A Rodeo Family: De Smet, SD----Home of Laura Ingalls Wilder

For any true Laura Ingalls Wilder fans, De Smet, SD is a must stop! It was an experience that my girls especially Jenae will always treasure.

We got to De Smet about 9:30 on Sunday morning. Our first stop was the original land that Pa & Ma homesteaded. The buildings on the site were replicas of the originals. Most of the pictures I have posted are from the homestead. Sunday night we went to a pageant with a storyline from one of the little house books. It was fun to see the story in the book come to life.

After we left the homestead we went to find a place to eat. It was right about noon. We we to a little restaurant and enjoyed sitting in the cool. Jeane was asking Marilyn 1001 questions about Laura & her family. A lot of what she was asking us was things about Laura that were not in the books. Such as who died first Grace or Carrie? how many kids did Carrie have? etc.... A gal was sitting across from us at her own table. She was listening to all of Jenae's questions and she said to us "excuse me, can I ask how old she is?" When we responded that Jenae was only 7 she was a little surprised! She thought Jenae was much older based all that she knew about Laura & her family & the questions that she was asking. The gal happened to be a historian who made her living studying & doing research on the Ingalls family and was visiting De Smet from New Hampshire. She knew all of the answers to all of Jenae's questions :-) It was really fun to hear all that she had to say. Marilyn has he email address so if Jenae comes up with more questions we can get the answers for her!

The girls also had a lot of fun swimming in the pool at the motel. We left De Smet Monday morning and got home about 2:00 in the afternoon. We were all so tired!!! It was a really fun weekend!!

Jenae & Aubree on the look out tower.

Aubree was in a hurry to get to the barn. She took off running down the hill &
was hard to catch up with! One thing about it, I was not worried about anyone "taking" her, as
everyone at the homestead appeared to be very family oriented.

Marilyn & Jenae walking toward the barn. Soon after this picture we sent Jenae
after Aubree to catch up!

Jenae & Aubree in a stage coach.

The girls headed into the school house.

Jenae & Aubree sitting in the desks at the school house. It was a really neat experience.
There was a teacher in the school & she told the kids what school was like back in Laura Ingalls time. She asked the kids
if they could see any differences between schools of to day and schools from back in time. Aubree raised her hand
and said "There aren't any lights on!"
Another question the teacher asked was "Do you know what kids took for their lunches back then?"
Jenae raised her hand and said "Apples" The teacher said "Yes, you are right! Apples were the one fruit the
settlers had access to since it did not need to be kept cold so they could ship it out west easily. Aubree
then raised her hand and said "I think they used to take hot dogs!!" The entire room busted out in laughter!!

Aubree in the classroom.

I thought this was a neat saying, so I had Jenae stand in front of it!

Jenae, Aubree & Marilyn on the covered wagon.

One of the highlights for Jenae was getting to drive the team and the covered wagon.

Aubree was not going to be out done by Jenae, so she drove them too!! I am not sure
what the wagon full of passengers thought of a 3 year old taking the reins!!