Grandma's Homeschool: 2012

May 17 is Norway's Independence Day. Stoughton has a Norwegian heritage and celebrates Syttende Mai in a big way.

I took the children to visit Stoughton, Wisconsin for the yearly Syttende Mai celebration. I was raised in Stoughton and have missed this special time only a few times. I wanted to share it with the grandchildren. We made a fun day of it. My friend Kristi Brekke joined us.

Taking the back roads from Janesville to Stoughton is much more fun than the Interstate. We did several stops along the way.

First we stopped at the dam in Indianford. There was lots to watch here. The children enjoyed watching the water rush over the dam. There were several people fishing. They asked if we could come fishing here some day.

Further up the road we stopped at the alpaca farm to view all the animals. Besides the fun alpaca we saw horses, a donkey and even a peacock.

Grandma loves these longhorned steers. These babies have yet to grow their horns, but I stop to watch them every time I drive to Stoughton.

East Side School has been turned into an apartment building. Grandma attended this school for grades 1-4. The trees around the building are new and all the fun playground equipment is gone. The children enjoyed seeing where Grandma went to school.

Grandma attended the school in the mid 50's - NOT in the 1800's!

Our first stop downtown was at the Norse Nook where author Anne Jacobsen was signing her books. Grandma went to school with Anne so it was fun to get three of her books.

We enjoyed looking at all the wonderful Norwegian items in the store. Wesley and Douglas are looking at the Rosemaling at the Norse Nook.

The lower level of the Norse Nook revealed a lot more fun things. Here Diana poses as a Viking lady!

The children were very excited to find Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka books. These fun books were some that Grandma had enjoyed reading as a little girl. I had found one at a garage sale and told the children about these books and we read the delightful story together. They also had Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr books - the boy versions of these fun books.

Grandma and some of her friends....Grandma, Karen, Kristi, and Anne. We all graduated from Stoughton High School, though not all in the same year.

The children loved the rock and gem store. The owner spent quite a bit of time with us. He taught us much about rocks, gems, and fossils. Here he even let the children hold a "rock" which he later informed them was fossilized dinosaur poop. They wanted to buy it!

There was much to see along the street. Here a lady let them pet her ferret.

One store displayed Norwegian dress items and a doll. Wesley is looking at it.

Wesley gets a good view of the rosemaling and the flags of the US and Norway.

The flower shop was a wonder to our senses. The flowers/plants were so pretty and full of fragrance. The store was a beautiful place to display the pictures of all the former Kings and Queens of Stoughton's Syttende Mai celebrations.

Fosdal's Bakery is a MUST place to stop when in Stoughton. This weekend they put on their finest displays of goodies, including many Norwegian delights. Wesley choose a cream-filled chocolate bismarck (one of Grandma's favorites) and Diana, of course, had to have sprinkles!

The streets were pretty quiet and not much for crowds of people because it was Friday. This will all change on Saturday and Sunday! The streets will be lively with music, Norwegian dancers, people in costumes, food stands, parades and MORE!

Walking back down Main Street to where we parked the van. I didn't notice, but of course Charles did,....we had parked our car right in front of a gun shop. So our last place to visit was this store. The clerk was very patient with the children as they looked at everything in the store. Charles was especially excited as he is our resident hunter-to-be. He had just gotten a BB gun for his birthday in April and was drooling over the many hunting rifles and the trophies on display.

Stoughton...we WILL be back! Next time we will probably face the crowds and come on a busier day to see all the excitement.

After our game of disc golf we decided to head to Riverside Park and take some pictures of the fall colors...and, of course, play a little. After taking some nice pictures we made an exciting discovery...

First...the pictures of the colors and the kids...

Fall colors are beautiful along the Rock River.

I had five of my grandchildren with me...Wesley, Jacob, Douglas, Charles and Diana.

Jacob

The children waved at the many passing boats.

And, of course, they threw rocks in the water. Here is Wesley winding up for a throw.

And, also played on the playground. Charles and Jacob teeter while Wesley watches.

We saw this amazing tree and just had to take a bunch of pictures here. They were looking at a lure that was dangling from a branch.

Some of the other amazing trees along the bank of the river.

Then, we made our discovery!!! Wisconsin Ice Age Trail - Devil's Staircase Segment

The children wanted to climb the stairs. I said they could go up, but I wouldn't.

We also love to pose on stairs. The children figured it was a given that we would take a picture on the staircase.

Then they begged me to come up because there was a trail and we just had to see where it went. They assured me it was very cool. So up I went. Slowly...but I made it up.

A picture from the top looking down.

The children were waiting at the top already posed for a picture...LOL Do I have them trained, or what?!?

Even the first looks made it worth the climb up the stairs...

There were several of these "caves" that the children would loved to have explored, but most of them were high in the rocks.

For the most part, the path was an easy walk with the high rocks to the left...

While Douglas is the oldest and most often in charge of things, I found it amazing how Charles just naturally became the "leader" of our group. He was the one usually at the head of the line...

Charles has the knickname "Hawk" because of his sharp eyes and love of birds of prey. Here he spotted something red that had to have a closer look.

More of the rocks.

Jacob pointed out the "crack" in the rock.

On we go...

More to check out and on again...

To the right along the path was a tree-filled slope down to the river.

Another discovery was these....

They were very hard and firmly attached to the tree...and so beautiful.

Wesley could not resist trying to pull one off.

Another view of the river. It was such a nice blue through the trees.

At times the path became a little steep.

They saw a chipmunk. But it scurried so quickly that Grandma missed it in the picture I tried to take of it.

It WAS sitting so cute on this branch.

Marching along...

Wesley jumped up on this stump and said "It is a toilet." It was much more understandable when he got off...

The kids thought this was a path. I explained that it was actually erosion...and area washed out by rain. But they still had to climb it to see what was at the top.

It was fairly steep and they had a difficult time climbing. At points they were on their knees crawling.

Almost to the top.

When I shouted up and asked them what was there, the reply was, "Nothing!"

So they all slid back down. In places they were sliding a little bit fast. But they all seemed to think it was quite the adventure. I hope their mothers are as excited when they see the dirt on their knees and backsides.

Looking back and ahead along the path while I wait for them to slide down.

Off again...

More views of the river below us.

A man came along from behind us and quickly passed by. He said he had not walked this trail in years so he wasn't not sure how much further it went. So we walked a little longer before turning back.

It looked like a place begging to be climbed, so up they attempted to go.

This was as far as they could go...

...but they seemed please with themselves.

Come on, Grandma. Let's go a little farther.

We are on the way back now and Charles was looking more closely and had to check out many of these holes.

He was walking back by me as the other three boys trooped ahead. He says: "I hope my kids like to do this. It would be lonely if they don't want to go with me." WOW...I assured him that with his love of nature, if he shared his joy of it with them while they were young, I was sure they would be joining him in the woods. He seemed relieved at that.