Tag: #Canada

Niagara-on-the-Lake

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Niagara-on-the-Lake is a Canadian town located in Southern Ontario where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region of the southern part of the province of Ontario. It is located across the Niagara River from Youngstown, New York, US. It is the only town in Canada that has a Lord Mayor.

Lots of places along the way to buy fresh locally grown fruit, as you can see by Sara’s experience with the peach, it is very tasty, juicy and wholesome, definitely get the thumbs up from us and the man was extremely pleasant to buy from. The original plan was to pick our own fruit but we were unlucky on this trip as it was too late in the day.

The crystal clear water was actually quite warm and very still and as the sun slowly set the water was very calming to be near.  After sunset, we took a very causal stroll around the many independent shops unfortunately, most of them were closed or closing as we got there but nonetheless was really interesting to see the variety that is present in such a small area.  If you are visiting Niagara Falls, I would strongly recommend a visit to Niagara-on-the-Lake, very beautiful, less hustle and bustle and a very romantic place to be!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Niagara Falls…part 3

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After the Falls we went to Hershey’s, the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America.  Hershey is one of the oldest chocolate companies in the United States, and an American icon for its chocolate bar.

Then onto Baskin Robins.  Baskin-Robbins is the world’s largest chain of ice cream specialty shops.  It was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in Glendale, California.  The company is known for its “31 flavors” slogan, with the idea that a customer could have a different flavor every day of any month. The company has introduced more than 1,000 flavors since 1945.

Then onto the park behind the house before we go home…makes the visit worthwhile even more for the crazy trio!  

http://www.hersheys.com

http://www.baskinrobbins.ca

  
    
    
    
    
    
    
   

Niagara Falls…part 1

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These are photos from the famous Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls which is about a 10 minute walk (without stopping at any attraction) from top to bottom, where you then reach the sights of the American Falls.  There is plenty of things to do and eat here and particularly for children this is a blast, unless you unleash your inner child, patience will have to be on the menu as kids want to do everything…at the same time and then repeat as if they had never done it in the first place!

http://www.cliftonhill.com
              

Tomatoe picking in Niagara Falls…Mmmm

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Arrived in Niagara for a short three day trip.  Niagara is a region which is located in southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.  Niagara has a total population of over 427,000.

Nour’s eldest sister Baria lives in Niagara Falls and her house number is 6919, I am sure you would never find numbers to houses in four digits in the UK, it’s crazy as there are no where near that many houses in the neighbourhood never mind the the road, it’s as if they just keep counting!

It was over a two hour journey from Toronto and the kids were fed up, the heat and the traffic.  When we arrived, they liked the house, buzzed off their cousins cool ride driven by Nour and attacked the variety of tomatoes growing in her back garden like little Cornish Seagulls with no hesitation at all…they were happy, very happy!  Can’t wait to visit the famous Falls again tomorrow and  hopefully have time during our short visit this time to visit Niagara on the Lake, a place we first visited during our honeymoon in 2002.
 

  
   
    
    
 

Balsam Lake Provincial Park

On By mubeenazamIn Balsam Provincial Park, September 2015, Uncategorized2 Comments

Another visit to a Provincial Park to visit close friends who were camping and were on their last day there.

We call them the ‘Saleh’s’ taken from their surname ‘Saleh’, they have been blessed with four daughters and together are a bit of a crazy bunch.  They camp a lot as their father (Darwish, or Dan) has a love and admirable passion of fishing and has got everything under the sun you can imagine for a successful and adventurous camping trip, to be honest, if the world ended, as long as he had his army knife, fishing rod and his slick boat he would probably be fine (don’t know about the rest of us though!).

Turned out to be another beautiful day and was a very nice campsite with excellent facilities.  The young lady with the fish is Zaynab (or Za Za as they call her, I like to call her the ‘fishinator’) who as you can see has a special relationship with fish that she and her father catch, hard to let go I suppose, a slippy relationship!

Ali Hadi (Rosie’s son) looks proud to show off his catch which he didn’t catch but still makes a nice picture, such an innocent smile!).  Then there is my Maryam who courageously accepted the challenge of holding the fish and still managed to pull of her mesmerising smile, oh and by the way, she wants the world to know that this picture was her last day of being four years old.  Then there is Sara and Fatimah, cheeky little madams, I am sure they were up to something when I as not looking, wouldn’t you agree?

What do you get if you leave a slice of juicy watermelon near Sara…a slice of juicy watermelon that is asking to be attacked…and I have to say, she does a really good job of it!

And that fish that was caught by the fishinator earlier in the day, extremely tasty when barbecued!

Excellent company, sizzling weather, very fishy fish, juicy, scrumptious corn, long drive for one day but a fantastic day nonetheless and definitely worth it!

http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/balsamlake



 
  
  
  
  

BBQ with the family on a crazily hot day!

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I love BBQs, the smell, the taste of the food from the. BBQ, the environment that is created, and oh yes, good company!  It was over 35 today with crazy humidity! Food is very welcome, the adults are too shy to get in the pool, apparently when you get to this age, we are too cool for the pool, we just sit on the side and eat, eat, eat and then drink coffee whatever the weather…I really need to drink less coffee, it seems to come with every part of the day and every snack, damn it it just keeps coming and the smell is soooo good!

I need to detox!

    
 

Garden renovation…part 4

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The paths in the garden were used to create different angles leading  to the different areas of the garden. The table and chairs weren’t really used in the garden and now have their place, their finish really complements the rest of the garden now.

The stone benches have been made to create simple and economical sitting areas that both the children and adults love, the single bench is directly under a beautiful acer tree that was a bit lost before but was then trimmed and the bushes around it were removed.  A planted area has been added in front of the side fence which looks more inviting.

The path that leads to the two metal containers in the middle of the garden becomes a bit of a central feature and is important as these belonged to Rosie’s mother (Rosie is my sister in law).  I was never fortunate enough to meet Rosie’s mother but from the people who knew her, she was a beautulful human being who was caring, loving, welcoming, generous, and made absolutely amazing food, I guess this is why Rosie’s cooking is always so delicious and homely!

This ones for you my beautiful sister Rosie, you will always be loved and I will always be indebted for everything you do for me so lovingly and selflesly.  More to come as we have not finished with this garden yet as the grass will not be staying and a fence still to be made…

  
    
    
    
 

Just chillin…

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Another beautiful day, weather is really amazing and such a gift for the soul, everything is so much better when the weather is warm and sunny, something I should not take for granted as the UK is not as blessed with this sort of weather and when we do experience anything like this, it is very short lived.

Wasn’t sure what to do today, didn’t want to do anything too stressful so decided to just chill in the pool with my lovely Sara who makes the most adorable noises and facial expressions when she in the water, reminiscent of Fatimah and Maryam when they were this age.  When she gets nervous it is painful…very painful as she grabs me so tight as if she is drowning off the titanic, she grips my hair (my eyebrows, my arm hair, leg hair as if she is abseiling off a rocky mountain and her life totally depends on it, she closes her eyes as if she is an intimate conversation with the Lord asking to be saved from a mini tribulation!

Luckily in these pictures the above mentioned events were not taking place and she is calm and collected because she knows that I am there for her and always will be.  I am blessed with an enchanting kiss from her that I did not ask for, she just felt like presenting me with at that moment for whatever reason and that reminds me of how lucky Nour and I are to have such a wonderful little girl who brings so much happiness to so many people.  Love you eternally Sara.