Fort Ridgely

Oh my brain is so mushy.  It's been a crazy day. I'm ready to go home.


Our first field trip of the year to Fort Ridgely went swimmingly... beautiful weather, good kids, mostly interesting speakers... The kids were disappointed the gift shop wasn't open (in past years it's been open, but it was always crazy having kids buying souvenirs).  They had the Fort Ridgely school day moved to the fall this year since it was cancelled last spring due to bad weather.  With the schedule change, they had 500 kids show up (they anticipated 300).  So the set up was a little different.  19 speakers were stationed around the fort and school groups started at one and worked their way around the circle.  We only got to see about 10 speakers: wetlands, Governor Ramsey, how forts were built, horseshoeing, steam-powered vehicles, Abraham Lincoln, spinning wool (rabbit wool to be exact), watershed (how water erodes land), the diorama/museum in the fort, and a video on the Dakota Uprising. 


Horseshoeing is always a favorite.  They had big gray percherons to shoe while we were there, but he didn't actually get a shoe on the horse.  Something was back in the woods making the horse nervous and he wouldn't stand still for the farrier to do it.  The owner said he'd never seen them like that before. 


Abraham Lincoln was way better than previous years.  Instead of reciting a speech he'd made, the reenactor told us the story of Lincoln's assassination, complete with gun/blanks and a fake theater booth.  It was pretty neat.  The spinner was also cool.  She has 32 rabbits that she cards wool from to make yarn.  She had a spinning wheel and while we watched she pulled hair off the rabbit in her lap, twisted it, and spun it into yarn.  It was pretty sweet.  My kids were like, "She's a rabbit lady... like a cat lady without the cats!"


They did shoot off the cannon... three times! I wish we would've gotten to go to the cannon station where they'd tell us all the details of firing and the soldiers, etc.  It's too bad we can't pick which speakers to go to, but if we did, I suppose all the good ones would be full and the not-so-good-ones wouldn't have anyone. 


Back at school is when things got hectic.  All but three of my students stayed for the soccer/volleyball games.  Most chose to stay in my room and play Apples to Apples.  My Scholastic book order came in (I was the only one who ordered anything), and my little readers hustled over to see what new delights were added to our library.  Since I am a "Green Apple Teacher" (someone who ordered a lot of books last year), they sent me a free book! Woohoo! I looked it up on Goodreads.com and saw that Stuart Gibbs (our favorite author) gave it five stars.  Nice.  Except now I'll have to read it and I already have over 300 books on my to-read shelf...


With all the kids in my room and all the people who stopped in my room to talk, I didn't get a whole lot of work done.  Thankfully I don't have much to do for tomorrow.  Teaching at the same school for three years has its perks!  About five minutes before our game was scheduled to start, the soccer game wasn't over, someone was in my room chatting with no signs of stopping, three people texted me at the same time, and my assistant vb coach wanted help with her homework.  My brain went in about five different directions.  And then we had to get organized for our team picture.  We got all the players in, but missed my co-coach.  She wasn't around and our game was 15 minutes late!  Lost all four tonight... came really close in the two A squad games.  Yesterday's games we won 3 out of 5 played.  I'm still amazed at how well they're doing this year. But, as we all know, God is good. :)