5th grade Springfield field trip

Every year the 5th graders get to rent a charter bus & take a special trip to Springfield. It's something big to mark their last days in the elementry school. This year Mandy is in that class. So, yes, that means *gulp* she will start jr. high in the fall.


Two years ago when it was Angel's turn, her trip fell during the time we were in Mexico for my uncle's wedding and she had to miss going. We promised her we'd take her sometime ourselves. We meant to do it sooner, but opportunity never presented itself, so we let her miss school and go along with Mandy's class. Except she was not allowed to ride the bus so I drove seperately to take her along. Once we were there we were part of the group in every way. I was a chaperone and was given this nifty sticker to mark my status & help track the group of kids I was in charge of. They might as well have crowned me the queen of England as special as I felt.

First we went to visit Lincoln's home. This is the home that housed the Lincoln family while he lived in Springfield and was a lawyer and later a legislator. The site is considered a National Park and is the only one in the whole state of IL. They have done a fabalous job of preserving the site. Many of the items in the house were the original items from Lincoln and the house itself also has a lot of the original work still intact. For example, the wallpaper is the exact wallpaper that was on the walls when Lincoln lived there over 100 years ago. The banister is the exact same banister that Lincoln slid his hand up and down while using the stairs and so on. I got some goosebumps on that one! It's a very neat place to go and see.

Outside the Lincoln home:

Inside Lincoln's master bedroom. That brown box is a toilet.

Lincoln's shaving mirror up on the wall.
Next we went to the Lincoln Museum:

This place is strictly dedicated to Lincoln and the civil war era. It was again very detailed and gave me a deep sense of patoiratism. There is not too much that you can take pictures of inside the museum. Here is Angel & Mandy with Abe & his family outside of the White House: