We started a little game that could have been fun had we more time. I didn't know where Brian and the older two were and Brian wasn't answering my texts so I sent him a clue, "double barrel gun" and he had to find us. If you frequent museums it could be fun, right? He found us pretty quick since they had just finished looking at that section (the Dakota War exhibit and Isaac's favorite part*).
I think our favorite was the "If These Walls Could Talk" exhibit. It was interesting and interactive so the kids really liked it too. I took a bunch of pictures (even though not enough and not that great because I only had my phone), mostly for you Michael, since you found that wooden leg, I couldn't help thinking about you the whole exhibit. You would love it and I think you should come out here just to see it. ;-) If you want more info give me a call or email.
So to summarize the exhibit, what they did was sort of randomly chose a house in St. Paul and did an exhibit about the history of that house and the "average" lives of the people that lived it from when it was built until now. I loved it. It's something I wonder about when walking through a house. It's something fun to imagine when walking through a house. What was life like for the people that lived here? What was their favorite thing? What was the worst thing? Were they happy? Were they sad? What games did they play? I like imagining families laughing together. I love the day to day stuff of history and little personal things about people.
One thing I thought was interesting that I really liked thinking about was how the house was divided into separate homes, but the families were like family and spent a lot of time together working and playing, sharing good times and bad. One family was struggling to make ends meet so another (not much better off) snuck them some groceries. There was a fire. They sang, they danced, they played in the yard. A family raised chickens in the basement during the depression. In the 60's the kids were terrified of the basement (William's favorite part). There was a story of this couple that fought a lot and one day the wife was mad and threw a jar of coins at her husband and it went through the window and all the kids playing outside cheered and ran to pick up the money.
I won't tell all of the stories, but, oh, I just loved it all.
Maybe my house isn't too small after all.
Maybe it is.
They did all move when they had the chance. That angry couple was happy to move to a house to themselves so they could argue with each other without such a close audience- with the windows closed.
Not that I feel like I need space to argue. I think I need a barn/art studio.
* Isaac's favorite part was he liked a story of a man who went to war and was killed and his wife wrote in her journal that her son wasn't scared and if any Indians came he would kill them, and this reminded Isaac of how he thought he would react. In the house his favorite part was the falling bed story and the fire story.
Henry's favorite was the Dakota War exhibit too. He was fascinated with this skirt that was made from a covered wagon top that had bullet holes in it.
Ana's favorite was the house and everything about it.
Brian's favorite was the house and that Isaac never changed his dirty shirt before we left so I made him wear it inside out.
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