What do you get with 4 adults and 11 kids??

A fun day for all :)

A "few" of us met at Westfield Heritage Village today to take advantage of their Maple Fest and also to take a look around at how things were done in the "olden days".

The kids had a great time (from what I could tell) - and now looking thru the pictures I see how attentive they were while listening to the volunteers tell us of how things used to be done. We were able to walk around from building to building, learning lots of new things - and also took a wagon ride (even had to wait in line for that!) thru the area as well.

The weather was perfect - the rain held off - the kids got their exercise (and Mom too!) - and it was just a great way to spend part of the day during March Break!

How maple syrup used to be made

How yarn/string was made

Just look how attentive they all are!

The loom - very impressive - looks like a whole lotta work to me!

Caleb thought this was hilarious - it's a toilet, in the master bedroom of a "rich family's house". Padding and everything! Now that's a throne!

Most of the kids took their turns being minister in the Church (the only opportunity for the girls will be here!)

Anna just chilln' in the pews in the Church

The kids really enjoyed the blacksmith

Well, except for Anna and "Baby C" - they relaxed outside for a while together

Wagon ride!!

I think this was a hi-light of the day for most of them

The 3 older kids scored a front row seat on the wagon

The maple farm - checking out ALL the buckets - and when I say ALL - I do really mean ALL of them - thankfully Esther could reach most of them on her own - I was able to observe from a distance instead!

Our attempt at a photo shoot of all the kids - as you can see, it didn't really work out so well! Anyone have any ideas on how to get 11 kids under the age of 8 to sit together for 2 minutes??

Caleb was very disappointed that we couldn't go into the train - standing outside it was just not the same! (he still liked the train regardless!)

I wanted a nice picture of my 3 kids in front of the train, Esther and Anna waiting patiently while I tried to convince Caleb that it was safe....yes SAFE to stand in front of this train! But he would have nothing to do with it - he was fully convinced that the train would start moving and would push him down the track! What a guy!

As you can see from Anna's lovely expression on her face here - she was pretty much done for the day - probably a combination of being a little hungry and all the extra walking she had to do today (we took a chance without the stroller for once!). I was pretty happy to get her in the van a short while later - fed and back to herself again :)

Esther quite enjoyed the school house - we had just watched Little House on the Prairie the other day, and this school reminded her of just that. She very quickly obeyed the school master and wrote down the homework from the board while we were there today :)

Caleb also enjoyed the school work - he wrote his name several times and also tried to copy some of the math equations on the board - I think he might be ready for school in September!