Kingston Day 4–Penitentiary Museum and Outdoor Aquatic Centre

Our fourth day, Friday we headed off to the Kingston Penitentiary Museum during the morning.  We had to slow the kids down and read some of the stuff to them to explain what we were looking at from time to time.  They tend to just glance over things and not take it in.  So with a bit of reading and such they actually understood some of what they were looking at and hopefully learned a few things.  I know Rob and I did.  Amazing the different methods and things people have used to try to escape.

Here are a few examples of torture methods they used to use.   The first is a box that people were left standing in for long periods of time.  Marietta is not full grown so she still has space around her, but a full grown person would have very little space to move, making one rather uncomfortable. In the second picture Matthew is trying out this torture method altho he is faaaarrrr to small.  A persons head goes into the barrel by Rob’s hand, their hands and feet are locked up in the holes and then water is poured on them from the barrel up top.  This was a method used to get people to “talk”.

 

Friday afternoons entrance to the Outdoor Aquatic Centre is free for a few hours and so we headed over there for a little bit.  I managed to take one picture before I was told that camera were not allowed on the facility …  I won’t go into my thoughts on that, all I have to say is if you have an issue with someone taking a picture of you then don’t dress like that … we live in a world of photography, be prepared and presentable at all time.

So … it was a simple water park for a reasonable rate (especially when it’s free swim time) with one waterslide, different pools with different depths, splash pads, and a lazy river (altho lazy rivers are usually slow, this was more like a whirlpool river)

This picture is taken outside of the pool area from the park area.  The flower sprinklers are outside of the pool area for park use.  Matthew got cold at the pool and wanted to go play at the park, so I took him over to the park, altho he did end up spending time in the sprinklers as well.

Since cameras are not allowed in the pool area I took this from outside the pool area … I was trying to catch the kids on the “lazy river” but it moved too fast and I missed them.

I remember hating it when the girls were younger and we would go to the park or something and someone elses kids would try to befriend my kids and play with them.   I’m not sure if I instilled that into my kids or if they were just of the same thought as they didn’t like it when other kids “bothered them” as they called it.   They had each other and I didn’t find it necessary to converse with every stranger out there, that wasn’t why I went to the park.  Now I have a kid who happily talk and play with whoever he sees and makes friends whereever he goes.  While I do try to keep him in check and not get into other kids faces, he tends to pick up on which kids are receptive (or looking for) to someone playing with them.  Guess it’s a bit different when they don’t have a “built-in” playmate

Matthew playing with a girl he met at the park.

Matthew was quite tickled about climbing this apparatus … until someone started turning it.  It was all good when it stayed still but he does not like moving things … boy he scrambled back down to the ground quickly and after that stayed away from there.

The girls had some fun on these swings after their swim.

Kingston Day 3–Marine Museum of the Great Lakes

Our third day we were on our own.  The W’s headed home early so Shawna could have her cast removed.  This meant the girls had to give up their own private room and come join mom and dad again for the next two nights. 

Breakfast time in the Lobby

We headed off to the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes for the morning.

The kid aren’t very much interested in reading museums and there was a lot of reading at this museum so they quickly lost interest once they got past the hands on stuff.  Rob on the other hand found lots that interested him and so he took his time reading while we spent some extra time exploring the coastal guard boat which was also included with admission.

We were exploring the upper level of the front of the ship when Matthew decided he was going to head back down the stairs on his own. (Small note: remember I have a sprained ankle and can’t walk the greatest)  A few steps down and Matthew falls, tumbling his way down …

His tumble ended near the bottom … he found himself hanging upside down, his leg stuck at the end of the handrails until I managed to make it down the stairs to help him untangle.  This is when he got the lesson from one of the volunteers that on a ship you should turn around and go backwards down the steps because they are steep and narrow.

After Matthew got over the shock and trauma he was okay to go again, with a good size scrap and bruise on his leg but overall in okay shape … just a bit more cautious and slow on the stairs

 

The huge steering wheel down below that is used in case of emergency to help steer if necessary

A simple cabin

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In comparison to the cabin of the executives and captains

The captains working area

After exploring the museum we headed back for an afternoon at the hotel relaxing, reading and swimming

Looking at that picture of Rebecca I just think “ouch”.  It was taken a few minutes before her fingers got crushed by a full pop can that came flying at her.  We did not bring anything that sinks to play games in the pool, so Rob figured a pop can would work.  Matthew turned his back to the pool and heaved it over his head … it didn’t make it in the pool, instead it made it onto Rebecca’s fingers, ouch indeed!

And later some game playing, video watching and more relaxing before hitting the sack for the night.  Nice time together as family enjoying each others company.

Kingston Day 1 - Wolfe Island

This summer we spent our family holiday week in Kingston from August 14-18.  We had once again scooped up a good deal this time off of Dealfind.  So for $130 we had our lodging, plus breakfast was included.  I don’t need to stay in a big fancy hotel with all the bells and whistles, just as long as it clean and respectable I’m happy.  So for the same price as a campsite (or less, depending on where you’re camping) I could enjoy a clean room with a bathroom as well as a fridge and microwave for my cooking. 

We arrived in Kingston Tuesday afternoon and met up with friends who were already there. Our room was not available yet but the kids took a quick swim before we decided to take the ferry to Wolfe Island and tour the Island. Wolfe Island is the largest of the Thousand Islands, located where Lake Ontario ends and the St. Lawrence River begins its flow to the Atlantic, but the real reason we went is because the kids had never been on a vehicle carrying ferry before.

Waiting for the ferry. 

The ferry was free and took about 20 minutes to cross.  It makes a round trip each hour.

Fort Henry from the ferry.

Royal Military College of Canada

The kids wandered and explore all aspects of the ferry, taking in where everything was, from the covered area when it rains (which we needed on the way back) to the bathrooms, stairways and whatever other neat thing they could find.

The Island itself is about 29 km long and 9km wide.   It is sparsely populated with approximately 1500 people and has a small touristy type town, a couple golf course, cottages and cabins and lots of windmills as it has the second largest wind farm in Canada with 86 turbines.  It is also known for it’s good bird watching areas.

We took a drive and ended up at the Big Sandy Bay Conservation Area where we went for a short 3km hike to the beach.  It was a very nice beach.  The kids managed to dig their bathing suits out of their suitcases, but Rob and I’s suitcase was packed too far in to get our swim trunks out.  The water was very clear and nice and warm.

We left the beach as the weather took a change and rain clouds began to form.  We made it part way back on the ferry before it began to rain.  Marietta figured she was getting wet enough anyways, she might as well take a leap and go for a swim :)

After some evening relaxation, tv and games it was time to tuck the kids into bed.  Matthew was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow … and Rob was reading, I think he might have got the first sentence done before he fell asleep.

The girls had the luxury of having their own hotel room with Jeanette and Corinna.  This was a fun experience for them.  They had their own little stash of food that they could help themselves too. They played games and had pillow fights and stayed up late and just had a good time.  Good memories I’m sure.

Swimming Lessons

The girls had not had swimming lessons for a couple years, not since the spring of 2010 when they did their last lessons in Hamilton before we lost our ability to get the low-income rates because we were no longer Hamilton residents.  So this summer it was time to break down, pay the normal rate and get them back at it.  Matthew was also old enough to start the Swimmer 1 level so he started his first year of lessons.  I find it a waste of money to put them in before they start the Swimmer 1 level as they usually get enough water exposure on their own and none of my kids have had a problem with not being able to keep up once they started the true swimming lessons.  Matthew was scared of water for a little bit and just splashed along the edges, as did Rebecca when she was younger, but by time they are old enough to start the actual lessons they are plenty good at swimming and I didn’t waste my $45-$50 for the ABC level for them to learn to splash in water or to fight to get them in water because they’re scared of it.

The kids took lessons at the local outdoor pool and we were very impressed with the lessons they got.  Much better then what we got in the city where the classes were so big that they spent more then half the time just hanging on the edge waiting for a turn.  The ratio of teacher to kids here is pretty much 1 teacher for 2-3 kids in the first levels and it’s not until the older levels that they get up to 6 kids.  In Hamilton most of the classes had closer to 10 kids.

Matthew did really well with his lessons and it was good that the other child in the class was an excellent little swimmer that gave him incentive to work hard and keep up.  During the second week of lessons she started them on Swimmer 2 items since they were both ready to progress.

The girls also did well with their lessons and enjoyed their teacher and how she got in the water with them and worked with them … the last couple levels they had in Hamilton the teacher mostly just stood on the side and yelled at them what to do.

The biggest challenge for both the girls was learning to dive … Rebecca needed a bit more work on this but with some extra practice (staying for public swimming) she got the hang of this and both girls were able to progress to Level 5 next year.

Diving through the rings (there are actually two, the one she’s holding up and one laying on the water) really helped the girls to figure out where to dive and how to jump out a bit before they go down.

I wasn’t looking forward to the two weeks of going to lessons as I find it ties you down part of the summer, but I guess I gotta just accept that and learn to work with it now that we live in the country and the indoor pools are too far away to do weekly lessons.  Thankfully I booked soon enough that all the kids could go at the same time and we mostly had good weather except the last few lessons it cooled down and rained (much needed rain) and then Matthew wasn’t so interested in going anymore.