Time Travel!

We had a great family outing on Saturday. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to take their kids back in time! We started out in Fort Langley....the actual fort. It's relatively cheap...$14 for all 4 of us. If you go near the end of the day, it's not busy and the tour guides are really wonderful. They talked to the girls as if we weren't there, catering the conversations to their level. We went through all the buildings and marveled at how simple life was back then and yet, how physically hard it must have been. We learned about how the trading post worked. They even have a little area where the kids can take turns trading pelts for beads, material, fish hooks etc... They have a craft area. The girls made their own beaver top hats out of a cardboard template. We panned for gold and found some nuggets. Unfortunately by the time we got to the blacksmith shop he was shutting down. Everything is so authentic. When you're inside the fort, it really feels like you've stepped back a century or two!

After the fort closed we ventured into the town of Fort Langley and visited the antique stores. We had a great time poking around and showing the girls things we remember from our childhood. I even found the grade 2 reader I used. Maddie found an old fashioned portrait of Jesus while I was looking at my old reader. She kept calling me to see it, but I guess I was absorbed in memories. "Well, she said to Mike, I guess Mom likes books better than Jesus."

We were getting hungry so we walked down the street to the 50s diner. It is a cute restaurant that truly looks like it could have been on the set of Happy Days. Each table has it's own little jukebox. We had a great dinner there, listening to 50s music and explaining to our kids just who Elvis was. "Why was his name Elvis?" was their only response. I don't know.....good question!

It was a fun trip through history in the span of a few hours! I think our girls had a good time. When I told Chelsea the fort was closing because the guides needed to go home to have supper, her response was, "You mean, that's just pretend?" I guess that's really history come to life in the eyes of a 4 year old!