A Spring of Joy

The next morning found us on the road again, this time for a short drive to a little town with a big museum. The Gennessee Country Village and Museum, according to their website, “features costumed interpreters in restored historic buildings, breathing life into an authentic 19th-Century Country Village. One of the largest living history museums in the country…” Hailed as the Williamsburg of the north (but we liked our Williamsburg in the south much better), we knew our kids would enjoy meandering through the village and seeing life as it would have been back then.

They loved visiting the tinsmith, the blacksmith, the gunsmith, and the cooper. (Incidentally, the cooper in Williamsburg is where our Cooper pup got his name. Last year, we surprised our loves with their “summer basket” full of dog treats and dog bowls and leashes and they learned we were getting a puppy. Taking a day from our Williamsburg weekend to visit Virginia Beach Goldendoodles, they met four adorable pups and picked out the one they wanted. Still too young to return home with us, we left our new puppy with his breeder and headed back to Williamsburg. As we wandered through Williamsburg the next day, talking excitedly about what we should name our boy–oh, y’all, the names they came up with!–our sweet Bear, who loved the cooper best of all, pointed to a barrel and said, “Cooper!” He was just noticing that a cooper would have made it, but we all quickly thought it would be a great name for our pup. So Cooper it is and Coopy-Doopy-Doo is a wonderfully enthusiastic part of our family–and we missed him so much on our trip.)

I was still very tired, so I spent much of the day sitting on benches enjoying my children as they plied the workers with questions and listened avidly to tales of life in the 1800’s. We saw a civil war era hot-air balloon encampment and replica. Bear especially was fascinated by the general’s tools and maps. It’s fun to see them so interested in history and life.

Houses and baseball fields and more houses and then we were on the road again for a short drive to our home for the next three nights… camped right on the shores of Lake Ontario. We set up, had some supper, then headed down to the lake to watch the sunset. It was fabulous. The beauty and size of the lake was awe-inspiring.

It was a soothing feeling to curl up in our home away from home that night with my dears, feeling safe and warm and so full of love. And I kept pinching myself at the wonder of it all, “And tomorrow,” I told myself, “You’re going to see Niagara Falls!” We couldn’t wait!