Wrapping up our trip to Indiana Dunes & a Quilt-Along

Our last full day at Indiana Dunes started out sunny and warm, so we took the kids to the beach for a while.  The waves were pretty big, and we all had a good time playing in the water.  After awhile, we went back to the campers for lunch, and then drove over to the Chelburg Farm/Bailey Homestead in the National Park for a ranger-led tour at 2:30.  We were a little late getting there, but lucky for us, the ranger was still in the parking lot -- waiting for people to show up for the walking tour! 

We started out by taking the trail to the Chelburg Farm.  The Chelburg Family (let's see if I remember this correctly) were Swedish Immigrants, and one of the first settlers in this region.  We saw the maple sugar shack,

the chicken coop,

the barn,

and the house.

We saw the living room and the parlor where the family would have spent their evenings, and our guide showed the kids some of the games and toys that children of that time period would have had,

including this jar of marbles that was as valuable to kids then as a most sophisticated game system would be to kids today.  We also saw the kitchen, which was truly the hub of the home in those days -- all cooking, eating and bathing took place here.

Back outside, the kids tried their hands at some manual plowing in the potato field.

With their work complete (1 row plowed!), we headed back down the trail to the Bailey Homestead.

Joseph Bailey was a fur trader, and the kids were able to talk to some additional naturalists-in-training who were doing some reenactments in the fur trader cabin.

In the fur trader cabin, we saw various animal pelts -- coyote, raccoon, beaver, bear

Kylie wasn't too thrilled with the pelts, and not at all interested in touching them!

We completed our guided tour with a visit to Joseph and Mary Bailey's on-site chapel, now home to a resident squirrel.  We enjoyed our private guided tour, and the kids all got Junior Ranger badges out of it!

Back at the campground, it was just starting to rain.  We split up and had dinner in our campers, and then just called it a night.  The rain kept up for a while, so no campfire that night.

Wednesday morning was sunny and beautiful, but we needed to get packed up to go home (of course!).  Before I closed up the slides, I took a couple of pictures -- our new coffee table

and the new french door to the garage, with the panes cleaned off.

Back at home, I was catching up on blogs when I discovered the Charming Friends Quilt-Along on Paulette's blog.  I'm a little late in hearing about it, but I decided to jump right in.  I had 2 charm packs and coordinating fabric that I could use, so tonight I got started cutting the fabric and piecing the blocks.

I LOVE the colors -- it just screams summer!!  It's going to be a great little quilt!