Saturday 7 June 2014

A Lovely Saturday - running, fishing, shopping, playing

We had a very nice day today, so nice that  I have to make time to write a quick blog about it.
This morning Lara's school had organised a fun run in the main park in Airdrie, Lara and I bought t-shirts to enter, and joined a few dozen other families down at the park on a lovely, warm sunny morning. Olga and Danny came along for moral support and to take photographs, though it's possible they will end up in the local newspaper - a journalist snapped them and asked Olga for their details, so we'll see what appears in the paper next week.
Lara started off at a usual 6 year old's pace, and was soon walking, but between us we contrived to complete the 1.75km circuit doing a run-walk-run, and she happily crossed the finish line before me.
After a quick breakfast of melon, granola bars and bananas, provided by the school, I grabbed our fishing rods out of the car and we passed half an hour "fishing" in Airdrie pond, in the middle of this park. It is stocked with rainbow trout by the local council but we were never going to catch one, but that wasn't the point, it was about engaging Lara, and to a lesser extent Dan (who has his own mini rod) in the activity for a short while.
Then it was time for lunch, the kids' current favourite food when we're out and about - grilled cheese sandwiches from Tim Horton's. We had this in the outlet in the local Walmart superstore, so decided to do some shopping while we were there, but that turned into a marathon effort, but everyone got something out of it. The kids got shoes, water pistols, toys, Lara got a new PFD ("Personal Floatation Device, I can't call it a lifejacket!), and we got some food for a BBQ and for a party we're going to tomorrow night at our neighbour's house.
Then it was back home for a bit of downtime, before Olga took them off to the playground, and I built my new weights bench in the garage - I'm trying to tone up a bit before my birthday next month!
Once they were back, we dug out our family inflatable boat to blow up, to check it hasn't sprung any leaks. We didn't use it much in the UK, we only went out on it a couple of times, but we intend to use it a lot more here, hence the new PFD for Lara, and Dan, Olga and I will get new ones this week, before we take the boat with us next weekend on our next camping trip.
With the boat successfully inflated on the driveway, and the kids having bounced around (and out of) it, it was time for the BBQ - at least with a gas grill there's no real setting up to be done, you just uncover it and turn it on, so I did some burgers and chicken and that was enough to keep everyone happy.
The kids have gone to sleep quickly and quietly tonight, and now Olga and I can sit down with a glass or three of wine and chill out a little too.
I just wanted to share what a nice, family day we had! I didn't take many photos, but at least here are some from this morning: