This is the Place Heritage Park

A few weeks ago we got to celebrate a belated birthday for my father in law. He decided to take the family to the Pioneer village at Heritage park. It was a blast! It was a great way to spend the day, the kids loved it, and we all went home happy and exhausted.

Alex favorite thing was the pony rides. I think she ended up riding them 5 or 6 times before we left. Heidi wasn't so keen on the whole thing though.

This was Alex's favorite horse. She is so independent, she kept waving me away and saying "You don't need to be here, go back. I can do it."

Heidi on the other hand, just wants to be held and loved all the time. Or she is kicking, head butting your face, and flailing to be set free. Kind of a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde thing.

Heidi savoring her cookie.

The kids always like it when there are places to run, and plenty of adults to give them attention.

Grandpa graciously shared his ice cream cone with Alex so I didn't have to.

All the "kids" minus Annie crammed into the tiny kids train ride around the pond. Everyone but Tyler had an excuse (wink).

Here I am with a dozen 6 year olds panning for gold. I didn't realize how much I stuck out until I looked through the pictures and saw I was the only person over 10 participating in that particular activity. We didn't want the kids to get soaked so they went to the Indian Village while I tried my luck in the stream.

Heidi made a necklace and rode the train.

She has inherited Alex's knack for sarcastic facial expressions when asked to smile for the camera.

There was a lot to see besides horses and trains I promise. It was a fun place to walk through and see all the old houses and people dressed up as pioneers.

We discovered the petting zoo at the end of the day. It was probably best for the animals though, as the kids were running on empty by then and would have terrorized the goats and pigs much more if they would have had any energy.

Heidi was feeling a little out of her element and cautious around such strange things that were so close to her size.

The pig however was not afraid of Heidi and when he tried to get a closer look at her. She took off for the hills. She went from squatting and watching in curiosity, to running for Daddy in 2 seconds flat.

Annie was a trooper.

The last thing we did was teach Alex how to rope Heidi.