We spent all of Spring Break at home, so on Saturday Jake and I decided to load everyone up and go north...well not too north, just Waco. When Jake & I lived in Waco, I must have dragged him to every attraction within a 50 mile radius. It was not the most exciting place to live, so we had a lot of day trips! There was a memorable day when we stumbled into a store with 1950's white supremacy pamphlets, and trust me folks am I ever glad we made it out of that store. But that is another story.
One trip that we really enjoyed was
Homestead Heritage in Elm Mott, so we decided to take the kids. Homestead Heritage is a horse farming community run by a group of Mennonites. [Quick lesson: Mennonites are often confused with the Amish, but while Mennonites have a lot of home centered beliefs they do use technology.] The driving idea behind Homestead Heritage is to create a sustainable lifestyle. They use horses to farm, grow organic vegetables, make their own furniture, a mill their own corn/wheat, and they even have a forge. And at the farm they put it all on display for visitors to check out for free!!! They even have classes and seminars on their craft skills.
The boys and I have been reading the Laura Ingalls' books, so they loved getting to see some of the instruments and tools that we have been reading about. It was a beautiful day, and we loved leisurely walking through the farm checking everything out. If you have day where you need to get away, I assure you that it is worth the trip to Elm Mott. There is something moving about seeing humans go back to their roots, and live in harmony with each other and the land.
And of course we had to hit Health Camp on the way out of Waco, and get a shake!
It was a great day!
Taking pictures of your kids in the bluebonnets is such a "Texas Thang". I guess we do it because for 11 1/2 months of the year the Texas landscape looks less green and appealing...that is putting it nicely. So when all the wildflowers pop up and everything is so vibrant and lush, it is hard not to commit that beauty to memory with pictures. Those pictures can help us live out some pretty hot & dry months! :) Last year we had a very small smattering of bluebonnets because of drought, so it was such a gift to see Nature bring them out in full force this year. So like good Texans, we took our kids out and put them in the bluebonnets!
