Bird, Beard, Boards and Beer

Last nights sunset. Over here the saying is slightly different. RED SKY AT NIGHT, SAILORS DELIGHT.

Another lie-in, another super fruit fuelled breakfast (with pancakes on the side ha!), and a very slow start to another wonderful day.

Our picnic was wheeled to the beach by our resident donkey (yep that's me, even the builder next door noticed I always wheel the cool box to the beach).

Each day is starting to look more and more like the day before, as there is no reason the leave the beach. We only booked for a week so we don't feel the need to go and do anything to break up the beach days and the weather has been so fantastic that we haven't had to hide away in a cinema or do some other indoor activity. (Even Disney Monopoly sits there gathering dust!).

Today a poor seagull fell from the sky and dropped dead. This has caused lots of other seagulls to fly very close and over our heads today. Sad about the Seagull but good photo opportunity for me.

Huffle and I managed to get some kayaking on our own and went off to the horizon and tried to see round the corner. Today's waves were even bigger than yesterday's so it made it harder to row. We left instructions for the kids to wave their noodles (swimming ones) at us if they needed us to come back.

Huffle took out Capt Brown Beard for a ride later and Small kayaked at the side of him.

Tuck yer beard in Cap'n - it's gettin' dicey!

I got some lovely peace and quiet and read my book and tried to brown the back of my legs. Or RED them! We only managed a bit of sandcastling today but the boys played a splendid bit of cricket which I joined in with for a part of the game. I introduced Smallest to French Cricket which he thinks is very funny.

There was a lot of body boarding today, in fact so much that Huffle has board chafe on his chest. Smallest wins the award for the furthest surf though, he glides over and through the waves perfectly.

Of course, jackers was played to see who got their ice creams served first. We walked along the beach again but the window shutter ice cream place was closed and I needed hair bands as mine have all been eaten by the sand band munchers, so we gave in and went to talk-a-lot-lady. Yes she did talk a lot but we did seem to get our ice creams a little quicker today.

Today's flavours: triple chocolate, strawberries and cream and chocolate peanut butter

Again she told us all about the delivery, though because there were lots more in the shop, she shared her talking to others as well (well I think she did, I was busy looking for hair bands, I left the others umming and ahhhing and nodding). On our walk Smallest found a frog (he is truly Dr Doolittle).

There does seem to be a few more people on the Beach now and in their cottages but no-one anywhere near us, apart from the odd (not odd looking) people walking past.

After showers we poddled out to the same place we ate at last night, seeing as it was SO good. On the way home we drove past Grandmas Beach Treats which sold ice cream (no we didn't have another one), fudge and butter tarts. We bought a few things for tomorrow and got talking to the lady In there who said her Mum was in England. Her husband came out and said "what kind of an accent is that?" THE BEST ACCENT I said. He gave the boys some cars with sweets in and said "YOU GET THEM FOR FREE BECAUSE YOUR MOM HAS SUCH A CUTE ACCENT". Cool.

Smallest sampling my 'Flying Monkeys' again - he didn't like it this time!

When we got back to the house MrsOwner gave us some Crepes she had made for us this morning (but we had left for the beach already). That's breakfast tomorrow then. Thank you, we are being very well looked after here. smallest said that he wants this house and the garden to move back with us to The Hamlet (he's even willing to bring the owners too).

 

 

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The Borrowers

After a waffle n fruit breakfast, we made our way down to the beach with a picnic. We didn't have to take too much as we left everything down there yesterday.

Kayaking was the first thing we did. Capt Smallest sat in front with First mate bob Huffle (who complained he did all the work) and I had the other kayak. Small swam along next to us until we disappeared to the horizon.

As we came into shore Capt Smallest decided to walk the plank and disappeared into the lake. There was much swimming, surfing (the waves were good today Mrs Rumbleskins), reading, cricketing and jackers.

The boys body boarding

We ate our picnic lunch on our borrowed table and reclined in our borrowed chairs after kayaking in our borrowed kayaks.

Our magnificent sandcastle village complete with volcano and self filling water moat

Mid afternoon we walked to a different ice cream place. This one had a man behind a glass partition which he kept closed to keep in the air conditioning - this was perfect for us as there was minimal chatting and quick ice cream getting. Today we partaked in Salted Caramel Truffle and Black raspberry Thunder.

The beach view from our walk to the ice cream place.

A seagull taking flight. Smallest blowing seeds away

Another walk along the beach, lots more silliness and then we finally moved away about 5:30 ish. Showers were taken and we were off again in the car, this time to Wasaga Beach to a pizza place that had good reviews on trip adviser. Huffle and I had a really really good Panzarotti each, Small had a pizza to himself and Smallest had Pasta Alfredo. It was very good. On the way back we stopped to check out the beach. It is very big and looks like a very commercialised place. We have decided to stay where we are on our little hideaway beach where no-one comes and bothers us, where we can kayak and play all day long, not far from the house.

TL: You can just see the boys in the lake. TR: Smallest trying my Flying Monkey Beer tut tut

BL & BR. The sun setting over the lake at Wasaga Beach

Just before sunset, I ran to the beach to watch it. It was amazing. A huge big ball of reed disappearing into the lake.

Here are some mor photos of our abode - excuse the mess, we are on holiday

TL. Our room. TR. Smallest's room

BL: Small's room (they are chilling watching TV). BL: sitting room?!

 

 

 

 

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Call me from the bottom of Lake Huron

Last night as we were eating dinner, two of Small's teeth fell out, one after the other (very strange). The tooth fairy still managed to find him and his teeth despite the fact he forgot to tell us where he put them. As Huffle and I were going to bed, I sent Huffle in to find the teeth. "What if he wakes up?" THEN FLAP YOUR FAIRY WINGS AND STICK YOUR GOOFY TEETH OUT!

A nice lie-in this morning, followed by a croissant breakfast made by Huffle with fresh coffee and Orange Juice. Smallest cleared everything away from the table and we set the Robot Hoover to clear up after Smallest and then Small washed up. Ahhhhhh Mummy's on holiday at last.

Once again the weather report was bad for the morning but we kind of ignored it. Huffle got carted off before he was even properly dressed with MrOwner to go and see the man who had the canoes and kayaks. Just across the road and two doors down is their cottage which they were leaving today. We could sit on their part of the beach using their path to get on, use their stuff and come and go as we pleased. Once we got ourselves organised we walked down, said a quick hello and goodbye to the leaving owner and dragged a wooden canoe and two kayaks down to the beach, plus life jackets.

Huffle and Smallest went in the Canoe (I get very confused with which is which as I used to have a one man canoe in England and that's what it was called but here it seems to be the other way round!), and Small and I had a kayak each. It was lots of fun and hard work. We played around for about an hour or so. I put my phone in a freezer bag to protect it from the water and the kayaks each had a safe dryish place to store things, so we had my phone in one and the flapjack and water in another.

When we changed over and put Smallest in a kayak by himself, I dropped my phone and it fell to the bottom of the lake, whoops - it's a good job Smallest found it for me, still working and mainly dry. Smallest didn't get on too well as his arms weren't long enough and didn't have the strength to get him anywhere so we swapped again and Smallest and I went in the Canoe. I nearly bumped him out and then we almost sank. We had a great time.

We came away and back to the house but left our stuff at the canoe house. After a quick change we drove to Penetanguishine where we parked the car and walked to Kens Place. We had a good feed and then walked to the harbour where we watched a big ship sail away. (We half considered going on the ship but it looked very similar to the one we went on in port perry and that was boring after half an hour - this one was 3.5 hours! Though it did go around some of the Islands. Still it went before we got there so that was that!)

Today we all had Dutch Chocolate - well we thought it would be easier!

A walk back to the car in the very hot sunshine and a brief drive to get some essentials and then back to the house. This afternoon was spent walking to the Canoe house, dropping some stuff off and then walking to the ice cream shop and the incredible talking lady. Before we went in we worked out what we were going to say and what we were going to order so that she couldn't talk a lot to us. We failed. As soon as we walked in she said "oh I'm playing a game and you have interrupted me - Now before you say anything (and we hadn't spoken yet) the delivery hasn't come in yet but it is due at 4:30 though I don't believe them, so tell me what you think you would like and I will tell you if I have it and then we will go from there, I will just wash my hands and the scoop first and then i'll be with you". And then she drew breath! Phew. I thought I could talk! Some time later, we all had our huge ice creams and walked along the beach and back to our stuff.

More kayaking (we put the canoe back as it was much too hard and heavy), jackers, reading and swimming and then we stopped for a late beach picnic at the canoe house's beach table, followed by us borrowing their recliner chairs and chillin'.

Middle Left and Middle middle : Huffle, Smallest and I - Small took these photos when we were so far away.

A most enjoyable day and we left lots of stuff at the beach (as everyone else has gone home) so we won't have so much to carry tomorrow.

Top: inclining to recline

While we were out and about today we saw a place called "castle village". At first we thought it was a kids adventure theme park but when we got closer realised it was a gift/antique shop with extras. The extras being it had a Dungeon of horror......

Well that's enough to put you off isn't it?

A nature walk with themed cottages with interiors based on nursery tales like Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Bears etc. Huffle said NO WAY were we going there. MrOwner asked the boys if we had visited INDIAN VILLAGE today. This is the second or third time he has mentioned this place. He said he had found us a great place to eat "do you like Chinese?" NOT REALLY OUR FAVOURITE. Oh. I'M A VEGETARIAN. Oh you can eat Shrimps NO I CANT! yes, Shrimp is not an animal. Oh right how silly of me, perhaps I can eat it then, after all, it was my decision not to eat meat but perhaps I have got it wrong all these years. He also told me to be careful and cover up in the sun "you are already red you know". YEP I'M RED, YES THATS RIGHT I AM! He is very nice really and we are very grateful he found us the kayaks. We will be back on them again tomorrow.

 

 

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'Bout knocked me 'ead off!

Today was supposed to be stormy and rainy but luckily for us it was another scorcher. There were a few rumbles first thing and a few spots of rain and then a few more rumbles later whilst we were in the lake. As we weren't sure what the weather was going to be, we started with a walk (after pancakes and fruit) along the beach. Huffle and I taking in all the houses (and there were some beauties) and the boys kicking the football and begging to go swimming.

We walked and walked and walked for about an hour and then turned around and walked back - two hours of walking on soft sand is tough so when we spotted an ice cream shop, of course we had to stop.

It was a strange old place and the lady was obviously bored and lonely. Smallest got his French Vanilla ice cream first and had eaten a quarter of it by the time she got around to Small, who had Dutch Chocolate. She talked a bit more and finally I got my Strawberries and Cream and Small had almost finished his by the time Huffle got his Strawberries and Cream. The lady told us, among other things, that her son had reduced the ice cream prices due to the fact that she talked too much - and she did! We had massive scoops which were supposed to be regular but had three scoops! We sat outside in the shade to eat and noticed there was free wifi so we quickly called Grandma and Grandad.

Ice creams finished (and some on the floor Small!) we started walking back to the house. On the way we bumped into MrOwner who told us he had found some canoes for us. I asked him the other day if he knew where we could hire some and he remembered a friend had some. They have people at their house today so said we could use them for free (a canoe and a kayak) from tomorrow and the rest of the week - wahoooo. So that's tomorrow sorted.

At the house we made a picnic lunch and got all our beach stuff ready and headed off for swimming, lots of cricket, jackers, more swimming, more jackers, a bit more swimming and reading.

We finally came off the beach around 6ish. Today is a Civic Holiday here so not much was open. Huffle walked to the local shop to see if they had pizza but they didn't so we cobbled a dinner together and then the boys watched their TV's, which they are loving having in their rooms!

MrOwner gave me a tour of his garden and the vegetable garden and we had a nice chat with MrsOwner. I was getting bitten so they sprayed me with mosquito repellant which worked but I stunk.

The kids went to bed and Huffle and I sat outside and watched a bit of the sunset through the trees.

A bit of the Owners garden

A bit of tree topiary made by MrsOwner

Sunset through the trees

 

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One little fishy, two little fishy, three........

Everyone slept as well as they could considering they were all in strange new beds. Apparently our bed was brand new and no-one else had ever slept in it before (which was encouraging to know. Our headboard banged against the wall just from us moving or turning over - NOTHING MORE! So we had to put a pillow behind it. Later on in the day MrOwner asked how the bed was and then informed it was brand new.).

We had breakfast in the middle of the DanceFloor which was a treat in itself. The rest of the day was spent on the beach, bar a quick poddle off to the house to make a lunch to bring back to eat. It was a beautiful day and we all swam in the lake many times. Even Huffle swam and he is not a big swimmer, but because it was so sandy and clear and shallow, he was in his element.

Too many photos of me. Boys playing jackers behind me. Me with my lake hair (I had just washed it so I put it as far on top of my head as possible so I didn't need to get it wet!)

The boys were diving for fish and shells and occasionally wrestling in the water, though that sport is now banned for the rest of the holiday.

Smallest bucket head. Our sandcastle village.

We had time for Jackers (boules), cricket, catching, reading and a huge sandcastle village that a couple of people actually stopped and admired.

SHOT! Bowling Shaki

Small catching fish with his hands. Smallest catching shells.

We managed to stay on the beach until 5pm and then came away to get showered and go out for dinner. Eventually we managed to get out and stopped at a Surf Shack where we had Fish and Pasta dishes. I had Georgian Bay Pickerel which was very nice. Wandering around Tiny Beach we soon realised we were in Tiny Blackpool. It was a very busy commercial area with lots of very small cottages and motels. Glad we are not staying there!

Back home I tried to make the bug zappers hang lower as MrOwner had left us some wire. Stupid me, who never learns, climbed on a chair on a slidey cushion and leaned as far as I could and fell. I landed with a not so graceful thud, scraped my leg all down one side, banged my ankle and hit my head on another chair. Huffle panicked but I was fine - nothing a cold compress and a cup of tea couldn't solve. MrOwner came back from a jaunt out and said "ooh you are red, you are very red, ooh red!" Yes thanks I had noticed, nothing to do with my stupid skin. ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH leave me alone you reddists! However we did have an interesting chat with him. Not only is he a celebrity championship hairdresser but he used to fly his own plane and his wife is a sculptor and a gardener.

Our house (ours is the ground floor)

The statue that MrsOwner made (random)

 

 

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Boogie Wonderland

It was a fractious four that loaded the car this morning. However we managed to get on the road by about 10:30am and apart from one road, the journey was straightforward and easy, stopping for dinner at Midland. Our home region is East Midlands and I thought we had nearly come home!

The Midland sign. Smallest and his new friend Charlie

The Little Toot boat.

The boys in the lake

Our place of eating was the Boatyard Eatery on the harbour overlooking the lake. It seemed perfect, though the food wasn't the greatest. Huffle said he thought because they had no competition, people went there because the setting was good and nothing else. Still, it did a job.

A brief stop at a supermarket to get some food and then we made our way to our new home for the next week. Nestled in a well loved garden with two huge sloping drives was our house.

This is their front garden. Will show photos of house tomorrow

No-one appeared to be at home to start with and Huffle and I contained our laughter because we knew the owners were Yugoslavian ex-celebrity hairdressers to the rich and famous and could only picture Borat in a tankini. Thankfully, Borat didn't appear, but the lady of the house did (they live on the top floor and rent out the bottom floor). She was amazed to see there was only four of us. She started to show us around. It was very dark and very wooden and scary looking as she lead us into bedroom after bathroom after bedroom after bathroom and finally the piece de resistance. The dance floor. Yes, you read correctly. We have a circular dance floor in the middle of the house where they used to have parties and entertain. Lady of the house said "awe we had many parties in our time but you know, everyone is dead now!" Huffle says it sounds bizarre but you could easily host a quiz night there. There is a central table (where the dancing used to be before everyone died) and seating all around the room, kind of working men club stylee.

Dance Floor (don't want to give too much away, too much excitement to show too many rooms).

The boys chose their rooms and were very happy with the fact they have a TV each even though they could only find a cookery program (still they avidly watched it). We have a TV in the Dance room too but the reception is absolutely dire, though MrOwner seemed very pleased with the channels he presented us with. One funny moment was when the owner grabbed a children's step and wobbled over to the stove. We wondered what he was going to do and then he stood on it and turned on the extractor fan. He asked if we smoked and was disappointed when we said no. He had put out many many ash trays and said we were the only ones that didn't! There is also a string of mosquito lamps outside which can be plugged in and some which work wirelessly and he said we could put these by our feet! There is a telephone that can call anywhere in America or Canada for free. Wow! Then we realised we didn't know anyone! Boooo.

After we unloaded the car, we went down to the beach with an ice cream (we bought some at the supermarket). The beach was busier than I had expected but then it is the Long Weekend (Bank Holiday to you Brits). It seems many of the cottagers (yes that IS what they are called here) leave their chairs and umbrellas on the beach which makes perfect sense. Our walk was across the road and two minutes away which is ideal. The boys went straight into the water which was very shallow and unbelievably warm. It was a gorgeous sunny day and we stayed there until the sun set. Smallest found a dog friend and threw the ball to him a lot. He also swam with th dog and the dog stood up on its hind legs just like a person. The dog (Smallest named him Charlie) kept shaking the lake water off himself, mainly over Huffle!

Smallest digging for water. Small trying to catch a plane

The boys footballing. Catching water in a cap!

Everybody started to relax and we sat on the beach waiting for the sun to set. What a lovely place. Huffle has put our music in place for a bit of a boogie later when the kids have gone to bed. There is a huge mirror but no disco ball or flashing lights, though we do have a Les Dawson piano.

A-splashing. Mine and Huffle's feet in the clear lake water

A shadow of me. The boys on th lake. Smallest looking for the path back

Unfortunately the sunset was ruined by the boys getting into an argument about a hole one of them had made and the other was in it! Then it progressed too a full on fight where Huffle and I refused to get involved and then we left the beach and went back to the house.

Some sun-nearly-setting photos

The boys had their showers and got into their beds (watching TV though they ended up in each other's rooms trying to check which channels each other got). Huffle and I sat outside and fought off the mosquitoes. We had four hanging bug zappers above our heads, a burning citrus zapper by our feet and five rechargeable zappers around us. We still got bitten, but we did get to see some fireworks from a nearby beach wedding. The owner was very helpful and kept bringing us more and more zappers. In the end we came in but we sat in our bedroom as we didn't feel like dancing tonight!

 

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Horses, Tractors and Hailstorm

We had an even earlier start to the day today as Smallest had his last day of Summer Camp and we had to drop him off at the Stables for a morning of horse riding. Small came with me and looked thoroughly bored, though he was asked if he would like to ride (of course not, there is no gadgetry involved!).

After rules of the stables were learnt, the kids were lead to the stables and split into groups. Smallest got to groom a horse with his two girl helpers, one of which was very helpful and encouraging. The horse was groomed, saddled and lead away and the girls disappeared. Another horse was brought out just for the Summer Campers and they groomed him and lead him outside to the grass. They were told to not put their fingers near his mouth as he was a nipper! His mouth was very close to Smallest's head many times.

Smallest was first to ride as he was the youngest. He got on his horse but the stirrups were too long, I have no idea how he stayed on that horse. He learnt how to steer the horse and did really well. I thought it was the end of the riding for him so Small and I drove off in search of a drink and snack and we found White Feather County Market where we purchased some English Toffee Biscuits and sat on the tractors.

When I got back to the stables I found out that Smallest had ridden two more times. Trotting and Galloping. Maaaan, why did I miss that? He loved it but didn't want lessons. He says it is something he would like to do every now and then and especially would like to go to that Summer Camp next year. We said our thank yous and goodbyes and came home. We had lunch and a bit of a relax and then rushed off to swimming lessons. Today was 'fun day' so they just played. They had an hours session today and two other girls joined them. They had a boat race, a water polo game and lots of jumping off the diving board. Small had a lovely write up of what he had done (she didn't need to do that as he wasn't doing a badge so that was nice). Smallest didn't pass again because he is just too young and small. I am quite pleased as level 8 for a seven year old would be very hard.

We were supposed to be meeting Suffolk and her kids at the Splash Pad but we were both delayed, the traffic was horrendous and then it started to rain so we all diverted our journeys and just went to their house. We all played on the park and ended up playing soccer baseball which is baseball but with a football which you kick. I got two home runs wahoooooo! It started to thunder and then lightning and we ran back to their house.

The kids all played nicely and then I got a message from Huffle who was at home and cowering in the snowboard cupboard in the basement (which is possibly the smallest cupboard in our house!). I rang him and while I was on the phone the storm hit where we were. We had power cuts, hail the size of an old ten pence pieces, very loud roars of thunder and lots of lightning. Th kids played on the IPads, Ds' etc and Suffolk and I knitted, watched the radar and drank tea. We stayed until Huffle told us the storm had passed and made our way home.

At home the basement was leaking but Huffle had made it out of the basement and made us dinner. Smallest was very tired and the kids only got a bit of TV before bed. The weather report for the Hamlet for next week is horrendous but luckily where we are going on holiday the weather report is much better.

Huffle and I cleared stuff away and prepared for our holiday.

 

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