Springfield History Museum

As one of the girls' reward for completing the local summer reading program at the library they received a certificate for a free gift at the local history museum.

They had a few choices to pick from and they both decided on yo-yo's. After they received their prize we checked out the museum which, although was small, detailed a great deal of local history.


One exhibit the girls enjoyed was the civil war kids dress up area. Here they were able to don some replica attire worn during the civil war.

Another exhibit described how a local slave during the late 1820's was able to buy his own freedom and his families freedom by handcarving ox yokes. He then moved to Independence, Missouri and continued his craftmanship by opening a store selling yokes. Kristy and I thought about the possibility that he may have certainly made yokes for some of the early members from our church who predominately lived in that area during that time era.

A last exhibit allowed Molly and Neleha to do some hands on work with stone grinding corn meal. We certainly had a good visit to our local history museum.

Fishing with Miss Molly

I decided that I would spend Molly's last two Friday mornings before she started school with her fishing. She was very excited about the idea. So we got up nice and early and headed out to Springfield Lake.

Molly started out the trip by sitting on the bottom of the canoe but she soon gained enough confidence to over come her fear and sit on the seat. She was so happy to be sitting where grown-ups sit in the canoe. She is a brave little girl, that is for sure.

We enjoyed a very beautiful calm morning on the lake. Apparently the area was so relaxing that the fish were still asleep as we did not get even one bite.

But we did spot a deer walking on the shore line. We really thought the experience was fantastic to watch a deer casually walk along rooting around for food. The deer probably thought it was nice to watch a couple of humans out fishing on the lake.

No fish this trip......there is always next week. I must say I sure enjoyed fishing with my Molly.

Back to the Zoo: Zoo Keys and Feeding the Animals

Our recent visit to the Dickerson Park Zoo led us to learning what a zoo key was. We purchased one when we got our pass but on this visit we actually used it.

Basically at every exhibit there is a box and when a zoo key is inserted a message is presented about the exhibit. It's like having a guided tour of the zoo. I think Molly likes using the key more than actually listening to the message though. She only gives it about 20 seconds and then moves on to the next exhibit to use the key again.

Our favorite part of the zoo is being able to feed the animals, the actual interaction is what we are after.

On this trip they had a baby goat and a chicken in the feeding area. Our girls flocked to them with all their food.


The giraffe tower is the highlight of the animal feeding experience. Our girls love getting up close and personal with these most majestic animals.


On our way out of the zoo one of the peacocks decided to show off, a very beautiful sight indeed.

FHE: Let's Go Fly a Kite

A friend of ours (Jeff Hertz) recently discussed in his blog about the benefits found at Dollar General. Well we followed suit and held a FHE courtesy of DG. We headed out to a local park known for it's very nice open range disc golf course and attempted to fly some $1 kites.

Kristy did very well in teaching the girls how to fly their kites. I remember the first time I flew a kite with Kristy back when we were dating, she was a natural even back then. Even though she may say she is not very good at it, she always does great.

Molly decided that she wanted to do it by her self and she eventually figured out the trick and flew her kite completely independent of any parental assistance.


After the girls had as much fun as they could with the kites they headed over to the playground.




As always we had a great time playing with our little angels. Another successful FHE (Family Home Evening). Jeff recently asked about what this FHE actually is and in response I am currently preparing a blog entry that should be posted very soon.

Nathaniel Greene Park

One very cool aspect of living in student housing is the nearby Nathaniel Greene city park. We often walk over to the park, feed the ducks, and let the girls play on the playground. Although we may be living in an apartment you would never know it with all the activity we do within walking distance away.

Just behind my school is the Greeneways Pathway which winds through Springfield and links many of the parks together.

The pathway also includes tunnels that go under the major roads rather than having to cross them.


The park has a very wonderful pond full of ducks, turtles, and fish. All of these animals are totally protected as there is no fishing or hunting allowed. Needless to say they are all very over fed.

The park is very peaceful and a wonderful place to spend time with each other.