Thank goodness for air conditioning!

HOT HOT HOT! Temperatures of 34* not including humidity, which made it 42*. Toronto were giving out warnings to go to cooling shelters!

I skyped Madamme Courvoisier this morning. She is holidaying in Tampa with Mr Pickle and Truly Scrumptious. I interrupted her watching the tennis and preparing for the 4th July celebration later that afternoon. News of Barry the Alligators' Baby was top of the discussion as was her white water rafting, which was not true! It was good to talk to her.

Moo, the boys and I stayed in this morning waiting for the plumber. He arrived at about 9:30. We had had our breakfast and were in the middle of a game of Monopoly Deal, still in our PJ's. He fixed our sink problem, changed our filter and checked out our pipe we had installed in the winter. Very nice man, didn't rip us off.

We got ready, collected a sample of water from the pool and drove in blissful air conditioning to the Pool Shop. The lady there was lovely and took our water and put it in a series of beakers and tubes, added tablets, added colourful liquid and printed off a sheet that said our water was good. The reason for the cloudiness is the fact that the cover came off into the pool and left lots of leaves and debris. Once we get rid of those the water should clear. We need to shock once again and maybe vacuum. We asked a lot of questions and learnt a lot.

The boys found some pipes to play with

We stopped at a family restaurant for lunch (Huffle was in Toronto and having a dinner so we decided we would too so we didn't have to cook later!). It was a place tucked away in what appeared to be an industrial estate. The meals were huge (we had to bring loads home). The waitress was funny.

Moo and I had omelette, home fries, beans and toast (we could have shared and still took some home).

Small had a cheeseburger and fries - look how big that burger is!

Smallest had bacon (his favourite) and egg and toast and fries.

We were so close to the beach that we decided to find a park we had gone to before Moo arrived. We drove and drove but couldn't find it. We found a carpark full of old people (nearly dropped Moo off there!) and walked along a lakeside path. We found a way onto the beach but it wasn't that nice.

She didn't want to play with the seniors!

The boys threw in stones and then we walked back. Far too hot to be out in the sun with no shade anywhere.

After we had walked our dinner off, Small decided we should have an ice cream so we drove to the place we went to when the boys were at their party. Small had never been before. We only had small ice creams but they were good. Again there wasn't a lot of shade so we hurried back to the air conditioned car and drove home with thoughts of jumping in the pool.

We weren't home long before we were all in it. LOVELY. There were lots of water fights, a whirlpool and Moo and I even got to read our books. In fact the boys did too.

Before we knew it, Huffle was home (he was supposed to play Bseball but he left his kit at home. On purpose? Or an accident?). He frightened Moo by jumping out at her and then got his swim shorts on and got in the pool. The boys had their tea by the pool side and we stayed there till about 7pm.

They went in, got dry and changed and then watched a bit of King Fu Panda 2. We decided to put the air con on in the house as it was too warm for anyone to sleep in. Small is on the air bed in Smallest's room and Moo is having Small's bed and room. The loft is unbelievably HOT. No one could sleep up there tonight!

We are watching Wimbledon now to try and find Aunt & Unc Pear and CousinPest.

 

👆

There he is. Front row. Bless. We watched him put the covers on when it rained.

 

 

Day One / Sixty Three

The Lady I normally garden with was not there today. I still worked but mainly by myself, tidying up the gardens, planting some new plants, weeding etc. It was a cloudy day but quite sticky. I came home with a couple of Bulbs and a clematis plant.

 

This little frog kept popping up where I was weeding.

Aunt Pear is at Wimbledon today. Apparently CousinPest has been appearing on the TV quite a lot recently at Wimbledon. FAME! I have recorded Andy Murray so will be watching him later!

The boys were very well behaved for Moo this morning and then when I got back they went all silly. We had lunch. They went in the pool - which was nearly clear. You couldn't see the bottom but nearly! Then we realised the pump wasn't working properly. It turned out the handle of the pump wasn't fully in the right position - we sorted it purely by accident. I rang the pool company. They asked if I could come in and bring a sample of the water and they would talk me through some things to do. I also called a plumber as our kitchen sink is leaking because the pipe has come away from the plug hole! They are coming tomorrow morning. So tomorrow will be a sorting day!

The day got stickier and sticker and then we had a bit of rain but it stayed quite close. We have storms forecast for today.

We tried to play outside but it was yucky close weather. We attempted football and frisby.

The boys had dinner. I made grown up dinner. Huffle came home late due to traffic.

We all played Leicestershire Monopoly. Moo won.

🎈 HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎉

TO KYLE ELDERFLOWER MEADOW 🍸 AND ART DOTDOT 🍰

both Birthdays 🇬🇧 were yesterday - sorry xxxx

 

"but I've not done it yet!"

We all had a very late night last night. I had to get up about 4am to rescue the compost bin from the raccoon. Everyone slept in.

Moo and I met NoCustard and went for an hours hard walking in the forest. When we got back the boys were waiting to go in the pool. Mrs Royal came to see us.

Everyone went in the pool today. It was a very hot hot day again. The pool was tested and all is well but it is still not clear. Need to do more research.

Smallest squirting Huffle with the water shooter

We created the whirlpool again and the boys floated round and round

Some peace while the boys played cards together

Smallest and Huffle listen to a story

Smallest body surfing

We skyped Grandma and Grandad and tried not to show them how much sunshine and pool time we were getting he he he. Grandad had to dig his potatoes up as they were under water. Oh dear.

We spent all day in and out of the pool. Huffle and Small went to get supplies for a BBQ and we had Corn on the Cob, Burgers, Minted potatoes, roast veg, feta and spinach croissants. ..........and for desert, Small made us some S'mores. Ummmmmmm delicious.

After a lovely dinner Moo and the boys played football.

We all watered the garden and then did some pool maintenance. We backwashed, added Bromine and shocked the pool. Does it appear like I know what I am talking about? PAH. If the pool is not clear by tomorrow morning I am ringing the pool company for advice!

Moo put the boys to bed after administering my cracked toe skin! Huffle ironed and we all sat on the porch in the coolness of the evening.

Huffle has just deleted everything off the PVR (TV planner) so now we have nothing to watch!! Wally!

 

 

"There are the fireworks! - or is it the Moon?"

The title of today's post was a comment made by Moo last night as we were watching TV. We heard crackle crackle pshhhhhhhh and looked out to find the fireworks. Moo said "ooh there they are!" several times. Once it was the street light and another time it was the moon - silly Moo.

I forgot to thank our lovely friends The Burlington Bertie's for bringing us some goodies yesterday. They bought us four tins of Baked Beans, two jars of Lemon Curd, two bottles of Robinsons Lemon Squash and some Nanaimo. The latter being a Canadian delicacy which is amazingly lovely. Thank you so much BB's.

Today was another scorcher. Temperatures at least 28*. We stayed by the pool most of the day.

This is a very unflattering photo of me but Huffle took it and said I wouldn't post it - so I have, so there!!

We all went in the pool at various stages of the day. We had lots of jumping in.........

Small jumping

........Huffle jumping

Small canon bombing

We created a whirlpool by running around quickly in the water and then stopping quickly and getting carried along by the water. It was a lot of fun.

Then we got Moo to jump in. We made her do it several times because we kept missing her amazing jumps!

But if you put the pictures together in the correct sequence, it looks like she is.........

........jumping in.........

.......and finishing beautifully!

Lazy boys

Water fights.

More jumping

Synchronised swimming, oh no, sorry, Moo trying to get on a Lilo and falling off!

The English Lady

We had a thoroughly good morning and half an afternoon in the pool. In order to keep ourselves up till late for the evenings fireworks, we sent the boys for showers, followed by time at the computer. Moo sat and read and did her crossword, Huffle watched the football - Poor Italy! And I was Skyped by Aunty A. She is coming to see us again. Wahooooo. We checked dates and caught up on news. Lovely to see and talk to her.

One of Smallest's best comments today was "I smell the best I have ever smelt before!" after we were talking about him having a shower after swimming!

By 5pm we were all ready to go out. We drove to Port Perry, walked the main street, had a lovely dinner and walked to the lake.

There was lots of things going on. Music in the band stand, people swimming in the lake, face painting, stalls, food, people camped out for the fireworks later, picnic'ers, bbq'ers, fishermen and women, boats moored and sailing.

People swimming in the muddy lake

Look mrs fried sausage - loads of people again!

We had ice cream and watched the boats. The boys went on the park. The lake side was packed with a lot of people. The boys and I played hide and seek and we hid behind people's deck chairs. It was very funny.

Canadian flags blowing in the breeze with the lake in the background

View of the town through a fish bowl window

Ice creams for the boys

.......and ice creams for the girls

We found a place to sit and put our blankets down. We played on my phone to pass the time and then Huffle, Small and I went to Tim Horton's for drinks and left Smallest and Moo playing a game. We met up with NoCustard who was over the other side of the lakeside. We are meeting her tomorrow for an early forest walk.

Gorgeous high bird houses.

Eventually 10pm came and the fireworks started.

They were over the lake and unfortunately we were sitting in a place where we couldn't see the reflections they made on the lake but they were very good. The boys loved it. It went on for about 25 mins. Next year we will take chairs, coffee, cards, etc and maybe park a little way out. It was a nightmare getting out of the town. Cars everywhere, going all ways, Police traffic control? The boys fell asep on the way home.

Sunset over the lake

Smallest was very tired and very grumpy. Moo, Small and Smallest went straight to bed. Huffle and I had a cup of tea and a wind down.

Ooooooohhhhhh

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

 

🎇 🎉 HAPPY CANADA DAY 🎈 🎇