The Henry Ford Museum

Well, as of yesterday morning it has been exactly a year since we went to the Henry Ford Museum for the very first time. Looking back, I must say even though I am not a history/pioneer village person, I really enjoyed the Museum itself. And the Village was cool, although my favorite part was the playground. :) But, since it has been a year, (where does time go? 😮), I figured I would post some pictures from that day which I remember so well......*time lapse*
So, Monday, October 23rd, at 8 am, Beppe, Aunt Nicole and all her kids, and Mom and all of us (which would be 3 adults and 11 children, by the way) headed down to Detroit, Michigan, America. It was only about a 90 minute trip, so not too bad at all. To keep us all relatively sane, we switched up seating. So some of us went with Aunt Nicole, and some of them went with us. Our plan: to switch just before the border and then continue to the Museum. First, we would do the Village, and then if it rained we would head to the Museum.

Joel, Cassia, Titus, Esther, and Silas trying to be cool. (Love you guys!)

A lonely wagon

Sheep behind the museum

Alicia watching the train

All of us at the docks. From left to right is Titus, Cassia, Joel, Esther, Ellia, Moriah, Hannah, Me, and Silas. The girls all wanted to wear pioneer dresses to get in the pioneer spirit.

From the front.

All of us listening intently.

Playing outside while eating lunch.

Thomas Edison's workshop. Our last stop before it started raining and we headed inside the museum

Crazy picture in front of the hot dog car!

Driving the old time car.

Playing with the Lego's and Tinker Toys

Silas under the truck. There was a mechanic's garage for "little" kids, but everyone got involved when our troop crashed on it!

We went to the Henry Ford many more times, and I will probably upload more pictures of our other trips. But for now, if you ever go, I recommend the whole museum. We ended up getting a membership because it would cost as much for just our family to go as it would to get a year's membership. So Pake and Beppe bought it. It's really great because they can take all their grandchildren (17) plus two guests. And no catch!

Write later!

Our Toronto Trip Pt. 3

After the ROM we headed to downtown Toronto for lunch, the CN Tower, and Ripley's Aquarium. By that time it was actually pretty nice out and the morning cool and snow had given way to a beautiful day. We went to a Boston Pizza for lunch and enjoyed eating together. After lunch, we headed to the CN Tower. I think everyone was excited for that stop, except Mom because she isn't a fan of heights. But she's a good sport anyways.

We got in line to go up and my stomach started to fall. It would only take 58 seconds to climb 1,000 feet. That's really fast. Thankfully, though, it was extra windy that day so instead it took 3 minutes. When we went up were were stuck by the door, which is a glass door. And the floor was glass. I just looked straight ahead and nearly lost my lunch. (I guess I'm not one for heights either.) But once we got up there - Oh! - it was amazing.

Us looking out. We should have gotten pictures of the view, but Mom was holding the camera and we were so amazed that we forgot to grab it.

Us looking down.

The view from the glass floor. Do not be fooled! It is much scarier than that. Dad, Alicia, and Moriah went on it. Mom and I just watched and took pictures. We were quite fine with our viewpoint.

Dad and the girls on the glass floor.

The CN Tower itself.

On the way down, we were up against the back wall and I enjoyed the ride much more. I could look out and I wasn't squished against the glass. After the CN Tower we headed for Ripley's, which was really close. 

Me looking at the fish. For the aquarium, us girls took pictures. So there are a lot more!

Look at how well that fish blends in!

These pictures look like something you'd find on a computer background or picture slideshow. They are so pretty.

Most of these pictures were taken while we were under the water. It was so cool to see a nurse shark just glide over top of us and we were in the middle of God's creation without getting hurt!

There we go. All our beautiful pictures from Ripley's. If anyone hasn't gone, you really should go! And if you've already gone, go again! It is one of the coolest places that I've ever been to.

After Ripley's on Friday, we were all very tired and our legs were very sore. I do believe we walked over 2,000 steps that day. So we got on the subway and headed back. We got to stand up, which even though we were tired, was pretty cool. As we passed from stop to stop, it got more and more crowded. We were stuffed and squished. At that point I was so thankful that I was older, and taller than most of the people there. If I wouldn't have been able to see, it would have made it much harder. We were seriously squished, and Mom, Moriah, and I were on one side of the subway and Dad and Alicia were on the other. We knew why we were getting "packed", as they call it. It was because one of the other lines had closed down, the one we were planning to take. Later on, we found out that there had been a bomb threat on that specific line. We were very thankful that the Lord protected us.
So Friday night we swam and slept well. Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast, packed up, and headed for the Ontario Science Museum, a very hands-on museum.
But, because it was so hands-on we didn't get any pictures. So I will have to leave it up to your imagination. I would write about it, but that would take a long time so I will just tell you that it is an amazing museum and I would go back. After doing everything, I just have to list my personal favorite list. First, Science Museum. But coming in a very close second is Ripley's, then CN Tower, then Casa Loma, and finally, the Royal Ontario Museum.
I will post later, but for now enjoy this and go do the CityPass. You'll enjoy it, I'm sure.

Our Toronto Trip Pt. 2

After Casa Loma, our next stop was the Royal Ontario Museum. It was a history museum, and like I said even though I am not a museum/history fan, I did enjoy it. And their rock collection was amazing.

A couple quilts from the ROM. I do believe that this was in the Native American section. Don't quote me on that, though.

Some type of dress. I think that it may have been from India....

Another quilt. As you can see from the corner, there is a British flag. I do forget what this one meant, but it did have a symbolic meaning; I know that much.

A platter, tea kettle, and cup. I love that platter!

Me reading about those figurines.

Mom, me, Moriah, and Dad eyeing the furniture. I guess Alicia took these pictures. She is pretty good, too!

Dad and Moriah sitting. There were rooms and rooms of separate things, and sometimes we would just sit down and eat some of the snacks which we had brought. If you ever go on a long trip in many museums, bring a back pack of snacks! It keeps lots of morale up.

Dad in the war section. It was really cool to see all the old armor, old hats and khaki uniforms.

Miniature set of a building in Egypt.

A real mummy! (Don't see one of those every day!)

Rocks, rocks, beautiful rocks.

My absolute favorite rock. It just lit up the walls.

And's that's all for the ROM! We took so many more pictures, but most are duplicates or triplicates!

I'll probably post again tomorrow on the CN Tower.

Until then!

Our Toronto Trip Pt. 1

It was an unusually warm February day last year when Mom booked our trip. Dad, Mom, Alicia, Moriah, and I were going to go to Toronto the first weekend of April to do the CityPass. The CityPass is a choice between six attractions: Casa Loma, the Royal Ontario Museum, (ROM), the CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium, the Toronto Zoo, and the Ontario Science Museum. We did Casa Loma, ROM, CN Tower, Ripley's, and the Science Museum. I believe the choice was between the Zoo or the Science Museum. Since we were going in April, we chose the Science Museum.
We were all excited; after all, it isn't everyday we got to go to Toronto and especially just the three of us and Mom and Dad. We were even able to take a smaller vehicle! :)
By 3 pm Thursday afternoon we were packed and ready to head up to Toronto. We drove for only 3 and a half hours, and then reached our hotel. It was snowing. We went swimming, then fell asleep, raring to go for our early day the next morning.
Friday morning we woke up and it was still snowing. But we ate breakfast and headed down to the subway station. We parked and went in. Ten minutes later, we were on the subway headed for our first destination, Casa Loma.

On the subway Friday morning. It was probably 10 degrees that morning. We were kind of surprised, since it had been quite warm when Mom booked our trip. 

Me sitting and listening. During our trip we were each given phone-like things so at every stop, we could listen to the history behind it. It was really interesting!

Moriah and Dad in the library. It had walls and walls of bookshelves and was my favorite part of the house.

Beautiful gardens. This was in the Conservatory right behind the Library. The ceiling was tall, and the gardens were pretty.

The statue at the door. The open one leads down to the library.

The Conservatory ceiling. So pretty!

The Sitting Room

A big rug in one of the living room/parlors.

A bedroom. The beds were so small!

The view from the tower.

After Casa Loma, we headed back onto the subway, ready for our next adventure which would be the ROM. That was also a interesting museum, even though I am not much of a fan of history museums. But, I'd better sign off for now. I wouldn't want to bore you!

Our Maritimes Trip (PEI & NB)

We went to New Brunswick & PEI with Beppe and Pake, while Dad stayed home to work, since he didn't really want to go, and Beppe and Pake did. So we went with them.

We took their motorcycle trailer along behind our big 12-passenger van, with his motorcycle in it. Which gave us more room for things to take.

I got a bit of carsick along the way, but Mom brought gravol and I got better, I also was sitting by the wheel, which probably didn't help much.

Here's some pictures from New Brunswick:

 

 Oh, Ellia!!! So sad!!! ;)

We love to climb rocks. On the Wednesday night in N.B., Pake took Moriah, Cassia and I on a big area and it was kind of scary a few times. But we all had fun!!

This was one of the favorites in New Brunswick, the trail was full of roots and hills, all the stuff that we enjoy doing.

Family pic!!!

We spent 3 days in New Brunswick, we had a small, but nice, cottage along the Bay of Fundy, which is really beautiful. Moriah, Victoria and I would escape from the cottage and go along the stream and play.

Then we spent a week in PEI, we got a really nice, but cold, cottage. It had 5 bedrooms and was about 5 minutes away from the beach.

 Unfortunately, Province House was not open, but we were able to get some pictures.

Jellyfish!

 V and I enjoying our delicious cow's ice cream. (Better than ice cream here.)

You know, dunes are soooooo much fun!! We climbed up and down until Mom told us to stop! ;)

We often sat in the water, because once we were wet, the sand would blow and hit us like a bunch of pins going into your legs!!! NOT FUN!!!!

Love this picture of V!!!!

White Sands Hotel

One day (a very cold day to be precise) we went to a lighthouse!

As you can see, there's only 3 swings. Because of that, we improvise with us 3 oldest letting the 3 youngest swing on us. I get Ellia, Moriah gets Joel, and V gets Cassia.

This game is very dangerous. I wouldn't suggest playing unless you are older. Victoria is running through us as we are swinging (well, I'm pushing Joel and Moriah is off somewhere) and trying not to get hit by a swing. Although, in my past experience, when I'm the person swinging, I like to get bumped into!

Watching "little kid's" cartoons in the morning with Pake. As you can see we had a very nice house! Wood throughout the place!

Moriah, Mom, Beppe and I went to see the Anne of Green Gables play in Charlottetown, V didn't want to go although we asked her several times.

After our last time getting cow's ice cream. REAL STUFF!!!

On the way home!!!

- Alicia