Make Believe - or Not?

It was Petra's turn for a sleepover this past weekend. We had a picnic before the Sunday evening concert in the park, played Carcassonne, played with the paper dolls, had a breakfast of waffles with bananas and chocolate, coloured pictures, and, of course, did lots of pretending. At one point, we were pretending that we were going to church in the sleigh, but we had to hitch up horses, not Santa's reindeer. I informed her that if we were in Aunt Anne's home country of Finland, we would likely see reindeer pulling sleighs in the winter. Astonished, her mouth dropped open as she tried to absorb this information, and then exclaimed, " but NOT the FLYING kind!!"

"Mommy-BaPA"

I had an adventure last week: I took the train to Toronto and then the GO bus to Newmarket where David picked me up to go to Barrie. This visit to Barrie was long overdue, and because David and Stephanie are going to be busy for the rest of the month, I figured I better go Now!

The train ride was relaxing - once I got used to the rocking motion. No-one was in the seat beside me, so I could read my Kobo and eat my lunch at my leisure. But once I arrived in Toronto's Union Station it was not leisurely at all! Noise and crowds and where do I go?!? I'm glad I printed off a map from the Internet - it sure helped me get some of my bearings to find where to purchase the bus ticket and then to find the right bus gate.

The sun shone all day Wednesday , but wouldn't you know it, my time away from home had to have rain. I'm glad for the rain, but it sure was strange to find things to do indoors. We got out to do a little bit of shopping, and Thursday afternoon we went to the mall just to get some exercise and to let Anneke run around.

 Anneke treated me like I belonged to her and no-one else. I had to do her bidding, and when she didn't see me, she would call "BaPA!" (with the accent on the second syllable). We went to the Chapters book store on Friday morning, and when she didn't see me, there was a pretty loud "BaPA!!" in order to locate me.

We tried hard to get her to say Oma, but the closest we got was "Mommy-Bapa"!

When Opa arrived, she was able to say Uhpa, but I was still BaPA.

When my old White sewing machine gave up last fall, I purchased a very basic Singer machine and enjoyed it for a little bit. But then the Janome 4030 came on sale, and I purchased that one. Since the other two girls have machines, I promised this one to Stephanie last winter when she indicated an interest in learning how to sew. So it finally came to Barrie with John this past weekend. We purchased fabric and prepared it before the weekend, so that it would be ready to be sewn on Saturday. Stephanie made a purple tote bag, and I think she did a great job on it! I'm quite sure she will receive many compliments on it!

Well, all visits come to an end, and late Sunday afternoon, John and I left to go home. Anneke is used to saying farewells (her other set of grandparents come frequently), but she still gave several good hugs punctuated with waves and "bye-bye's".

Today - the house was quiet. I miss her.


Perk's at Upper Canada Village

        On Friday, a few "Perk" cousins went to Upper Canada Village. Our Tante Netty and her granddaughter, Amy, the daughter of Marjan, are in Canada this month. So MaryLynn and I thought it would be quite appropriate to expose Amy to a bit of pioneer life.

It was hot and sunny when MaryLynn and her 12 year old daughter Julia, her 9 year old niece (daughter of my cousin Christa who is MaryLynn's younger sister), 13 year old Amy, and 7 year old Naomi and I enjoyed our day's sojourn into the 1860's. 

 Above is a photo of one of my favourite places at Upper Canada: the Louck farmhouse.

Below is the view of some of the buildings on the main street from across the pond.

 I couldn't resist taking a picture of this lone hollyhock:

 And here are the four young ladies. From left to right: Naomi, Amy, Julia and Saskia.

We took this picture at the huge maple tree just inside the entrance to the village. This tree is the background to pictures taken when Oma Perk came to visit too!

 I took this picture just because it looked like it could be an interesting shot. It's of one corner of Bellamy's Flour Mill.

 While MaryLynn, Amy and I listened to some of the interesting facts of the woolen mill, these three were attempting to feed the fish in the mill pond!

 A bit more interesting when you can get up close! The cheese man is explaining the process of making cheddar cheese, but short people can't see inside the vats. Because we were the only ones in the factory at that moment, he allowed the girls to come past the chain to see what he was doing. Did you know that the colour we've come to associate with cheddar was simply to differentiate Canadian cheddar from English?

 At the Family Activity Centre, children can experience the kind of toys and learning activities that children in the 1860's had. There was also a rack of clothing for us to try! Photo op!! We did well in maintaining the serious faces of an authentic photo.

 MaryLynn and Julia

 Oma and Naomi

 The four girls maintained their serious faces for this picture, but the seriousness comes across as a bit of attitude here! I love it! From left to right: Julia, Saskia, Naomi and Amy.

Although we saw only a portion of the village, by about 2:30 we were done, and took the scow boat back to the main entrance/exit - where we got lost in the modern store. The store disappointed us in that it didn't have too much in the way of village-related souvenirs. MaryLynn and I both remember when one could get more authentic items, but it is now a typical tourist trap with very few really nice gifts.

Oh well, we finished the day with ice cream and that was a nice treat!