Trip to Winnipeg

Well, we have been back from Winnipeg for almost two weeks now and summer continues to fly by.  Harvest has started here with the winter wheat and now the peas so a few times I have had to drop my plans to go drive truck or combine.  The girls have had some cousins visiting so they have had lot's of fun playing together.  They discovered a batch of kittens in the hayloft as well so have they have spent a bunch of time out there.  This week the older girls are off to camp so I just have the two little ones but we continue to have some cousins visiting.   So far it has been a busy, fun filled, wonderful summer.  I did want to share a bit from our trip to Winnipeg.  This year we did not do a camping trip.   Instead since my brother recently moved to Winnipeg and we had never really been there, we decided to camp out in his apartment and see what Winnipeg had to offer.

On the first day we headed down to The Forks (downtown Winnipeg where the Red River and the Assiniboine River meet).   Once there we hit up the Children's Museum which was fun for the young (and the young at heart).  So yes basically all of us enjoyed playing there.  (I should also mention in addition to having my brother with us my Mom and Dad also joined us on this trip.)

LK enjoyed this cool slide.

Lil has fun watching the balls roll down this track.

The water table was another big attraction for LK.  He got soaked even with his yellow water apron on.

After enjoying the Children's Museum we went outside, enjoyed a picnic lunch, and walked around a bit.  There was a pretty nice playground and splash pad for the kids to enjoy.  I really liked some of the historic elements of the playground.  They had a canoe, trading post, these oxen pulling a Red River cart and many other things which I cannot recall right now.  

Star and Sky at the playground.

Sky and Star enjoying the water fowl on the river at The Forks.

On our second day we headed to Grand Beach on Lake Winnipeg for the day.  The beach was beautiful, the day was sunny and hot and I would say this was one of the best days of our trip.  Very relaxing.  The sand was nicer than most beaches on the prairies and the girls (and Daddy) built a gigantic sand castle.

Daddy and Sky with their sand castle.

Daddy and LK burying Star in the sand.

Lil enjoying the sand.

On our third day we headed to Whiteshell Provincial Park. Rocks, trees, and beautiful lakes and rivers.  We had lunch at a beautiful beach and the kids went in for dip.  Then we hiked to Pine Point Rapids (about 2.5 km) and enjoyed sliding on the rocks in the water.  It was a lot of fun and something different.  We stopped again at a different lake for supper before heading back to Winnipeg.

Sliding at Pine Point rapids.

The next day we decided to check out Historic Lower Fort Garry.    It was a neat place to visit with a number of buildings to explore.  There were interpreters in costume in each building.  Star and Sky seemed to really enjoy this and especially enjoyed some of the activities and demonstrations.

Sky and Star in front of a tee pee.

Finger weaving and making cattail dolls and ducks.

There was a spinning demonstration and wool dyed with natural dyes.

Star and Sky showing off their cattail

dolls.

On our last day in Winnipeg we went to Assiniboine Park and Zoo.  The zoo was nice but it was bit hot that day to be walking around.  The nature playground in Assiniboine Park was quite nice as well and the kids enjoyed it a lot (especially the water feature on such a hot day).

Star, Uncle P, LK, and Sky at the Nature Playground.

Daddy and Lil on the climbing hill.

Uncle P, LK, and Sky enjoying the water feature.

Overall it was a great trip and I would definitely go back again.  Many thanks to my brother and parents for helping out with the little ones and providing some meals.  It really made this a relaxing, frugal, fun-filled family vacation.

PS.  Another week and a half has gone by since I started this post.  The older girls are back from camp and they had a lot of fun there.  It continues to be a super busy summer.  We finally got new cement poured in our basement (so we had to move in with Grandpa for a few days).  I can't believe school starts in two weeks.  But for now we are trying to squeeze as much enjoyment out of summer as we can.