Crazy Weekend

 Boldt Castle (from the water)

We had a crazy weekend (to put it mildly)  On Friday night we went to a munch.  A friend from out of town showed up and asked if he could "bunk out" on our couch for the night.  None of us slept that well and were up with the sun drinking coffee on the front deck at 6:00.......... By 8:30 am said guest had packed up his motor bike and headed off...By 8:45 am W asked if I wanted to go visit Boldt Castle (which involves a boat cruise)  

W booked the tickets on line (thank god) and at 9 o'clock we were rushing around throwing on clothes grabbing cameras and gear and heading off to pick up a quick breakfast and drive the 30 minute drive to the boat dock to catch the cruise which left at 10 am!!!

We were the last passengers to board with a good 3 minutes to spare.

A little history for those of you who have no idea what Boldt Castle is or the story behind it.  In 1900 George C Boldt (owner of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel) decided to purchase Heart Island - one of the 1000 Islands and build a castle for his wife - a monument to the love of his life.  Stonemasons, artists, carpenters ( a total of 300 workers) set to work to build a 120 room castle complete with tunnels and a draw bridge - Italian gardens - a tower play house (for their daughter).  Just 4 years after construction was begun - it was stopped.  His wife had died suddenly.

The castle was left as is for over 70 years when finally the Thousand Island Bridge Authorities gained control / ownership of Heart Island and started restoring and finishing Boldt Castle.

And that is where we landed up on Saturday around noon.  It is a most impressive castle - and buildings.  Hell the "boat house" is nicer than most homes...........

Two hours to explore the castle was not nearly enough time............ we didn't get to the outbuildings or the gardens ........  I think my favourite parts were the upstairs where there has been no restoration - just bare bones waiting for the Boldt's builders to finish.....

Here are just a few of the shots I took of Boldt Castle .............

heading to the front doors....... 

one's eyes travel up up up .....

to the stained glass ceiling

  the following are just random arty farty shots

the children's play house

After 2 busy hours of trying to take in as much as possible we were back on the cruise ship heading home.......... 

Boldt Castle is the stuff fantasies are built on.......

H.O.G.

They say ya learn something new every day.  Well last weekend at the Harley Rally I learned that HOGS - which I always thought was plain old slang for motorcycles - actually stands for Harley Owners Group.  Wow who knew?? ok most of you I am betting - I am just a slow learner 

Anyway I did take pictures of the bikes - my "artsy fartsy" style...........

they also had motor cross riders doing tricks and stunts which mesmerized me - never seen them in real life and when I have seen them on television I tend to switch channels...... 

Faces

On the weekend here in Kingston there was the Great Canadian Rally.  Over 1000 Harley Davidsons and their owners blew into town for 3 days.  On the Saturday W dropped me off in town (parking was next to impossible and he had other things to do) so I could wander round and take pictures.

When I came home and was going over the pictures I had shot I realized I had some good shots of people - faces in the crowd.  Normally I don't capture (or feel I don't capture) good shots of random people.  This time I saw a lot of character in my shots - a lot of interest.

Here are just a few of the Faces from the day...............

 

Our Adventure to Toronto

 day 61 of 365

I called it our "adventure" but for me it was more of a 'challenge'.

I had to have the teenager up and in the car by 9........... anyone who has had a teenager knows that is a massive challenge!!

We were on the road by 9:00am.  Our plan was to drive to the outskirts of Toronto - park the car at a commuter train station and take the train into downtown Toronto (the traffic is IMPOSSIBLE - even for ex-Montrealers).  The adventure was taking the train - neither of the grandkids have ever been on a train.

We arrived in Toronto in time for lunch.  Our first stop was the CN tower.  

W wanted to ride the 58 second elevator to the top of this massively high building... go out on the observation deck and take photos,  (Have I ever mentioned I am deathly afraid of heights??)  

We stopped for lunch in their cafeteria.  Hamburgers chicken fingers 2 slices of pizza and a sandwich topped out at a whooping $68.00 !!!  We won't even discuss the cost of the elevator ride to the top for 2 adults and 2 children!!!

The crowds of tourists were suffocating (have I mentioned I hate crowds??!!)    and trying to keep track of the boys in the crowds was a massive challenge!

Despite my horrific fear of heights I did manage to point and shoot a couple of shots of downtown Toronto.............

 


Then we headed next door to the Ripleys Aquarium

Now picture thousands of people walking through a darkened aquarium - kids running everywhere (including our two) baby strollers and total chaos........... I was so busy trying to keep an eye on the kids (and yes lecturing them about running ahead and getting lost) I didn't take many pictures of the fish - BUT - I did get some beautiful shots of the aquarium when W and I went in the spring (click here if you want to see them)..............

there were pop up bubbles where kids would wiggle through a tunnel and pop up in a bubble in the middle of the aquarium........... our kids loved them - so did I till realized the tunnels were one way - so they didn't come out the way they came in...... le sigh

We finished off the aquarium petting bamboo sharks........ yeah bamboo - go figure!!

Then it was back on the train and a 3 hour train/car trip home............plus a quick stop at 8:30 for a bite of supper at one of the rest stops (which - if anyone is interested - cost me approximately 1/3 of the lunch meal)

OMG I was exhausted - and the day has made me question my bright ideas to keep the kids amused while visiting........ (maybe even the whole idea of them visiting) ....... le sigh

Off the Bucket List

I hinted in yesterday's blog that because of rain showers we decided to take the kids to play indoor 3D mini putt and a couple of games of Laser Tag.

The kids were pretty loud and kinetic by the time we left the house after lunch (time to check their sugar intake me thinks) BUT we were heading off to burn off all that energy so I wasn't terribly worried.

day 60 of 365

 The mini putt was fun - though a bit rushed for my liking......... yeah yeah we weren't playing the Masters - but as the middle child had never played I would have liked a little time to explain/show how to hit a golf ball - like .............. it isn't a hockey puck that you have to hit as hard as you can to get it in the goal!!  oh well like I said 'it wasn't the Masters and he didn't manage to kill anyone so all's good!! 

We couldn't take pictures in the laser tag section.  It too was played under black light - with lots of strobe type lights added.  It was a maze with holes cut out of walls and stairs to perches......... needless to say "grandma" didn't do very well...,. I kept saying the kids didn't play fair as they spotted the "weak link" and followed me around and before I could get a shot off they killed me - each and every time (OH and I don't mean MY kids - they were on our team!!  LOL)

And as W said at the end "one more thing to take off my bucket list - AND - laser tag wasn't even on it!!"

First Day of Adventures.......

Day one -

Now as much as everyone likes to tease me about organising/scheduling/mapping out holidays............ I am nothing like that really - and certainly not like that when the boys come to visit.

Yes yes I have lists of things to do and yes yes I sorta kinda tentatively put them in the calendar - Monday - museum A.... Tuesday -  drive in....  Wednesday - Toronto - well I am sure you get the idea................. BUT the activities and days were not carved in stone!!  I mean I have already had to cross off drive in - cause the weather is not supposed to be great this week - and today which is Tuesday and the day I tentatively scheduled drive - in ( TENTATIVELY  I said !) it is pouring rain........... le sigh

BUT getting back to yesterday and my non-scheduled day........ I had the Pump House Museum down and maybe the historical walk............. W and the boys decided the Marine Museum was a better choice - and the comic book store - and the big toy store Mastermind.......... 

Now there is a really good reason why I never aspired to being a sailor - I hate cramped spaces and narrow steep stairs............ even visiting a ship was a wee bit more than I could handle....but being a GREAT grandma I took a deep breath and ventured onto the ship ..........
day 59 of 365

(and please note - there were no cute sailors to spice up the tour - in fact there were no ugly ones either - just a deserted ghostly Coast Guard ship to explore............ )

Now the comic book store and the toy store didn't take nearly as long as anticipated and so we just managed to get to the historical walk with 5 minutes to spare before the last tour.............(see me doing a happy dance!)

Calvin Hobbes - the newsie - was our tour guide and was thrilled to have a "real" Calvin on her tour..........

 
the tour started at the train  

wound it's way past City Hall - the court house - the hanging park - and ended up - an hour later at a park with a statue of Sir John A MacDonald.

 The kids said they liked the tour - but the youngest said his feet hurt............ seeing as we walked (total for the day) about 3 - 4 hours yeah I guess his feet might hurt 

Home for the best pizza in town for supper and then we all collapsed on the sofa (grandma wishing it was bed time - cheeky grin)