Fire the canons Cap'n

Another wake up, this morning c/o Small who decided to sit in Smallest's bedroom and make lots of noise (though it wasn't him it was the chair!!!!). He was also a little grumpy and sensitive today too (lack of sleep again maybe?).

This morning, after breakfast, we donned our pirate gear and went Kayaking and Canoeing down the river. We borrowed them from MrBorrower which is ironic. I went over first thing to talk to the Borrowers and found out they lived in their 'cottage' next door but had just bought a house across the road backing on to the river - very nice. He helped us get our stuff together and off we went.

Smallest and Huffle took the Canoe and paddled together. Small and I had the individual kayaks. We paddled down the river - it was very picturesque with the lovely houses on one side of the river and the Provincial park on the other side. In the Canoe, the two occupants were firing canons at the passing ships and animals and generally being pirates. Silly billies. I was trying to motivate Small and helping him to get going. I think he found it very hard work.

We paddled long and hard and eventually reached a beach where we abandoned ships and went for a cooling swim. The beach was practically deserted and was just lovely. I could have stayed all day except we only had two bottles of water with us and it was nearing midday. After a swim and splash about, we got back in our vessels and paddled back. On the way we spotted a Heron, two turtles on a log and a couple of turtle snouts in the water, plus a fish that jumped in the water.

It was less work getting back what with the wind direction and the tide and I convinced everyone to keep going thinking we were nowhere near, in reality we passed where we started and had to turn around. We were out for two and a half hours in all and it was a lot of fun.

We had lunch in the house and an ice cream (that was the boys incentive to get moving on the water) and then we got ready to go out for an afternoon in London (Ontario, not UK). It was just over an hours drive and the boys had DS' to keep them amused. Huffle and I just watched the landscape go by on never ending straight roads.

Lots of wind turbines, a bridge over the River Thames, and Oxford Street!

We weren't sure what to expect of London, certainly nothing like our London that we know and we tried not to get our expectations high. Once we parked the car, we walked towards St Peters Basilica which was a lovely building, architecturally speaking. Unfortunately there was a wedding going on so we couldn't look inside.

St Peters Basilica and St Paul's Cathedral

We carried on walking and passed St Paul's Cathedral and on to Covent Garden Market. It was quite a hot muggy afternoon so it was a treat to step into the Air Conditioned covered market. It felt a bit like St Lawrence Market in Toronto but much less busy. Nicely arranged and lots to see.

Covent Garden Market, Tree Sculptures,

We sat outside by the fountain and the kids played in the mister to get cool. We decided to carry on walking and unfortunately came to a rather unsavoury part of London.

Enjoying the fountains and flowers

It had the weirdest lot of people I have ever seen in one place. It looked like it was closing time at the drug rehabilitation centre, soup kitchen, tattoo parlour (tattoopullar) and hospital all in one. None of us liked it there, apart from the amazing graffiti covered walls. We headed for the safety of a mall, except that it wasn't a mall, it was a plaza and it was empty and strangely weird. We stumbled upon a cinema and considered just for a moment whether to go in and then decided not to as we weren't sure who would be our accompanying audience.

Graffiti and Hells Angels - we didn't realize it but that was the start of the unsavoury part of town

We did however have dinner in a splendid place that Huffle found on trip advisor called Waldo's (which means Wally's in UK - I know this because of the Where's Waldo/Wally books). It looked very posh and the wine glasses were the biggest I have ever seen (I'm sure they could have fit a whole bottle in one) and despite the fact we hadn't booked a table, they let us stay as long as we vacated by 7pm. Seeing as it was only 5pm, that was certainly enough time.

Giant Glass, a tired boy and a chicken face in the also in vinegar and olive oil (Huffle found this one!)

The Manager, with pointy facial hair, came and schmoozed us and we all had an amazing dinner. Very nice to have after last night's debacle (at which I thought my rice was going to resurface last night when I woke in the night feeling rather yucky). Smallest had Pasta in a Tomato Sauce, Small had freshly made Gnocci in a Tomato and Cream Sauce. Huffle had a Wild Mushroom Crepe and Salad and I had a lovely freshly made Butternut Squash Ravioli in a Tomato and Cream sauce. Just beautiful. Smallest got a dessert because he ordered off the children's menu (two ice creams) so of course we thought it was rude for us to not have dessert too. Huffle had a Goats Cheese Panacotta with Lime and Raspberry (lime in and raspberry on top), Small had a Dark Chocolate Mousse (he said it was the best he's EVER had - what about mine?) and I had a Mocha Cheesecake (just made). GORGEOUS.

While we were eating it started to rain and thunder and lightning and just as we stepped out it started bucketing down. I have never before worn my sun hat in the rain but it did a good job of keeping part of me dry. We were running through the streets ducking undercover when we could. There was thunder and Huffle ran with his fingers in his ears. I had on my platform sandals so struggled to run too fast (plus my cheesecake was swirling in my tummy). We were on our way to the cinema but we told Smallest if we got too wet, we would have to cancel and go back to the house as it wouldn't be fun sitting in wet clothes. Bless him, he held my hand and pushed me undercover when he could and pulled me along as fast as he could and kept asking "are we too wet?". He desperately wanted to go to the cinema.

When we got back to the car we were wet all down our fronts and our feet but we soon dried off in the car on the way. We were far to early for our film so we stopped at the book shop to pick up a couple of new books for the kids as they have both finished theirs already. Small picked up a couple and finally decided on a Percy Jackson one. Smallest struggled to find one and one of the assistants came up and tried to help. She gave him lots of books to check out, told him which ones she liked and recommended quite a few. I think he felt a bit overwhelmed but eventually when she left him with a handful, he chose one.

We got to the cinema and watched Minions 3D. It was very good and funny (though not quite as funny as the lady near me thought it was. Huffle said he could have trumped and she would have laughed!). When we first got in the cinema we found our seats (which were very plush and comfy). In came family behind with a boy who kicked my seat and a carrier bag that was very rustly. We moved and instantly another family sat behind with their rustly bag! At least we didn't hear it during the film.

It was 9:45pm by the time we got out and Smallest fell asleep on the way home. Both boys went straight to bed and were warned not to get up too early, I think tomorrow will be a lazy day with temperature of around 28*. The next couple of days will be around 31*.

Today seems to have been very busy but very enjoyable.

 

Another one to add to my license plate collection

 

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