County History Museum

One day last summer when the temperatures outdoors were too hot to do anything, I took the kids for an impromptu visit to the County History Museum.  I wasn't sure that there would really be anything in there that would interest the kids, but it turned out they loved it and put it on their list of things they wanted to do over the summer again this year.

The museum is located in the old courthouse where Abraham Lincoln himself practiced law as an attorney before his move to the White House.

(side note:  I did learn on this trip, however, that the original courthouse had actually burned down in a fire and was rebuilt in 1930 so he didn't exactly pace the wooden floors of this preserved courtroom, but whatever ...)

Last year I had the kids pose for photos with the statue of Abe out front, and they took great pleasure in doing inappropriate things like pretending to pick his nose for the photo.  This year was a bit more tame in that regard.

Once inside I again marveled at the beauty of the building with it's massive marble walls and staircase and beautifully laid tile floor.  The dome ceiling with the glass skylights and mural paintings are simply beautiful, and the architectural features amazing.  All of which was lost on the kids.

The only thing that the kids were apparently interested in, besides posing for funny photos with Abe, was the pioneer room where they can dress up in period clothes and do chores that pioneer kids would have done years ago.  Which is ironic since they hate chores with modern day convenience and only chose to play things at home that come with batteries or  plug into the wall.

Despite that, they did the washing, churned the butter, milked the cow and sawed the logs with gusto.

Actually in looking at the photos, it seems Jack did all of the chores while Kara dressed up pretty and served tea in tin cups.  Which is pretty much par for the course around our house.

And Jenna just seemed to enjoy messing with her mother and father, asking us questions like "Did you have electricity when you were my age?".  There are no photos of me smacking her for those questions.

Once again the kids had a great time and we managed to kill a few hours of a rainy day at one of the many attractions our community offers.  Whether or not we learned anything is debatable, but such is the life with kids : )