I want to go home right now...

Saskatoon was exciting for all 3 peas! After a good night's sleep -well, what was left of the night after we arrived at our motel, we got up the next morning around 10am and packed up to head out to the Wanuskewin Heritage Park. When we arrived at the park, it was clear, sunny, and very windy. We were met by our guide, Lynne, who seemed surprised that we were there so early. We had been told to come early so we could watch and participate in an Aboriginal dance workshop, along with another group. Unfortunately, the other group had cancelled and no one had filled us in. We had a couple of hours to kill before our program would start, so we decided to go on a bit of a hike around the property and see what we could find. Things started off ok, but the wind picked up and one of the peas declared he was "not hiking up the stupid hill, to get to the stupid top, to see stupid nothing, but more nothing." The 2 other peas pressed on and the littlest pea followed anyways (there was some loud protesting involved and the expression "I want to go home right now!" happened several times on the way up the hill. Nonetheless, we got to the top where there was a bench for the complaining pea and and a Buffalo rubbing stone, skull and collection of other bones for the other peas to investigate.

The promise of a snack and some quiet time inside brought the complaining pea down the hillside and we meandered past the tipi village, the buffalo pound and the buffalo jump. We spent some time inside the main meeting house playing UNO, reading and snacking until it was time for our adventure to begin. All protests were long forgotten when the weapons were brought out and it was time for some archery. The boys spent a long time outside shooting arrows at targets, trying a new (to them) weapon, called an Adle-adle and pretending to "kill" our dinner. The best part for me was when we went inside for our traditional dinner and it turned out to be the same stew I have grown up eating!

After dinner, and a round of some traditional Moccasin games, it was time to set up our tipi. We trekked our stuff down to the village and set up our sleeping gear, built a fire and got ready to settle in for the night. We learned how to bake bannock on a stick over the fire and Dylan suffered a minor casulty when he put his hand on the wrong end of the stick and burnt his fingers. Out came the first aid kit and he was bandaged up and good as new (only one small blister the next day). When it was time to go to sleep, the wind really picked up and sounded just like sleeping at the farm! We were prepared for the cold, so we bundled up to start the night off warm and figured we could take off the layers, if needed.

It turned out we slept really well, we were all warm enough and we made it through the night with no troubles! Between the coyotes and the wind, it really did sound like home! The next morning we found out our guide had bailed during the night to sleep inside because she was too cold and hadn't planned on the three of us actually making it through the night (most groups abandon the tipis and sleep inside)! We cleaned up our stuff and headed in for a huge breakfast of pancakes and sausages and then on to an Archaeology activity. Our time ended there close to lunch and we made our way back to our hotel for the rest of the day. The boys took advantage of the pool, we ordered pizza in to our room, got in our beds to eat dinner and watch tv - all holidays should have some eating in bed, right?

Our train was scheduled to leave at 1:10am, but when I called to confirm, it had been delayed until 3:15am. It turns out that when we got to the station at 3am, the train was delayed again until 4:30am. We were finally onboard and moving around 5am and we all fell asleep for a few more hours.

Saskatoon is behind us now and we are in a nice hotel room, in comfy beds, in Winnipeg. More adventures to follow....