splendidly Saturday
Because of our whacky visitation schedules, we always try and schedule something extra fun and extra cool for the 1 weekend out of every 4 where all our children are actually with us. This Saturday, we decided we'd take an Alberta break and head off to the Reynold's Alberta Museum.
A quick synopsis before you view the full album:
On the way there, Madisyn must have asked about 45 times, "Are we there yet?" Meanwhile, for our travelling entertainment, Serejane demanded everyone's attention (Hey, ev'ybuddy! Yookitme!), announced that she could hit herself in the forehead with her ponytails, and proceeded to demonstrate by shaking her head 'no' violently enough to whap herself in the face.
When we finally arrived, there was much excitement and joy over the helicopter in the field, so everyone ran off to start checking out the aviation exhibit while I ran off to the main building to pay admission. When I got back, Wil showed me an abandoned bird's egg that had been laid inside the wheel opening on one of the jets. He then did a limbo under the turbines for me, and set sweet dolly in one for a photo op. (Yes, she came with us, and was a great source of entertainment for everyone. Do read on...)
Kaelan, for whatever reason, latched onto sweet dolly, and carried her with him most of the remaining time at the museum, stopping periodically to pose with or place her for me. The girls were completely amused by the idea of being too tall to stand under the belly of one of the other planes, and laughed themselves silly while scooting around in squat position underneath.
Hopefully they will retain knowlegde of holding this particular stance for when we go camping again this summer.
Alas, the aviation hanger held limited amusement for the children.
There were only two aircraft that you could board, and once you'd pretended to fly both, and used the bathroom, it was certainly time to move on.
We headed over to the graveyard of presumably donated artifacts settled along the chainlink fencing around the site.
This was *my* favourite part of the trip, as it brought back fond memories of being a kid and traipsing around the wooded areas on both our property and my grandparents' property scouting for dilapidated old cars and farm machines to climb on, pretend in, and admire, or treasure hunting for hood ornaments and seasoned farm implements and treasures to take back as new miscellany for our playhouse (which at my grandparents' place was an old grainery to which we had lashed an old outhouse door using several miles of binder twine reclaimed from Lord-knows-where...)
I especially loved it when the kids climbed into the cab of some unidentified jalopy and proceeded to joy ride like the Oilers won a game... woot woot!
The inside of the (poorly lit for pictures) museum was fascinating for all.
The girls enjoyed watching movies at the 'drive in' theatre and Wil liked the funky old vehicles and modified racing cars, while Kaelan really enjoyed the 'simple machines' exhibits. I liked watching the vintage car restoration video they had playing.
And Bill, well... Bill likes to read all the write-ups on everything, so I bet he has a much better knowledge of what, exactly, we all saw...
After a brief stop at the gift shop to get some souvenirs and candy sticks, we headed over to the land mining equipment.
The Bucyrus drag mining machine that Serejane is sitting on in this picture was paid for in part by the Mining and Petroleum Group in my department at the U. Same lady whose life I apparently saved with broadened yoga benefits actually runs that group. Crazy stuff. Good thing Bill likes to read those little placards, hey?
I go weak in the knees at the sheer enormity of these machines, and the intricate planning that goes into mobilizing them.
The fact they're all beautifully rusted and peppered with the scars and marring from use makes them that much more awe-some.
The ground was still too soft to fully explore the machines, and so we headed back to the park for a bit of playtime.
The boys had an informal competition with the diggers. Wil was temporarily side-tracked when Jane decided she wanted to be buried. Madisyn joined, then he dolly, and Wil ended up winning the deepest hole, while Kaelan won for the longest. After Bill posed sweet dolly with a stray pigeon wing (he thinks the gophers got it) Wil, Mads, and Kaelan all took a turn giving sweet dolly a ride on the double wonky rider before we went for a final potty break and headed for home. Kaelan & I were the only ones awake 5 minutes from the museum...
When we got home, we had a BBQ and a fire.
Some friends joined us - we made sure the boy was sufficiently sugar-laden and nauseated before Mom squirreled him off home to bed.
A quick synopsis before you view the full album:On the way there, Madisyn must have asked about 45 times, "Are we there yet?" Meanwhile, for our travelling entertainment, Serejane demanded everyone's attention (Hey, ev'ybuddy! Yookitme!), announced that she could hit herself in the forehead with her ponytails, and proceeded to demonstrate by shaking her head 'no' violently enough to whap herself in the face.
When we finally arrived, there was much excitement and joy over the helicopter in the field, so everyone ran off to start checking out the aviation exhibit while I ran off to the main building to pay admission. When I got back, Wil showed me an abandoned bird's egg that had been laid inside the wheel opening on one of the jets. He then did a limbo under the turbines for me, and set sweet dolly in one for a photo op. (Yes, she came with us, and was a great source of entertainment for everyone. Do read on...)
Kaelan, for whatever reason, latched onto sweet dolly, and carried her with him most of the remaining time at the museum, stopping periodically to pose with or place her for me. The girls were completely amused by the idea of being too tall to stand under the belly of one of the other planes, and laughed themselves silly while scooting around in squat position underneath.
Hopefully they will retain knowlegde of holding this particular stance for when we go camping again this summer.
Alas, the aviation hanger held limited amusement for the children. 
There were only two aircraft that you could board, and once you'd pretended to fly both, and used the bathroom, it was certainly time to move on.
We headed over to the graveyard of presumably donated artifacts settled along the chainlink fencing around the site.
This was *my* favourite part of the trip, as it brought back fond memories of being a kid and traipsing around the wooded areas on both our property and my grandparents' property scouting for dilapidated old cars and farm machines to climb on, pretend in, and admire, or treasure hunting for hood ornaments and seasoned farm implements and treasures to take back as new miscellany for our playhouse (which at my grandparents' place was an old grainery to which we had lashed an old outhouse door using several miles of binder twine reclaimed from Lord-knows-where...)
I especially loved it when the kids climbed into the cab of some unidentified jalopy and proceeded to joy ride like the Oilers won a game... woot woot!
The inside of the (poorly lit for pictures) museum was fascinating for all.
The girls enjoyed watching movies at the 'drive in' theatre and Wil liked the funky old vehicles and modified racing cars, while Kaelan really enjoyed the 'simple machines' exhibits. I liked watching the vintage car restoration video they had playing.
And Bill, well... Bill likes to read all the write-ups on everything, so I bet he has a much better knowledge of what, exactly, we all saw...After a brief stop at the gift shop to get some souvenirs and candy sticks, we headed over to the land mining equipment.
The Bucyrus drag mining machine that Serejane is sitting on in this picture was paid for in part by the Mining and Petroleum Group in my department at the U. Same lady whose life I apparently saved with broadened yoga benefits actually runs that group. Crazy stuff. Good thing Bill likes to read those little placards, hey?
I go weak in the knees at the sheer enormity of these machines, and the intricate planning that goes into mobilizing them.
The fact they're all beautifully rusted and peppered with the scars and marring from use makes them that much more awe-some.
The ground was still too soft to fully explore the machines, and so we headed back to the park for a bit of playtime.
The boys had an informal competition with the diggers. Wil was temporarily side-tracked when Jane decided she wanted to be buried. Madisyn joined, then he dolly, and Wil ended up winning the deepest hole, while Kaelan won for the longest. After Bill posed sweet dolly with a stray pigeon wing (he thinks the gophers got it) Wil, Mads, and Kaelan all took a turn giving sweet dolly a ride on the double wonky rider before we went for a final potty break and headed for home. Kaelan & I were the only ones awake 5 minutes from the museum...
When we got home, we had a BBQ and a fire.
Some friends joined us - we made sure the boy was sufficiently sugar-laden and nauseated before Mom squirreled him off home to bed.
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