As I mentioned we went to Presqu’ile Park on Wednesday. Here are some of the pictures I took.

As you can see the weather was great.

On Thursday we were going to Charleston Lake and 1000 Islands area, but at the last minute we decided to take them across the border to the USA as neither had been before. Judy was so excited she could hardly sit still in the evening.

We set off in the morning and drove to the border crossing at 1000 Islands and managed to get through customs etc pretty quick with visa waivers in hand. They were very excited to get a USA stamp in their passports. We drove down to Watertown which is only a few miles over the border and stopped at the mall as it was a convenient place to stop. We had a coffee in the book shop and then spent quite a while in the book shop as both Judy and David and indeed myself all love books. Contrary to what we are led to believe the books are still cheaper in America.

We wandered round the mall for a while and drove through the town then decided to drive back over the border to visit the 1000 Islands whilst we were there. The views over the river when you cross the border are truly spectacular. We drove down by the riverside and took some more pics.

As you can see the temps were even better than the previous days – they certainly brought the Spanish weather with them.

On the way home we stopped off in Kingston to eat at Kelsey’s as they fancied a burger. They ordered the peppercorn burgers and they loved them. We have been spoilt this week with David cooking as he is fantastic – me thinks I will have to up the ante when he goes home or Chris will be moving to Spain!

On Friday we were all flaked out so we spent the day at home relaxing on the deck. One again temps were in the high 20′sC and we just sat outside reading and chatting, it was lovely. J & D cannot believe the weather here, they expected it to be really cold and wet. They also expected us to live in an igloo, but that is another story!

On Saturday we took David into town so he could pick up their hire car to travel to Niagara in. He had ordered a Pontiac G6 which he thought was really cool, but ended up being upgraded to a Pontiac Grand Prix – he was like a dog with two tails. I drove home with him so he could get used to using cruise control and find the way home from the 401.

Here is the dog and if you look carefully you will see his tails wagging!

In the afternoon we drove down to Picton to show then around this lovely little town. Judy loved all the little shops so much I suggested we drive onto Bloomfield which is known for its quaint little shops full of all sorts of nic nacs. Although the men didn’t seem too impressed, we ladies loved it. After, we drove home and relaxed.

On Sunday they drove down to Niagara Falls in their new car and our sat nav which apparently came in very handy. They come back on Tuesday evening so we will catch up on their tales then.

Yesterday was out first full day together and they got up really early as they were still on European time. We spent the morning catching up on thing and then later took them into Belleville to show them the sights. We took them to the mall and Chapters book shop which they were really impressed with. We toured the city and went across the bridge to The County and went along Rednersville Road where there are some really nice waterfront properties.

We went shopping and they were very impressed with the choice and price of food available. $200 of food shopping later we went home and my uncle cooked us a meal. I know you are all thinking, poor man, he comes here on holiday and has to cook a meal. But he loves cooking and is very good at it so is doing us all a favour – honest!

Every night we get deer in our garden and we had told them about this. So, with video camera set we waited for them to come – but no, the deer decided that last night was going to be their night off – making liars of us, typical!

The evening was spend watching telly and chatting, but soon the jet lag was catching up and they went to bed.

Today we went to Presqu’ile Provincial Park in Brighton. Trouble was many of the trails were flooded and inaccessible, but we still managed to visit a lot of the places and the lighthouse etc. They were amazed that Lake Ontario was so vast and looked to all intense and purposes like the sea. The weather was great and temps up to 16C so they haven’t got frostbite yet!

Tomorrow we are going up to 1000 Islands and Charleston Lake which should be really nice.

The realtor we are using in the 1000 Islands area sent us details of a couple of properties she thought we would like and so we are going to see them, probably tomorrow.

We thought we had pretty much stopped looking to move this side of winter, but the houses look very promising, so we are going to take a look. If they are not suitable, at least it will be a day out for us!

Today we are off to Presquile Provincial Park which is nearby in Brighton, just to the west of Belleville. So will report back on that later.

We drove to an area called Brown’s Bay which has a large parking lot, grassy areas with picnic tables and is right on the shores of the St Lawrence River. It cost us just over $12 for the car to enter and then you can stay all day.

We basically wandered around and as it was in the middle of the school holidays and this is a known tourist area it was relatively empty. There was a large group of people in one area all picnicking and another large group of young people who has BBQ’s going and then just odd people and families dotted about. If this had been in the UK it would have been packed.

There were quite a few people playing in the water as you can go out quite far here and still only be waist deep, so kid friendly. The swimming area is segregated from the rest of the water for safety.

We noticed that there was a huge amount of animal poo on the grass and you really had to watch where you were stepping. Much of it seemed to be from the many geese that wandered around.

This is a very picturesque area and as you look across the water you are viewing the American coast line. Some of the islands along the waterway are American and some are Canadian. You can cross over to America just a few km along from here where there is a long bridge with a border crossing. We used this when we went to New York City in December.

There are quiet a few facilities here including toilets, showers, mobile canteen selling snacks and when we were there a group with a karaoke machine and people singing along with huge BBQ’s going.

We also saw black squirrels, which are actually grey squirrels, but just black in colour!

On Tuesday we went to see the house we had found on MLS. It had the most fantastic views across the St Lawrence River and the islands near the 1000 Islands area of Ontario. However the house itself was pretty tired looking and would need a lot of work to bring it up to anything like what we already have. It was half the size of our current house, which is not too much of a problem as our house is huge, but the general condition let it down. It would have needed new windows, floors, kitchen, bathrooms etc. So in the end we decided against it even though the price was pretty good and we could have done it up and made money on it. The trouble was it needed a lot spending on it before you could see a return and of course that is only if you then sold it.

We will keep looking just to see what is about and if we find somewhere else, then we can look again.

This morning we had one company come round to value our house. They seemed very impressed and kept saying “wow” as they went around. Not sure if this was genuine, or just one of their gimmicks. They said that they had looked at comparables in the area but after looking round the house ours was better than many others so they would have to go away and look into it some more. They are coming back tomorrow afternoon.

We have another company coming tomorrow morning and a third on Saturday morning, so we will have to wait and see what they all say. Until we know what we can get for our house we cannot commit to buying anything, not that we have found anything yet.

Our chipmunk is so tame now that if we open the front door or the garage door his comes overt to greet us. Today when I opened the door to the realtor, she stood there looking petrified as Chip was happily dancing round her feet. I explained that he was tame and only looking for food, but she didn’t seem convinced!

We had no idea what we would have to do at the boarder, as we had never travelled across a country boarder by car before. We got to the crossing at Alexandria and had to hand over our passports. We were then told to park up and go into the main building to be processed. Other than the four of us there was only one other guy there so we were seen pretty much straight away.

The guy filled in the visa waiver forms for us and just got us to sign them, which made a nice change from having to do them ourselves on the plane. We then had out fingerprints taken electronically and pics taken, just like at the airport. They then stamped our passports and we were on our way about half an hour later.

Once we got into America the weather started to clear and soon the sun was shining – God bless America! We travelled down non-descript roads for many miles, but soon we were driving through some really lovely scenery with lots of large hills (or small mountains) and small towns. We stopped off for lunch half way and then continued onwards. At what age do kids stop asking “are we there yet?” We thought that at the ages of 20 and 22, they would be passed this, but no!

Eventually we got to the outskirts of New Jersey where we would be staying, but then we hit bad traffic (it was rush hour). We crawled into the city and eventually found our hotel, the trouble was it was on the opposite side of the road with no way to cross over. We continued to drive to the end of the road, but it never seemed to end and we got really lost. After spending about 20 minutes driving around and being sent here there and everywhere by the sat nav we eventually got into the hotel – more by luck than judgement. By this time we were exhausted and just wanted to shower and eat.

I checked into the hotel only to find that we had been reserved two smoking rooms when I had specifically phoned and requested non-smoking. I was furious as both my husband and I do not smoke and positively hate smoking. The girls didn’t care as they smoke anyway. I complained to the manager but he said they had no non-smoking rooms left and we had to take it or leave it. We were so fed up we just put up with it, but the room stinks. After a shower we went out to a local restaurant for a very nice meal and then basically fell into bed and slept.

Today (Thursday 15 °C) we got up and had breakfast at the hotel buffet – what is it with Americans and sweet things for breakfast? At 9am we caught the bus from outside the hotel to Manhattan. The trip took only 15 mins and was very easy. We then went to Times Square as the girls really wanted to see it. We spent about an hour there and then we walked down to the Empire State building. It was quite cloudy over the city, so the view was not perfect, but it was still worth the visit.

View from Empire State

After this we took the subway to Lower Manhattan and went to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately the cloud was such that the view was quite poor, so we decided to get a closer look and go across on the ferry.

Once we got to the island the weather was great – the cloud cleared and with the warmth it was really lovely. We had dinner in the restaurant and then we all went off to take pics etc.

After about two hours on the island we returned to Manhattan and walked up to Ground Zero. We had last been there in 2004, so were eager to see how it had changed. The girls had not been there before, so it was all new to them. We walked all round the area and along one fence a lot of pictures had been added with a history of that fateful day. It is an incredibly moving area and even the girls began to appreciate the hugeness of the event that took place.

After paying our respects we walked down to the Seaport area to go to the Bodies exhibition. This is where actual human bodies are used as exhibits. We were not sure what to expect but it was really interesting. You could say it was gory, but it really wasn’t. It is divided into sections such as circulation, birth, bones etc and it really explains how the human body is put together. It is truly amazing and well worth a visit. Hopefully the disgusting effects on the human lungs of a smoker will put the girls off smoking, but I doubt it.

We then went to the riverside area and went to the Pier shopping area where the girls went off to spend some more money whilst us oldies sat and chilled on the bench. We then walked back to the subway and travelled back to Times Square. We separated from the girls who wanted to go their own way and had a bite to eat at a local café then made our way back to the hotel. We had been told to catch a number 163 bus, but when we tried to board we were told it did not stop at our stop. We then had to join another long queue for another bus. Trouble was once on it we didn’t realise you had to press a button to get the bus to stop and we watched out hotel pass by. We eventually got off the bus and had to walk about half a mile back to the hotel.

We are back there now, but worrying if the girls are going to manage to get back ok.

We started out in the morning after a hearty breakfast at Denny’s, then just followed our noses. There are some simply beautiful lakes around this area and we kept stopping off to take a look and take the odd picture.

It is really nice just to take a drive as you often don’t venture too far from home and miss out on many things, which are really close by.

We did this the other week when we went down onto Prince Edward County and visited the Sandbanks area. This is a stunning bit of coastline and we are thrilled to have a great beach so close. It will be a nice place to take my aunt and uncle when they come over next year from Spain – not sure if we can compete with Spain though?

Anyone know of any other really nice locations in the area?

Yesterday we booked flights for hubby’s daughter and her friend to come over in December. They are coming over on the 4th and staying till the 19th. They want to visit Niagara Falls, Toronto, New England etc. We are happy to take them to these places depending on what the weather is like at this time. If there is six foot of snow, then maybe not!

I am sitting looking out of the window and we have a sudden influx of American Robins in the garden. We had thought that they had all left for the winter as we hadn’t seen any for a while, but there are about 20 in the garden at the moment. We have also seen loads of Dark Eyed Juncos which a lovely little birds.

It is pouring with rain today – again, so probably won’t be going too far today. Hubby also wants to get the drywall for the basement but needs to wait until the weather is better to avoid it becoming wetwall.