Homestead Camp

The kids and I drove up to Wisconson again this last week. They were SO good in the car- even without the DVD player (I forgot the right cord!). It was very different this time since all the snow was gone. When I was packing, Elle came out in her big puffy pink snow pants... She thought we were going to play in the snow! =)

Here's Elle, Molly and Megan. They played dolls, drew pictures, played with the baby kitten, rode bikes and chased Bubbles- the rabbit- all weekend. The girls took us out to catch fire flies the first night we were there. I have never seen them before and was just amazed at how beautiful they are. They are truly every bit amazing as they are talked up to be! It reminds me of the phospherescents (spelling!?) in the sound in August (when the water glows when disturbed). It is so beautiful.

Happy baby and mama Ashley.

Mikey pulling Elle in the little wagon cart.

The Amish girls made this bread. IT IS INCREDIBLE!!! I got the recipe and will post it when I give it a shot for myself. I need to figure out how to properly cut it down, since the recipe is for 5 loafs! (they have a big family)

Christian's favorite toy...

Erin and "Smiley" (when he smiles it totally looks like a cartoon smile!) tending to the soup over the fire.

crank wheat grinder hooked up to a bike.

Kids being kids...

The Amish girls making the dough for homemade noodles.

Noodle dough drying- I failed to get a photo of the cutting of the noodles. But they were delicious.

We made A LOT of homemade soap! I will be sharing this recipe too once I try it for myself back home. It really is a lot of work, so I can see why the idea is to make a lot of it when you make it to make the effort worth it.

Here's the prep work for the large pot of soup.

Picken chicken off the bone...

Soup over the fire.

YUM!! We added dumpling balls at the end of the cook time and it was delicious. We canned what was left and brought some back with us.

My next post will cover the day at the Amish farm (amazing). It was such a nice weekend. I wish I could have taken more photo's- especially now, looking through at how much I missed... It was just tough to tote a camera around- keep it safe from all the roudy kids- and watch my own roudy kids at the same time. But, the boys had a BLAST being boys- catching frogs, snakes and even a turtle, canoeing in the flooded part of the field, throwing knives (at a target) and playing in their tree fort. It was a wonderful weekend of learning and enjoying my kids loving nature.