Ever try to get four Scottish boys up at 5am to get fed, washed, packed, and out the door by 6am??
NOT a fun task.
But they're now eating at least. Think I'm going to 'talk' to the camp planner this morning when I see him. Most god awful-est time of the morning to get up when I don't have to go to work.
Well, all the boys are on the road, heading to Haliburton. Everyone was pretty excited, but there were some heads nodding off before the bus even left the parking lot. They're going to have a great week at camp!
This is a link to my online photobucket, where I've uploaded all the pics we've taken so far. Scottish parents, feel free to go through them and copy/paste any you particularly like. I'll post a few of the nicer ones here shortly.
Some of our more timid wildlife, the boys wanted to take a few home though
This little guy was trapped in a garbage can, poor thing. We informed the office and they quickly came and rescued the little guy
A walk through Crawford Lake Conservation Area
Crawford Lake. The lake bottom contains many artifacts of the Iroquois settlement that once lived here
Just a few of our visitors in front of Crawford Lake
Harry, the one in yellow, celebrated his 14th birthday with us
Give a Scot a tennis ball and a old branch, and you soon have a crazy game of Rounders happening
Even the leaders got involved...Scouts vs Leaders...you just KNOW this would be a riot
No one kept score, but I believe the boys kicked Leader Butt!
Took me a long time for find a St Andrew's Cross, but it flies nicely in front of our home. The boys took it with them to camp...their going to get everyone to sign it and then they can take it back home with them.
A few group shots first though
Entrance to the park, waiting for tickets
Newest ride...WINDSEEKER...goes up 30+ stories! not sure if any of the boys went on it though
BEHEMOTH...the parks largest roller coaster. I KNOW most of them went on this one
Wonder Mountain. Manmade, and has cliff divers a few times a day
Lunch time at Medieval Buffet...everyone was enjoying the day so far
These guys put on an amazing trampoline and diving show
This is the ONLY feature at the park that is extra cost other than food and drink. It's a 150ft vertical drop and swing that reaches speeds of 100km/h (approx 60mph) at the bottom of the swing. These four boys were brave enough to give it a try.
The boys are rigged in safety harnesses, then hooked up in a laying position before being pulled up BACKWARDS 150ft in the air.
Almost there
3..2..1..LAUNCH
The looks on their faces says it all
The Four Scottish Supermen!!
End of the day, gathering for a head count. Everyone had a great day!!!
Well a week away at camp didn't slow these Scots down one bit! Got the phone call that they had returned around 3pm Saturday, so I head over to pick up my guests and daughter.
Now, if you never seen 50+ kids home from a week long camp, without shower facilities, and after running out of bug spray mid week, this was a sight to see. It seems like the Scottish contingent were particularly favoured by the various mosquitoes, black flies, and horse flies, as most of the boys were simply covered with bites. That aside though, everyone had a great camp. The boys enjoyed the fact that they had to canoe everywhere up there to attend the various activities, including meals, and my boys in particular enjoyed the archery and rifle shooting. Apparently, one of our guests, Kyle, who never shot a firearm before, is quite the sniper! He scored 88/100 on his first round, and only improved after that. We're calling him the Scottish Jason Bourne.
However, Kyle's day only got worse, and his backpack with all his gear went missing. All he had on him was the clothes he came home in, no sleeping gear, no wash gear, not so much as a change of socks. We immediately put out the call to the organizers and the search was on. We finally got a call around 9pm...the backpack was found and we will pick it up later this morning. Kyle is in a MUCH happier place now, thank you very much.
Found out that two of the boys have yet to see Deathly Hallows Part 1. Now the intention was to take them to see the movie today, but honestly, how can I do that when they haven't seen the first one yet? So I found my copy of P1 and plugged it in, but only one of the boys made it to the end. I guess sleeping on soft mattresses after a week on the ground was just too inviting for the other three.
So todays agenda includes a picnic in Ching Park, then perhaps a trip to the War Plane Heritage Museum, then off to see Deathly Hallows Part 2 in the 'cinema'.
We have them today and tonight, then they're off to Niagara Falls for two nights. On the way back from the Falls, they stop in Kitchener for a day at Bingeman's Water Park. We see them Wednesday evening, then Thursday morning they reload the bus with their packs, spend a day sight seeing in TO before heading to the airport for the flight home.
The boys have been great. They're having a great time and really don't want to go home yet. I'll miss them when they leave, but not as much as RJ will. She's having a great time with them.
Back to the host's for some quiet time and laundry
Of course, a quick trip to Walmart was necessary for some reason...even the cheap bins of video games were a bit too pricey for these boys, but one did manage to find an American football to take back home with him
Even my dog was happy to see all of them return...she put up with their shenanagians.
Now what's a trip to Canada without sampling some of our delicious POUTINE! These boys were skeptical, but willing to give it a go
Well, almost all of them enjoyed it
Of course, when I showed them MY dish, they went gaagaa over the sloppy mess of heart attack inducing goodies
The BBQ...Saturday afternoon was the BBQ at Ching Park. Most if not all the boys and leaders attended for some relaxing time before they head to the Falls the next day. Now yesterday's temperatures were about 35degrees Celsius PLUS humidity, making it feel closer to 40degrees out.
Apparently, a REAL hot day in Scotland in summer time is anything OVER 20degrees C!!!!
Parents...I literally have over 1000 pictures uploaded to my photobucket!!! Please feel free to browse and copy any of them.
I also believe one of the leaders will be collecting all the pictures from all the host families and putting them on either a jumpdrive or disc and each participant will get a copy sent to them after the end of this adventure.
Everyone should be arriving in Niagara Falls about now, and after getting settled in where they'll be spending the next couple of nights, they are taking a tour of this natural wonder, as well as a trip on the Maid of The Mist, which will take them as close as anyone will dare go to the base of the falls. They'll also be seeing the rapids and Clifton Hills, which at this time of year, is extremely busy!
They return again on Wednesday evening, when I will treat them to their last Canadian delicacy in my own back yard...SMORES!!! Then on Thursday morning, we see them off for the last time in the morning as they spend the day touring downtown Toronto Ontario, then watch a Professional Baseball game prior to heading to the airport for the long trip home.
The boys returned from Niagara Falls after spending the day at Kitchener's Bingeman's Park. With the sweltering heat wave currently in place here, (day temps are 35degrees, plus humidity, making it feel like 42degrees), the water park was greatly appreciated. I didn't go with them, but some took pics, which I will upload later to my photobucket and post a few here as well.
Once back to my place, the boys promptly started to repack their backpacks for their flight back home later today. Now I can't speak for the other host families, but I know we gave each of our boys a few items of memorabilia to take home, and they bought souvenirs as well, so repacking MORE than they came with proved to be a bit of a chore. Still, I believe everything is accounted for and packed now...but the bags could explode if looked at the wrong way!!!
After a cold supper (too hot to start the stove) of salads, cold roast beef and chicken, and what not, the boys headed downstairs to watch "Shawn of the Dead", with my daughter. I'm not much into zombie movies, so I let the watch while I went outside to start the fire for making smores.
With the movie over, everyone came outside, grabbed a chair and a cold drink, and I gave each boy a long stick with a marshmallow for roasting. For proper roasting, its an art form...trying to perfectly toast up a marshmallow without it catching fire can be challenging. One boy, Kalum, proved to be a natural at it though. Once toasted, we put each mallow between two graham wafers, with a piece of Hersey's chocolate that melted perfectly. A smore is the PERFECT campfire food/snack, but can be quite filling. Each boy had a couple, but Kyle, the smallest of the four with us, must have had eight smores, and was looking for more. I don't know where this kid put them...he's only 4' tall and skinny as a broom handle, but he loved his smores!!
Managed to take a few campfire/smore pics which I will upload later as well.
The boys are just waking up now. The plan is to have a good breakfast, then take them and their backpacks to the pickup location. They are spending the day touring downtown Toronto as well as harbourfront, then are going to an afternoon baseball game to watch our Toronto BlueJays play. From what I understand, the BJ's are going to do some promotional pics with the boys and introduce them on the JumboTron as well.
After the game, they head directly to the airport for their flight back home.
The Dome will closed today, and Loblaw's is donating 20K bottles of water for the fans. Hopefully no one will get heat stroke before the board the plane.
Thanks for the info Johhnie. The boys have been told they have to wear their full uniforms and kilts to the game for promo pics, and with this heat, they were worried about how hot it would get for them. Closing the dome will make it easier on them for sure.
Sounds like these boys had a great time, good on you!
I have been in Canada for most of my life but find my Scottish self not built for the sun.
I am sure they will enjoy the change but sun burn seems unavoidable!
The boys returned from Niagara Falls/Kitchener and had to pack up again for their long trip home the next day. They had to make sure their uniforms and kilts were in the day packs to be worn at the Blue Jay's game in the afternoon before heading to the airport.
After a quick dinner of cold meats and salads, we headed out to the back yard where I had lite a small fire in the fire pot I got last year and had yet to use, and made smores and talked about their Canadian Adventures
Kalum...the quiet one. Very nice young man and very smart and quick witted. He never said alot, but you just knew he was always thinking. Kind of reminds me of Dave, a player in my league, who never says anything during a poker game but you just know he's up to something.
Ross...the anarchist. Ross was the oldest of the four, and was always up to doing anything. He has an evil streak in him and loved to tease and torment, especially at the Host's expense! Kind of like the Milo of the group.
Harry...the clean freak. Harry celebrated his 14th b'day with us. Harry always had a smile and was eager to keep moving. If he could shower 3 times a day he would. He had packed no less than four bottles of hand santitizer with him, but he was never afraid to get dirty. He would be the Hobbes of the group though...was set trouble in motion, then just sit back and watch the fun unfold around him.
Kyle...the inquisitive one. Kyle was the youngest boy we hosted. He always had a million questions to answer and once he got the answer, he never doubted it. He was an easy mark for the others, but he would just laugh and shrug off their remarks and continue being Kyle. Every troop in the world has a Kyle in it, and I'm grateful he was staying with us as he made the adventure fun for everyone. He's the Happy of the group.
Morning eventually came and after a hearty breakfast, we loaded up my Blazer with their gear and headed to the pickup point.
Our four house guests with my daughter Ada
A couple of the Scot Leaders were already in their kilts. With temperatures expected to hit 37, it was going to be a very HOT day for these guys.
The entire Scottish contingent, just before they loaded on the bus.
Bus loaded with packs and Scouts and Leaders, ready to head out.
So long boys! Hope you enjoyed your stay.
Its been an absolute pleasure hosting these boys and participating in some if not all of their Canadian Adventures. I truly hope you all had a great time here, and look forward to emailing/skype with you all again over years. Hopefully, we will all meet again in 2013 when our Canadian group heads over to Scotland for our adventures with you.
Here is the link to my photobucket account, where all the pics we have taken are stored. Please feel free to copy/paste any/all of them for yourselves. Plans are in the works apparently to get all the pictures taken by all the host families together and send them all to each of you very soon.
I believe that kilt on the right is a Campbell of Argyle tartan. If so, it is too bad, as the local Reserve Regiment (The Lorne Scots) wears that particular tartan as part of their ceremonial kit. Aah well, I hope my clansman has a safe trip home, and many fond memories of our great country.
Comments
NOT a fun task.
But they're now eating at least. Think I'm going to 'talk' to the camp planner this morning when I see him. Most god awful-est time of the morning to get up when I don't have to go to work.
This is a link to my online photobucket, where I've uploaded all the pics we've taken so far. Scottish parents, feel free to go through them and copy/paste any you particularly like. I'll post a few of the nicer ones here shortly.
Scottish Scouts pictures by STR82ACE - Photobucket
Some of our more timid wildlife, the boys wanted to take a few home though
This little guy was trapped in a garbage can, poor thing. We informed the office and they quickly came and rescued the little guy
A walk through Crawford Lake Conservation Area
Crawford Lake. The lake bottom contains many artifacts of the Iroquois settlement that once lived here
Just a few of our visitors in front of Crawford Lake
Harry, the one in yellow, celebrated his 14th birthday with us
Give a Scot a tennis ball and a old branch, and you soon have a crazy game of Rounders happening
Even the leaders got involved...Scouts vs Leaders...you just KNOW this would be a riot
No one kept score, but I believe the boys kicked Leader Butt!
Took me a long time for find a St Andrew's Cross, but it flies nicely in front of our home. The boys took it with them to camp...their going to get everyone to sign it and then they can take it back home with them.
A few group shots first though
Entrance to the park, waiting for tickets
Newest ride...WINDSEEKER...goes up 30+ stories! not sure if any of the boys went on it though
BEHEMOTH...the parks largest roller coaster. I KNOW most of them went on this one
Wonder Mountain. Manmade, and has cliff divers a few times a day
Lunch time at Medieval Buffet...everyone was enjoying the day so far
These guys put on an amazing trampoline and diving show
This is the ONLY feature at the park that is extra cost other than food and drink. It's a 150ft vertical drop and swing that reaches speeds of 100km/h (approx 60mph) at the bottom of the swing. These four boys were brave enough to give it a try.
The boys are rigged in safety harnesses, then hooked up in a laying position before being pulled up BACKWARDS 150ft in the air.
Almost there
3..2..1..LAUNCH
The looks on their faces says it all
The Four Scottish Supermen!!
End of the day, gathering for a head count. Everyone had a great day!!!
Now, if you never seen 50+ kids home from a week long camp, without shower facilities, and after running out of bug spray mid week, this was a sight to see. It seems like the Scottish contingent were particularly favoured by the various mosquitoes, black flies, and horse flies, as most of the boys were simply covered with bites. That aside though, everyone had a great camp. The boys enjoyed the fact that they had to canoe everywhere up there to attend the various activities, including meals, and my boys in particular enjoyed the archery and rifle shooting. Apparently, one of our guests, Kyle, who never shot a firearm before, is quite the sniper! He scored 88/100 on his first round, and only improved after that. We're calling him the Scottish Jason Bourne.
However, Kyle's day only got worse, and his backpack with all his gear went missing. All he had on him was the clothes he came home in, no sleeping gear, no wash gear, not so much as a change of socks. We immediately put out the call to the organizers and the search was on. We finally got a call around 9pm...the backpack was found and we will pick it up later this morning. Kyle is in a MUCH happier place now, thank you very much.
Found out that two of the boys have yet to see Deathly Hallows Part 1. Now the intention was to take them to see the movie today, but honestly, how can I do that when they haven't seen the first one yet? So I found my copy of P1 and plugged it in, but only one of the boys made it to the end. I guess sleeping on soft mattresses after a week on the ground was just too inviting for the other three.
So todays agenda includes a picnic in Ching Park, then perhaps a trip to the War Plane Heritage Museum, then off to see Deathly Hallows Part 2 in the 'cinema'.
The boys have been great. They're having a great time and really don't want to go home yet. I'll miss them when they leave, but not as much as RJ will. She's having a great time with them.
good on you tho i think any kid woulda had the time of his life on a trip like that...
I have over 800+ pics to upload from the weekend. I'll post a revised link to my photobucket and post some of the pics here soon.
Of course, a quick trip to Walmart was necessary for some reason...even the cheap bins of video games were a bit too pricey for these boys, but one did manage to find an American football to take back home with him
Even my dog was happy to see all of them return...she put up with their shenanagians.
Now what's a trip to Canada without sampling some of our delicious POUTINE! These boys were skeptical, but willing to give it a go
Well, almost all of them enjoyed it
Of course, when I showed them MY dish, they went gaagaa over the sloppy mess of heart attack inducing goodies
Apparently, a REAL hot day in Scotland in summer time is anything OVER 20degrees C!!!!
Parents...I literally have over 1000 pictures uploaded to my photobucket!!! Please feel free to browse and copy any of them.
http://s70.photobucket.com/home/STR82ACE/index
I also believe one of the leaders will be collecting all the pictures from all the host families and putting them on either a jumpdrive or disc and each participant will get a copy sent to them after the end of this adventure.
They return again on Wednesday evening, when I will treat them to their last Canadian delicacy in my own back yard...SMORES!!! Then on Thursday morning, we see them off for the last time in the morning as they spend the day touring downtown Toronto Ontario, then watch a Professional Baseball game prior to heading to the airport for the long trip home.
Once back to my place, the boys promptly started to repack their backpacks for their flight back home later today. Now I can't speak for the other host families, but I know we gave each of our boys a few items of memorabilia to take home, and they bought souvenirs as well, so repacking MORE than they came with proved to be a bit of a chore. Still, I believe everything is accounted for and packed now...but the bags could explode if looked at the wrong way!!!
After a cold supper (too hot to start the stove) of salads, cold roast beef and chicken, and what not, the boys headed downstairs to watch "Shawn of the Dead", with my daughter. I'm not much into zombie movies, so I let the watch while I went outside to start the fire for making smores.
With the movie over, everyone came outside, grabbed a chair and a cold drink, and I gave each boy a long stick with a marshmallow for roasting. For proper roasting, its an art form...trying to perfectly toast up a marshmallow without it catching fire can be challenging. One boy, Kalum, proved to be a natural at it though. Once toasted, we put each mallow between two graham wafers, with a piece of Hersey's chocolate that melted perfectly. A smore is the PERFECT campfire food/snack, but can be quite filling. Each boy had a couple, but Kyle, the smallest of the four with us, must have had eight smores, and was looking for more. I don't know where this kid put them...he's only 4' tall and skinny as a broom handle, but he loved his smores!!
Managed to take a few campfire/smore pics which I will upload later as well.
The boys are just waking up now. The plan is to have a good breakfast, then take them and their backpacks to the pickup location. They are spending the day touring downtown Toronto as well as harbourfront, then are going to an afternoon baseball game to watch our Toronto BlueJays play. From what I understand, the BJ's are going to do some promotional pics with the boys and introduce them on the JumboTron as well.
After the game, they head directly to the airport for their flight back home.
I have been in Canada for most of my life but find my Scottish self not built for the sun.
I am sure they will enjoy the change but sun burn seems unavoidable!
The boys returned from Niagara Falls/Kitchener and had to pack up again for their long trip home the next day. They had to make sure their uniforms and kilts were in the day packs to be worn at the Blue Jay's game in the afternoon before heading to the airport.
After a quick dinner of cold meats and salads, we headed out to the back yard where I had lite a small fire in the fire pot I got last year and had yet to use, and made smores and talked about their Canadian Adventures
Kalum...the quiet one. Very nice young man and very smart and quick witted. He never said alot, but you just knew he was always thinking. Kind of reminds me of Dave, a player in my league, who never says anything during a poker game but you just know he's up to something.
Ross...the anarchist. Ross was the oldest of the four, and was always up to doing anything. He has an evil streak in him and loved to tease and torment, especially at the Host's expense! Kind of like the Milo of the group.
Harry...the clean freak. Harry celebrated his 14th b'day with us. Harry always had a smile and was eager to keep moving. If he could shower 3 times a day he would. He had packed no less than four bottles of hand santitizer with him, but he was never afraid to get dirty. He would be the Hobbes of the group though...was set trouble in motion, then just sit back and watch the fun unfold around him.
Kyle...the inquisitive one. Kyle was the youngest boy we hosted. He always had a million questions to answer and once he got the answer, he never doubted it. He was an easy mark for the others, but he would just laugh and shrug off their remarks and continue being Kyle. Every troop in the world has a Kyle in it, and I'm grateful he was staying with us as he made the adventure fun for everyone. He's the Happy of the group.
Morning eventually came and after a hearty breakfast, we loaded up my Blazer with their gear and headed to the pickup point.
Our four house guests with my daughter Ada
A couple of the Scot Leaders were already in their kilts. With temperatures expected to hit 37, it was going to be a very HOT day for these guys.
The entire Scottish contingent, just before they loaded on the bus.
Bus loaded with packs and Scouts and Leaders, ready to head out.
So long boys! Hope you enjoyed your stay.
Its been an absolute pleasure hosting these boys and participating in some if not all of their Canadian Adventures. I truly hope you all had a great time here, and look forward to emailing/skype with you all again over years. Hopefully, we will all meet again in 2013 when our Canadian group heads over to Scotland for our adventures with you.
Here is the link to my photobucket account, where all the pics we have taken are stored. Please feel free to copy/paste any/all of them for yourselves. Plans are in the works apparently to get all the pictures taken by all the host families together and send them all to each of you very soon.
Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket