Here I go again, cramming everything into one post. I mentioned in my previous post that we went to Aberfoyle Junction on the weekend, and as usual, we took a lot of pictures. Dylan wanted me to post some here, so here they are:

As you can probably see, the detail is simply amazing. I didn’t snap a shot of Toronto’s downtown this time around - that’s one of my favorite scenes. My other favorite scene is the city street scene (it’s the first picture above).

We also took a few movies, including one during the “nighttime”, but luckily for all I haven’t figured out how to upload the .wav file and format it for a blog post. Yet.

The Big Draw

Dylan is still very much on track with the Big Draw, Mommy not so much. I’ve been feeling the need to just stretch out and read, more or less “me” time, in between deadlines and family stuff, so I’ve been honoring that. I’ve managed to polish off a lot of books on my TBR pile, which is nice - but haven’t really been doing much else, including drawing.

Ever since we went to Aberfoyle Junction on Sunday, Dylan’s been drawing lots of trains. Here are his two drawings, one for yesterday and one for today.

Colorful steam engine. Crayola markers.

Colorful freight cars. Crayola markers.

Three Beautiful Things

It’s been a while since I’ve written up Three Beautiful Things for the day, and it feels like the perfect way to end this post tonight.

1. Hayley and Heather working away on their schoolwork, so companionably, such wonderful friends.

2. Memories of the gorgeous focaccia (Rosemary and Sea Salt) that Ward made last night and we finished off tonight - beautifully flavored, wonderfully chewy and soft at the same time.

3. Finishing the day with a glass of wine and a good book.

Tags: 3BT, Aberfoyle Junction, Art, the big draw, trains

We spent the day at Aberfoyle Junction; it’s a model railroad place out in Guelph that’s really amazing. Filling 1500 square feet of space, the layout represents trains and tracks running in Southern Ontario in the 1950s. Every half hour or so, the lights dim and it becomes “night”, and that in itself is such a spectacular show. Ward, Dylan and I have been going every year since Dylan was two. They open to the public for two weeks in May and three weekends in October/November. Dylan absolutely loves Aberfoyle Junction; he has a tendency to mark off time in terms of this train show (as in, “it’s fall. How many more sleeps before Aberfoyle Junction”?)

Of course, with all the running around, we didn’t get much drawing done. But when he came home, Dylan decided to use the Paint program on his computer. He’s been doing a bit of drawing in Paint lately, so we saved today’s for his Big Draw post:

Train. Paint program.

I didn’t draw today, but I’ve got a great substitute! My daughter Hayley finished the video she just made with her friend Heather, and they’ve uploaded it to YouTube. It’s hilarious, especially during the fight scenes. She’s the one with the dark hair. And if you look very carefully, about midway through the video, you’ll see Dylan riding his tricycle on the back deck. He saw them filming outside and had to get out there and be a part of the action

It’s called “The Ultimate Battle for Pepsi”:

It’s great to have creative kids. They’re hardly ever bored!

Tags: Aberfoyle Junction, Art, Family, the big draw, trains, video