This weekend is going to be really nice, so we're taking my boyfriend's youngest neice to Fort Edmonton Park, a historical fronteer-town kind of thing. It should be fun, because she's 10 and from England, so this is all new stuff for her.

Her sisters are 15 and 17, so we're going to grab each one individually and see if we can find something fun to do with them.

What kind of fun things do you like to do with kids in the summer?

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2000

Answers

Pretty much anything outside. I'm a big fan of flying kites, and riding bikes, and that sort of thing. Also, no kid will object to being taken out for ice cream.

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2000

The Fort Edmonton thing went rreally well. Justine (the 10 year lod) loved the Fort, and she had a pony ride, and we rode on a buggy and a stagecoatch and a streetcar. We missed the last train.

I should explain: Fort Edmonton is devided into time periods. The first is the Fort itself, which is an exact replica of the origional fort that stood where the Alberta Legislature is now. There are historical interpreters in costume who explain what life was like at the time. one was making buffalo stew, so we stuck around for that and some molasses bread. Just outside the fort is an Indian village, where two ladies were doing beadwork and making bannock bread. We missed the bannock, though. A little further out is a ranch, where Juss had a pony ride. The kid's a natural. She swung herself up into the saddle as if she'd done it a hundred times, not just twice.

On to 1885 street, which has shops and homes and stuff. There's a stagecoatch and a wagon, and we went to the newspaper office, where Juss had her name printed on a wanted poster. She's the Crackerbox Kid. There's a reward of $100 for her arrest. We went to a bakery hand had some pastry, and to Mrs Ottwell's house, where we had stuffed biscuits. We rode the stage, and wandered around a bit.

On 1905 street, we rode the buggy, and hopped on the streetcar. There was also a little park, where Juss went on the swings and the monkey bars and the "roundabout" (those merry-go-round things where the kids spin themselves around until they hurl). We went to a store to see the neat stuff they used to sell, and Juss looked at all the ladies decked out in 1905 finery.

1925 street is a little unfinished, so there's not a lot to do there. We rode the streetcar again, and we puttered around in the sun. Luckily we were all wearing sunscreen and hats, so we didn't get scorched.

I took Jason and Justine to DQ afterwards, and I tried the new Smores sundae. Yummy!

It was a beautiful day all around, and Jay and I had a great time, too. As Juss said to her mom when we took her home "I didn't learn anything, but I had a great time, and I ate a lot!" I guess she thought it was going to be like a field trip. I'm glad she had fun.

-- Anonymous, June 05, 2000