~ Muddy Boots ~

Do you ever feel so impossibly behind in your blogging that you don't even know where or how to start?? I have so much that I want to post as a record of the time we spent with Peter's parents while they were here, Liam's birthday and my thoughts on having a seven year old (*EEEEEEK!!!*), the deck that Peter and his dad built, all the decorating ideas I have swirling around in my head, some of the recent photography sessions I've done, etc, etc, ETC... And I have this OCD, Type-A personality need to blog everything IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, but the sheer amount that I have to "get down on paper" makes me want to curl up and weep. 

I don't want blogging to be a chore -and it really isn't- I just need more hours in a day. (le sigh) So for now, I'll start with our trip to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum on a sunny morning a couple weeks ago.

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Before leaving for the museum, Liam did a bit of school with Nana while killing some time before picking Peter up from his half day of work. He's already finished all his grade one readers and is breezing through his second grade books. 

(He's using a series of books by Pathway Publishers, an Old Order Amish publishing house located in Ontario. While the stories aren't filled with excitement and adventure, Liam really enjoys them and seems to be fully engaged when reading them. He laughs when reading about the young boys discovering a donkey for the first time or their attempts to harness a calf to a goat cart, or when the girls try to dress their kitten up as a doll only to have it run up a tree. The stories really reflect a simpler life. It's refreshing.)

We'd packed a picnic lunch, so were pleased to find some picnic tables set up under some trees near the entrance to the museum. There were some large tents set up with a couple dozen tables underneath (presumably for school groups), but we preferred the tables under the trees.

Because trees are more fun to climb than tent poles.

And tree branches can more easily be used as swords/lightsabers than tent poles.

(for more "Boys with Sticks" see here)

Once inside the museum, Liam and Simon went on a scavenger hunt, trying to match the pictures on the planes with the ones on a paper they'd gotten at the front desk. (What do you call those anyways? logos? insignias? icons? avatars? *ha* Tia, you should know. Or your hubby should.) After running laps of the entire museum looking for that one last plane, we finally gave up and asked one of the staff members. Turns out that particular plane had been moved, but the scavenger hunt never updated. The boys were rewarded with a Private Eye pin and tattoo.

My pictures from inside the museum will impress no one. That place is HARD to photograph! It's big and cavernous and kinda dark. There are no walls or ceiling to bounce light off of. So you get pictures that look like this,

This one (of my unwilling-to-have-his-picture-taken almost seven year old) gives you an idea of what the space is like. It's an old hanger of some sort. The museum collection contains more than 130 aircraft and other artifacts like engines, propellers, aviation instruments and equipment, and many little models of early aircraft.

The museum also houses some of the Canadian War Museum's collection of military aircraft from the First World War to the 1950's. My favourite was this big ole bomber with the guns in the back and in the belly (although the very thought of being that belly gunner guy makes me weepy). Wasn't there a movie that featured planes like this? Anyone?

Each plane has a small table with information about that particular model, in this case the Avro 683 Lancaster X.

Here are some of the models of the earliest flying machines. I love looking at each one and trying to figure out where the pilot actually sat.

Do you see the little chair in this one? Some housewife in the early 1900's was none too happy about missing a dining table chair!

If I could only find a big beautiful wooden propeller somewhere, I'd hang it on the wall in my living room. I love the one on this old biplane. 

The Aviation Museum is a great place for kids to run around. There is tons of empty space, lots of fun things to look at, and even a kids' play room full of different toy planes to play with.

And they have a few strollers for public use.

For those who forgot theirs.

*ahem*

The older two boys always look forward to trying one of three flight simulators... 

...with varying degrees of success.

After getting our fill of metal and engines and things with wings, we headed out to the van to make our way home. We were waylaid by a hill covered in dandelions all gone to seed.

Andrew was especially captivated by them.

If I'd gotten there a second earlier, the first picture in this series would've been of Andrew popping the entire head of a dandelion into his mouth. He was several feet away from me, holding the flower up to his face... and I could tell he was thinking about in... then he opened his mouth wide and popped it in. It reminded me of that scene in Bambi where Thumper is trying to convince Bambi to eat the clover flowers. Remember that one? 

I think fresh clover flowers would've tasted better than a mouth full of dry dandelion seeds!