Elisabet Ney

 

Our challenge today took us to the Elisabet Ney Museum.

This is one of those places that I've driven by countless times, but never have time to stop and look around.

So that was what we did today.

 

 The kids decided that the studio (Ney was a well known sculptor) looked like a castle.  It certainly stands out in this residential neighborhood.  The land surrounding the studio was left as natural prairie land by Ney.  Over the years, many non-native plants have been creeping in, so there is currently an effort to restore it to "native prairie land".

This includes lots of wildflowers - especially this one, known as Purple Horse.

 We eventually made our way down to Waller Creek where we waded in what little water trickled through while Leah made some sketches.

 Of course, Eli managed to find the deepest, slipperiest spot in the creek

 and was soon wet from head to toe.

 

 When Ney was alive, she built a dam to create a small lake on the property.  However, the lake didn't survive for long because it attracted too many bullfrogs and the noise they made could be heard up to a mile away!  The dam still stands, but it has a large archway cut out of it to allow the creek to run through.

The kids insisted on walking back to the dam along the creekbed and then climbing back up.

As they were climbing up, I told Leah and Peter to help Eli.  

They both gave me an odd look and said, "He's Eli, he can handle it."

And of course, they were right.

This has definitely been one of our favorite challenges so far - and we'll probably come back for another visit soon since the studio wasn't open and we really want to see the sculptures!