Thanks to Urbanbaby & Toddler Magazine's post on Facebook, Mason and I had something to do on Sunday!
The last time I was at the watershed was in 2007...ages ago. Believe it or not I had a downhill mountain bike and went riding (not often) with my then boyfriend.
This time, we had no bikes but were off to release little fishies into the river. How exciting! The drive was longer than anticipated and took almost an hour from North Burnaby to Delta. There was ample parking alongside the road and once we got to the main entrance, there were tons of laminated drawings of fish by kids to lead the way. So off we meandered through the forest following the signs. The walk was also long and I wish I would have parked closer to the entrance to the event had I known there were a few different ways to get there.
But nonetheless it was nice to get out and get exercise and fresh air! Mason enjoyed finding the fishies that were attached to random trees and posts ensuring we were heading in the right direction. Which were muchly appreciated as there were a few trails along the main trail.
Many families passed us along the way (We aren't speedy walkers) as we took time to look at the different foilage and bugs we came across.
Finally we could see a mass of people down a little hill. There were people walking around with apples and cups of steaming hot chocolate. Thanks to the FB post, I brought my own mug! We got in line for the first tent which was advocating Owl - Orphaned Wildlife. They had a falcon and a beautiful owl on the arms of their keepers for the kids to stare at. There were coloring sheets to take away and for a few dollars donation, a stuffie. We didn't bring any money so we walked on.
I didn't expect a lot of activities other than the fish release so I was a bit taken aback by 7 or 8 tents set up in front of the fish release area. They were jammed pack with families, strollers and little ones running around. Mason didn't like the crowd and began to get upset. I wanted in the line up for my free hot chocolate! They were also giving out delicious Gala apples (thank you!!). I attempted to get Mason to try out a craft table but they were just too busy and he wasn't have any interest. I stopped at the composting booth to talk about their program which was new to the Delta area. I told them I wanted to compost more in Burnaby but we have so little food waste and our collection is once a week that it made it difficult. The bin would get stenchy and it would be hard for the collection crew to remove so little waste. I wish the bins were smaller.
By this time Mason was ready to go home and I really wanted to get him some fish, which was the whole point of coming down there! By waiting a few minutes, the line grew and so we hopped in, waiting for our bucket.
Unfortunately due to logistics, I was not able to take a video of the actual release. Mason at the edge of water + a heavy bucket of fishies + Mommy holding a camera AND a daybag meant say goodbye to the fishies, dump and watch them swim away. There wasn't much space around the waters edge for many kids so it had to be quick.
We heard that we could do it again but the line up was long and by this time it was time to head back.
A new experience for Mason and a nice day!