Thursday: Parks, kites, and parks!

In the morning we had a few messages to do in town, after that we went to the park. We got the kite out, and it seemed to kill the wind instantly. The picture (left) is on one of the rare occasions where the wind was strong enough to lift the kite.

In the afternoon we packed the kids up and headed to another park, which was great fun for all concerned (I think the adults had more fun than the kids ;) )

Wednesday: More Hovercraft and Deep Sea World

This morning we took the hovercraft, and the kids to the park again. We went to a diffenent area, this one had a small paddling pool, which was only filled with about 2" of water - ideal for our hovercraft.



It went a lot better on this, and the kids got great enjoyment, however a strong wind hampered the fun by making the craft difficult to control.

They all had good fun at the park, and we visited the stoney beach on the way back, which is always a treat.

The other parents arrived back, and of course the kids behavior deterioriated instantly, but that would be expected. We decided to go to Edinbourgh, to Deep Sea World for the afternoon, and we had a fine time there.

Tuesday: Farm Park and Hovercraft

I got up early this morning and headed back to The hermitage where I enjoyed a pleasant morning stroll.

After breakfast we packed the kids up and went to a farm which had created a children's play park with attractions including go-karts, a wooden castle and trampolines. I think the pedal go-karts were the winner, with the kids getting the most fun from them, and spending loads of time (and energy).

Unfortunately the weather was quite unsettled, and we got a little wet a couple of times, but I don't think that bothered the kids.

In the afternoon I took a legion of the children (not the entire army) to a park where we tried out Boris' remote controlled hovercraft. It was quite good fun, but unfortunately it didn't like the rough terrain too much, and the battery didn't last too long. It kept the kids occupied for the afternoon nevertheless.

Monday: Shopping and walking

Today we took a trip into Perth and had loads of fun (sarcasm) doing a little shopping. It actually wasn't as bad as it sounds - I managed to spend a good portion of it sitting - either on the ground in the street, or at the side of an M&S isle.

After lunch the other parents departed, and we took charge of all 5 kids. Let the fun begin.

We took the kids for a walk to The Hermitage, which is one of the many scenic attractions in that part of Scotland.

At teatime, in an attempt to apply some discipline to the hoard of children we devised a system where each time one had to be spoken to they received a point, and the winner was the one with the least points. This seemed to work at treat, with the final scores being 0, 0, 1 and 9 (Doris didn't get scored as she is too little). The day passed off peacefully, and we went to bed to prepare to face another...

Holiday : Phase 2

Today we set out in convoy to drive to Perth, Scotland. We had arranged to stay with SWMBOs sister and family for 5 days in their home - the only condition was that we minded the kids when they went off for a couple of nights for their tenth wedding anniversary.

The boat was fine, the drive was fine and we arrived at a sensible time and got nicely settled in. Hopefully it will be a nice week.

Wanted : Glasses!

Today we took the kayaks out again, this time there was more sun overhead (periodically)

The waves were relatively small, and so my Brother-in-law decided to have a go - a great day for a beginner. As time rolled on the waves got bigger, but still manageable.

You may recall previous issues with kayaking and glasses - well it happened again. He lost his glasses, and it wasn't like last time where there was a possibility of finding them, instead the swirl from the waves was too great, and we couldn't see the bottom at all. (thats not him in the picture btw, but you get the idea. Read more here)

Kayaking in the rain

We will not be beaten by the weather. It was cloudy overhead, but we were still determined to get the kids to the beach during our holiday. So off we set to get the kayaks from Dad, and we borrowed a wetsuit too so that our guests could have a go in the kayaks.

Although it was showery overhead, it was warm, and with wetsuits on there was no feeling of cold at all. We had great fun in the boats and also pushing the kids in with the waves, although Boris fell out on the first wave due to bad parenting ;)

Another wedding...

Anyone who knows us will know that we have had an unusually high number of weddings to attend this year. Today marked the end of the marathon for us with SWMBOs cousin getting married. It was a fine day altogether, and we both enjoyed seeing family and friends, and also meeting new folks.

No more weddings this year. Phew.

Holiday : Phase 1

Today I finished work for a 2 week break. Out the door shortly after mid day, picked up by my wife, as my car is in the garage.

We took the kids to see "Cars" this afternoon, turned out to be a fairly good movie, the animation is fantastic. It won't be long before we see a film which is totally animated....

A day of firsts

Today, as you may know is a public holiday here in NI. We spent the day as a family, doing a few things we have done before, but a few we haven't.

1) Watching Chicken Little. The first time we watched this film, and hopefully, for me anyhow, the last! Very poor.

2) Walking round the resovoir. We live down the road from the local resovoir, and I have been aware that there is a nice walk around it, but have never done it. So today we decided to try it, and it was great! A lovely country walk, through a forest / hilltop setting.

3) Castlerock beach at low tide. Normally we walk on the East side of the beach, as the West side is water and cliffs, but today the tide was completely out, the lowest tide I remember, so we walked on the sand round the foot of the cliffs. This was amazing, to get right out round to a place normally well covered in dangerous waters.

4) Downhill beach at low tide. Having noticed Castlerocks low tide we decided to do the same at Downhill. When we arrived we got to walk away out round the cliffs there too, far further than is normally possible due to the water.

5) Trim Trail, and "The Cutts." By this time it was late afternoon, and we had not yet eaten. We popped into "Gareths" and picked up some suitably unhealthy chips and burgers which we decided to take to the Trim Trail to eat. After the kids had spent an age playing at the token park we walked across the road to "The Cutts," which is where the famous salmon leap is. This is a place where the Bann river drops about 10 feet in a short distance, regulated by a series of sluce gates. We had a walk around the lock gates, but we all felt uneasy because of the kids and the deep water :(. Anyway, that was another first for today.

6) I managed to trick SWMBO into visiting the 12th Day parades. We managed to get parked close to the end of the parade route, and so we got to see the tired Orangemen make their last few steps towards their buses. I think its fair to say we had a fine experience, and will certainly be going back next year for more ;)

7) Almost got drowned. Well, not me but Billy, a friend of the family from way back. The Story from the beginning : So we headed to the beach with the kayaks as is usual, and Dad told me that Billy may be there. When we arrived we saw that the placid, gentle waves we saw eariler had been replaced by huge monster waves, the like of which I believe have never before been seen (by mankind). We got unloaded, and down to the water, and sure enough Billy was there, raring to go. Out Billy and I headed, he was determined to go out far, I was determined not to fall in. He was getting on well, going out, coming in, and with a bit of swapping boats, I ended up in the water with my camera, with Billy and Dad in the boats. I popped out of the water, and the next thing I saw was an upside down kayak near the rocks, Dad paddling into the shore, and Billy nowhere to be seen. So I parked my camera on the rocks, and ran to see what was going on, but having no lifejacket I was very reluctant to get involved. I got the abandoned boats up onto the rocks, and went to see what was happening. By this time a crowd had gathered on the rocks, and by the time I arrived Billy had made it out of the water. Apparently he had been pulled by the current out round the rocks, and wasnt making any headway swimming ashore. He quickly disgarded his paddle, and used the waves to swim to the rocks, where he grabbed hold and climbed out. Shortly after this we gathered up, and packed the boats away for home. Thankfully Billy is safe and sound, and unbelievably interested to know when we're going again! See pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/simonmcc/20060712BeachKayak

An exciting, and interesting day.

The Hills Have Eyes [2006]

This was a welcome relief after the disappointment of Room 6, another one for the Horror category, I would say quite similar in premise to Wolf Creek.

It is all about a family who take a cross country trip, and run into some trouble after taking a shortcut. Quite a good story, and worth a watch if you're into that sort of thing. Some fairly gruesome moments, and I would say fairly unpredictable, as nowadays directors aren't afraid to ditch the hollywood ending for a real tradegy...

Room 6 [2006]

What an excellent title. You can automatically tell that it fits into that "Horror, Thriller" category. However, that is where the greateness ends. There are a few good scary moments, and the ending is satisfactory but it does go an awefully long way round getting there.

So I'm afraid its a thumbs down from me :(

End over end

The waves we saw last night looked like the best I had seen, so I thought I'd better call Dad, and give him the chance to have a go. He had been delayed, and was not home from work, but eventually he arrived at my house just before 10pm.

So, back we went to the beach, I wasn't sure how wise the whole escapade was, as the Sun was about to set. When we approached the waves looked even bigger than earlier, even a bit scary!

Out we went, and we had a fantastic time. However the waves were so big that on three occasions I managed to get the boat to go end-over-end. When the wave was breaking and I was paddling in with it, because of the height of the waves the boat had a tendancy to sink the nose. Apparently this can be compensated by leaning backwards, but these waves were just too big, and the nose went down, the back came up, and over we went. This is a thouroughly disorientating affair, as you are catapulted into the water on your front, below the boat, just before a breaking wave hits you. You just have to wait for the lifejacket to float you round, so you know which way is up, and then try to breath again.

After that it is a matter of removing water from your eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Then begins the fun of trying to get back in the boat with subsequent similar waves.

All-in-all a great evening, but it beat me in the end, and I just let the waves bring me in, and I think Dad was ready for out about the same time. He fell out for the first time just at that time, which left him really dissappointed. I told him the sea was just reminding him who was boss.

Raise your glasses

Yesterday was another glorious day, with temperatures in the low twenties, and so we decided that a trip to the beach was in order. SWMBO had been joking about how all the boating had been centered around me, so I decided she would get a chance last night.

We hitched up the trailer and headed over to Dads for the kayak. We arrived at the beach around 7pm got all suited and lifejacked up, got the kids into the water on their new bodyboards, and I pulled SWMBO around in the kayak to get her familiar with the waves. Like a duck to water she was quicky going on her own, paddling out through the waves, and surfing them in. She was very fortunate because it was another of those "perfect" wave night, where the waves bring you in nicely, but don't throw you out of the boat.

It was all I could do to persuade her to let me have a turn, so I had a short stint, and afterwards we let the kids have a short, and controlled go.

After that SWMBO headed out again, and I stayed, and played with the kids. Every once in a while I would turn to see SWMBO successfully surfing another wave, bot this time I turned to see her out of the boat and shouting. I began to run towards her (running in the water is never very successful, and I'm sure it doesn't look too graceful to the onlooker either) thinking she was in trouble, but as I approached I discovered the trouble was less serious. She had lost her glasses. We spent about 10 minutes in the waves looking for them, the waves were so big that visibility into the water was impaired by sand, and froth (and for SWMBO by eyesight ;). I managed to spot them once on the seabed, but that was just before a huge wave came. So unfortunately the glasses sunk, never to be raised again.

Thankfully this incident hasn't put SWMBO off kayaking, and she still had a fantastic time, and now she has an excuse to go shopping for a new pair of specs!

Another pleasant evening

The weather was super last night again, which prompted another boating outing. The waves were fairly small, similar to the previous night, so we decided to go out round the cost a little.

We started out at the West side of the castlerock beach (furthest from the barmouth, nearest the cliffs) and headed out around the coast. It was pretty tough going, which was a bit of a worry because the breeze (you couldnt really call it a wind) was in our back.

When we got halfway to Downhill, right inbeween the two railway tunnels, a train went through! It was a pretty unique perspective!

We persevered on around the coast, landing at Downhill for a break. It was a bit worrying, because the waves at Downhill seemed huge, but we managed to land without incident.

After a short pause, we set sail again back towards Castlerock, and to our great relief it was a lot easier, the tide must have been with us. About 20 minutes later we were back in Castlerock, and the going was so good we decided to keep going. We got about half way along the beach, and decided it was time to turn, knowing that the tide was against us. So back we went to our starting position, and landed again, emerging from the water almost completely dry. (this is the first time I didn't get my hair wet!)

I did a quick plot of our journey on Google Earth, and it seems we rowed just over 3 miles! So pretty good going... and great fun!

Let the mid life crisis begin

I figure why wait. Why put off the mid life crisis until mid-life. In fact, why even have your own when you can piggyback someone elses?

My Dad has been in "mid life crisis" mode for as long as I can remember, but recently he has taken up canoeing, or more accurately kayaking. He bought a kayak a few months ago, and has been relentlessly visiting the beaches / rivers to play.

He has been saying that I should go with him, and when he bought a second kayak my excuse list diminished drastically. In the end I gave in. I went for the third time last night, and it was great!

First time was about 10 days ago, and it was fun. Dad said the waves were the biggest he had ever been on, which I have to say was fairly intimidating, but it turned out to be great. Then we went again on Friday night past. It was freezing and windy, and really not an aweful lot of fun.

Last night was fantastic, we were out for about 90 minutes - the waves were a goldilocks size, not too big or too small, just right. We canoed out beyond the waves and went out around the cliffs a bit - the tide was perfect, and the wind was only a gentle breeze.

No photos unfortunately, I havent dared take the camera yet...

Mum, SWMBO and kiddies went for a walk along the beach while we were out, when they got back we got the kids into the boats and pulled them over the waves. They had a fantastic time. We'll definitely be doing that again... (hopefully tonight ;)

Growing up

Just a wee garden update - all coming up nicely, loads of lovely rain and heat over the weekend. It also got a spread of fertiliser tonight :)

Tourist Destination : North Korea

A very interesting photo diary of a visit to North Korea, the best place in the world to live according to the local government, according to everyone else in the world, it is the worst :

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=82755

Edit: Related news article : North Korea has a missile that can hit the USA & they can't wait to try it!

Rolling onwards

After last nights 1/2 completed rolling I got a more robust hitch mechanism made up and put the roller on behind the mower again.

It may have been easier and less effort to roll manually, but where would the fun be in that...?

The roller worked much better in the light, I could see where I was going - definitely a big advantage!

Got the remainder rolled, and its looking great - all we have to do now is wait for the grass to spring up....

Gardening

Our expanse of field has now been sown out in grass seed for a lawn.

It was ploughed a few weeks ago, and didnt look all that beautiful with a lot of matted field grass showing even with the ploughing.

Last Saturday morning I hired a garden rotavator and set to work - a tough job with a ploughed field on a hill. Anyhow, I toiled for about 2 hours pulling up I would estimate around a googol of stones. At 10:30 it was time to do a 2-hour shift at the flower festival at church, so I went there.

On the way back I called with Mr Farmer who I had asked to come and help with his proper tools, so he told me he would be there later in the afternoon. It was a fantastic day, sunny all day, and roasting. I did a bit more with the rotavator, and then waited on the tractor arriving.

When the tractor started with the power harrow (or par-harra as we say here ;) it was amazing. In went poor quality, aweful looking soil, and out came beautiful, well worked soil!

After another googol of stones were lifted, and a bit of harrowing the ground was looking great.

On Monday when I returned from work at 5pm I went straight to the garden. My Father-in-law had been there during the day with the tractor and land-leveller which had removed the humps and hollows. All that remained to be done was raking the small stones away.

Raking took a few hours, and about 9pm we were ready to sow the grass seed. After sowing it needed another rake to cover the seed in soil, and again this seemed to take ages.

About 10:30pm it was raked and ready to be rolled. I managed to hook the garden roller up behind the lawnmower, and got about 1/2 of it rolled before giving up due to darkness and mechanical failure (of the hitch for the roller, leaving the comical scenario of me running down the hill after the runaway roller 8- )

Just before midnight I stopped. Job *almost* well done.