Jam2MapleSyrup: The day the skunk stopped by

Last night Huffle and I sat playing Battleships when all of a sudden we got an awful whiff of skunk! This time it wasn't the 'skunk' that Otto smokes back home, but the rotten stink of a stinky rotten skunk! I went to close Small's window in case it had 'smelt' outside but it wasn't smelly in there (despite Small not having had a shower), Smallest's room also was fine. It appears Mr Stinky Pants Skunk had left his delicious smell under our floor. Eeeeuuuuuugggghhhhh, thanks for that!

The weather forecast for today was rainy with 30% chance of storms from 4pm. We all got up late, had breakfast very late, a visit from the owners Mother in Law to look for the spare smoke alarm, which she couldn't find and a scour of what events were on where.

We finished off the pancake mix (has to be homemade in future!)

After deciding we were going to the cinema, we had a walk on to the beach to get some sillies out. Once there the sun came out and it was really warm so we walked straight back, picked up minimal beach gear and headed back to the beach. The clouds kept coming over and it was cool but when the sun came out it was lovely. No-one else was really there so we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.

We started building a new sandcastle. We played football, jackers and horse shoe throwing (not sure what it is properly called). Small and I went for a walk to check out the dam (this time a different dad and son and a bigger dam, much to the annoyance of people just wanting a stroll on the beach).

Smallest again had problems with temper and grumpiness. We went back to the house for lunch and left all our belongings on the beach for later. After lunch we went back out but it was considerably cooler and every now and then we felt spots of rain. More football, jackers, horseshoes and a walk by Huffle and Smallest. The boys had plenty of swims.

By 5pm we gave it up and came back. Showers took about an hour in all and then out we went for dinner and a small shop.

The boys were complaining to Huffle earlier that we haven't had our normal supply of ice-creams. They told him that next year he must only look at cottages that have an ice cream place nearby.

We decided on a Fish and Chip place that was 'voted one of the best in Canada'. It had a 55 minute wait for tables and loads of people waiting outside. We opted for take-away which was a 25 minute wait (just enough for us to pop to Walmart for milk and bread). In Walmart we had a chat with the check-out girl who said her cousins lived in Birmingham and LesChester. We think she meant Leicester.

Once we got our chips we headed for the harbour where we sheltered from the rain under a gazebo overlooking the lake and a Beach VolleyBall Tournament. Two women came into the shelter and sat and stared and spoke in their Eastern European Dialect. I said several times "it's rude to stare" and "it's still rude!" as they sat and stared repeatedly at Smallest mainly, and not in a kind way that people normally stare at him. Maybe it's unusual for people to eat chips at the seaside here.

There was a man playing some pipes and we wandered along the harbour to listen. On closer inspection, he was playing Hallelujah. Ummm different. We walked around and on to a stone beach where the boys tried to skim stones (not the right flat sort though) and then as it started to rain again, we came back to the house. The sun peeked through the clouds and it was a huge ball of red. It made the sky all pinky - gorgeous.