Thursday, June 24, 2010

Our Get Away

I don't know if any one noticed, but we've been away for a few day  :)
Since Colin's dad is taking care of everything already, we decided to take a short holiday a few weeks early.  So we packed up and headed to Bowmanville on Sunday.  It was good to get Colin away from the farm for a while.  He was starting to climb the walls.  At least he can relax without feeling guilty for not working.

On the drive down Ella got a piece of wool from Grandma and was 'knitting' with her crayons.  It was the most adorable thing.   She really looked like she knew what she was doing.  I'm going to teach Ella to knit soon.


Great Grandma was happy to see us.  She turns 80 at 
end of July.  Hopefully she and Uncle Dennis will go up to his cottage in Bancroft in July.  That way we can go over for the day (it's only 2 hours) and spend some time with Great Grandma.

Colin did the driving to Bancroft, but that was a bit too much.  He was rather sore,  you don't realize how many muscles are connected.  We got to Great Grandma's and Colin got some well deserved rest.  It was so hot in Bowmanville on Sunday.  Luckily Great Grandma has a large tree in the backyard so we sat out there to catch the breeze.

Monday was Ella's big surprise.  For weeks the adults have been talking about the 'ooz' that we were going to.  Ella had no idea.  We went to the Bowmanville Zoo for the first time.  To make the day even more special, Belinda and Stefan were able to get the day off work to come and join us.  Ella had a great time reading the map and showing us where we needed to go.

It was such a hot day, but the Bowmanville Zoo is well treed.  Unlike the Metro Zoo in Scarborough which is out in the open and we would have fried.  There were quite a few buses of school kids, but everyone were dispersed around the zoo so it wasn't too bad.  But sure reinforces why we're going to homeschool Ella!

For a late lunch/early supper we all went to Chuck E Cheeses.  Oh my, Ella had so much fun.  Since it was during the day, Ella had the place to herself, with one other nice little girl for company.  Uncle Stefan played lots of the games and got Ella enough coupons to get a soft ball for in the house.  She was quite pleased with her day.

Tuesday was Momma and Daddy day.   We stopped by an old mill that was near our B&B.  It's in a little hamlet called Tyrone.  It's a water-powered sawmill and flour mill.  I even bought a bag of flour for bread.  The mill pond is beautiful and there is a path for strolling.
Outside of the mill they had an old grain cleaner.  Even though it is from the last, last century the technology is very similar to that of Colin's new grain cleaner.  I certainly wouldn't want to have to put too many tons through the old cleaner.


Ella and Grandma spent the day with Great Grandma and Uncle Dennis.  We hopped in the car and headed for the lake.  There is a little road that runs along the lake shore.  Some places only the guard rail separates the road from Lake Ontario.  It was a beautiful drive (except for the light rain).  We passed a lot of beautiful old farm houses and cottages.  We stopped in Port Hope and Cobourg and did the 'tourist' thing.  Luckily we picked up a big two person umbrella.   Then we headed up towards Rice Lake and went over to Port Perry.  It's fun just to spend the day with Colin without a list of things we 'have' to do.

We finished the day off with a really nice supper out at the Marina in Bowmanville.  It's a nice restaurant without being overly fancy.

Wednesday was the time to head home.  We stopped in Peterborough, well Keene really, and spent some time at the Lang Pioneer Village.  Ella had a great time.  There were a few school trips there too, but again everyone was spread out.    I've been here a few times over the years and always enjoy myself.  It's just the right size for an afternoon.  They have lots of interpreters, someone for nearly every house/building.  There was even a book author there that has a lot of historical fiction Canadian books that have study guides to go with them.  She said a lot of homeschoolers/alternative schools use them.

   It's always funny when we go to pioneer villages.  Between Colin and I we find so many pieces of equipment that we both currently use.  Here's another grain cleaner, this time a fancy version.  In a couple of the houses I was wishing for the cast iron bake-ware and the dough boxes/boards.  Aside from my fridge and stove, my kitchen doesn't look all that different than the ones at the village.


Apparently we left the village too soon.  Ontario was hit with an earthquake Wednesday.  We were driving in the car and so didn't feel a thing.  Some of my ornaments were moved, but luckily the moved towards the back of the bookcase and not off the edge. 
Well, I guess that's about it for our trip.  We're home again.  And I need to get back to the laundry -vacation must be over  :)

3 comments:

Diann said...

Welcome home, Paula! I thought we hadn't heard from you in a while! I just got back from camping on Monday myself. Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation. Glad Colin was up to going. As you know, my son-in-law is from Keene, so I love hearing about that area. I haven't been there in many years, but always found the area so peaceful and beautiful. You must not live too far from there.
We had the earthquake in this area too (Dayton, OH), but I didn't feel it. I usually do. I was busy in the kitchen and never even noticed!
How'd you and Colin get a day away to yourselves? On the rare occasion I tried that, my daughter, being an only child and used to all the attention, would lay such a guilt trip on me for not including her, I could barely enjoy myself! She was, and still is, the queen of the guilt trips, and she is 38 now, LOL

Diann said...

PS! That is so cool that Ella is pretending to knit! She's been watching you! How adorable!
Love all the pics! Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!

Paula said...

Ha ha Diann! How did we get away :) When Ella is with Grandma and Great Grandma and Uncle Dennis, Momma and Daddy don't even get a second thought. She has so much fun when we are down. Besides, those two stay at Great Grandma's and we stay at the B&B. We didn't even see her on Tuesday. I did get an extra big hug on Wednesday.

Keene is a great place. It's close to one of the main highways but you would never know it. I always like going to the pioneer village there. Keene is about 3 hours from home and an hour from Bowmanville. So it's was nice stop on the trip home.

It's amazing how much kids pick up - whether you teach it to them or not. I always told my friends that who smoked. I've ordered a book about teaching kids to knit. It uses little rhymes. I think that will be good for someone as young as Ella.