Four Two and a flying shoe

Huffle took the day off today to be with us so we could all go out for the day. The boys chose the Ontario Science Centre as Huffle hasn't been before. Small has been several times with school and once with Smallest and I last Summer.

We left the house around 10am ish and got stuck in horrendous traffic. We had vouchers for the boys to get in free as the country is celebrating Canada150 and there are many attractions and parks offering similar deals. We didn't take a lunch but popped some of Smallest's Gingerbread into my bag for emergencies.

The Science Centre is built in a ravine over six floors and has plenty of interactive stuff to do. It was very hot today so inside an air conditioned building was the perfect spot to be in.

Apart from the usual silly photo things to pose at, we built a multitude of paper aeroplanes and tried to get through a series of hoops to a target. Small was particularly good at this.

We watched balls go down a series of bends, Ramps, lifts etc which was very mesmerising. Huffle and Small tried to see how good they would be with wings and seeing what their windspeed would be and wingspan.

Huffle and Smallest had photos taken and then chose other people's features to add to their own which made for a couple of very weird boys!

There was a huge room dedicated to sound and music and we got to play the steel drums and watch how sound affected movement on a speaker. One of our most favourite things was feeding a huge tube pieces of paper and aeroplanes and watching them going high into the tube and up into the air. Huffle showed the boys what good old fashioned ticker tape was and even got a round of applause from a Chinese lady.

There was lots of sporty challenges to do too, including rowing, running, pulling and the boys all stood in a wind tunnel and got to see what a tornado was like. Huffle took an age test but apart from his ears getting considerably larger, nothing much changed. I don't know if it was saying he already looked 70!!!!

We went into a weird perspective room and Huffle tripped and dropped his phone and had to get one of the staff (who happened to have a Coventry Best Man at his wedding) to get it for him.

In the Planetarium Smallest drove a moon buggy that was very difficult and frustrating to do.

All in all it was a very good day with not too many people. There was one exhibit that we missed because of shows being on at different times but apart from that it was good.

We were very hungry and Huffle found us a #37 out of #6,000 trip advisored restaurant that happened to be a fish and chip place. The best fish and chips we have had since we have been here and we have tried a few! We came home tired but happy. Both boys had football so they had some relaxing tablet time before Huffle took smallest to his practice and I took Small to his game. Small's team lost 4-2. The opposition's coach's were very annoying and constantly shouted at their players. Every single move was orchestrated by them. The boys didn't think for themselves at all. These were the same coaches who Huffle had a problem with last time and who threatened to rip his oesophagus out!!!

Smallest practised with his new team mates as the teams have been switched. Huffle informs me that they should work better. Tomorrow is their game so we shall see.

Lovely buddleja supposed to be light blue.

Beautiful anemone popped up in Smallest's garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Open House

Another disturbed night due to three men singing or attempting to sing until around 1am. Huffle thinks it was Otto, DonNoQuotey and either doofus from the other side of the tracks or PrinceRoyal. I was so tired I managed to sleep through it all. Another early wake up call from our lovely neighbours making a huge house out of a tiny one.

We were pleased we did both festivals yesterday as we were all tired and weary. We spent the morning playing table tennis (Smallest beat me twice and had two very close games with Huffle), a bit of cleaning and sorting, playing on tablets and breakfasting (not in that order).

Very late morning, Huffle took Smallest to his academy practice. It was very hot and humid and he worked very hard. Huffle's phone went crazy because it was so hot! Small and I stayed at home and played Disney Monopoly. He won but only because I had the card that charged me for houses and hotels and I had to pay $1,150 which was everything I owned. From then on it went downhill.

Before the other two came home we made pizza (had to use up stuff from the freezer as we have a leak and we had to fit everything into our tiny kitchen freezer plus the cool box. Anything in the cool box has to be eaten. That also meant we had to eat muffins and pastries for tea and breakfast)!

Today was the Open House sale for DonNoQuoteys house so it was interesting to see the comings and goings of people. Normally, house viewings here are not with the owner and the owner normally goes out, moves their car off the drive and you never see them. Not even when you sell. Not DonNoQuotey. Why give people the pleasure of viewing a house in peace when you can have the nutty owner there putting you off looking? No SOLD sign yet!

This afternoon we spent our time in the pool. Swimming, catching, floating, hide and seek, tig and bumper cars. We even managed a few games of Monopoly Deal and pulled a few weeds whilst picking beans and courgettes. Huffle and I picked some raspberries too and the boys had them thrown up and over the trellis where they caught them in the water and ate them. Ahhhh that's how we get Small to eat fruit, treat him like a sea lion! We stayed at the pool until past 6pm and then we ushered the kids inside for showers so we could chlorinate and test the water. The pH is still very high. Both boys had trouble with their toes again but they have been in the water for a long time today!

This evening we had tea, watched TV and played on tablets. Tired now zzzzzzzzzzz

 

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Two festivals and a 25c tummy rub

A rude awakening sometime before 8am! C'mon, 8am on a Saturday. Give us a break you loud banging thing you!!!! Could be the waste fill at the other end of the village or could be the new house extension being built which incidentally is bigger than the original house itself, including upwards and outwards!

Breakfast was complicated as Small wanted me to make him a poached egg and Smallest needed help making cheese on toast. Huffle said Cheese on Toast was NOT a breakfast thing!! After breakfast we got ourselves together and went off to Uxbridge for the Scottish Festival. We weren't really sure what to expect. We have been to Fall Fair and that was interesting enough but it turned out that today's festival was in fact nothing more than a load of men wandering around in kilts (there are apparently a lot of Scottish Heritage here), lots of Scottish type dogs doing a weird run to a bowl to eat a wiener and then run back and loads and loads of Scottish dancers. We watched a couple of dog races, said Hello to MrsM, bought some Bakewell tarts, watched a couple of dances and left. Nothing much really left for us to do. Tomorrow we were going to do the Beaches Jazz Festival but as the Scottish Festival didn't hold our attention for long, we decided to do the Jazz today instead.

Off to the supermarket for a sale bin Baguette, laughing cow and pastries and off we went on an adventure to Toronto Beaches. We went to the Jazz Festival two years ago and it was really good. Very very busy, loads of groups playing and lots of fun things for the kids to do, plus lots of give always. One and a half hours drive later with a stop at a park for some baguette, we arrived and parked.

Flowers and insects at the park

The main stage was disappointing with a group that could not be described as Jazz with a drummer who sang out of key. We moved to the Urban Stage where we listened to a band talk for a while and when they started to sing, we once again moved away. A bit too urban for us! More like rap and certainly not Jazz. Notfinding much going on, we chose to walk the boardwalk of the beach.

A stone table tennis table. We need to find anemone who can make this for us

Rod Stewart?

Again, because of the high water, the beach was only half what it normally is. The volleyball nets were moved so they went far along the beach instead of in a large group on one corner. We walked all the way to the ice cream place we know. It was a slow meander with lots of stops for sitting and viewing. There was certainly lots to view today. I take umbridge at men wearing no shirts, on the beach is fine, but walking or running along. NO! Small was getting annoyed with people walking over his side of the boardwalk and cyclists who thought they owned the multi user path. We heard one cyclist shout "cyclist path" at some pedestrians who shouted back something about it being for multi use. Small decided he would issue tickets and fines for various behaviours which included, bad dress sense, no shirts, sandy bums, bums hanging out of shorts, badly fitted shorts, walking onto wrong side of the path, ignorant cylists, dogs stopping, people stopping and so much more. If we could have collected all the money that Small wanted to fine people for, we could have been millionaires. Smallest just wanted to give people tummy rubs for 25c.

View from the boardwalk

View from the Festival park

After we got our ice cream, we sat on a bench overlooking the lake and beach and invisibly handed out more tickets. We slowly walked back to where the Festival should be, shared a few chips whilst watching the volley ball and then sat and watched a group called Jazz Money that were really good. Unfortunately we only caught the end of their set and so walked to the main stage and watched and listened to a Spanish Jazz Band. They were good too. The boys played with a bouncy ball and eventually as it was getting later, we decided to leave and come home. We had walked 18,500 steps and we were tired.

Bouncy ball

On the way home we popped to the Italian we like and had a cold drink and a bite to eat before finally coming home. Very enjoyable day. Not what we expected at all but good all the same.

 

 

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Bohemian Rapsong

A much better sleep for everyone except poor Huffle who had trouble. He doesn't know why. I think it's because he didn't do any exercise so I made sure we went for a walk later this evening.

I had a dentist appointment first thing. Just a scale and my hygienist today loved my accent and said it was very classy and wanted to talk to me. Not so easy to do with her hand in my mouth. She was very gentle and nice and not at all like the other ones who like to gouge and dig. I came home and played Mastermind and 3D snakes and ladders with Smallest. We are slowly going through all of games to see if we can get rid of the less playable ones as we have so many. Snakes and Ladders and Indiana Jones went today. Off to the Garage Sale pile for next year.

Today's harvest (beans already eaten)

The boys and I cycled to swimming and all got in the lovely warm pool. The boys dived and played off the board with a frisbee and ball while I lay back on a noodle and had a lovely float around until Huffle joined us and we played Water Polo and race the boats. Normally we would have an hour but because the boys are inte same class, we had just the half an hour but it was enough to have fun and mess about. MrsE gave the boys a lovely note saying how well they had done and wished them success in the future, saying that they were a pleasure to teach. She also gave them a badge each from her own supply as she felt they had reached the various levels even though it isn't official. She gave me a chocolate bar for helping with the timing.

Lunch was had and then the boys and I played Pokemon Yahtzee (a keeper) and started playing Lego Creationery but we abondoned it because the boys weren't being very nice to each other. Smallest went into his room to cool off and Small and I went out to play badminton. We lost the last shuttlecock and pulled all the nasty vines off the cedars instead and put them all on the fire pile.

We came in to make Banana Bread and Smallest decided to make Gingerbread (him and Huffle hate bananas). Small got the ingredients and played on his tablet until the cake was due out of the oven and Smallest made the Gingerbread with a bit of help from me. Both taste yummy.

After dinner we left Small home alone and went to Smallest's football practice. We walked for about four thousand steps and then sat and watched the practice. Apparently the coach is not happy with any of the teams and is planning on switching the teams around. That will be interesting to see.

Photo from our walk

So apparently I am now an official Soccer Mom. Yes I said Soccer and yes I said Mom. The reason? Today I received my tee-shirt from Smallest's football club. I had to buy it. I am not modelling it because I don't like it and I felt obliged to buy it because all the mums were buying one and it was to raise money for the 'boys'.

 

Loveliness in our garden this evening

 

Fabulous sunset

 

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15 Small noodles please

I always check on the boys before I go to bed. Check they are there for one, check they are asleep and maybe turn off their fan or slow it down or open a window if it's too stuffy. Last night when I looked in on Small, he turned to me and said "knock knock". He was fast asleep and started murmuring rubbish. Funny bear. I had a terriblele night's sleep. I felt sick and hot and had awful tummy ache. I had a dream about Small having a huge party which filled the house and had loads of people in it. Smallest decided he wanted to go to Cubs so I called the cub leader who said we needed supplies but by the time I found them, the meeting was over. MrsRumbleskins was there too and she said she could never forgive me for the time I wouldn't stay in her London Flat because I didn't like her Roast Dinner. WOW! What was THAT all about? I felt quite sad when I woke up. I also still felt quite ill for at least half of today but after a nice calming cooling float on a lilo in our pool, I felt so much better. Smallest also had a restless night and also woke with tummy ache and was very hot. I gave him paracetamol and he went back to sleep. He was fine today. The other two are okay so it can't be be something I cooked!

Another very slow morning. Several loads of washing done, dried and sorted and a bit of tidying. Once again we had water in the basement so Huffle called the water heater man who came and looked this afternoon. He had a thorough check and decided the only thing it could be is our pipes that run across the ceiling wet with condensation. This evening we went out and bought foam covers and put them on. This should help. Fingers crossed.

Midday we went to swimming. I was armed with my phone and IPad for stopwatch purposes. Small beat his time for 20 laps in 11.12 minutes. Smallest also beat his time of 16 laps in 13 minutes. Fabulous. More lifesaving and a bit of diving. Half an hour goes so fast. Last one tomorrow and Huffle and I get to go in too and play!

At home we all had lunch and afterwards the kids and I built bird boxes and painted them. I helped Smallest and Small did his by himself. They did a great job. Small's is brown and is going on the barn and Smallest's is green and will go on the posts with the others in the side garden. Small watched The Blue Jays and Smallest and I went in the pool. It was a very cloudy day but quite hot. The pool was only 23* and quite cool but we had a nice time. Small came in too and played and swam by himself while Smallest and I played UNO.

This evening Huffle took us out for dinner.

 

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Fairy Jam Mother

A nice slow morning of nothing much but breakfast, TV, general tidying and not much else. The boys were suitably relaxed watching Tv and playing on their tablets. Smallest and I played Pictureka! And Stack em Up before getting on our bikes and cycling to swimming. It was a much cooler day today with rain in the evening.

At swimming, lifesaving tips were discussed. Small did 20 laps in 12.20 his best so far. Small did 14 laps but we weren't properly timing him so we have to have another go tomorrow. They both dived and did some lifesaving. We cycled back and had lunch with Huffle.

This afternoon the boys and I went out to the tennis courts and had a play. The temperature was good to start with and then got sticky. The boys were bickering at each other constantly and I threatened to drive off without them if they didn't hug! We came home when we were worn out and played Monopoly Deal with our made up rules and then Carcassonne until I had to get dinner ready. We found a jar of raspberry jam on our doorstep and later found out it was from next door (nice ones). Lovely.

Smallest helped me to make turkey burgers and we had air fries and peas with them. I had a portobello mushroom as I couldn't be bothered to make a burger for me today. It should have been Small's football practice this evening but his coach cancelled yet again, this time due to food poisoning. He certainly comes up with a lot of excuses! Because I was planning on walking while he practiced, we all went out for a walk before the rain came. Smallest took his bouncy ball and we managed to lose it. We had a good walk though and came home and played MarioKart. Smallest had a bath and Small had his shower and Huffle and I watched TV.

Beauties from our garden (couldn't get many photos as the bugs were eating me).

 

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