The Mokonkey Garden Olympics 2012

Before breakfast today, Aunty A and I went out. She ran and I rode my bike. We went all around the Hamlet.

We all had breakfast, skyped Grandma and then prepared the Olympic Arenas. The British flags were up. We had the street circuit, equestrian arena, urban sport arena, lower field and Aquadrome. It was very exciting. The crowds were anticipating lots of medals today.

The bunting was flying in the lower field

The first event was Street Hockey. Huffle was goalie. Team 1 featured AA and Smallest. Team 2 was me and Small. Team 1 won.

The second event was Raking (the most important of the lower field activities since the grass cuttings were all over the court). Who could produce the biggest pile of rakings? It was very tense and quite hot work.

Small was first and set the standard for a huge pile

Smallest started well but lacked arm length

This event ended in a four way tie between me, Huffle, Small and AA with Smallest following a little bit behind. Next we played volley ball (since the court was clear of stray grass). AA was umpire. Small and Huffle won that one. Football came next. I was Goalie, AA and Small played a great game and just beat Huffle and Smallest.

There were a few dodgy tackles

It ended up going to penalties. The goalie was put under tremendous pressure.

Basketball was next. It was a tough game in very hot conditions. Smallest and I played hard against Small and AA and just snuck a lead. Huffle umpired.

There were lots of drink breaks and the occasional biscuit or fruit break. The next event was one Small called 'Mokonkey Bars'. (this is how he wrote it on the list - needs to get back to school!). First up was Small who scored a massive four. Smallest came next with an impressive three. Huffle controversially broke the bars which made the scores for the rest of the participants null and void. Also the swinging event was cancelled due to lack of equipment.

Cricket was next on the list. Huffle was bowler and umpire. Each player got 6 balls and the rest of the team were fielders. It was fast paced. I won this event. Wahoooo.

The event everyone was waiting for happened next. The Dressage. The jumps were beautifully created. AA gave us a demonstration of what was expected. Each 'horse' was allowed creative input.

Horse AA demonstrating the Oval jump.

 

Horse Small executing a fabulous Oval jump also.

Horse Smallest with a very eager jump on the 'tunnel of difficultness' at which he actually fell. Both rider and horse were unhurt.

 

Horse Huffle cleverly using the sound of hooves got extra points here but unfortunately lost them when he went over a jump the wrong way. Bad luck for this first time jumper!

 

There was a long stop for practice jumps on the Aquadrome for the boys and AA while Huffle and I barbecued our dinner.

We had burgers, sausages, vegetable kebabs, roasted rosemary potatoes, corn on the cob, salad and a cheeky beer. Much hilarity and reliving of the start of the games happened here.

After dinner everyone (well the grown ups really) was tired and just wanted to sleep. We decided to each chose one more event. Small chose Bike and Scooter time trials. Huffle won this on his bike with a fantastic time of 44secs. Everyone else did very well. AA made a fabulous run in the same time I cycled.

Small set a strong pace at the start

The fast pace of this new cyclist won through (was it the Wiggins sideburns?)

Next was the Boules competition which I chose. Smallest won this one. AA chose Gymnastics. Of course she came first with her exceptional display of Cartwheel, Handstand into forward roll, a bridge and ended with a round off, amazeballs!

What an amazing gymnast AA is.

Showing great gymnastic appeal. The crowd loved this first time gymnast

 

Huffle chose Chipping (Golf). Smallest showed a lot of promise and Huffle and him won this event. Newcomer AA certainly showed she doesn't normally play this sport.

Letting the professionals start

Promise? Maybe!

For the final event, we got changed and went to the Aquadrome. Team Small and Smallest showed the judge (me) their three jumps. The first jump was very well synchronised and got full points.

 

Their second jump was a little off, and they were penalised slightly, however their third jump was brilliantly timed.

 

They set a very high standard here for the next finalists, Huffle and AA, who incidentally have never synchronised their jumps before. Their only practice was a whisper on the side before they jumped. For this the Judge awarded them an extra point. Their jump was photographically good. A jump, a point to the judge and an almost perfect entering of the water. However, it wasn't as first class as the other team. Maybe next year, maybe with a bit of practice.

Nice touch, pointing to the camera

To mark the end of the games, all of us got in the pool and created a whirlpool. Then we changed directions and created another whirlpool. Floating time came next, then tag freeze was played, lots of squirting of water and finally everyone got out, got showered and we began the medal ceremony.

It was a poignant moment as Aunty A presented the Bronze medal to Small who earned himself a whopping 45 points, just one point less than the silver medallists. A sterling effort for this youngster. A definate Gold hopeful for next years Garden Olympics.

AA then presented Huffle with his Silver medal who got 46 points throughout the day. He shared his Silver with me and Aunty A, who was presented by Small.

The absolute Gold winner of the day was awarded to Smallest who had an amazing 50 points. What a trooper. Only one tantrum during the whole games and this was only because he thought he was doing badly. If only he knew at the start how well he was going to do. The youngest of all competitors by far. Surely many more Golds for this young man.

All the British Medallists

The nations favourite gold medallist

We ended the ceremony with the National Anthem of Great Britain, a salute to the Queen and then a good old fashioned cup of Yorkshire Tea.

What an amazing day for the British today. All the other competitors of different countries obviously found something much better to do on their Canadian Labour Day. Small has stated that we must do this every Labour day from now on.

The kids watched a film, I blogged and Huffle updated the IPad.

 

 

 

 

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Totes Amaze Balls

I got up early because the boys were noisy. I tried to read my book on the porch but got interrupted by a mosquito, so I tried to read in the sun room but got interrupted by noisy boys!

Huffle got up next and then Aunty A soon after (probably after Smallest got her up). We skyped Aunty Miaow and then made some pancakes for breakfast.

 

Smallest's creation

After a very late and lengthy breakfast we got ourselves sorted, made a picnic and went to the beach.

It was very very hot. It wasn't supposed to be that hot but it certainly was. We set up three umbrellas.....

 

Huffle, AA and I took our books just in case the kids let us read. They did for a while. Especially when a man came by with a dog called Olly. He asked Smallest if he wanted to throw the ball to the dog. He did, many times. The dog showered him with lake water too.

Small also had a few goes. We had to take the boys out of the sun because it was soo hot (did I already say that?). So we sat and played Monopoly Deal under the shade of the big umbrella which we made into a tent.

 

"can I have your yellows please?"

Is that a Beer Aunty A?

After two games, we had our picnic and then the boys went for a dip. They both swam and we waded in with them. The water was icy cold. There was no way I could have swam in there.

 

 

Just pretending to be grumpy - not properly grumpy!

Sooooo cold.

"oh I got my trousers wet"

The kids decided to dig a big hole to try and find the wet sand they needed to make a sand castle. Of course they needed the help of a grown-up. Huffle was called upon first......

......... And given the smallest spade to dig (he he he he)

 

Then it was AA's turn to dig.

Smallest having a quiet moment by himself.

After we had all got sand everywhere and lots of people started turning up to the beach, we headed off for an ice cream. So we packed everything away.

Ummmmmmmm

Climbing

Where do their legs end?

A little pixie standing on a rock

 

It wasn't the best ice cream we have had but it was okay.

We drove home, got showered, had tea and relaxed. Huffle put up some pictures. The boys played a computer game together. I blogged.

When the boys went to bed, we played Monopoly Deal and Ticket to Ride.

 

Hope Aunt Pear & Co have a lovely holiday. Very jealous. We will miss your comments and updates. Send us a postcard please if you see this before you go. xx

Please don't use my photos without asking first. Posted with Blogsy

Two go to the Distillary

When I tried to get up this morning, my back hurt and my knees creaked and of course my foot hurt. I turned to Huffle and said "is this what it feels like to be old?". Of course, he doesn't know, he's just a babe! (he says he is a finely tuned athlete - ha ha ha).

After a croissant and chocolate twist breakfast, Huffle and the boys drove AA and me to our local town and we got on the bus for a trip to Dowtown Toronto. It was hot.

Huffle and the kids went and played crazy golf and had a good time.

AA and I went to St Lawrence Market and had a good long walk around. We bought a few things but thought we could come back and get food on the way home. As it was, by the time we got back there, the place was about closing. Never mind.

We walked around the craft market too. It was lovely. I found a gorgeous chair in a Vintage shop that there was no way I could get on the bus. AA found and bought a beautiful vintage bag, perfect for Aunty Miaow's wedding.

We tried on lots of jewellery and then walked to the Distillary District.

Jay walker

By the time we got there we were hungry, so we stopped at a lovely bakery and had a huge sandwich. A man sat at the table next to us with four bananas, tied together with string. When he had finished he put the bananas in a bag and walked off. Strange. It was still very hot and there was no shade so we didn't linger too long. There were arts and crafts stalls everywhere.

Lovely buildings, cobbled streets, made AA feel like she was back in London.

How blue is that sky?

We saw a couple of wedding parties.

AA did a bit of flirting with a curly haired young man. An older man did a bit of flirting with AA.

There was an exhibition on featuring aerial shots of various amazing places. Massive photographs.

This was of Hotan region of China.

AA taking photos of the photos

I thought is looked like a cabbage cloud. It is clouds above the republic of Angorra

 

Lots of lovely photos now. May be boring but I like them.

 

"I know you're trying to take my photo but I am trying to ignore you in case you might go away!"

We decided we needed to stop and have refreshments. AA said "beer or ice cream". I could have had both but I chose Beer. We saw a place that advertised Moretti Beer (ummm we like) but there was no shade outside and inside it wasn't very nice. So we walked and walked and AA bumped into some Morris Ladies. They shook their hankerchieves at her and we ran away laughing.

I wish I had got the photograph but I was laughing too much.

 

 

We found a place. An interesting one! There was a counter to get your sandwich, a different counter for drinks and a different counter for ice cream (thank goodness we were just having beer!). A lady asked for an ice cream, it was served to her and then she was told to queue up again to pay for it. By the time she got to the front she had eaten her ice cream. AA told her to run for it, it was worth the jail time.

After we had seen all we wanted to see and bought all we wanted to buy (and tried a blueberry covered in milk chocolate - yum, how did we resist buying a whole bag?), we walked back towards the market.

This was a competition 'whose bottom is bigger?'

"tell me you didn't just take a photo of my bottom!"

W walked back towards the market slowly. The sights weren't brilliant except for the sights ahead.

 

 

 

We got back to the bus terminal and it wasn't long before our bus was there. It was a very packed one. The boys and Huffle came to meet us off the bus and take us home. They told us all about their busy day.

We played a game of Monopoly Deal and the boys went to bed late!

We had our tea, blogged, chatted and played a few more games of Disney Monopoly.

 

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