If you missed parts one and two of our Sonoma field trip, here's The Mission and the rest of our time on the Plaza from that day. After part 2, we hopped back in the van for a very brief drive over to General Vallejo's Home.
The kids were eager to explore and set off in a hurry with Grammy.
Inside the first building were many interesting things to look at, including this beautiful carriage.
Er, coach.
Hannah is checking out that unusual bike in the corner.
Lovely painting done on a roof tile.
What on earth? Model planets?
No, cannonballs. Oh. How silly of me. I always assumed cannonballs were black.
Anyone who currently pays a water bill will find themselves nostalgic for the good old days.
Spurs. I don't know if they jingle jangle or not. The kids found this stuff fascinating, as much of it they'd never even heard of. "Well, you wear those on your boots so it hurts the horse more when you kick it." Um, yeah. You ever notice you don't really think about some things until you try to explain them to a child?
Whoops! The sword shot didn't get rotated. Sorry.
Outside was gorgeous! It's a very peaceful atmosphere. There was hardly anybody else there, and the weather was perfect, and the birds were singing. Really, a perfect day.
The kids checking out the fountain. See the house in the background? That's where the "inside the house" pictures coming up will be taken.
After the fountain, we went up to the pond. This was the point where I set my camera down and walked off without it. Fortunately, it stayed right where I put it, and when I called and left frantic messages on their answering machine, someone went up and found it for me, and my mom picked it up the next day.
Some of what you see around the pond are rocks.
And some of what you see are turtles!
There were more than a dozen of them that we spotted, and probably more that we didn't see in this lovely pond. Grammy threatens to take Annaliese's turtle, Sheldon, up there in a picnic basket and set him free. (It's also a red eared slider, like many of the turtles at the pond.)
There goes another really big fish.
We also saw lizards sunning themselves. When we lived in Santa Rosa, we used to see these lizards all the time. I feel bad for the younger kids who missed out on all that nature.
This was me playing with the "panorama" setting on the cell phone camera. It was taken from up above the pond on the porch of a tiny little cabin.
General Vallejo's Home is a California Historical Landmark.
Built in the 1850s, it's a look back in time to a very different era.
It's currently maintained by the Sonoma Petaluma State Historic Parks Association.
Stepping into the main house is like walking onto the set of a historical romance novel.
The rooms are full of interesting things to look at.
To read more about General Vallejo, click here.
Hannah has a hard time on steep stairs, so these were a challenge for her. Going up is okay, but coming down, I walked right in front of her to help.
There once was a time when music didn't happen at the touch of a button. I think we valued practice and accomplishment and even togetherness more back then.
One of the tiny children's rooms. On the right, you see the foot of the bed below.
I was struck by how small the bedrooms were. The entire room was about the size of a king mattress. It was a good reminder to me of how very blessed we are to have our spacious home.
The fireplaces were marble. Can you imagine??
The sewing machine was not close to the doorway viewing area, but I knew the silhouette would be recognizable.
Another panoramic shot of the grounds.
This was the perfect field trip for us since it highlighted the period in history we were studying. I'm thinking about teaching California history next year and making a stab at doing some more historical field trips. We actually managed to hit 3 of the historic sites in Sonoma County on this trip (I've been to several more of them over the years). Sacramento County has a whole bunch of historic sites we could go check out.
Linking up with the Schoolhouse Review Crew.
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I always thought cannonballs were bigger too!
ReplyDeleteIn my mind they were more like bowling balls. I'm always struck by how much I continue to learn while teaching my kids.
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