Carl Sandburg Home

On the last day of our drive across the country we decided to stop at the Carl Sandburg house in the middle of our drive to give us a chance to get out and stretch our legs while visiting an interesting spot.  The Carl Sandburg house is on over 30 acres of land and there are trails that pass through a lot of that land.  We enjoyed walking through the beautiful grounds and seeing the house, although we did not take the time to tour the inside of the house.  The grounds were beautiful and the trails were nicely kept up so that it was easy to explore.

Alden loved the fact that they keep a small herd of dairy goats on the property that you can visit and pet.  Carl Sandburg's wife liked to keep dairy goats which is part of the reason that they bought this property in the 1940s, so that she could raise the goats.  The goats are still kept there in memory of his wife.  It was really neat because you could pet all the goats and they even had one goat that was 6 days old and another that was 1 day old.  They were super cute and I really enjoyed seeing them too.

While we were there Alden also took the time to complete their Junior Ranger program so that he could get another badge.  He had fun filling out the book and especially liked figuring out which kind of goats they had on the farm which was one of the activities in the book.  This was a really nice place to stop and walk around and it was fun to learn a little more about Carl Sandburg.

Starting off walking on the trail.

A little waterfall that came out under one side of the bridge.

This little pond was really pretty.

The house on the property.  We just enjoyed walking around the outside of it.

Alden kept wanting to find sticks to carry with him as we walked.

Anders was very eager to get down and explore on his own.

Anders enjoyed sitting with Grandma and throwing rocks while Alden worked on his Junior Ranger book.

Alden enjoyed trying to balance and walk along this small wall.

We found the goats!  Alden was so happy!

The goats were very friendly and Alden was so excited to pet them!

Anders even wanted to say hi to the goats.

The boys had fun watching the goats with Daddy.

This was the baby goat that was only a day old with his mom!  The baby was so adorable!

This was the little baby who was 6 days old! He was enjoying just resting in a corner of the barn.

Grandma and Alden found a very friendly cat to visit!

Daddy and Anders watching another little goat that was born this year.

Alden was so excited to have a goat willing to sit still while he pet him!

Alden was trying to say hi to the goat and get him to look at him.  It was really fun to watch Alden with the goats.  He really loves getting to see and visit animals.

The property really was pretty and the house was extremely well situated in the middle of the land.

Alden wanted to make sure that he stayed in front as we headed back down the trail to the car.

Alden just has so much energy he is always wanting to run around when we are outside and we are constantly having to ask him to slow down.  However, I do love that he likes to be active.

We stopped to look at the pond again and see the birds around it.

Then as we were going over the bridge someone else pointed out some snakes that you could see off to the side.  They were just lounging in the sun but it was neat to see so many snakes out.  We had a really fun time exploring here and I am glad that we made this stop to enjoy visiting somewhere new!

Alden's Birthday

Alden's birthday was the day before we left Washington and so we couldn't do too much because everything was packed and we were trying to finish cleaning the house before we left.  However, we did try to do a little something special to make his birthday special.  Drew went out early that morning and got giant doughnuts since that is one of Alden's favorite foods.  Alden was so excited to get to eat a doughnut that was pretty much the size of his head.  It took him all day, but he did eventually eat almost all of it.

Then, later that day I went and got special cupcakes for his birthday, since I felt bad that I couldn't bake any for him.  He was so excited for a cupcake with sprinkles!  Then, that night he got to go play with his best friend in Washington one last time before we left.  Overall, I think Alden had a pretty good birthday.  I can't believe that he is already 4, but it is so fun watching him grow up and change.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings with this crazy, energetic, happy boy.

These were two of the doughnuts, and they are on dinner size plates.

Alden eating his breakfast doughnut.

He wasn't quite sure how to eat it at first, but he figured it out pretty quickly.

Drew got a giant maple bar.  This picture really doesn't show just how big it was.

Alden still sitting and enjoying his doughnut.

Drew got me this giant doughnut that was very yummy but I could only eat about half of it.

He was so happy about his breakfast.

This was Alden's special birthday cupcake!

He mostly just ate the frosting off the top, and he was very careful in making sure he ate all of the sprinkles off the sides first.  He was a happy birthday boy that definitely got spoiled on his special day!