Swans Hiss, Who Knew!

I really enjoy when the weather gets nicer and we can get outside more often. Unfortunately there are usually so many smog and humidex days that sometimes they feel few and far between. Today being a gorgeous day, Steven and I decided we should do something fun with the kids. I had mentioned that in the summer I wouldn't mind taking the kids to Stratford to feed the swans (I remember doing this when I was younger and loving it) Sometimes the same old field trips lose their excitement and I was looking for something different. So once all the kids had arrived we decided to pile in the van and head off! We wouldn't tell the kids where we were going so the entire way there (about 40 mins) we hear "where we going Cindy?" "where we going Steven!" so when we park and head towards the mallard ducks, swans and whatever other kinds of birds were there, the kids were quite excited. I had read online you can buy swan food somewhere, but wasn't sure where. we had some extra Tim Horton's White Chocolate macadamia nut cookies so we broke them up to feed them. BIG MISTAKE! Once you start feeding them, they SWARM you. And I dunno why, but my memory always had this as a pleasant experience. These swans are HUGE! Taller than our double stroller. Imagine yourself 3.5 feet tall with this big white animal coming at you! Yup you guessed it, the kids freaked out. Steven had to carry two away, and I kept the babies with me. The babies are fearless and E even got nibbled, thankfully no pain involved. The kids were ready to leave, but I just HAD to get some pictures, lol I am so mean! All in all I think it was quite exciting for the kids to see these big birds up close, but probably wont want to do it again any time soon. Here are some pictures of us first coming to the birds:

Then of course once the novelty wore off, the older kids went over to sit on top of a picnic table near by. The fearless babies decided to try to get closer. This is when we discovered that when swans don't want you bugging them, they HISS!! yes actually hiss! I would have sworn there was a cat nearby! That kind of meant the end of Swan visitation for the day.

So after we left there, we decided to stop in at the Pork Congress Event going on at the Stratford Fair Grounds. Again childhood memories told me there were baby pigs the kids might enjoy seeing, guess I was on an animal hunt today. Turns out they don't do that anymore. I had also entered a cross stitch picture I worked two years on into the event and wanted to see how I did (second prize not too shabby, even though the first place pic was the same picture!) Anyhow when we got there, the kids kept saying "can we go see the train, can we go see the train" I had no idea what they were talking about, until I saw this HUGE tractor. The wagons behind it had narrow stacks that I am guessing the kids determined were smoke stacks from trains. Anyhow, as you are probably guessing, I never miss a photo op. So here are the kids with Steven. yes the tire was so big, the kids are sitting INSIDE the wheel! Very Cool!


And of course I had to try to get a nice group shot (they are always so cute for scrap booking) Where we were parked was a nice flower bed, and we only trampled one plant so we were rockin'! I plan on sending this photo with thank you notes from the kids, to the three families that returned the helium balloons we sent out back in April! Think its a good shot?

It was a very long exhausting day, but the kids had fun, and we enjoyed the nice weather, so that is what matters. Now I am ready for a nice "normal" day tomorrow! *cross your fingers for me* :)