Model Train Show

When my uncle passed away a couple of years ago he left quite a few model trains, tracks, buildings and all sorts of oddities to my oldest son and this has sparked an intense love of trains in my son. So much in fact that he is in the middle of constructing a large raised platform in his bedroom that he is converting into a miniature mountain and lakeside scene for his trains to run on!

I was a little worried when he started bringing lumber and plywood into his bedroom and the hammering and sawing began but he promises he won't damage any of his walls so I'm letting him have full creative control of turning half his bedroom into a train station *grin*.

So when I found out Saturday morning that the museum in the city was hosting the North Island Model Railroaders Club I just knew he would love to go as it would provide a wonderful opportunity for him to really study in detail some of the construction that they use to create their scenery and backdrops. Plus it was a great excuse to sneak in a little sleep over at my sister's house again. Nothing like a mini holiday!

The amount of detail that goes into the background scenes and all of the little houses, people, roads and trestle bridges that these fellows constructed and painted was amazing. I must have taken at least 50 pictures for K so that he can go over them later for ideas as he continues to build his set.

It was fun for the younger two as well as they watched the trains lap around and around in front of them. We had a few close calls when my little guy's hand went wayward and tried to play with the little vehicles but thankfully I managed to stop him before he actually touched anything! So much temptation was nearly to much for him. LOL

I don't know how many times the one train went past me before I finally noticed the little red and white MacMillan Bloedel cars. It always makes me so nostalgic to see that logo as we were quite the booming company town in our hay-day.

Oh, those old timers cracked me up! You had to pay careful attention to their displays as every once in a while you'd spot something like this little sign bringing attention the demise of the logging companies here on the island :)

I wasn't sure that I would enjoy it as much as I did but we actually had a really nice time watching the trains and I know my son's head is just bursting with new ideas :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Weaving Cedar Bark

Earlier this week the kids and I had a chance to participate in one of the many fantastic homeschool programs that a nearby museum offers. This class was particularly exciting because we were going to learn how to weave a mat using red cedar bark. So cool!

The above photo shows a coil of bark that had been harvested from cedar trees only minutes from where we live. Members from the museum went out into the forest with a first nations guide and he showed them exactly how to harvest the bark from living cedar trees without damaging them. They had a photo slide for us to view and the fellow said a little prayer/blessing to the cedar tree before cutting into the bark and then they pulled strips of bark off of the tree in giant lengths reaching from the base of the trunk all the way upwards. Once the bark was pulled from the tree they then separated the softer in bark from the rough outer bark and the inner portion was what we worked with :)

When we arrived there were strips of the bark that had been soaked for a couple of days to soften them and make them pliable for weaving waiting for us on the tables.



We started with a very basic basket weave pattern of just weaving the strips in and out of each other while alternating the pattern so it looked like a checker board.



As soon as all of the pieces had been woven we started to work the ends in by flipping them over and weaving them into the opposite sides. It looked really simple when we were shown how to do it but when it was time to do it ourselves you really had to pay attention to which way you flipped the ends because one wrong move and you muddled your pattern *grin*.

Here are two of the little woven mats the children made. As you can see there were a few little boo boos where the pattern got a little mixed up :)

We all had so much fun and now I'm tempted to try pulling some of the bark off of a few of the cedar trees we have here on our property *grin*. I think I'm supposed to wait until spring though so that will give me a little more time to find out exactly how to do it so that I don't hurt the trees :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Quill Pens & Ships Logs

We had a super fun day today exploring at the museum and learning all about the explorer Captain George Vancouver. The highlight of the trip was the quill writing activity that the kids got to try. What fun!!

Using goose feathers that had been boiled to clean and remove any oils from them and then shaped and cut to form a quill tip, we got to try writing ships logs just like the explorers would have done :) They're definitely not as easy to use as they look! We're hooked though and are going to go and scour our goose's pen and see if we can find any large feathers to make some of our own. Maybe while we're at it we'll try making some walnut ink to *grin*.



We've got a great little book called The Diary of an Early American Boy that has all sorts of little recipes and tid bits in it and walnut ink is one of them :)

~ Rosina