Snowed in...or getting ready to be.

"Snow! Woo Hoo!! No school for two days!", my children were cheering as they galloped off to bed this evening. I was cheering too, it was a lot of fun to have them home all day today! 

That's right, no school today and they've already cancelled school for tomorrow. 

Wanna know why? Because, as I have heard, we are in for one of the biggest storms Kansas has had for quite a while. The entire state of Kansas is already in a state of emergency due to the snow, rain, and ice we've gotten today and are preparing to get tonight. Today wasn't so bad....as long as you weren't driving. I guess we maybe received an inch of snow but we had a snow/rain/ice mix for most of the day. But I guess the big stuff will be hitting us overnight and all day tomorrow. 

This is a weather shot I just took. The purple dot is family. Hi family!! So happy to see that you are safely tucked away in Indiana trees!! I wish I had trees to block the wind. And hills, yes, those tiny Indiana hills would sure come in handy today too! 

The red dot is me in the flat land; without trees and hills. We are tucked in warm in our house though with plenty of food, movies, games, art projects and library books to keep us busy and comfortable for quite a while. Right now I'm snuggling on the couch with.....nobody. That's right, except for the kids, I'm all alone. 

See the green dot? That's Hays, KS. It might not look too far away but it's a few hours from here and that's where DR is right now, hopefully, warm and snug in a hotel. He had a business trip he left for Monday night and was supposed to get back this evening. No can do. The roads are treacherous (salt people!!) and he opted to hole up in a hotel for another night or two. 

 The big yellow sort of oval shape is the storm that is supposed to hit us over night. And when I say hit, I mean HIT! I've heard that in the next 24 hours we could possibly receive over a foot of snow....and I just read on one weather site that the worst of it is supposed to pass right between the red dot and the green dot. Right between my husband and I. 

...great...

I should have known something bad was going to happen while he was away. Last year when he took this trip I only had three kids throwing up all over my carpet in the middle of the night. If it weren't for all the welcome moisture this storm is bringing I'd almost wish to have sick kids than be separated from DR for who knows how long. No telling when I'll see my husband again! As long as he's safe though he can stay at hotels and eat at restaurants every night and I promise I won't hold a grudge!! 

Would you mind saying a quick prayer for us though? I don't mind being home alone. I don't even mind being snowed in the house. I am a little worried about losing power though. We have a generator and plenty of space heaters and a gas stove so I'm sure we'll be just fine in case it does go out but I'd rather not have to battle a power failure. So far so good though. The only battle I've fought today was with the stubborn dog who refused to go in the garage to spend the night warm and dry. I couldn't even drag her in!! 

I'm expecting to have plenty of down time for the next day or two so hopefully I can share our Kansas storm with you all. (And to give grandmothers peace of mind that we are all fine!!) Hopefully I'll be posting tomorrow!  

Kansas readers! (or anyone in the path of this storm) if you wouldn't mind comment and let me know what the storm is bringing you! 

Old Fort Hays

After we finished with the Sternberg Museum of Natural History we drove over to the Old Fort Hays. Fort Hays is located near Interstate 70 and is mostly associated with George Armstrong Custer and "Wild Bill" Hickok. Fort Hays was an important U.S. Army post that was active from 1865 until 1889. It was a much larger western fort than Fort Larned because it was near the railroad and served as a supply depot for the military in the West. 

We started off in the visitors center where we could touch many Native American artifacts. 

These gloves were made from buffalo. The inside of the thumbs were covered in buffalo hair as was the inside back of your hands. These were sooo warm! 

Yap enjoyed re enacting his Indian holler! 

Today four original buildings survive: the blockhouse , guardhouse (above), and two officers' quarters but in the late 1800's the fort covered over 170 acres with many more buildings. The reason most of Ft. Hays buildings are gone is because they were wooden and moved out of the area to be used as homes or the materials were used for other reasons. Ft. Larned's buildings are all stone which is why that fort has remained intact through the years. 

Throughout the Old Fort's location there were signs indicating where other buildings used to stand along with interesting facts about the fort. The fort is supposedly haunted by the "Blue Lady" Elizabeth Polly who was a cholera victim in 1867. We didn't see her, unfortunately...I always thought it would be interesting to see a ghost. 

Inside the guardhouse the boys got to try on the heavy wool uniforms of the Union soldiers. 

They refused to smile; they didn't think real soldiers would have smiled for a picture! 

The guardhouse was also the jail for soldiers arrested for all sorts of offences. Yahoo kept hollering, "Lock me in!" and insisting that we shut the door on her! 

We didn't spend too much time at the fort, not nearly as much time as I would have liked. I would have loved to spend a lot more time in the blockhouse, as it was I didn't even get any photos of it. The kids were tired from the long trip and were getting hungry but I'm glad that we were able to take them to Fort Hays regardless. My dad always says that it even though kids don't look at every single exhibit or read every single sign that they ARE LEARNING SOMETHING. It may take years for all those little memories, facts, and experiences to mesh together into understanding. 

Without me knowing it these little day trips make an impact on my kids and I truly believe they'll be better for it.