it's funny in this video if you watch Luke. He starts up the stairs and then he sees people in costumes and turns right back down. ha!!)

 Pretty handy leather door handles. :)

 Luke checking if the inmate is alive.

 Gideon DID NOT like the jailhouse. The Sheriff and his deputy joked the that boys would need to stay and Gideon, naturally, took it to be real and started to cry! Oops.

 I asked if the handcuffs worked and they had never tried them. Dave tested them out.

 Sweet rifles.

 Hanging out at the well.

 This guy told us about the reenactment and was the main character. He was hosting an 4th of July picnic at their homestead and warned that there might be some trouble. :) His horse, Ringo, was gorgeous.

 We visited the mercantile to buy some rock candy, but it was cash only. We should have known. :) We'll come better prepared next time.

 I wrote a letter for the post office. I wonder how long it will take them to notice...

 These ladies would bust out into song periodically. I think a visitor requested this song. Most of their music was patriotic. Check out the guy in the "tail" hat. I tried to get the boys to take a picture with the actors, but they wouldn't.

 Luke and Gideon and Dave were really into watching the blacksmith work. He was making a set of fire tongs.

 Luke wanted to watch the 2nd reenactment that was going on. The little guys didn't. Gideon actually hated the gunfire... can't blame him. It was really loud. So i took them back to the chickens and they ran ahead of me. :)

 There's the bad guys from the shoot out! Yellow bellies... ;)

 We had lunch and stopped at Walmart for a booster seat for Gid (Look! it's got Optimus flames on it!)...

When we got home I wanted a picture with these little men of mine while we were all decked out in our red, white, and blue. :) Happy Happy 4th of July!!! We's gonna have blueberry cobbler and ice cream tonight while we watch fireworks from our balcony and listen to all the BOOMS!