Thursday, September 10, 2009

BC trip part 7...the end!

We left on Friday morning around 9…I was pretty proud of myself for getting away that early without BenJ. I haven’t been by my grandparents old farm (my dad’s parents) since they moved away from there (more than 10 years ago). I’ve always wanted to take the kids by there…so I figured I’d try this time. My mom had given me directions off the top of her head as best she could & we headed off. We drove around for a while, but couldn’t find it so I decided to leave it for this time. Next time I’ll be prepared & go on MapQuest with my parents ahead of time to figure out the roadsJ.

So often our trips to BC are so rushed that we don’t stop at all the fun places along the way. I was determined this time to make at least a couple of stops with the kids. We stopped in Sicamous…got ice cream (& cheese curds to bring home for Ben)…looked at the animals…and then went in to see the cows. If you’ve never been there, they have calves that kids can pet…the kids love it! Usually though, it’s hard to get the little calves to come close enough & the ones that are interested in coming close are a bit jumpy. The little ones were still pretty shy this time, but there was one of the older ones that came to the fence & let Benjamin pet him…then he was kind of sniffing at Benjamin’s shirt…the next thing I new, the calf was sucking on Benjamin’s shirt! At first I tried to stop him…very gross…but realized it was already dirty & the kids thought it was hilariousJ…so Benjamin & Kirby each took a turn letting him suck their shirt. Manda didn’t want to…smart girlJ…she did let him suck her fingers like the boys, but she much preferred the little calves...

It was pretty much the most “action” we’ve got out of the calves when we’ve been there & it was funJ. (Don’t worry…we went straight to the van…changed clothes…and washed hands…2x overJ.)

Our next stop was Revelstoke. I’ve always wanted to go to the train museum there…now the kids were all old enough to enjoy it…it was a blast! There was some history to begin with of how the railway is built…...then we got to go on a couple of train cars. One of the coolest things we found was a bathroom within a bedroom. This chair has 3 jobs: a chair, a toilet, & a sink! If you lift the seat of the chair…the toilet is underneath. If you lower the back of the chair, you’ll see the sink! I thought it was pretty coolJ. There was also an engine where we could peek in the window to see all the buttons & knobs. We were lucky enough to be there at a time when they had a conductor sitting there…so the kids got to go inside…talk to him…sit in the conductor’s chair…it was really neat. I was trying to get a picture of all 3 kids in front of the engine, but Kirby kept freaking out that it was going to run over him. A couple came by & offered to take one of all 4 of us…yay, I got to be in a pictureJ. We saw some more history (he's not real...wax I'm assuming...amazingly real!!!)…a kid’s play area…& the coolest thing ever was a train “simulator”. For $1 each, the kids each got 3 minutes to drive the train. They could pull the horn, brake, accelerate…and watch it all on a screen that showed them moving along. They had so much fun…well worth the $3! One last picture of the 3 of them before we headed out… The whole time we had been in the museum we heard trains going by…every 5-10 minutes. I thought a cool end to the trip & the pictures would be a picture of the kids next to the track (not too close) with a train going by…so we sat in the van & had a snack, waiting for the next train. Well, we waited for 15 or 20 minutes & none cameL. I gave up my hope of a picture & we headed out. Maybe 15 minutes down the road we passed a train. I thought about stopping, but knew it would have to be soon (I’ve had experience with passing trains, stopping to take a picture & it takes FOREVER for them to get there!) & I’d have to find a good spot. Lo & behold there was an open area with enough room to pull off the road…and a tunnel to boot! (God knows those simple desires of our hearts & cares about themJ.) We were disappointed to realize that the train wasn’t actually on the track that went in the tunnel, but it's still a cool picture!

1 comment:

Cheri | Kitchen Simplicity said...

Hey Heidi! I didn't have time to read before because the girls were here.. so now I am playing catchup. It looks like you guys had so much fun! I am so glad you guys were able to do so much and enjoy some of summer. :)