Showing posts with label brockville aquatarium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brockville aquatarium. Show all posts

Sunday, 4 August 2019

Gramma Camp Day 4



Thursday, August 1st

Happily, the store phoned and my recalled computer battery was replaced. Grampa offered to go and pick it up in Kingston for me.
We were looking for another activity.
Grampa wrote a poem, and the girls found out where two IDENTICAL puzzles were hidden!!!

Isabelle's clue
Not a door but by a door
Not very high but off the floor
Near your room if zoom
A desk you'll see; there it be.

Josee's clue
Not the laundry
But near that boundary
No animal there
but caged it's there

I ordered a new microwave oven from a local store. I sussed it out online, phoned and ordered it. It was $300 for the replacement part, $400 for a new microwave. I've had a microwave oven since my first marriage in 1976. My in-laws gave us one as a wedding present.

 Our guy was picking it up for us and installing it on Thursday morning. Otherwise, we all would have gone to Kingston. The girls had breakfast.


Grampa arrived home nearly three hours later, having had a nice walk in Kingston (he went to Queen's University there back in the day). We had  pit stops, then we took off to pick up my auction items in North Augusta.


From there, we went to Brockville for lunch. The parking lots were nearly full. The restaurant was PACKED. We sat at an inside booth.  I'd asked for a bun or something, as the service was understandably slow.  The girls were really hungry, and another server brought them crackers.

It's iteration #3, as far as we know, for the restaurant. Perhaps the kitchen is too small for the number of seats. They run the outside of the second floor deck, as well as inside, where we were (where the outside walls are yellow).


I've been fun trying to take photos, as I'm not sure if they are actually focused with my cataracts. (No appointment for surgery, yet.) The girls like taking photos, too.

They did really well, considering the wait. Thank goodness for crayons and menus on which to draw.


We watched the two TVs, baseball and darts!


It was a long wait, 40+ minutes. We sent them up to the kindly bartender to refill their glasses!

The aquatarium


We've been before, they feature all Ontario species.


We like the aquatarium, it has a wide variety of mechanical, technological, and physical features.



There is part of a ship reproduction, which lends itself to the day camp kids, and family entertainment!


Josee's finger in his eye!




Time to go outdoors. I realized we had a train theme going. Yesterday, for Gramma Camp Day 3, we went to the railway museum. Grampa loves trains!

The Brockville Tunnel 1860


Construction of Canada's first railway tunney, which runs from this point for 1730' in a northerly direction, began in Sept., 1854. Designed to give the Brockville and Ottawa Railway access to the riverfront, it was opened on Dec. 31, 1860. This railway, incorporated in 1853, ran from Brockville to Sand Point, near Arnprior, with  a branch line from SMiths Falls to Perth. Its first train left Brockville's Grand Trunk station on Jan., 25, 1859, almost two years before finances permitted completion of the tunnel. The Brockville and Ottawa amalgamated in 1878 with the Canada Central Railway, which was absorbed by the CPR in 1881. 
Of course, a lot of those train tracks have since been lifted, and the cleared land is used for recreation.


Josee counted her steps: 764!


Off we went home to cool off. It's been wickedly hot. You can hear the house wrens singing!



It was a very full day. I popped the girls into bed, asked Jos to set her alarm for 20 minutes of quiet reading time, and then they would turn the lights out. We were baffed!

Gramma Camp Day 1 & 2!
Gramma Camp Day 3

Sunday, 24 July 2016

Grandsitting July 2016 Aquatarium videos

It is a great place for kids. Wind, water, sand...

Otters at the aquatarium from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Water energy from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
wind energy from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
fish in watertank from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo. And while we were sleeping
Trailcam July 20 Coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Babysitting Grandkids Day 4 Thursday

Brockville hotel turning into a senior's residence
We had a "TV Breakfast", toast and fruit, what-the-heck. Our ever-loved Kratts Brothers! (We bought the series a few years ago!)
After breakfast, Gramma cancelled her 9:30 phone interview, and we took off for the Aquatarium. Off we went to Brockville.

Brockville
We took the girls during March Break, the week after they opened. They have added some new things since then. Brockville is an old city, by Canadian standards.





The Aquatarium is devoted to Ontario's lakes and waters. All of their critters are only seen in Canada.


The pirate ship is amazing. We climbed up there, and climbed down. And up. And down!


The crabs and their buddies had just been fed. You can touch them.


Then there are the otters. Feeding time is 11:30. Once people start gathering, the otters know it. We decided to come back to it.


The water table replicates the locks system. They were both soaking wet (there are bibs) but what the heck!

Even the volunteers have fun!

The trick to the otter feeding, is getting a good vantage point. Unfortunately, staff had to stand in front of us in order to feed them. We just left.


Off to the gift shop! Jos fetched a pirate turtle, Izzy a Lake Trout. I know they have a ton of toys, but this will be a good memory! Jos clutched hers. Iz decided her trout had to sit on the floor!


Lunch was a treat. It's open up here. Plexiglas on the lower half, open on the upper.  This wasn't open in March, when we first visited. We parked in the lower parking lot, which made it easy to come and go. The only problem is you have to prepay parking, and JB bought us 4 hours. Who knew how long we would be there?
The Red Hat Society was having lunch! (That will feature Friday in our shaving foam play!) The server was adamant that our drink order couldn't be beer for the kids. She certainly didn't get the week-long joke! Beer and chips all around, grampa says!


Still time on the parking metre, the parking man was obvious, as we were back to the car 4 times! Down we went to the harbour, to play on the play structure. There were a lot of grandparents with grandies!


It was a long drive home, but a good day to be in the air conditioner. We were a bit slow behind a tractor. Farmers feed cities. Poor Izzy was in the sun on her side. She had a bit of a melt down.


Our week with the kids:
Babysitting the grandkids July 2016 Days 1 and 2: Monday/Tuesday
Babysitting Grandkids Day 3 Wednesday