Fun at Shaw-Kemp

A few years ago, a librarian friend of ours invited us to this place in Weatherford where they have amazing bluebonnets.  It sounded fun, so we looked up the address and we went, not knowing what to expect.  Every April since then, we've made the trek to the Shaw-Kemp Open House.
If you've ever been to the Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth, this is similar.  They have a small town of antique buildings filled with antiques and people in period costume.  Everyone is happy to discuss local Parker County history and the entire event is free.
Most of the event organizers are part of either the Shaw or Kemp family, and I think most of their advertising is done by word of mouth.  Every year in January,  my friend Stacy and I start searching online for the dates for the Open House that year.  It's hard to find and when I ask around at the event, they all tell me that they never know until a few weeks ahead of time when the event will run.  Sometimes there are fields of bluebonnets, but apparently this year is a bad one for them.  We found a few, though.

Here are some photos of our fun yesterday.  We had a lot of laughs and finished off the day in downtown Weatherford.

Paul and Pengie in a teepee.  (We brought Pengie from home.  He wasn't part of the exhibits.)

Have your kids taken pictures with a Native American mannequin with blue eyeshadow?  No?  I'm sorry.

A horse-drawn carriage driven by a penguin.

Taxidermy animal in the bluebonnets.

When was the last time you petted at taxidermy dog in a field of bluebonnets?  Well that's too long!

Dog.

Old-fashioned see saw.  The kids loved it! 

There were lots of dogs to pet!

Adam and the kids on an old merry go round.

Paul getting a shave at the barber shop.  This is one of his favorite things to do each year.  The barber uses a plastic knife to scrape shave cream off his face.  

A random beautiful bead mosaic.

Bluebonnets!

This dog's name is Tinkerbell.  Every year Tinkerbell and her mother dress in matching Minnie Pearl outfits.

Paul pretending to be an outlaw.

Claire wanted a shave, too.  She was laughing so hard Adam had to hold her still.

This is not a real cannon.

Gnomes.

Shaw Kemp Open House

Our library friend Magunn and her mother Laurie alerted us to this free festival in Weatherford. They've taken their family there yearly for a long time, and told me all about it. It's called the Shaw-Kemp Open House, and it's absolutely free!

For more information, click here.

Apparently the Kemp family has owned the property for nearly 200 years. They have kept everything in working order and moved several historical buildings to the site. Not only that, but they have fields and fields of bluebonnets. We got to go in and out of all the buildings, including the residence. There was a free hayride and lots of folks in costume. We had a blast and spent ZERO money!

I highly recommend this to anyone; the family does it once a year.

Here's some photos from our time:

This lady was playing on a washtub. Stacy and Baby Marijn posing next to her.

One of the buildings was an old schoolhouse. Claire and Paul both took turns writing on slates.

This lady and her dog, Tinkerbell, were both dressed as Minnie Pearl.

They had a real jailhouse. We tried to leave the kids there, but apparently it wasn't that real.