Was it a soggy scone?

I didn't sleep well. I cut the side of my foot yesterday on a chair and everytime I turned it caught on the covers, plus it was too hot, plus smallest woke up all bunged up and Huffle got up to put Vicks on his chest. He seems fine this morning.

Small and I ran around the house making preparations for his Paintball party this evening, Taekwondo lessons at lunchtime and writing of cards and wrapping birthday presents. All before 8:45. He went off to school. One more week and they are finished for the Summer.

Smallest played on the computer while Moo and I had breakfast and then we all went out armed with Smallest's bike, Scooter, Taekwondo Dobuk and his lunch. We went to Stouffville, our local town,and he rode his bike around the park.

At first he was tottery, didn't like starting, struggled to stop and wasn't happy with corners but by the time Moo had run around with him a few times he was much more confident. He stopped for a break on the park and had a swing and a climb.

By the time we had cycled to the ice cream shop he was very confident and cycling as quick as he scooted.

We sat in the shade for our ice creams (French Vanilla - Smallest, Tiramisu - Moo, Straciatella - me) then we visited the Thrifty store where Moo bought a book and Smallest looked longingly at the electric drums. We cycled back to the car and drove to school in time for the Taekwondo lesson.

Small wasn't going to go because he was supposed to be setting up the Play day for the Kindergartens but I spoke to a teacher and she said it was fine. I'm glad Small did go because he was the most senior (with his yellow stripe) and had extra duties to perform, like getting the others a partner and shouting out instructions at the end. They had a good talk about what they were going to do in the Summer and the yellow stripes all had to stand at the front and be 'respected'. That was the last one of Taekwondo this year, hopefully there will be another next year. I don't know if Small wants to carry on but Smallest definitely does. We dropped Smallest off at his class for his play day, came home and had lunch on the Porch - too hot today to sit in the sun at 25*. I dont know what the humidity was but it was baking! It was 30* by our back door first thing. We checked the forecast for the rest of the week - OUCH.

Moo got on the tractor and cut the grass.

I finished the twiddly bits and then picked up Smallest from school. He went in the pool when he got back, he was very hot and had been running around madly.

Moo went in too and they had a water fight. I bought out tea and scones. You'll never guess where Moo ate them?

Small came home and he jumped straight in. He wasn't in long before he had to go to his party. I dropped him off. They went to a paintball party. Once I was home I got in the pool. I have been feeling a bit dodgy all day. Stomach cramps and nausea. The pool cooled me and I felt better till I got out.

Huffle came home early and also went in the pool. Moo, Smallest and I had dinner poolside while Huffle lazed in the ring in the middle of the pool sunning himself. Smallest got in after dinner. We cleared everything away and came in. Smallest watched TV while we all played table tennis.

 

We wish all the best to Aunt Pear who retired today (yes she did retire before and go back to work, but I have been reliably informed by HB that she WILL NOT be going back).

 

 

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I didn't eat my chocolate chips

Moo couldn't get to sleep last night because she had been out, stayed out late and then come in, no TV, nothing to distract her. I was exactly the same so Huffle and I watched the last episode of IT Crowd. It was really good and funny. Then Huffle and I stayed up till late chatting. All the grown-ups were tired today.

The boys went off to school. I briefly skyped Grandma to check how she was. she had a fall yesterday and thought she had broken her ankle but luckily it wasnt. She is all strapped up and has Madamme Courvoissier looking after her (or pouring her wine!!) Moo and I went walking with NoCustard in the forest.

It was an unexpected walk which I think made it better. It cleared the sleepy cobwebs and cleared Moo's hangover!! It was lovely in there and we had a good chat and a laugh.

We walked for just over an hour quite fast as NoCustard had her new pole and was walking with intent!

Once home, Moo and I got changed and then went shopping. On today's list was birthday presents for two parties small is going to this weekend (one of which is twins). We were told to get Lego but we decided on footballs and shin pads instead. We thought it was a good idea. Small did too but wasn't sure one of his friends liked football (soccer). We were also looking for sunbeds which we could sun the back of our legs on and found one but it didn't seem too sturdy so we left it. We did however find a lovely Gravity Chair which I must point Huffle to because he might like to buy me one or two!

We came home, made lunch and sat poolside reading. It was gorgeous today. In fact we sat in the shade mostly. We came in to prepare dinner for later (turkey burgers, field mushrooms, rice and cous cous with RooPoo Pie for afters - yum yum). While I made the burgers, Moo cleaned the bathrooms - all sparkly now!

We went back to the pool and waited for the boys to arrive, they both jumped straight in. I went in too!

Huffle came home and jumped in and then we BBQ'd. We all had dinner at the pool and the boys went in afterwards until bedtime.

Huffle and I played Table Tennis while Moo read to the boys. I won YAAAYYYYY. Moo and I played a few games - I won YAAAYYYYY. Huffle and Moo played (she won, he played with wrong hand shhhhhh) and then we all sat down to watch The Apprentice.

Our lovely white poppy - beautiful

My wonderful friend Everett sent me this lovely postcard of our beautiful English village that we used to live in. She is a sweetie. It sits on my kitchen window with the snowy one she sent me in Winter of the same village. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

 

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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!

 

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"Follow the yellow brick road"

Last night whilst I was at the Garden Club learning about 'Erbs (why do they insist on missing off the 'h'?) Small wasnt feeling so good. He felt sick and was nearly sick but luckily Moo was there to lend him support and sympathy. It turned out he had eaten too much at dinner and after a good old fashioned burp, he was fine and fell asleep.

Huffle wasn't there to wake me or Small, which meant Small didn't get up, so Smallest didn't get up and then no-one got me up. We were a little late and there was a big rush this morning. I got the kids breakfast, made their lunches and then Moo and I had breakfast and jigsawed. When Moo first got up it was a mere 14* outside. An hour later and it was really warm so we made a quick picnic, got ready and drove to Lake Ontario.

We started walking along the path next to the lake.

It was hot but slightly breezy. The birds were chirping and we saw lots of robins and red winged blackbirds. The water was calmer than on Saturday. We saw Canada Geese, Swans and seagulls on the lake. We clambered down to the Beach and had a cup of coffee and half a muffin.

It was lovely and relaxing, then we started walking again and walked along the trail to the beach where we were on Saturday. We carried on though and almost walked to the beach where the boys like to play on the park.

We had walked briskly for nearly two hours. We decided not to carry on but turn around and stop for lunch on the beach. We sat on the sand in the sunshine and only moved because a tractor was smoothing the sand!

Stupid tractor driver didn't even acknowledge us and he was causing a sandstorm right next to us. We started walking again and only stopped once we reached a bench high up and quite close to the car. We checked the map and worked out we had walked for 10km - WOW, my feet hurt and my hip hurt and I burnt a little bit of my arm.

There was a house for sale that looked like a pixelated toadstool. Not very pretty at all. We checked out how much it was, peered through the windows and decided it wasn't worth it. Nice view of the lake though.

We started to drive home but stopped at a supermarket on the way and picked up provisions. We managed to get home with minutes to spare before the bus came. Smallest went straight on the swing and Small went almost straight into the pool. Smallest joined him and Moo sat with them.

I made dinner. Moo and I had Leek and Cheese sausages and the boys had meat ones. We ate outside because it was so nice.

I helped Small with his homework and then drove him to Cubs. We didn't have the greatest of directions and had to turn round twice but we got there in the end. He is learning how to make a fire.

We came home and Smallest played on his scooter on the drive doing tricks while Moo and I sat on the porch.

Smallest went to bed, Moo did the jigsaw and I picked up Small. Once the boys were both in bed Moo and I played Table Tennis and I beat her fifteen games to none. Ha!

Huffle sent me a message to say he hadn't stopped since 7am and they were now at a winery. He didn't seem too happy. He didn't sleep last night as his hotel room was too hot, so hopefully he will be too tired to notice tonight. He will be home tomorrow.

This was a lovely wild flower growing along the lakeside with an out of focus (intentional) Moo in the background

 

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Does your husband like to hunt?

As I was bringing the washing off the line yesterday, I noticed this cloud with a silver lining. Huffle said it looked a nasty one. I said no way!!!!!

Just before we went to bed last night, the storm started. Sheet lightning that lit up the whole sky. Smallish rumblings of thunder. Moo and I watched the lightning.

This was the best photo I could get of the lightning. My camera wasn't quick enough to get it properly.

Huffle started lighting candles and moving himself into the basement. Then the rain came, heavy and all the windows were shut. There was a weather warning saying that we were due a severe storm. Severe means either hailstones 2-3cm, gusts of 90kmph winds or flooding rain. It even said that severe storms could cause tornados. That's when I knew I had lost Huffle for the night. Moo was fine upstairs in the loft but I did tell her I would let her know if it got any worse. Smallest slept through the whole lot but Small panicked and got up. I sent him down to the basement to be with his Daddy where they had candles, IPad, blankets and torches. By 11pm, I went to bed and made Huffle promise to send Small to bed soon, and wake us all if it got much much worse. I ended up taking Small back to bed when I went. Moo said once the hail started she got up and paced the loft as she was convinced they were coming through somewhere. I fell asleep and was woken by Huffle finally coming to bed. The storm was almost over and not much else happened.

The weather in the morning was dull but warm and I decided, once Small had gone to school, that I would go to work. I left Moo and Smallest puzzling, playing football, basketball, swinging. Smallest took Moo down the garden to show her the way round the back to the Royals. He showed her his battles and then I was home again.

I helped out MrsM again today. We tidied the Potage. I thinned out the carrots and parsnips and we weeded the driveway. We stopped for coffee and more Lavendar cake with the others and then we made cuttings of the Streptocarpus (African Violets) and then repotted all the original Streptocarpus. I left just after 12 with more lettuce and some radishes.

Once home, we had lunch and then went and visited a lady I had met whilst tidying the Community Gardens in our Hamlet. Her husband was English and her Mother was there as she had just broken her hip. Her property was in a lovely spot in the middle of nowhere with chickens running free, a couple of dogs and a cat. The dogs loved Smallest but he was very wary of them. They kept scratching him asking him to play (they didn't mean it but he just didn't understand). He couldn't leave the dogs alone and they were very happy to be stroked and tickled. We sat on the deck under a gazebo chatting and then Smallest and I had a walk around the garden feeding the chickens and playing ball with the dogs. Their house is on the airport site but they are not at all concerned and don't think it will go ahead. We had a nice afternoon and promised to go back. The lady actually said I could drop Moo off there and go and do whatever I wanted. Can you imagine me leaving her there and going off on my own? The lady reminded me it was Garden Club tonight.

We came home just in time for Small to get off the bus. He wanted to go straight into the pool. The temperature today was 22*. Smallest went in too.

Moo and I sat on the deck. She crossworded, threw Smallest in, got raccooned by him and I blogged and read.

Small came in to do his homework and we all came in for dinner. Huffle skyped us and sent us a photo of the view from his Hotel.

He is at a BBQ tonight for a 'meet and greet'.

I got ready for my Garden Club meeting and cycled there. Tonight it was about Culinary Herbs and their uses. It was very interesting and she made some amazing things for us to try. I enjoyed this one a lot. I even bought her book which she signed for me.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week is fabulous. No more storms, no rain, hopefully it won't change.

Today's clouds

 

 

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Happy Fathers Trifle Day

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

It rained all night and it rained all morning. We were all up by about 8am. I started on the pancakes and the rest of the household prepared the fruit, condiments and the table.

Small's pale faced pancake

Smallest's Happy Faced Pancake

We had a good breakfast, cleared away and then Huffle's Light, Sound and Audio Extravaganza began. We closed the blinds, we turned off the lights, we placed a whoopie cushion on his chair. We asked him to sit down and the cushion didn't work so we asked him to sit down again - still didn't work. I went in and waved a light thing around whilst 'it's a kind of magic' played in the background. Small did some coin magic, then Moo astounded him with a ring on a spring trick.

Smallest did his special big box into a small box and we each produced a present or a card. It was very 'ad lib' but he seemed to be quite entertained. Moo bumped her leg on the table in the dark, we had to change the music to 'just an illusion'. Huffle received a lovely picture that Smallest made at school.......

......and a pet rock he had made. Small made a card with a poem in it. We got him some shorts (which he bought a while back) a book on BBQ grilling and some Straciatella chocolates.

We played a game of 'Newmarket' and then started Disney Monopoly. We stopped at lunchtime and Moo and I made Pizza while the boys got the poolside ready. The rain had stopped, the sun had come out and the pool was a pleasant 21*. We ate our pizza (and a cheeky wine - we raised a glass to FATHERS) and the the boys jumped in the pool. Moo and I got to read and then Huffle went in too.

There were a few water battles, including one where Moo was out of the pool and we were all in. We were all trying to get her as wet as possible and we succeeded. Smallest almost pushed her in at one point. We had a good laugh. Small played on his DS in between doing some homework. This week it is 'choose five things that would tell someone information about us if they turned up in 1,000 years time'.

Lots of playing, lots of relaxing. The grown ups had scones and a pot of tea and the boys had jelly and angel delight ice cream. Smallest got sleepy and nearly fell asleep on the ring in the pool, so we set up a ring out of the pool and covered him with a towel and he almost (I think he did) fall asleep.

We had a few chuck-ins and lots of diving and jumping in.

While I was in, Smallest gave me swimming lessons. I passed my level one but failed level two because I couldn't put my head under! The boys had a sandwich and then we came in when they had showers. We all had trifle and finished our monopoly game. In the end it was between Huffle and Small as the rest of us were bankrupt.

Huffle won. Well we let him because it WAS Fathers Day and we didn't want him to be sad.

We played table tennis. Moo beat me one game. Huffle beat me. Huffle and I beat Moo.

The boys watched the TV before bed. Huffle got his stuff together as he is going away for few days tomorrow to Niagara on the Lake for a conference. He is not happy about it, though the first night he is at a wine tasting - PAH - and they call it work!

After reding through this post, it sounds like we have done nothing but eat today, but I promise we have done other stuff too!

Happy Fathers Day Grandad x

 

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