Wild West Wednesday

The kids and I took advantage of one of the summer ending deal days at the Heritage Park near here. I'd never been, but had heard many great things about it and hey, for $4 we couldn't go wrong.

There was so much to do. We spent about 4 hours wandering through the old village streets and reenacting many early settler activities.

Ethan and Avery attended school together. They were both good students. Ethan learned to write his name in the old Deseret Alphabet and played a couple of addition and subtraction games. Avery drew a beautiful picture on her chalk slate. As a reward for their hard work at school they each got to play a pioneer children's game.

The park is set up so that you get 3 stamps with your admission and get to choose 3 "paid" activities around the park. Since Avery didn't count Ethan had 6 chances to try his hand at different things. He was thrilled. He made a bead bracelet with beads he dug out of the sand, decorated a cloth bag to put all his loot in, took a pony ride and a train ride, made an Indian sand art picture, and stamped a piece of leather.

We also got to visit an animal petting pen. Ethan loved being in the fence with all the goats, sheep and pigs, but Avery wasn't so sure. She would hold her hand out and say "nice" like she wanted to pet something, but as soon as it got close she would grab on to my shoulder and start to climb up my leg. She eventually warmed up to a baby lamb for a quick second.

Ethan got to pan for gold in a little stream while Avery slept. He found 2 pieces and was able to take one of them to the bank where it was weighed and found to be worth one piece of taffy. He thought it was a fair price and quickly cashed it in.

Before leaving the park Ethan chose to do a few of the children's daily chores. He loves to do laundry on a washboard, thinks we should build a pretend iron like they had, and even plowed up the garden.

After all his hard work he played a few more games. It was fun to see him concentrate so hard on playing and winning each game.

We had a great time and still have so much more to see. We can't wait for next summer and the next Wild West Wednesday!