Saturday, July 31, 2010

Day trip....

On Thursday, Doug and I decided at the spur of the moment to take the kids to Fort Edmonton Park.  We quickly scrambled and got the five kids (ours plus a friend of Joshua's) loaded into the van.  I was excited and happy to be heading out with the family!  It was a great experience to relive and visit the eras that the Fort showed us.  The four main eras were the original Fort which was the hub of the fur trade, 1885, 1905, and 1920.  The kids loved seeing how people lived over 100 years ago and it was great to see them really think about how previous generations lived.

We may not realize it but we take something as simple as running water for granted.  Today Joshua, Andrea, Arianna and Bryce learned that it wasn't always as easy as unreeling a garden hose to water the plants.
Pumping the well
Hauling water to the front to give the plants a drink.

I wish in retrospect that we had bought the two day pass.  One day didn't seem to be nearly enough time to go through it all and get the full experience.

The back side of the main house in the original Fort.
A wall of supplies in the fur trading house.
A sod roof... great insulation for our extreme summers and winters.
The kids looking over a wall into the sheep pen.
The ol' steam engine.
Pretty ladies waiting for the train.
Two very hot boys!!
We had ice cream in an ice cream parlour, walked along seemingly endless boardwalks (very thankful for a good stroller), relived the "olden days" and rode a good old fashioned carousel.  The kids spend some time at the shooting range in the Penny Arcade and Andrea was later reprimanded (in fun of course) by the fine ladies at Rutherford House that ladies shouldn't take part in those types of activities.  

It was hot and mosquito-y.  My poor Sarah's head feels like a ball of braille when I feel her head.  They attacked her arms, legs and back as well!  By the next morning, she was rubbing and scratching all over.  

But, heat and bugs aside, it was a wonderful day.  The kids were well behaved, we all learned a lot and had a great time as a family.

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