Medieval Village and Street Fair

We went to a street fair this weekend in the city that included a medieval village as well. It was great! The medieval village part had a lot to see and do, crafts, costumes to try on, and weapons to hold! Andre loved the weapons tent and we all learned more about them.

We also spent a lot of time at the street fair, watching a couple of street performers, and even participating in one for Celeste and I. We saw BMX guys jumping ramps and doing tricks. A new Canadian centre had a show with several artists, our favourite was a traditional chinese dancer. There was even free food! 

Exploring the City ~ Willistead Manor

After the splash pad on Saturday, we went to visit the Willistead Manor in the Walkerville area of Windsor. This gorgeous 36-room mansion was built in 1904-1906 by Albert Khan for Edward Walker (the son of Hiram Walker). The building is now used for weddings and special events. The surrounding parks and gardens are beautiful.  We didn't try to go inside this time, since we could see there was a wedding taking place that afternoon, but we might try another time!

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The front entrance.

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Celeste loved this little garden, it was the perfect size for her.

We noticed this structure and thought it was probably a fountain at some point. We read the inscription at the very top of the structure and I took a photo of the dedication found at the bottom. At home, we discovered that this fountain is the Diamond Jubilee Fountain and has a very interesting story (you can read here). This fountain was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's 60 years as queen.

The inscription at the top read:

Her court was pure, her life serene

God gave her peace, her Land reposed

A thousand claims to reverence closed

In her mother, wife and Queen.

We love finding out about local history!

If you like to read more about our adventures in exploring our surroundings, city or country, you can find more here.

Children's Fest and Art & Soul

The kids and I went to two different festivals yesterday and had a wonderful time at both!

The first one was Children's Fest at Children's Safety Village in Windsor. The Safety Village is a great place for children to learn the rules of the road and practice them. It is a small village just their size, with scaled-down buildings, railway tracks, all sorts of street signs...for them it's a whole lot of fun! Princess and Dragon were able to ride in a battery-powered car. Dragon drove and had to obey all the signs. Fairy wasn't too impressed because she was too tall to drive the cars...so she had to walk behind them with me. At the festival, we visited many interesting booths and watched a gymnastic demonstration.

The second festival we visited was the Art & Soul in Lasalle. The highlight was the fire truck! The kids had a chance to climb aboard the fire truck and learn a lot about the fireman's job. Dragon even had a personal tour around the truck, with the fireman pointing out and explaining many of the tools to him. All 3 of them tried on the fire suit! We also enjoyed looking at the tent that housed the high school art competition.

Sculpture Park at the Riverfront

We went for a walk to the riverfront yesterday. Daddy had the day off, so he joined us too! The kids and I had seen part of the Sculpture Park, but we wanted to see the other half. We still haven't seen all the sculptures this time...leaving some for another time!



Dragon is pretending he is riding the horse...the sculpture is only the head of the horse!

We were surprised to find out that this path was part of the Trans Canada Trail! The Trans Canada Trail is a 21,500-kilometre recreational trail that goes through every province and territory, from the Atlantic to Pacific to Arctic Oceans! The kids and I walked part of it in Barrie last year

On our way back to our car, we walked by another interesting sculpture...a space ship! Then we stopped at the playground for a few minutes.