1km swim, 2km cycle and an hour of footy

A very hot and humid day today with temperatures in the 30's but feeling like high 30's. PHEW!

The boys and I finally got ourselves together mid morning and cycled to Swimming. Poor Smallest was really struggling but luckily MrsSwim had asked MrSwim if he could look at the bike. All it was, was his back tyre rubbing on the frame and he untightened it, moved it into place and retightened it. Now he moves like lightning and can use the gears correctly.

Both boys swam 500m today in less than 15 minutes. For Smallest, it is a requirement for his Level 10 badge. For Small he will need this for his Bronze Medallion that he will try for in Winter. They both struggled but did it. They have the rest of next week to keep trying too. Small also practised saving Smallest.

We cycled back home and had lunch. This time we all stayed inside as it was so warm. Much later we gave in and put the air conditioning on for when we got home from Smallest's football game. After lunch the boys showered and played on their tablets, tidied the sun room and went on the Wii.

I went to Suffolks and finished planting her new plants for her. It was incredibly hot work and I stabbed my back on a tree branch. OUCH! Why am I so clumsy? We had time for a cuppa, a chat and a look at how to make blinds.

When I got home the boys were on the Wii in the nice cool of the basement, Huffle was busy at work so I made dinner and then had a chill on the porch for five minutes waiting for Huffle to finish work. After dinner we all went to Smallest's game. The score was 5-3 to the other team and they were very much the stronger team if not a little rough. There was plenty of action and five minutes from the end, our team started looking good and got a few goals. Huffle said if they had had ten more minutes we would have won. It was a good atmosphere with good banter and the humidity was dulled by the lovely breeze. Smallest worked very hard and had bright red cheeks when he finished.

 

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Competitive?

Everyone, Huffle excluded of course, had a lovely relaxing slow morning of breakfast, TV and playing. It was another hot day and the bicycles were taken out ready for a our bike ride to swimming lessons. MrsSwim asks me everyday (third time this week so far) if I want to put the kids into competitive swimming. Everyday we tell her we are too busy and the boys don't really want to do it. It's nice that she thinks they are good enough but her forgetfulness is worrying. I asked her today if Small could just swim and not do the theory part. I don't think she was too happy but she did oblige and then later she said "did you ask me the same thing last year?". I don't remember (ahhhhhh it's catching) but I suppose I could have seeing as he hasn't done any badges with her for about three years. Today he concentrated on stroke improvement which he says is hard because she teaches certain strokes different to how he has been taught before. He did some endurance too and Smallest and I counted for him because we thought he was cheating. At the end he did a lot of diving off the board and some cannonballs. He didn't want to get out because he said the water was so nice. I sat there thinking how nice it would be if we had a proper in ground pool. That's never going to happen as they cost thousands!

Smallest still has to do theory and he learnt about hypothermia today, did stroke perfection and his laps plus various dives. He is such a strong swimmer, well they both are but considering how small and skinny Smallest is, he has so much strength. She says his kick is amazing and the way he glides across the water - he should be in competitive ha!

He wanted this photo taken and I wouldn't have put it on normally except that I didn't take any photos of him swimming!

We cycled home (hopefully MrSwim is going to check the bikes over for us tomorrow if MrsSwim remembers to ask him, insert emoji with wide mouth and teeth here), and had lunch. The boys watching TV inside and Huffle and I watching First Dates on the porch (we have had to go back to series 2 as we have finished all the others).

This afternoon the boys did some research on the Internet for things they wanted to do this Summer, including the address, price, times and days open for The Science Museum, Canada's Wonderlandm(I can't see that happening without Huffle with us), Biking at Centre Island, Swimming at Leisure Centre and Splashing at the Splash Pad. I was very impressed and left them to it while I visited The Royals with a bowl of raspberries, a pot of jam and a stone from our holiday beach. We sat outside and chatted for ages and when I came home they were playing on their tablets after taking down bits of tree, that Huffle cut down, to the fire pit. Huffle cut down a tree that was outside our landing window and gave us some privacy but it looked ugly and wasn't a nice tree, plus it blocked our view of the side garden we have created. It somehow makes the house look bigger from the side now and has really opened up the space. On the down side, I now want to plant it all up properly and finish the paths but I can't because we have to have some work done on the septic tank openings and that won't be until Autumn.

I had some time to myself on the porch and then came in and made dinner. Smallest helped me again today and we made Leek and Cheese sausages for me. He wasn't so good at shaping them but excellent at rolling them in breadcrumbs though he didn't like getting his hands messy. I do like the fact that he wants to help me.

After dinner we all went to football. Now, we have been away for two weeks and it seems in our absence that MrFrench (dad of twins who Huffle coaches on the side) has completely taken over the coaching of the team. He started by telling us that he preferred to stand on the opposite side of the field to the one we normally stand/sit on. Huffle said fair enough as he felt it was better to be away from the parents in case his language got colourful. Then he proceeded to organise the team and tell Huffle where he had placed certain players In different positions. After the team had a small kick around he made them run around the pitch three times and shouted at them if they didn't go fast enough or tried to duck out of the running (like Small who ran round once and then lay down at the side of the goal trying to look inconspicuous - to be fair it worked). I feel he overstepped the mark seeing as he isn't the Coach, he isn't the Assistant Coach and Huffle was now back. Apparently some of the boys told Alfie they didn't like it and they were pleased our holiday was over. Huffle is not pleased with the stress, mainly from me telling him not to let it continue and how I felt it was unfair on his assistant coach. The man takes over and takes the game too seriously. It is House League after all and is supposed to be fun. Even MrFrench's two wives were there putting in their six penneth.

My view of half the football field. The sun was so bright and so low!

Tonight we harvested from our garden, a handful of French beans, a very proud courgette, some lettuce and some orange tomatoes that Smallest really likes. Oh dear MissMo, what will you do now that your tomatoes are being eaten?

Some beauties in our garden right now

 

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Ice creams for everyone*

I got up a bit earlier this morning as I had a shopping spree planned with Suffolk. I left the boys at home with instructions to clean their teeth, make their beds and open their curtains (I knew I would only be gone an hour at the most). Huffle also asked them to practice their piano and apparantly they played three pieces each.

When Suffolk moved into her house (pretty much the same time as we moved into ours, 4.5 years ago) her garden was full of plants and flowers. She has since been taking out all the plants (with my help) and putting down grass as she wants space for the kids to play. Now she is starting to add plants back in and I helped her choose some nice ones today. She took them home and placed them (I will probably plant them in the next day or so). It's strange how some people are so scared of planting. She was worried about whether it needed full sun or part shade. I told her one of the plants liked full sun but that it worked perfectly well in the UK and that there is a definite difference to the amount of sun here and there. I keep telling her it doesn't matter and we can always move them if they don't work. I believe she bought some more on her way home.

I got home in time to whisk the boys off to their swimming lessons. They didn't want to cycle today so we drove, checking by the library on the way for the opening times. Once again both lessons were good though Small spent half of his lesson re-learning CPR. He is supposed to be doing endurance and stroke refinement so I could tell he wasn't completely happy. I will try and talk to her tomorrow and see if he needs to do those things seeing as he isn't going for any particular badge. We have looked up which badges he can do next and the is one a year he can do towards his lifesaving and becoming an instructor starting at age 13 through to 16. He will probably carry on with these in the Winter. Smallest was having trouble with his breaststroke but I think he is just out of practice. They had a mini competition at the end to see who could make the biggest splash off the diving board. Small won!

We had lunch and then Smallest and I did a shop for chlorine, some food and Pokemon cards. The check out lady asked if we were into Pokemon Go". No we are not! Such silliness. She was telling me that some Pokemon stuff was being hidden in secluded places to entice people there to then rob them of their Pokemon stuff. It's probably just a fad but I'm happy my kids are not into it. It's only just arrived in Canada apparently though Toronto Botanical Gardens were advertising that they had pokemon there. Very modern. Small stayed at home and played on his tablet.

When we got home the three of us cycled to the library where we met a curious librarian who never stopped talking. The boys signed themselves up for the Summer Reading Challenge, got a couple of books and we cycled home. Smallest's bike has a problem with his brakes rubbing, making it difficult for his wheels to move freely and Small's front brake wasn't working properly. I think I need to get them serviced by a professional.

Once home I started on dinner while the boys filled in their reading stuff. Smallest has to read fifteen minutes a day (which he normally does anyway) and fill in a sheet with what he has read and Small has to read 200 pages and write a review. Each 200 pages gets him a ballot for a chance to win something good. At the end there is a silent auction. I am happy that they are reading and writing during the Summer.

Smallest helped me with dinner and stirred my sauce and added seasoning to his taste. He thinks he is a proper chef now. We had pan fried haddock with a parsley sauce, new potatoes from our garden and our green beans. Yum yum. Smallest started to make Apple Crumble but he got bored peeling the apples and then we realised he had football training tonight so everyone went and I stayed at home to finish the crumble, tidy up and make custard. I also had a nice relax on the porch with a glass of red after watering the garden.

*Coach asked Huffle to play Centre Back but was told if he got injured he had to buy ice creams for everyone. Suffice to say he didn't get injured. Well that worked.

The boys wanted crumble because it smelled so good so they both got a small amount before bed.

 

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Has it been three days yet?

I slept well but apparantly my snoring kept Huffle awake. Whoops.

Huffle went back to work today and I only saw him a couple of times and he seemed very busy. The boys and I had a slow morning, getting swimming stuff ready, pumping up bike tyres, finding goggles etc. Mid morning we cycled off to the other end of the village for swimming lessons.

Both boys are swimming by themselves and not in groups. Small has done all the badges he can do so is just doing endurance and perfecting his strokes. Smallest is Level 10 and no one else who goes is that far ahead. I prefer it like that because sometimes the younger ones put the kids off when they don't listen and mess about. Mine go to swim and that's just what they do. It was nice to see them back in the water properly doing swimming. MrsSwim asked if they wanted to do competitive but neither of them do. To be fair there isn't a lot of time with Football. They both swam really well despite their long absence from it (though swimming everyday in the lake on holiday probably helped). We cycled home and had a quick lunch before heading off to Suffolks for some gardening.

The boys went off to the park to play football but it was too hot so they sat in the shade and played something silly and then helped to chop up wood. Gardening was hot work today but we got a lot done and tomorrow we are going plant shopping to fill in some gaps and put some lovely colour in her garden.

I took photos to show Suffolk what is flowering in our garden at the moment

We came home and the boys had an ice cream and went on the Wii while I made dinner. We had French beans, broad beans and beetroot from the garden - yum yum. After dinner we had a visit from MissMo again looking for treats from the garden. She went away with a beetroot, some raspberries and some beans.

Tonight Huffle introduced the boys to Robot Wars. We are eagerly awaiting the new series. Waspgate: Huffle decided to knock down their nest tonight with my line prop which he has left under the decking when he ran away like a little girl into the barn. The nest still has wasps in and he will spray it again tomorrow.

Today I heard the term 'East Indians' ie, East Indians have bought the Co-op (Beer Store). At first I wondered what East meant, East of India, Eatern India, and then I realised. West Indians come from the Carribean but East Indians come from India I guess. I have never heard that term before.

 

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Cute as a button but a pain in the ar5e

A better nights sleep and only woken by two women flying (on their broomsticks) by shouting to each other. (I say on their broomsticks because I couldn't hear a bicycle or their running feet), plus it was 9:30am so I guess it was okay.

I promised the boys homemade pancakes this morning so everyone helped. Small was my sous chef today adding chocolate chips or blueberries to the pancakes and telling me when to flip them. Huffle and Small prepared the fruit, drinks and the table.

More washing was done today, end of the holiday washing and beginning of the bedding washing. Luckily it was a nice day so everything went on the line to dry. The boys played on their tablets while Huffle and I cleared out weed trees, weeded the veggie garden and harvested another batch of vegetables including a round cucumber, beans and our first batch of potatoes (not too many but nice ones). We also vacuumed the pool and added chemicals and checked out the wasps nest which unfortunately needed doing again. We earned ourselves a rest and sat on the porch.

We all had lunch, the boys watching TV and Huffle and I watching something on the porch. Huffle and I had a good look around the front and side garden, deciding what to move and what our next plans were and then had another relax on the porch with an ice cream. Today is Huffles last non-work day.

After a rushed dinner we all went off to Smallest's football practice. It was quite cool with the sun disappearing behind clouds but no rain. There is some forecast later with storms. Coach made lots of references to Smallest being rusty due to being away for two weeks, like "you've eaten too much lobster". He made a reference to having not practiced and I told him we had spent two weeks on a beach. He said "you can still practice on a beach". I told him we didn't though. When he pays Smallest, then we wil practice while we are on holiday!! Huffle and Small had a kick around too by themselves.

Huffle re-sprayed the wasps nest. He will check it again tomorrow and has an extra long pole ready to knock it down.

 

 

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Baby's rolling innit!

Despite the fact we are in our own comfy beds, I am still not sleeping properly. 3am and I was awoken by the smell of skunk, a dirty smelling spraying animal skunk squirting its stinky spray under our bedroom window. It smelled so bad I could taste it!

After breakfast and a very slow start, we persuaded the boys to come to see a Lavender Farm. They were not enamoured by the idea but actually enjoyed it and were pleasantly surprised. The farm was in Greenbank and was run by a husband and wife team who own a 56 acre piece of land with a man-made lake, fields and a small lavender farm. I think I was expecting the huge avender South England or of French farms but it was only four years old and quite small. It was very beautiful though and we had a tour on a golf buggy with the husband owner. He told us about the place and that his intention was to create a place where people could spend time and be happy, bring a picnic, play and just enjoy the space. I personally felt it needed something more there to make families spend more time like a cafe for a start as there is a lovely seating area that overlooks the lavender and the lake. There is a gift shop that sells teas and lavender products and we ended up buying some lovely honey but it isn't made there. We think they could do so much more but the owners are in their 70's and probably don't want the extra work. If only I was more entrepreneurial I could have offered my skills in baking or my newly acquired sewing skills to make things for the shop.

It was quickly established (by the owner) that English Lavender is better than French Lavender

The boys had a good play on the trampoline, swings and hammock and Huffle fell off the hammock three times which I was lucky enough to catch on camera. Naughty Famfa!

Frogs mrSmallest found

We were told about a British style bakery nearby so went and had a look but it seems that it has been taken over by different people and they now make Thai and Caribbean food with some baked goods. It was disappointing. Feeling hungry, we headed for something to eat and we happened upon a music/art fair so after we ate we had a look around and then carried on to a Fruit Farm for some raspberry picking. We picked about a quarter of a bucket ($12) and probably ate half of that much too. They were so sweet and juicy and not at all pippy (I don't like pips). Huffle wants the majority of these for freezing for later in the year and we made a small batch of jam later (we still have a lot of jars from last year) plus I wanted some for teachers presents at Christmas.

I exceeded last year's 'all in one' by eating four (that's really my limit in one mouthful though I did eat many more individually). Everyone else ate tons and the boys had a fight with some (Smallest had to hand wash Small's top later for squishing one on him) and Huffle tried his catching in the mouth routine. I think he got it on the third go. I also have video footage of that.

We attempted to strawberry pick too but there was nothing left. Plenty of people picking but I have no idea what they were getting because we found nothing. I found five decent ones and Smallest and I ate them. We paid for none.

Tired and all farmed out, we came home and relaxed for the rest of the day, on the porch and in the house and garden. We had a visit from MissMo who helped me to pick tomatoes and kale for her tea.

Much later after all garden watering and feeding was done, Huffle got dressed up for an evening with his wasps nest. Never one to be unprepared for any eventuality ............

Small thinks he looks like he's on the lookout for Pokemon GO

 

 

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The curse of Paul White

HOME SWEET HOME. How lovely to be in a comfy bed where the sheets don't fall off and are not covered in sand and there is not a constant din from the fan next to your toes. How nice to able to move around and not fall over each other and have more than one bathroom that's bigger than a postage stamp. Yes we appreciate being home.

Sometimes though when you have been away for two weeks, things don't always go swimmingly when you return. The pool was green, which is pretty much what we expected with it being turned off for 14 days and no chemicals being added. The vegetables had grown and despite our designated pickers apparently picking, there was an abundance - far too much for us to eat in one go. Veggies for dinner tomorrow.

To give you an indication of the size, the biggest courgette is 40cm long and 10cm diameter

An alarm was going off in the basement this afternoon showing that there was a water level problem. We called the plumber who said it sounded like a septic tank issue, so we called the septic tank people who said it was a plumbing issue. GREAT. We called the plumber again and waited for the rest of the afternoon. When he turned up he sorted the issue for now. It was the float of the pump in the septic tank was up. Possibly because there has been no activity while we have been away. He is now going to fit us a proper expanded riser. While we were picking vegetables and adding chemicals to the pool, we found a wasps nest under the decking next to the pool. It's a fair sized one and in a place that is not easy to get to. That's a job for tomorrow.

Two loads of washing were done and hung on the line, interrupted by a few rain showers. Looking at the internet regarding the water level problem, it advised we didn't do any washing, showering or anything requiring lots of water. SUPER! The laundry room is awash with dirty washing waiting for a solution.

I called the doctors to make a follow-up appointment for Smallest re: his asthma and I couldn't get him in for a month. Good job it's not urgent!

This morning the boys were happily watching TV when we got up. We were woken at 6am by a noise outside our window which sounded like a constant tapping that we think was a squirrel. Huffle went outside and looked menacingly at the tree and it disappeared. Bloody noisy thing, how dare it!

We treated ourselves to breakfast out seeing as we didn't have anything in and chose a less than salubrious diner, with dubious waitressing skills which turned out to be really nice and just what we needed. We then did a quick shop for food, got the boys new books, picked up some lettuce seed to replenish our stock and picked up some beer for our neighbour who watched the house for us. It was when we got home that we heard the alarm for the water and so panic ensued from then really. Then we picked the veg and turned the pool on and found the nest. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth going on holiday but these things still happen whether you are there or not.

The boys put their clothes away and played on their new Wii game that they bought on holiday. I had another go at my ear and for some reason it worked today. Nothing came out, maybe it was just water! Anyway I can almost 100% hear again. Wahooooo.

3:30pm and Huffle and I finally got to sit down on the porch and have a breather but not for too long because the plumber arrived and I went to the Royals for a glass of wine and a chat.

Everyone helped to make dinner of meatballs and pasta and we ate it whilst watching The Gremlins.

 

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