DH and RJ went on an exciting field trip.  They went to Hale Farms and took part in an interactive field trip about the Underground RailRoad.  They portrayed slaves and had to be 'sold' and different members of the Hale Farm Staff were slave owners, auction personnel, Underground RR houses/people who helped them escape, those homeowners that turned them in.  They had a blast escaping, getting caught, staying hidden, etc.

We will definately do it again if it is offered in the future and B will be able to participate this time.  Due to age, we didn't let her go because they suggested 12 and up for it.  DH thought it was well planned out and a great thing to experience.  We may try some other events they have at Hale Farms too.

Today we went to Dayton to the Air Force Museum.  WOW!  What a HUGE place!!  We saw several different eras of planes from the beginning of flight and the Wright Brothers to the more current planes from the Desert Storm War. We had studied the Wright Brothers before we went to the children enjoyed seeing the planes and pictures from that.  We moved thru the museum and saw hot air balloons, big planes, little planes, bomber planes, helicopters.  Anything and everything!  What fun!  Some of the kids favorites were the plane and bomb that ended WW2 and the Stealth Fighter plane.

Next time we go back we will go see the Presidential Hanger and the Research & Development Hanger.  We did not have time to see them this time.

Today was Rachel's 8th Birthday!  We took the day off from school and just had fun.  We watched movies, played games and just all hung out together!

On Wednesday, April 12, we visited Schoenbrunn Village in New Philly.  The kids had a lot of fun!  Schoenbrunn Village is a reconstructed village from the 1770's of a Missionary ministry to the Delaware Indians. 

We saw 17 log cabins.  The indian cabins had no windows and a fire pit in the middle of the dirt floor with a hole in the ceiling for the smoke.  The mission cabins or homes of the mission workers, had fireplaces, windows and either wood floors or packed dirt floors.  The Indian cabins, we were told, were usually much warmer due to location of the fires.

We saw the old school house.  All the children schooled in a one room school house.    We also saw the church building.  The missionary home was right next door.  He had a small room behind his cabin that was his 'study' when he needed to be alone.

We saw the tools they used to make mullet bullets.  We saw buttons made from bones, cups made from cows horns (did you know that their horns are hollow?), a weaving loom.  We learned that they used cattails to make rugs and sleeping mats.  We also learned that they ate the 'bulb' of the cattails just like potatoes.  Rachel got to dress in the girls clothing from the time.  I will add pictures once we get them back. 
The children got to see how to churn butter and the process it takes to get it to butter and got to taste some of the freshly churned butter on a cracker.  They thought it was very good!

We also watched candle dipping.  There was a group ahead of us so we didn't get to participate in that due to time but we will definately do it next time we go there or we might try it at home! 

We recently visited the Medina County Santitation Department and saw how they seperate the trash and do recycling for all the Medina County Residents!  It was fun and we had a lot of fun watching the machines and the people pulling recyclables out of the trash.  Because the Santitation Dept does the recycling we do not have too, except for our glass items.  We also saw things that are made out of some of the items that the Dept sends off for recycling like Air Conditioner pads, speed bumps and parking blocks!