Catch-up report -- two days in one entry!

Rosie
Here is a report for today and yesterday .

Yesterday :
We woke up went snorkelling and found more shells and rocks . Then we hung out and had breakfast . Then we went to the store to buy things like : drinks , cookies and the store manager’s wife makes these homemade purses so , we bought one . Then we went back home and hung out and I did some homework . Then we ate lunch : egg sandwiches made by my dad . Then we went swimming again Then we relaxed . After that we ate supper : bacon grilled cheese , corn from Willy and refried beans ! It was so good ! Then we went by Susan’s house to talk about some things . Then we went to Sol Y Mar for desserts and drinks , I had a Fresca and my parents had drinks . I had a brownie with ice cream ( the brownie was still hot !) Then we walked back on the beach home and then we relaxed and went to bed .

Today we woke up a little late and went swimming . Then the cleaning lady came to clean our house while we went for breakfast at Oceano’s . I had home made fries , toast , bacon , scrambled eggs and fruit . It was very good ! Then we went on the internet at the restaurant to check things . Then we saw our neighbours from downstairs eating there too ! Then we went to the big grocery store and bought things for the supper . Then we went swimming again . Then we finally got access to the web at our house . Then we went swimming again . I also did a little bit of pastels Then we had supper : mango chicken and played . Then we relaxed .

Got to go guys but tomorrow my mom ’s friend Suzanne is arriving to live downstairs for like 5 days .
I’m excited .
Rosie



Tim

Rosie and Mom invented a new game. To play you have to be in the water. There are two people who are chasers and one person who is the thrower. The thrower throws a rock or shell and the two chasers race to get the shell in the water. Different strategies can be use, my favourite if I know that I am not going to get the shell before the other chaser is to kick sand up from the bottom. This clouds the water and nobody can see the shell for a while.

I cannot explain how hot it is, I saw a thermometer this morning at the Oceano’s and it said 95 degrees. This was in the shade and at 9:30 am. This may be a joke on their part but it is very hot. As I said after about 10:30 you cannot walk on the sand in bare feet.

We have fallen into a pattern of early morning swim ( around 7 a.m. ) followed by breakfast and another swim before lunch. At lunch we take a break until around 2:30 when we head back swimming or take care of the hermit crab farm.

Today was the first day that there was some cloud cover but it only lasted a short time. It really did make a difference however in the temperature..

When snorkelling out front we often see a fish that looks like a big angel fish ( about 6 inches across ) They come close to us when we are swimming. I also saw a school of much smaller fish today jumping out of the water frantically. I can only assume something was chasing them. I never saw the ’chaser’ jump like Mom and Rosie did earlier in the week.

The beach here is really lovely, hard packed sand ( hard enough that people ride motorcycles and bikes on it ) The beach is probably 150 feet wide at low tide. To the left and right are hills similar in size to the Gatineau hills but much more sharp.


There have not been many good waves to boogie board lately, it is much windier than earlier in the week and the waves are much closer together.

Ola

Francine
As I mentioned before, the pace is slow and a nice change from the crazy speedy life we lead in the city. I have been swimming the equivalent of about 15 to 20 laps in a straight line, following the shore. It’s nice not having to turn plus the ocean makes one more buoyant.

I have really enjoyed napping at mid-day when the heat is at its peak. It just gives me the get-up-and-go afterwards. Otherwise, if I don’t snooze, I drag myself around the entire day. I must be a bit like my dad, who used to nap at mid-day as well. Today, I worked with Rosie on all her English homework. She’s finished her Math and most of her English. Tomorrow, we’ll tackle another subject.

Our neighbours downstairs who are from Chatham, Ontario will be leaving tomorrow and that‘s when Suzanne will take over their apartment. We look forward to showing her around the place.

When we stopped at our landlord’s house a few doors down on Friday, we discussed our upcoming tours -- like the animal refuge tour has been moved up to Monday instead of Tuesday and the Mangrove tour has been pushed to next Friday because of the tide which has changed. We look forward to seeing some crocs and wildlife in their natural habitat. Susan will also get the hammock fixed by Macho, one of her employees who is also a tour guide and driver at times. Our landlord Susan’s house is really neat -- she is an artist and her husband who is British is a sculptor. Their house is like a bit of an art gallery, paintings hanging everywhere, sculptures adorning every corner, kayaks underneath the house, two to three dogs hanging about, lizards everywhere and a neat garden filled with sea shells, more of Andrew’s sculptures and weird looking exotic plants. Neat.

Today, I got to tease the owner at Oceano’s who hails from Toronto because he had a Maple Leafs Sign up behind the bar. Funny that his Internet access was working and ours hadn’t for the last couple of days. Finally, when we were able to have access to the Web at home later in the day, we cheered in unison! What a thrill it was to view your comments both on the blog and via email . What fun to view the two latest Têtes à claques videos without waiting a gazillion minutes for them to download. The access seems much better. We feel connected.

After supper, we played a game called « restaurant » in which we took turns being the waiter and waitress. Right now, I’m sitting on the porch, listening to the crashing waves of the ocean at high tide and to the criquets. I’m almost finished reading a book by Sandra Brown called « Standoff ». Last night, I read for the first time, Orson Well’s « War of the Worlds »…

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