Johnny Appleseed Festival

My kids have been looking forward to this Festival for weeks! We went last year and even my three-year-old remembered very clearly what happens there - face painting and toy buying! Though we have only studied through the 1600s, and this is set in the 1800s, it was easy to explain that this was later when more towns were established in the Americas. Plus, they love the story of Johnny Appleseed and know it well, so they understand this is how Johnny Appleseed's friends would have lived. I'm kicking my own butt for not taking more pictures of the displays we saw on things like spinning wool into yarn and cooking soup in cauldrons, but oh well. Such is life. I'm due tomorrow, so forgetting such things I at least have an excuse for!

Face painting!! Two butterflies and an Indian....

Abraham Lincoln (who seriously is almost as tall as Abe - he is used often around here for different historical events) signed the Gettysburg Address for the kids. It really looked like Abe's signature, too! This will be a fun memory as we start studying Lincoln this winter.



Later we found another station that also gave out Indian headbands, so we painted our faces again...This is John Chapman's real gravesite in the center of Johnny Appleseed park in Fort Wayne, IN. Apples trees are planted all around the fenced area.

The kids made a beaded necklace in the Indian section of the park. We just did this with dyed macaroni noodles, but these beads were more fun. It took me a while to get up off the ground after this. Angelica Pickles just played in the beads most of the time and Boo Boo wanted to eat them...



Here they are decked out in their headbands, face paint, necklaces and with their new toys. The girls each picked an Indian doll (Angelica Pickles had one from last year) and Sid the Science Kid got a bow and arrow. He did pretty good shooting it, too!


Mommy and Daddy rarely get in pictures these days, so I made a point to take one of us with Boo Boo, since he was in the stroller observing most of the time. I did sling him for a while, but when I started moving like a turtle, he went back into the stroller. He just needed a little cuddle time since he took a late nap.



Why I thought to get the kids a chocolate sucker on the way out, I'm not sure. But, Boo Boo notices when he is being left out anymore, so I had to give up mine.... Oh the mess! I can't believe how quickly he ate it either! The perks of being the fourth kid, I guess....


Well, if anything is gonna start labor, a four hour walk through a park should do it! Unfortunately, I've had no such luck in past pregnancies. I wonder what my widget will do when I'm overdue tomorrow....ha!