Canada's got Stones*

Everyone slept well considering it was new surroundings. The boys had no idea what the time was but Smallest said he was woken by the birds at 4am. How did he know it was 4am? He guessed. Well it was probably 8am then knowing him. Bless him, he is not well at all. We dosed him up with Vitamins, Vitamin C sweets, hot lemon and plenty of fluids. We could tell he wasn't right because he wasn't his normal silly self.

MrWhite emailed us this morning to say he had put in a call to their internet provider and then another email saying that "after conversing with his wife and son-in-law........................" And gave us another password which worked. HURRAH we are now all connected, though Small did ask "what speed is it" before changing from dog lady's wifi. It is in fact slower than hers but it will do us. MrWhite hoped we weren't too inconvenienced and wished us a relaxing vacation. It turns out that his wifi is very bad and keeps dropping out. Huffle is getting fed up with turning it off and on.

Small in the hammock

After a lovely breakfast outside in the garden, we slowly gathered enough belongings to furnish three beach families and made our way down the tricky steep steps, through the cool of the forest and onto the deserted beach (except for a family who were hidden behind some trees). The boys were sent on ahead and were straight into the water, slightly warmer today but less waves.

We had a lovely rest of the morning (though we didn't get onto the beach until past 11am) by ourselves, only disturbed briefly by a young couple and a dog. *we were entertained on the beach by Smallest showing us his most enviable finds on the stone front. We whittled them down to the last four before choosing our finalists and eventual winner. It was just like Britains Got Talent but with stones. We came back to the house with too many stones as usual but funnily enough they didn't look as good when they weren't wet!

We finished off our Manzarotti for lunch sitting by the calm of the lake stuffed into the Sportbrella shade.

We had lots of reading, swimming, sandcastle building, rock finding and Huffle and I even had two little walks all by ourselves though we cut our last one short when we saw Smallest standing in the water without his hat on. Poor little Seal Cough. We have to get him better.

This afternoon we were joined on the beach by a large family that smoked endlessly while their children screamed annoyingly. Eventually we turned our Sunbrella around so we didn't have to see them or ingest their second hand smoke and found we were instead looking at the couple with the dog who had come back again. This in turn, made them run away and move somewhere else. The smokey family disappeared after a while and we turned ourselves back around to gain as much shade as possible. Our neighbour (not the nice lady who gave us Wifi) who we have named Otto2 due to the fact he smells like our neighbour at home (with his smoking of weed) came and introduced himself on the beach and said to let him know if we want anything. Well we don't want your second hand weed smoke thank you very much!

Everyone went in and swam today and although it was quite cool, once you were in it was lovely. The funny thing is, that before the smokey family came along, the lake was beautifully calm and clear and after they went, it was all ripply and scummy. Just sayin'. We stayed until around 4:30pm and then made our way slowly back to the house. As we only have one shower, it was a slow process getting clean and ready for an evening out.

The little bunky house in our garden.

Tonight's delights was supposed to be us dining at a quirky little fish and chip shop that was just closing as we sat down but they let us have take away. Four Alaskan pollock and Chips and a drive to the beach for our dinner. We actually sat on the beach volleyball umpire's seat overlooking the beach and lake. It was very pleasant.

We walked up 188 steps, which was challenging, to the top of a hill to find benches, bugs and a fabulous view. Back down 188 steps (yes we counted) and back into the car to look for ice cream. Now really this was to soothe poor Smallest's throat. He didn't actually want one but we thought it might help and maybe even numb it. The lady said the smallest scoop was really tiny but that's what he had (In actual fact it was two small scoops and he had a white lemon sorbet which he said helped greatly). I also had a one scoop but Huffle and Small were big pigs and had two and they were ENORMOUS!

As we were walking to get back to the car, Smallest started coughing like a seal really badly and struggled to catch his breath, even Small was worried. We quickly tried to find a pharmacy but it was nearly 9pm and they were closed. We picked him up some painkillers in the supermarket and asked about a local walk-in clinic and they suggested we went to the Emergency Hospital nearby. We felt a bit awkward going in there as we would never go to a hospital with a sore throat normally but we thought the least they would do is tell us where the walk-in was for tomorrow. I'm so pleased we went there. Everyone was wonderful, from the receptionist, through to the Triage Nirse, the nurses who helped us and the doctor. All of them were exceptional, so friendly and just lovely. The triage nurse weighed him (4'4") took his temperature (he was quite hot), checked his pulse, heart rate etc and sent us back to reception to get our address and details. We didn't have to wait long before we were called in and we left Huffle and Small in the waiting room watching baseball.

The doctor checked his throat and said it was fine, as were his ears but when he checked his lungs he was not happy. He asked if he had asthma or ever had steroids - he hasn't. Smallest was then given antihistamine (his first ever swallowed pill), ventolin several times, plus the breathing test which he failed miserably blowing to only 50 when he should have got to 200. He had three different nebulisers and steroids that tasted like wee (Smallests words) followed by an ice pole to take the taste away, plus more blow tests and he finally got to 150/170. We were there for three hours with me texting Huffle as often as I could plus stepping out to the waiting room occassionally to update him. Although the doctor wasn't completely happy to let him go (I really thought he was going to admit him overnight) he let us leave with a ventolin inhaler and a prescription for more steroids. He has to take the inhaler every four hours for two days and then when needed and the steroids for two weeks and then we have to follow up with our doctor when we get home. The doctor said if he got any worse or we were concerned in any way, we were to go straight back to the hospital. He told Smallest to let me know if it felt weird at all. The steroids were supposed to make him wired and I expected to be up all night with him but he was so tired he soon went to sleep. I was told that he had a cold originally and a sore throat but that he was probably allergic to something in the cottage which had affected him, made him worse and brought on the asthma. Yesterday someone had a fire and this morning it stunk of the dying embers of a fire, it was difficult not to breathe it in. Plus if his room or the house is dusty, that can affect his allergies. Put all that together with five stupid idiots that chain smoke next to you!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Photo taken by Small trying to give him a moustache. Waiting to see the doctor. First nebuliser and an ice pole after the steroid

We came home and you could tell Small was really concerned for him and he even offered to to rub his cold arms for him. Wow! The boys went to bed, Huffle and I had a cup of tea and listened for Smallest coughing and trying to sleep. We feel awful that we didn't think of asthma but what can you do?????

Tomorrow we will have a lie-in, an easy relaxing day around the cottage (if no-one smokes or has a fire) and maybe some games (after we have picked up the prescriptions).

Oh my is it really only day 2 of our holiday?

 

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