Fervor

This morning as I write this E is in the shower getting ready for his first day of grade seven. He is fairly excited about the idea. We went to check the posted class lists on Friday and he was thrilled to find out that not only does he have a male teacher for the but it is someone he has had before, for art, and has grown to really like. He is pleased that he is in an actual classroom surrounded connected to others by hallways rather than a cozy "cottage".

I think we are all ready for him to go back but we had a great summer of exploring.

Determined to get as much use as possible out of our Zoo membership, we visited the animals three times. It amazes me how different each trip can be each time you go and having a toddler in toe means never seeing everything before you have to call it a day.

As a family we attended the Oakville Jazz Festival. They closed the streets of downtown on a Saturday afternoon and had several outdoor stages set up with in a few blocks. Most of the restaurants got in on the action with patios spilling into the streets. The weather was perfect and the the atmosphere was fantastic.

I attended a show at the Stratford Festival. When we finally got there I enjoyed it immensely but with a train derailment the night before and the repercussion that had on E taking a train trip to Ottawa on his own made for a harried morning. We lucked out on tickets and sat in the front row for our performance. I learned that day how distracting very large feet on the title character can be. Stratford will always hold a special place in my heart and it was nice to visit again.

Niagara on the Lake was beautiful. We saw a performance at the Shaw festival and the little town blew me away. I can't wait to go back and do a few more things in the area, such as a winery, the underground railroad tour, and Fort Erie and the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester. There is something is so appealing about being able to step right on to Sesame Street, into Mister Roger's neighborhood and playing with a giant etch a sketch. Perhaps more for our generation that for the new one but I know everyone would have a ball there.

We got a chance to go to the CNE and while I can't complain too much since it only cost me the parking, I know it is now a been there done that sort of situation. I am not partial to the idea of these traveling fairs no matter how big they are. I don't like the rides- I am terrified of heights and even got queasy on the kids ferris wheel. The smells put me off and while both kids enjoyed appropiate rides and all in all we enjoyed several shows and the company, there just aren't many positive things I can say about the experience as a whole.

We did get to the Buskers Festival which I always enjoy whether on the streets of Old Montreal or Sparks Street on a August long weekend. This one was at St Lawrence Market which was a nice excuse to get some really fresh and delicious meals at the same time. There was a great tent set up where they showed groups of people how to make balloon animals that both kids enjoyed. There were the standard juggling shows and music perfomances but our favourite by far were the breakdancers from the Bronx. For me it was the memories of spontaneously happening upon one of these groups on the streets of New York when we would often go down there as a child. I don't think these guys were nearly as good as the ones we used to see. These ones did quite a bit of solo work and I seem to recall lots of team tricks in the eighties. It was a great time none the less.

Niagara Falls was a great day trip. We went to the Butterfly conservatory that was really well laid out and we did the journey behind the falls and stopped off for a wine tasting on the way back. K loved the big yellow poncho she got to wear.

We had visitors and got to go to the Waterloo Regional Children's museum. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves and we went for diner style burgers and shakes after. Yum

This weekend we stopped over to Chudleigh's, an apple grower in the area that boasts and big pick your own farm and tonnes of other activities. We were a little disappointed. Entrance in to the area itself was $20 a family. We only went to the shoppe they had to get apples and get an idea if we should go back. They only had two types of apples, which surprized me, more varieties will be available late September, but over all we were a little disappointed with how expensive and commercialized it was. We have decided to look into other growers that offer pick your owns that charge you for what you have picked and not a hefty admission just to get in to the farm.

Just a sampling of the many things we did this summer, but I think we did fairly well as tourists in our own area.

Once again blogger won't let me post my pictures