A Day For Me

I am a HUGE fan of Anne of Green Gables. It all started because of my mom. She read the entire Anne series (there are 8 books) back when she was pregnant with my sister Amber and fell in love with the story. She loved the books and loved the movies too. I grew up watching the movies and loved them dearly but my true passion for Anne developed when I finally read the entire Anne series almost 2 years ago now, when I was pregnant with Carter. Since then, I have developed a strong desire to go to PEI and visit Green Gables. Today I got to check that off my bucket list!

We left around 10 am to head to Cavendish and the first thing we did when we got there was visit the Green Gables homestead. The home that Lucy Maude Montgomery based her Anne novels on. Green Gables was owned by some relatives and was not very far from the home that she grew up in. 

We started off our tour with a short film about L.M. Montgomery's life. I really enjoyed learning more about the author that I have come to cherish so much. I was really impressed with how attentive the kids were.

After the film we headed out to the grounds of Green Gables. The area is so beautiful! "So much scope for the imagination!"

 First we went through the Green Gables barn. This time of year there wasn't much going on in there. There is some information you can read on farm life back in the time of L.M. Montgomery but the kids weren't all that interested. They really just wanted to milk the pretend cow!

The kids were also excited to sit in a carriage from back in the day.

 Then we finally made it to walk through the house. I LOVE old houses. They have so much character. I only took a picture of one bedroom, the bedroom that I figured was what L.M. Montgomery thought of as Anne's room.

After our tour through the home we took a walk on Lover's Lane. Gorgeous. I know why L.M. Montgomery considered this area her spiritual home and was so sad to leave it when she got married and moved to Ontario. Beautiful doesn't even describe it.

I'm so glad that my kids love to hike because we did a lot of hiking. After we were through with Lover's Lane we headed off toward the Haunted wood. We didn't get too far on this trail as the kids were pretty tired and super hungry by this point so we headed back to the car. We filled up on some snacks and took off to spend some time at "Avonlea." 

Avonlea is not an actual community in PEI. It's just a little set up in Cavendish of homes (and a school and a church) from L.M. Montgomery's era that have been beautifully restored and kept up. Everyone there is dressed in costumes from the time of Anne of Green Gables and some of the favorite Green Gables Characters are there!

We entered through the Avonlea train station and took a step back in time...

 
The first thing we did was check out the old barn where we saw some beautiful draft horses and this cute little cat having an afternoon snooze on a wagon. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

We were then able to go on a wagon ride! The wagon was pulled by a really old tractor. It sounded like it was working really hard to pull us around...

All throughout the day they put on little skits of scenes from the book. The first one we made it for was "Tea and Tragedy". The scene where Anne accidentally gets Diana drunk by giving her Red Currant Wine that she though was Raspberry Cordial. The actors did a splendid job. All 3 of my kids were enthralled!

When the skit was over we wandered around the Avonlea gardens and Aubrey and Jensen pretended to have their own tea party in the gazebo. So cute.

Carter joined in too. He made himself right at home and took off his shoes!

After their little tea party we headed to "Avonlea Dressups" where Aubrey, Jensen, and Carter got to dress up in era appropriate clothes. There wasn't much selection for the little boys but Aubrey dressed up as Anne. And then the "real" Anne walked in! Picture op! Aubrey was elated. Anne even told her a secret that she bought some hair dye that was going to turn her hair into a "beautiful raven black" and that she hoped Aubrey would come see it later. Aubrey loved to be in on the secret.

There was another little program being put on at the fishery building so we went there next. It was a band that played Maritime music. They were actually really good. We all really enjoyed ourselves. The kids were all clapping along with the beat. In one of the songs, Diana Barry treated us to a "step dance". It was all around really enjoyable entertainment.

We then wandered around and looked in all the little homes that we could. There was one home where there were things for the little 'ns to do so we took a few minutes to just sit and colour and play.

Old school (wooden & made by hand) Dominoes. They don't stand up.

Carter loved these old fashioned, hand made trucks so I bought him one...

And then it was off to watch another skit! We got to see the results of Anne's hair dye. Anne was in the depths of despair when her hair was turned green and not black.

We then got to join in on a parade. We marched down the road to the perfect picnic spot to play some games!

The kids got to participate in a potato sack race. I was actually amazed at their skills. Especially Jensen. I got to join in on an adults race after. It was so much fun, but my pants fell down... good thing I had the sack covering me up!

Then the kids got to do an egg-and-spoon race. It was hilarious to watch the little kids because they could not keep the egg on the spoon for even a second. Thankfully it wasn't a real egg. After Jensen dropped the egg for the umpteenth time I told him to just pick it up and run. Aubrey held the egg on the spoon the entire time. She's no dummy.

Moody explaining the rules to the kids

The next race was the lobster trap race. The kids had to wear a lobster puppet on one hand, race down to a lobster trap and pull out a (stuffed animal) lobster from the trap with the puppeted hand and race back to their team and pass on the puppet and the lobster to the next child in line. That teammate would put the lobster back in the trap and so it went.

Aubrey and Jensen's team won the lobster race. To be honest I think the other team actually won, but they had won every other race so they wanted to give this team a ribbon too. Aubrey and Jensen were thrilled to get their ribbons.

Oh, and how could I forget the Manure toss! It was supposed to be a game for the adults but the kids wanted to try. To play the game you just throw a sack of manure (I don't think it was actually manure) as far as you can and whoever throws it the farthest, wins! I played and I threw it the second farthest in the women's division. I only lost "by a hair" as Moody put it. There was only 3 women that tried. Haha!

Anne became Aubrey's new best friend. Anne even hung out with us for a bit and joined us at the chocolate shop! This girl is amazing with kids.

We took a break and watched Gilbert and Moody play a game of... I'm not sure what it's called. I'll call it ring toss. You actually pass a ring back and forth using two sticks (per person). It looks tricky. I wish I had tried it.

Jensen jumped right in a took a try though!

As did Aubrey. Moody taught both of them how to play.

After a bit of playing it was time to head to the church to watch another skit. Anne finally forgave Gilbert for calling her "Carrots" and they became friends. Then the pupils of Avonlea school put on a talent show for us. There was some singing and poetry writing and step-dancing. They did a fine job!

Josie Pie recited a poem and dedicated it to Gilbert.

When the talent show was over we got to watch a pig race! I didn't get a picture of the actual race because the pigs were just way too fast! I was surprised! But I got a picture of Diana holding Carter. He took quite a liking to her!

And then it was time to say goodbye to the Avonlea crew. We had such an amazing day. The kids loved their time there. Aubrey and Jensen both said it was their favorite day of all. Even more favorite than the beach and the Harbour Hippo! Now that's saying something!

Goodbye Avonlea!