Around Town

This past weekend couldn’t have delivered more beautiful weather. Sunday our family drove out to Upper Canada Village for something different to do. When the weather is nice we usually hit one of the local playgrounds or just hang around home letting the boys run around the yard. They have spent the summer and most of the fall season driving their power wheels, pushing their Hot Wheels through dirt and of course accumulating grass stains on their knees as well as their jeans. 

We had heard there was a Wood Lover’s Weekend happening at Upper Canada Village so we figured that could be interesting. The entrance to the park has been completely remodeled. It took me a minute to get my bearings and find where the ticket counter was located. I had taken the boys to the yearly Alight at Night last winter and this visit was a lot more fun. During winter you are taken by horse carriage around the park to take in all the lights on the trees and buildings but  you couldn’t go in the houses. This time around every house, business and barn were open to guests. The weather was perfect for roaming around the 1800’s themed village. Big Brother was all about checking out the upstairs of homes to see the kids room. Little Brother just wanted to run in every building and straight through it to the other end or back door. 

The favorite building to the boys was the tower. A four story wood stockade at the edge of the river. You could walk around on the top deck and see around the whole village. I picked Little Brother up because he couldn’t see over the edge. And when I did he said “Oh, wow!” in his cute little squeaky voice. Of course I had to carry him up and down all those flights of stairs because they were steep and there were so many people at the park that day I didn’t want him to get bumped or lose his footing. We made our way to the family activity center where they had all different sorts of wood workers and their wares. We got to see wooden themed toys, a violinist, hatchet throwing, and chainsaw carving on site. The chainsaw wielding man sculpting a log into a person had Little Brother’s undivided attention. Big Brother enjoyed the wood flutes, violin, organ mini concert. My husband tried his hand at pedal powered carving. We also got to see the boys’ great grandmother along with her friend. They were the featured Mohawk demonstrators with their splints, baskets and tools. Their intricate sweetgrass and splint baskets, bells and turtles were beautiful. Big Brother was so proud to see his Tota Ma at the park. He said she’s famous now. After a few hours of taking in the sights, learning about the saw mill. We found it funny that the man working in the saw mill said during this time of year the water current running through the mill is used to cut a plank of wood at a rate of fifteen to twenty minutes(Big Brother said that must be long and boring) but in the spring with with snow thawing that time is only three minutes! When big brother heard that, he asked me if we would come back then to see the wood flying through the mill.

 Before driving home we had to take a ride on the train. Like any other two and half year old boy, Little Brother is borderline obsessed with trains. He was so excited just waiting in line at the ticket booth. When it was our turn to pay for our family to get on the train the bank card machine malfunctioned. Before I could pull cash out of my pocket the train driver said it was on him, the machine was acting up all day and to go ahead and find our seats! What a nice way to end our visit.