Surfergeeks

EDIT: Photos have been added in the Photo Gallery.

I know that I haven’t posted much on here lately. Thing is, I haven’t really had much to say or much to write about. Not sure why really – just the way that it goes.

This past weekend is definitely worth writing about though. It kicked off on Friday when we (that would be me, Nikki, and Alex) headed downtown to Ribfest. We headed immediately for the ribs as we were all hungry. Taking a look at the available menu we decided on the new menu item known as the “Vegetarian Nightmare”. It’s made up of a 1/2 rack of ribs, 1/2 a chicken and some pulled pork. Yes, I can definitely see where it may give the odd vegetarian a nightmare or two. (I’ll leave it up to you to interpret the words ‘odd’ and ‘vegetarian’ pieced together like that) Okay, so, knowing WHAT we want, the hard part of course is deciding WHERE to get it. This year there were twelve companies offering up ribs. We decided that we would hit up last year’s winner, Boss Hogg’s. As that’s the only place we had ribs from this year I don’t know if they were the best again but let me tell you, they were damn tasty. After eating we then walked around the park checking out the various booths. One of the new offerings this year was an area called Desserts of the World. One of the companies taking part in this area was offering up a greek garlic spread that was hot and spicy. We tried a sample and really liked it so we headed off to a bank machine to get some cash to pick some up. On the way back to the booth we stopped at Gilligan’s and got some lemonade. We figured we’d get the big container of spread as it was a lot cheaper than the smaller containers. Getting home, I discover that we didn’t end up with the Hot and Spicy spread – instead we got their regular spread. Oops. This spread is also quite good though. I used it Friday night on Nikki’s steak and she said it was really good on the steak.

Saturday and Sunday were rather uneventful as I had to work both days.

Yesterday we headed downtown yet again. This time our destination was Harris Park for the 2007 edition of the London Libro Balloon Festival. Instead of driving I decided that we would walk downtown, pulling Alex in his wagon. It was a pretty decent walk and Nikki was pretty worn out by the time we got there. We found a shady patch of dead grass and parked our butts. Alex had a pretty good time while waiting for the balloons to be inflated. He met two little girls that were there with their parents. He’s such a player. As it turns out, the spot we picked was just about perfect as it was right where one line of balloons would be launched from. So they finally get around to inflating the balloons and Alex was in awe. At one point they had six or seven balloons inflating and he didn’t know where to point to next. He was so excited. He’d point as they’d go up in the air and then quickly look around to see which one he was going to point at next. Once T-Rex launched we, along with the thousands of others, started filing out of the park. I decided that we would stop off at the splash pad at the forks of the Thames so that a) we could fill up the water bottles and b) I could use a non-portapottie toilet. A bunch of kids (big and small alike) were cooling themselves off in the splash pad and we encouraged Alex go splash around. He was really hesitant at first but eventually gained courage to mix-it-up with the bigger kids. He had an absolute blast. He would get wet when one sprinkler or another caught him then he would squeal in delight and run back over to where we were sitting and point in the direction as if to ask “Did you see that?” and then he would dash back into the water. He also discovered the drain where water would puddle slightly before draining away and was happily splashing around in that when one of the jets of water managed to catch him directly in the face. We, being the great parents that we are, burst out laughing as he’s standing there with this stunned look on his face. I heard a couple other parents laughing as well. One mom was trying to get him to move out of the stream without actually getting in the stream herself. He shakes off the stunned look and starts laughing. At this point the sun is starting to fall so we decide that we would head home. Man was he unhappy when we left the splash pad. He screamed halfway up the hill. Only when he was pushing the wagon up the hill – which was a HUGE help to me pulling it up. Seriously. I was NOT looking forward to hauling him AND the wagon up. When he wanted to help I was happy. When he started pushing, I was happier! We finally get home at about 9:15 and I get Alex off to bed. Needless to say, he didn’t really protest at all. I think he may have been asleep before I made it back to the living room. Nikki thinks it was a stupid idea to walk all the way down there and back – that we should of drove. I disagree. I think the walk was good for us and good for Alex. By driving everywhere he misses so much as the world just whizzes by at 50+ km/h. Sure – it was a long walk and walking home at the end was uncomfortable as we were sweaty but definitely worth it in my books. Nikki says never again so I guess next time we do anything like this Alex and I will walk and she can drive down and meet us.

There’s quite a few pics from the weekend that I’ll get posted up within the next day or so.