Francis Family Connection: The Henry Ford

This winter has been kind to us so far, but cabin fever was bound to hit sometime. That sometime was Wednesday night. Even after no nap and gymnastics class that day, Ella was bouncing around the house like a maniac and I decided something needed to be done. Yesterday, we had a playdate with Ellie (and Shay and Jenni) and today, we went to the "uzeeum", aka The Henry Ford.

Ella did not know what a museum was, but she was very excited to find out. She wanted to touch everything, which is understandable, but she was an excellent listener and only *almost* climbed onto the front of the huge train.

They are smart at The Henry Ford. They put the Oscar Mayer wienermobile at the very beginning. What kid doesn't love that? Ella loved playing in the huge hot dog and her other favorite thing was the Rosa Parks bus. She even sat and listened to the recording where Ms. Parks explained what happened that day. Benjamin's favorite was also the huge hot dog -- he had a blast playing with his big sister!

I love that museum and now have a greater appreciation for its wide open spaces and diversity of exhibits. It amazes me how old some of the items are and that they are "the" items, such as Lincoln's chair. We will surely return and maybe even hit Greenfield Village once the weather warms up a bit.

Oh... and I was a total sucker for useless items, but I wanted to make sure Ella had fun. We bought a plastic replica of the wienermobile that was made right in front of us (yes, I fell for it), a wienermobile whistle (no, not the smartest purchase, but it was only $1) and a penny we squashed and imprinted with a picture of Rosa Parks' bus. In my defense, the items were representative of our highlights of today's visit. We had so much fun!

Ella wanted me to take her picture in front of the big barn. Not sure why...

The super huge steam engine.

One of the few things Ella could climb on/touch (inside the steam engine). She was very excited!

Modeling her craft -- a Rosa Parks headband.

Green screened into the Material Girl video in the 80's exhibit. This was my favorite area... there is a replica of a teenage girls' bedroom that really takes me back -- right down to the stickers on the vanity mirror.