PHILLIP FOSTER FARMS FIELD TRIP

This was a great field trip. I love how "hands on" the trip was. The boys were able to experience all the different aspects of life on the farm in the old days. Below are the different stations they went to and what jobs they needed to perform that day. The farm is out in Estacada, long drive, but well worth the trip. Very educational and lots of fun!!

BUILDING THE HOUSE

This station was the hands down favorite of the trip. Life size Lincoln Logs!! This is the cabin that our group put together from the ground up in 15 minutes. Pretty good I thought, and the boys were happy with it.

LOADING THE WAGON

This station was very cool. The kids had to decide what was necessary to take on their trip in the wagon. They had to unload the wagon decide on two boxes they were not going to take and then repack the wagon. Martin was selected to be the "Pa" of the family. He was in charge of reloading and making the final decision on what was left. They decided to leave the tent and the china dishes. They were told those were great choices....great job "Pa"

BARN WORK

The boys were able to grind corn cobs and then grind them again into a fine corn meal. They also were able to go up toward the roof of the barn on a bail of hay that was operated by manual labor of pulling on ropes and a pulley. I was pulling them up that is why there are no pictures. They also saw what the farm equipment was like back then.

WOOD CUTTING

As you know we do our fare share of wood harvesting here on Pfeiffer's Farm, but we have never experienced the two-man saw before. Our boys cut through the entire log and was able to take the piece of wood over to the blacksmith shop for a surprise. Martin took the picture of me getting in on the action. I would have to say a chainsaw is much more efficient, but back in the day sharing the cutting process with somebody else was probably a lot easier than doing it yourself.

BLACKSMITH

The boys thought the blacksmith shop was very cool. The blacksmith burned a smile face on one side and a frown face on the other side of the wood piece the boys cut off of the log at the previous station. They were excited to take it home as a treasure.

STORE

The boy saw what merchandise was sold in the old stores. They wrote their names with a quill pen, dated and postmarked a post card to mail, and cracked walnuts with an old press.

WASHING CLOTHES

The boys got to see how much work washing clothes was back in the day. Luke was having a great time though. I think now it is not a big deal to help me do the laundry.

MORE CONTRUCTION FUN

Here is the last bit of debris at the site. It looks so different in 3 weeks I can't believe it. All the trees you see across the street are on our property.

The kids had so much fun climbing this huge pile of gravel. They had been bringing in dump truck after dump truck of gravel and dirt all week and Darin decided to take the boys over for some mountain climbing training.

Then they came down the biggest pile of gravel they had ever climbed. They had a BLAST!!

BIG EQUIPMENT FUN!

It is not every day that a young boy can experience track-hoes and bulldozers up close and personal unless of course you have construction going on right across the street and a Dad who likes to have good photo opts!

MOTHER'S DAY

Darin took this picture for me with his new camera he has been wanting for 2 years. I absolutely love this photo. He totally surprised me with it after church on Sunday along with a dozen red roses.

FIELD TRIP FUN!

We took a homeschool field trip to Rice NW Museum of Rocks & Minerals. I highly recommend this museum. It is absolutely beautiful. The tour is very informative and the kids had a great time. You can see minerals, petrified wood, meteorites, fossils, curiosities, and fluorescent minerals. These are photos of the boy's favorite things at the museum. The red crystals are worth $500,000. Amazing stuff to see and you can purchase some wonderful things too.

The boys were allowed to sift through the big rock pile and pick out a rock to take home. Here are their treasured rocks for the day.

NEW BUILDING PROJECT!!

Our neighborhood has seen quite a bit of destruction lately. Right across the street on 179th they are putting in a 27 lot subdivision. It was sad to watch all the houses being destroyed and all the trees cut down, but we won't miss the ugly "black" house that has haunted this neighborhood for years. Here a few photos from the day before all the big equipment starting destroying everything.

These were taken the first day they started taking down all the houses. What was weird is they caved in all the roofs and just left the walls standing until the next day.

The boys were VERY excited to watch the "destroyer" as we call it take down the entire house. It only took only 2 weeks for the crew to tear down all three houses, cut down all the trees, and clear the entire area down to the dirt. Quite amazing to watch.

Archery Anyone!

On May 4th the boys experienced Archery for the first time! A local place has a homeschool program that allows you to come in for 2 hours and they supply the equipment and shooting lessons. The boys had a blast. That is not too surprising..... boys excited about any kind of weapon. They both did fabulous!! Can't wait until we go again. The boys were also allowed to take home the targets so they can compare them as they continue in there new hobby!