I have to admit, we live in a pretty incredible area of Canada. One reason I can think of off the top of my head is that we get to experience the seasons change and that to me, is awesome! Where I grew up, it was green 12 months out of the year. We barely had snow, just on the mountains, which was fine, and we did have a lot of rain.
Here… where I am now, one thing about spring that I’ve really come to enjoy… is the Maple Syrup Festivals. The Golden Sugar abounds at this time of the year. You can go for a country drive and see hundreds of buckets attached to the trees and you can smell the sweetness in the air. If you live in Ontario or Quebec, I’d recommend you find out where your closest “Sugar Shack” is and go for a visit! You can’t get more Canadian then this!
Today we took the kids to a town not too far off, to enjoy as much Maple Syrup as they could get their hands on. We started the morning off at a friend’s place, he lives within walking distance to the festival. We enjoyed homemade, FROM SCRATCH, pancakes and they were YUMMY! The best pancakes I have ever ever had!! Then we walked, past all the Mennonites selling Maple Syrup from their buggies to where all the streets were closed off and the crowds began…
This was the largest festival I have ever been to. They expect upwards of 80,000 people to trod down this main street today. We were shoulder to shoulder with people. So if crowds aren’t your cup of tea… I’d search out for some less well known, smaller venues and events.
At one point, we were standing on a street corner waiting for the rest of our friends to find us when a I noticed a little girl standing beside us. My hubby wanted to get moving on (and to leave, he is not one for this kind of thing) but I wanted to wait a bit to watch this little girl. She was only around 3 years of age, if that. I said to our group, “She’s following us” and so we watched to see if she belonged to anyone standing next to us, nope – they all walked away. There she stood beside us. I got down to her level and asked, “Where’s your family honey?”. She looked somewhat scared and shook her head. I picked her up and shouted into the crowd, “IS THIS ANYONE’S CHILD?!”. A lady next to us said that her mom was franticly looking for her.
We happened to be right in front of the EMT / safety zone stand so I carried this little girl, who wasn’t crying or screaming or afraid of me in any way, over to two ladies in an Ambulance. I interrupted their conversation to say that I had found a little girl. Within moments two very large men in bright florescent vests were at my side, “Is this Emily?” I was still holding her at the time and so I asked her, “Are you Emily?” She nodded. The larger of the two security people shouted into his CB, “We’ve found Emily”.
I left the little girl with a Female Officer and walked back to my family. A lady flew by me towards the trailer, her face was red and wet from crying, I can only assume that this was Emily’s mommy. I can’t imagine what was going through her mind during this time.
I’m just glad it was me that found her and not some crazy…..
So it has been quite the day. Hubby and I both napped when we got home, the sugar blues… Now to find a smaller, more quant venue to celebrate our Canadian-ness!
thanks shasher great day happy endings night night
We stayed at Richard's for supper, which was yummy but probably should have taken the kids home earlier in the day, they were MISERABLE to eachother!! Cheers to Richard for his hospitality! 🙂
Thanks for commenting on my blog. I like the look of yours!!
We go to the syrup festival early,(8AM) because of the crowds later in the day. It would be easy to lose a little one in a surge of people. Happy ending.
Have a wonderful weekend.