Canada - Ottawa, War Museum and Tree Links - 28th May to 31st May

My Canadian trip had got off to a flyer and I had no intention of slowing down. As I awoke on the morning of the 28th the rain was falling hard, I slid open the door and could see everyone was up getting ready for the day. Scott was off to work but the girls were off school so as we sat down for breakfast we discussed our plans and decided to head off to the War Museum in Ottawa. With the decision made we got ourselves ready and Andrea dropped the three of us off at the museum. After marvelling at the size of the place from the outside we headed in for a whirl wind tour of Canadian history. The girls shared their knowledge, following some recent studies in school, and I started to learn about Canada and its history. As we made our way round the museum we had some fun with some costumes and posed for photos in some precarious positions around the models. The girls and I laughed at some of our actions as our ability to pose for a camera was priceless. After breaking for lunch outside we headed back into the museum where Katrin was scared out of her wits in a booth that shouts angrily at you whilst you attempt pull ups. Feeling her anguish I headed into the booth and attempted some pull ups of my own, failing miserable of course. The final part of the museum was the most interesting part for me as it described modern day wars and conflicts and the threats that the world faces today. This was right up my alley.

As the day wore on the rain fell harder, lucky for us we did not have to walk back as Andrea was on hand to collect us from the museum door and drive us back to hers. Later, Andrea and I hit the Asian market; I looked around the store with the promise of cooking up a dish from my cooking course in Thailand. After picking up the ingredients we headed back and I got to work on dinner. Putting into practice my skills from Thailand I used the awesome facilities that were on hand to deliver a work of art, ha just kidding, well in my eyes it was and it was complimented from all angles in the house. Satisfied with my work we sat back for the evening with a glass of wine and hockey on the box.

The next day the weather was just as bad as the day before. The girls were in school today so it was just me and Andrea for the day. With a slow start to the morning we eventually headed into the mall, with rabens on my mind and an outfit for her party on Andrea's we got to work on the shops, although it did not take long for me to realise that there was no chance of finding my beloved pair of shoes. I met back up with Andrea for an Asian style lunch and we chatted about all sorts including her party the following night. After a relaxing bite to eat we headed back to the car, calling in the Disney store on the way out for a nosey. After arriving back I headed out for a walk with Stimpy before spending the afternoon on the net as the rain was still falling and I did not feel like being outside for too long. As evening arrived I decided to offer another Asian dish for dinner, with not a complaint from the previous meal I was greeted with optimum for the second dish and tonight I decided to make Sweet and Sour Chicken. After cooking up I sat back and dreamt of opening an Asian style restaurant, 'dam I am good with this I thought' marvelling at my own success. With the evening upon us we all decided to head out to the movies in true Friday night fashion, the film, Night at the Museum 2. Never before have I been in a cinema with so many kids, although I felt like one as I sat back and watched the sequel to one of my favorite movies of recent times (sad I know). Get this, at the end of the film there was even a round of applause, now that brought some colour to my face as I slumped into my chair, although I have to say the the lead female actress was most eye catching. After arriving home I played New Zealand skydive videos to everyone, including yours Rachel. After a few laughs Andrea, Scott and I sat back and watched Stranger than Fiction, a slightly different film but enjoyable all the same with Will Ferrell.

The next morning Andrea and Scott took Juliet to her horse show whilst Katrin and I headed into town for a bit before visiting the art gallery. However as we hopped on the bus down the road from their house to get there I placed both my tickets in the drivers box and as I sat down realised, much to my despair ,that I had over paid for the ride. Katrin laughed and I had my head in my hands only thinking of the abuse Rachel would have given me. After a walk around the town we headed to the art gallery where, situated just outside, was a giant sculpture of a huge spider and this set the scene pretty well for the art gallery. As we headed in Katrin explained a few things to me as I questioned the artistic talent of some of the displays, 'a pile of bricks' really? I asked, although I was told it was the idea. In fairness some of the art was of real interest and was stunningly displayed. After lunch we headed back to the bus station, where we queued for a little under 20 minutes to replace my lost tickets, opps. On the way back we took the longer walk so as to call in at the Asian food market where I picked up some last minute ingredients for my tapas dish for tonight's party. I was making Spring rolls, a whole 36 of them. After a couple of hours of preparation I was ready to start cooking my rolls. All perfectly wrapped and stuffed with pork, noodles and seasoning I ended up smoking out the kitchen, seriously I did as the oil foamed away and the extractor fan roared trying to deal with the smoke. Scott chuckled as he came back down stairs finding the kitchen half burnt down, (doing a mossy), but after about 30 minutes of frying they were ready and also Katrin's dish had been cooked to perfection. As I cleaned up my mess Scott got to work on his masterpiece consisting of pizza and an awesome rhubarb relish.

After the food was prepared the party started, guests arrived and I spent the night chatting and meeting all of their friends, including Andrea's sister, my cousin of course. I also met some of Andrea's students some of who invited me to a cottage party for the following weekend which should be a barrel of fun! As the booze flowed the night passed quickly, the spring rolls were gone and in a blink of an eye so were the guests. After a quick clean up and a boozy message to Rachel on Facebook I hit the sack ready for tree hopping fun in the morning.

The sun shone through brightly as I opened my eyes at around 7.30am. My head was hurting slightly from all the wine, (2 glasses), and with everyone excited we all wished Andrea a 'Happy Birthday' before heading out towards Wakefield. On route Scott spoke about a raccoon in a bag in an attempt to make me nervous and the girls laughed at his humour. I didn't bite and the weather was perfect as I waited in anticipation for the day ahead. After the payment was made and my bowl shifted once again in nervousness we collected our equipment and we were away. Andrea was the paparazzi for the day, with a video recorder in one hand and a digital camera in the other. Scott, the girls and I listened intently to our briefing before setting off on a tree topping, high wire extravaganza. Scott and I bounced away trying to put each other off on different occasions; we battled a range of crossings including hose pipe hoops, barrels, balancing wire and much, much more. All of us laughed as each other struggled, Juliet offered to kick her Dad in his face for wobbling her wire, whilst I got my feet tangled in wood and rope. Andrea stood down below watching, filming and laughing at our antics. As we ended each part of the course on a zip wire we unfortunately neared the end of the course, although not before hitting the Extreme zip wire of course. Only Scott, Juliet and I tackled this one. The zip wires were long and extremely high up, seriously I don't know if I would have done it before my skydive so that shows the affect of falling 15,000 feet. After we clipped ourselves on and set off we howled as we crossed valleys and lakes, taking in as much of the scenery as possible, whilst trying to control the speed as we were heading to the trees below. I even managed to do a 720 degree turn to finish although I nearly took my thumb off doing it. As the course came to an end the rain just started to fall, our timing was perfect. Sad to be leaving we handed back our equipment and laughed as we looked back and refelcted on the fun we had enjoyed. We then drove into the small town of Wakefield where we enjoyed lunch to recharge our batteries; I tried a Reuben Sandwich which was a mix of ham, cheese and Dijon mustard with chips, literally (crisps for the English in us)

After an exhilarating day we headed back home calling in on route at the movie store fto pick up a couple of films for the afternoon. We spent the rest of the day laid back, relaxing and sleeping whilst watching a true British favorite, Hot Fuzz. As the evening rolled in we enjoyed the left over tapas from the previous night before watching the second Stanley Cup final playoff game between Pittsburgh and Detroit. I even got to see my first live hockey fight at the end, a perfect end to a perfect day.