What We Do For Fun on the Prairie

 Vacation Bible School was always the highlight of my summer as a child.  We didn't do vacations.  We didn't have a pool pass. And living in the country, well, having friends over for a visit was a special occasion too.  When we saw on our schedule that we would be around for Delavan's community-wide Bible school (sponsored by three different churches), we volunteered to assist since we wanted Ellie and Reni to attend and get this experience before we leave for Albania.

We were given the Kindergarten class which, shall we say, is about the opposite end of the student age spectrum from college students (our comfort level) as you can get, but fortunately Mark and Eszti were in town and Kindergarten is Eszti's absolute favorite age.  Eszti graciously took on the role of leader of our teaching team and the rest of us fell into other roles, with Mark and Nathan taking turns accompanying Ellie in her class. We asked Reni his favorite part of Vacation Bible School?  The "making part."  [i.e. crafts]

(Below: Mark leads the kids on a crawl away from the evil Pharoah).

Because Mark and Eszti were not familiar with our part of the country, we made sure to save an afternoon after VBS for a trip to Springfield.  We packed a lunch which we ate in the car while we drove about an hour south to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library.  Probably my favorite museum ever.

They have a variety of theaters (we've only been in one, but the show had visual effects we couldn't explain to Ellie because we weren't quite sure ourselves how they did them). You also enter the museum halls by walking into replicas of Lincoln's boyhood log cabin in Kentucky or the White House.  All throughout there are wax figures in life-size vignettes to help give context to the exhibits of artifacts and information.  I snagged a few pictures before I saw the "no cameras" sign.  Oops!

'Above Right (top):  A scene from New Salem (which we visited last fall), (bottom) son Eddie's tombstone, which was particularly sobering upon calculating that he was within a few days of Reni's current age when Eddie died of TB.

A rare picture indeed:  Ellie and Reni both have their eyes closed!  At the entrance they gave us a clip-board with questions to answer from the information posted in each era of Lincoln's life. It was for Ellie, but it kept us grown-ups engaged in the information, particularly in parts we may have overlooked.  But really, it can stand on its own.

There is a great children's play area (where you can take photos) with all sorts of hands-on activities.  Reni loved, loved, loved the Lincoln logs (which, free fact, were invented by the son of Frank Lloyd Wright).  I thought the doll house replica of Lincoln's Home was a great thing for the kids to see before we toured it next.

Even the grown-ups had fun in the kids area!

We drove a few blocks down the street and visited Lincoln's Home.  This is a free tour (who doesn't love free?), you just have to pick up tickets in advance for your designated tour time.

Everything in the home is pretty close to the way it was when the Lincoln's lived there, except it was air conditioned.  And nobody was protesting that!

The guide pointed out something stored under the bed.  Loved how all the kids immediately had to look and see.  Right, Lincoln's desk. No room for a laptop!

I hope I'm not giving anything away too prematurely, but the next afternoon after VBS we did a quick photo shoot for Mark and Eszti's new prayer card (they are headed to Hungary as missionaries).  Here's one that was in our top three...

Then, before they left, we did another little photo shoot on the big tractor (NOT for their prayer card, wink).

Mark had on his Albania team jersey, so the kids requested to wear theirs to match.  I apologize for the tummy Ellie is showing.  She's obviously growing!

And that's what we do for fun on the prairie!