Conner Prairie

The girls and I had the best day at Conner Prairie yesterday! Wow, has it changed since I was a kid. Conner Prairie is a "living history museum" where everything you see transports you back to the 1800's- including the staff that dress, act and speak as if in the 1800's. The newest addition to Conner Prairie is a HUGE helium-filled balloon (that you can ride in) that celebrates the first airmail delivery from Lafayette, IN in 1859. We could see it for miles before we got there.


Another new addition is the Animals Encounters Barn. This is where we went first and it was so neat! Ellie and Josie got to hang out with goats, cows, sheep, ponies, and baby chicks. Josie was a little hesitant at first but warmed up after a little while. Ellie just loved it and glowed with excitement with each animal she got to touch. Her favorite part was holding the baby chicks.


This cow just wanted to be cuddled...so sweet.


Josie finally warmed up to the whole idea when she was given a brush to brush this cute goat. :)



After the animals, we ate lunch in the food court which was right next to the balloon launch area. We sat there and watched the balloon go up and down, up and down, and, finally, after I asked Ellie about 10 times if she would go in the balloon with me, she said yes! (Josie said yes the first time.) So we did it!


We went up in this circular cage where you could see over the outside or down through a hole in the middle.


We went up almost 400 feet!


We could see all the way to the Indianapolis skyline- about 20 miles away.


Ellie and Josie LOVED it and so did I!


After the awesome balloon ride, we went to see the part of Conner Prairie that I remember as a kid: Prairietown


Ellie tried out some old-fashion toys...


saw an old school...


and pumped an old well.


Here's a cute little video of Ellie after we came across some wild chickens in Prairietown.



And here's 100 more pictures of our fun day!

Click here to view these pictures larger

We were there for 5 hours and still didn't even get to see/do half of what all there is to see/do. We will definitely be going back soon!