Littlest Pioneer

Evangeline attended the Littlest Pioneer camp at Lincoln Log Cabins over the weekend.  I was so excited that I happened to see this on their calendar in time to sign her up.  I was also very excited when I noticed that she had to be accompanied by an adult.  Pioneer camp exceeded my expectations....actually I had no idea what to expect at all, but it was far better than I could have hoped.  Their were three little girls there at the camp that day.  The first thing they had the girls do was dress up in a pioneer gown (this is when we knew for sure that this was going to be a fun day).  They were read a story about pioneer life and then it was straight to work.  They had to pack up all the bare necessities in their covered wagon and move west.  

 

They settled at a farm and immediately got to work.  They had a few chores to do right off the bat, like gathering fire wood and water....

 

Then they had to wash up before preparing Johnny Cakes for lunch...

 

Evangeline has never wanted to crack an egg at home because she doesn't want to get it on her hands.  All three girls had an egg to crack for the recipe though, so she had to go for it.  Being her first attempt at cracking an egg, she didn't know how hard to hit it against the side of the bowl.  She gave it a very good whack and the egg white and yolk flew into the bowl.  It was so funny.  I snapped this picture milliseconds before the adults helping saw it happen.  Everyone was cracking up.  Amazingly she got most of the egg in the bowl and not one bit of shell.  Her face was priceless. 

 

After the Johnny Cake was cooking on the hearth, the girls helped do the dishes.  Let me tell you, all of these chores were so much more fun doing them inside a log cabin the old fashioned way.  They were all so eager to volunteer for each task. 

 

While the cornbread was cooking the girls went out to the porch and cut up apples for an apple crisp.  Cutting with a knife...anther first....have I sheltered her?  She really enjoyed this activity.  She was so proud of herself. 

 

There's the cornbread baking on the hearth in the Dutch oven.   

 

The girls got to pet the pigs and feed them apples.

 

Next, it was butter making time....

 

Once they finished the cornbread and apple crisp it was time for them to set the table....being a pioneer was a lot of work!  

 

The food was delicious!  In addition to the Johnny cake (cornbread), butter and apple crisp, there were also potatoes.  Thomas Lincoln's (Abraham's father) prayer was recited before we ate.  It was a perfect feast.  Such a joy for everyone to eat the food the girls worked so hard to prepare. 

 

After lunch the girls had to stuff their bed-tick.  They filled it with hay and took turns laying on it.  They imagined what it would be like to have to sleep on that each night.  They took it up to the loft in their cabin and tried it out up there too.  

 

After all the work was done, it was time to play.  There were several pioneer games for us to try.  Our favorite was one where you take a hoop and fling it back and forth with two sticks.  The object is to try to catch it on your stick when your partner flings it to you.  We got pretty good at it. 

 

A few other games we enjoyed were ball-in-cup, and a game were you run with a large hoop and try to keep it going with a stick.  

 

The day concluded with a scavenger hunt, a walk to Thomas Lincoln's cabin and making a log cabin out of a milk jug, peanut butter and pretzels.  Evangeline had such a fabulous time.  She cried in the car as we were leaving.  She did not want camp to end. 

 

We stopped at a farm stand on our way home to get some peaches and corn.  We also got some frozen apple cider.  What a wonderful day.  How special it was to spend this day with my girl.

 

Evangeline wasted no time putting on her sun bonnet as soon as got home.  She wore it for the rest of the day.  That evening we took a walk around the "O".  There is a place on our walk where the grass is seeded out.  Evangeline's been talking about laying down in prairie grass like Laura Ingalls for weeks as we pass it driving back and forth from Terre Haute.  She asked if she could lay down in this grass.  I caved.  As she was laying there she said, "Ahhh it feels good to lay down in the grass...this is a great way to get chiggers though."