Black Creek Pioneer Village: Revolutionary War Re-Enactment

What a thrilling day we spent at Black Creek Pioneer Village. There were skirmishes, a mock battle, encampments, and even homemade ice cream.

This was the first 'skirmish' in the village. The men on the left are loyalists and the men on the right are soldiers. It was very exciting seeing the history we have been studying and reading about come to life before our eyes.

Here the soldiers forcibly break up the loyalist settlers meeting. Lots of adrenaline and excitement.

In the second skirmish the soldiers came to remove a family from their home because the husband was fighting in the war on the other side.

It was quite dramatic. There was shoving and pushing, yelling and shooting. The little old lady who lived in the house was quite spunky and began beating the captain with her broom. Eventually, after pretending to leave and then returning suddenly, the whole battalion of soldiers entered the home and secured it.

The last excitement of our day involved a mock battle. We had a lovely time learning about this war, and also got to wander through the soldiers encampments. We learned about everything from making canvas water buckets to why soldiers hats had three sides (so their muskets wouldn't knock them off).

But by far our favourite part was....you guessed it....

The horses!

DMC

Archaeological Festival

We are so lucky. Last weekend, in our local area, there was an archaeological festival. The location was a conservation area that was a homestead in the late 1800's, where a blacksmith lived with his wife and 16 children! There were many exhibits and some entertainment, including musicians and a blacksmith. Our favorite activities were the horsedrawn carriage rides to and from the dig site.......
and of course the dig site.....
We dug up some cool artifacts including a button, a large square headed nail, and pottery. It was really fun, and something my daughter has always been interested in.

We tried two ways of digging for lost treasures: shovelling and using a trawl. We had to scrape the surface in thin layers, then put the dirt into a pail. After the pail was full, we put the entire contents into a sifter and shake-shake-shake until all the loose soil was gone. Then we searched for treasures.

It was a fun day, and one that my daughter (and I) will always remember.

DMC

Caterpillar Update

This has been a wondrous journey. Our three tiny little eggs have gone through some amazing changes. They began as teeny tiny caterpillars that could not be seen with the naked eye. They had white splotches on their backs and knobs all over their bodies. They ate and ate and ate...

Then they changed. We didn't even notice the change until we looked back at the pictures. The white splotches were gone, and they took on this new colouring, and grew enormously in just days...

Then, when they had gotten extremely big and plump, they attached themselves to the stalk of the plants (or to our kitchen cupboards) by a tiny silk thread. They stayed like this for about a day and then suddenly...

They changed. This is a chrysalis. Isn't it beautiful? Inside wonderful amazing things are happening. What a wonder it all is! So exciting.

The caterpillars began their transition into chrysalises while we were away for two days. One of the little fellas left the aquarium, and found a different place to settle. Can you tell what's different about him?

His colouring is grey to match his surroundings (the other two are both bright green). Amazing!

DMC

Caterpillars are Larva

The caterpillars have grown considerably. They have tripled in size in just one week. All they do all day is eat and eat and eat. We spent some time in our yard reading about complete metamorphasis and creating accordion booklets about the lives of these caterpillars. This will be our very first experiment with lapbooking.

DMC