Master Beginners

Huffle skyped us last night. He had a cookery lesson and got to try some wine which he said was awful. He told us we are never buying Ice Wine! (For those that don't read everyday, Huffle went on a conference in Niagara on the Lake).

When I woke up this morning I ached badly. My feet, my legs and my hips. OUCH. Such a lovely walk but maybe we went too far too quickly. Smallest was late getting the bus today. He was upstairs playing on the computer and I had completely forgotten he was there. Moo suddenly looked up and shouted it's ten to. (Which is the time the bus arrives outside our house). I threw his stuff out of the front door and he scrambled to put on his shoes, hat and bag. I shouted "sorry" to the driver and the car behind the bus (no-one is allowed to go round a standing bus that has its stop sign out and flashing lights) honked his horn. - naughty driver!

Moo and I made a picnic, got ready and went out to Cobourg Beach with Smallest in tow. It was hot. It was a long drive but not an unpleasant one. It took us over an hour to get there and we parked up in a 2 hour spot, looked for an ice cream, grabbed our belongings and headed for the beach. We got our ice creams, parked our bums on a picnic rug and watched the general goings on.

There were many many seagulls

It wasn't too busy. Cobourg is a man-made beach. Not my favourite but it has lovely sand, is a wide beach with sandy shallow water.

Smallest of course wanted to paddle and ended up swimming. He said it was 'colder than the North Pole' but after a picnic lunch, went in again and went out quite far without it passing his chest.

We all had a game of football and Moo and and him had a game of Frisbee. I moved the car into another spot and came back to the beach where we played more football and watched Smallest climb and play on the rocks.

A lovely harbour. There was a piano on the harbour just there for anyone to play

At 2pm we had to leave.

We ran out of time in the car park and we had to be home in time for Small to get off the bus. We had a good journey home and were home in time. Once Small was home it was a mad rush to get the boys changed into their Dobuks and we drove to a nearby town to where MasterM's dojo was. We were the last ones there. The kids went in and there was a ten year old boy with a black belt, MasterM and MasterM's teenage son who was going to judge sitting behind a table. We all sat behind a glass window and couldn't hear what was being said but watched them warming up. Once they were warm we were allowed in to watch and take photos.

They split into two groups, the older students and the younger ones. The older ones (with Small went first). It was very very serious. The judges never smiled and looked quite stern, writing their notes. The kids were asked to do various moves and they did very well. They did a few moves they hadn't done before and a bit of spa'ing at the end. Then they sat down and the younger ones had a go. They were so sweet. They all looked incredibly small and sweet but did so well. Again they did a few things they had never done before. At one point one of the judges asked Smallest how old he was. They finished and sat down and then there was a demonstration by the ten year kid black belt. He was Canadian Champion and was amazing. The boys both got their yellow stripe which now means they are not complete beginners. I was very proud.

They worked very hard. Part of the test was a home element where I had to score them on Respect, Working hard at school, tidying bedroom, listening skills. I was worried at first that I had scored my boys too low as I wanted to be honest but it seemed that their scores were a bit higher than some of the others. I was not entirely surprised. They received a stripe and a certificate plus a complimentary week of lessons for the summer.

We drove home, Huffle was there with the boys dinner ready. Moo and I rushed into the showers and got ready. Then we went over the Mrs Royals for a night out to celebrate Drew's birthday. We had a glass of wine at Mrs R's whilst waiting to go over to Drew's and then we crossed the road and joined Garfunkel and Beatrix. We sat in Drew's gazebo. The sun was still out and it was lovely but it soon went cold as the sun went down. Drew bought out a load of coats and blankets and we sat there huddled up telling stories and having a good laugh. We had Chinese or Thai. Moo and I had said we were veggies but Canadians don't really understand vegetarians. We ended up with rice and a couple of samosas. Ummmm interesting. I knew we should have eaten before we came out.

Profiteroles came out next with strawberries which was lovely. There was a sparkler in the top and we sang Happy Birthday. There was plenty of wine flowing. It was nice to be part of Drew's birthday, it's a shame she has to work tomorrow.

I left Moo there as I was very tired and hadn't seen Huffle for ages. I came home and had a slice of toast and a cup of tea while I wrote this post.

Moo didn't come home till nearly 11pm. She was tired and cold and possibly a little tipsy, ha!

 

Please don't use my photos without asking first. Posted with Blogsy