Wibble wibble little star

Today Tom sang his first song:

"Wibble wibble little star

How I wonder what you are

Up above the clouds so park

park, park, park, park, park, park, PARK"

We were on the way to meet with Mae at the park - I think it was on his mind.  Anyway it was really cute!

Oh and Tom had a fab time at the park - as you can see from the video.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

So Tom has seen most of his family in the last couple of weeks, so we decided to round it off with a half way meet with his Granma and Pop Pop in Bristol.  The weather was looking OK - ie cold but not raining so we decided to visit the zoo - it's been a long while since I've been there!

Roar!

We set off at 9.00, got there just before 11am, luckily Granma and Pop Pop got there before and called and talked us to the same parking space as them otherwise we could have gone round and round in circles trying to find them.  The sun was shining, but it wasn't warm - where has the warmth gone????

The zoo was much smaller than I remembered, which was good, just about the right size for little legs.  Tom behaved very well - his favourite place was the aquarium - note to selves: next rainy day we should go to the Sealife Centre, once again the boring grey fish were his favourite.  Other than that, I think the pygmy hippos closely followed by the gorillas were the best.  The lions were also good - the big male lion was 'playing' with a horse's head - Tom called it a meatball which was cute.  Anyway Tom took it all in his stride and managed to keep going without getting tired.

Cute

After a good lunch, we finished off the zoo and ended up in a Splash zone - fantastic area for toddlers a little stream going through waterfalls, waterwheels, a bridge, a fountain etc etc.  Tom LOVED it.  We rolled up his jeans, took his shoes and socks off and he potted about quite happily even though the water was freezing.  He really really enjoyed it, he kept holding up the end of his jeans as if they were about to fall down.  Really funny.  Once we dragged him away from there he had a play in the play ground.  We then went into the parrot area where lorikeets fly down to eat nectar that you can purchase.  I did it so Tom could watch, he watched with interest and then did it himself really well, then unfortunately a bird landed on his shoulder which he wasn't expecting and shocked him which led to crying.  What a shame as he had such a good day.  Oh well, another play in the splash area sorted him out.

Trousers up

At 5 o'clock the zoo was emptying and Tom was showing signs of tiredness so we made our way back to the cars, said our goodbyes and made our way back.  Tom was asleep in minutes and stayed asleep for a good 1.5 hours (a sign of a good active day).  Once he was awake we turned off the motorway and searched for a pub for dinner.  We found a cheap and cheerful one and ate up (Tom polished his plate off).  We then got on our way again.  It was just before 9pm when we got back, Tom really didn't know what to do with himself, he stayed awake, but was limp in his chair - must have been wondering what on earth we were doing.  Anyway a good day was had by all.

House

Oh forgot to say that two weeks ago we had the new Estate Agent round to photo the house - it was good timing as it was really sunny.  We then went away to London, came back on Monday, had our first viewers on Wednesday, got an offer 10 minutes after they left, did some negotiation and accepted an offer on Thursday.

I guess the trip to Ikea worked!  Thanks Rachel.

If you are curious to see what the house looks like, take a look at the link:  59 Eastwood Drive

The plan was to keep it really clean and tidy, but with the offer, standards have already slipped!  Anyway, it won't happen quickly as they can't move until September, but that suits us.

Meeting up with Uncle Martin

On Easter Sunday we planned to meet up with Martin, Ben and Mia.  They were over visiting from Australia for a couple of weeks and managed to squeeze us into their very busy schedule.  We did a half way meet up - in Cheltenham.  As the weather was predicted to be bad, we planned to meet up in a soft play area - so something to do with the kids and a chance for us to chat.  We checked their website - open everyday of the year it said.  WRONG!  We turned up and it was closed.  Oh hum.  So we had an early lunch and decided to risk going to a park as although it was cool and cloudy it wasn't actually raining.  This we did, and how lucky we were.  The park was just fab - a big play ground for toddlers, a big grassy area for playing football and a number of aviaries with weird and wonderful birds in (which Mia especially liked)  So, in short something for everyone.

Tom had his bike and was in a particularly dare devil mood and went racing all over the place.  We decided to explore some more which involved going through a subway under the road (Tom did this freewheeling which involved a steep gradient - we all had our hearts in our mouths as he sped away, but he was fine)  We found a big lake and did a circuit, then ice creams by the lake.  Matt, Martin, Ben, Mia and Tom then went rowing across the lake in Swallows and Amazons style for a while leaving me to look after all the bags and balls etc.  Then another circuit of the lake, half an hour playing football before saying our goodbyes.

Zonked out in the car, clutching his new Thomas jigsaw .

It doesn't sound like much but we had a really good time.  All the children were on good form, as were the adults, everyone was relaxed and time just flew.  We took a very tired and happy little boy home with us.  He was asleep in minutes.

Anyway, thanks Martin, Ben and Mia, a fab day and we look forward to visiting you in Australia sometime next year.

A Sunny Break in London

A lift on Grandpa

It was Grandpa's birthday at the end of March, so we decided to go and visit him and Grannie down in London to celebrate. We did our usual thing of picking Tom up after nursery on Wednesday morning and driving straight to London - roads relatively empty and Tom relatively tired meaning a pleasant trip down - especially as the weather was so good as well.

We got to Mortlake in good time, we even managed to visit Grannie in her shop (Tom on his tiger bike)  before it closed.  He didn't show any signs of shyness or nervousness and threw himself into being a doted on grandson in no time at all.  He even ate well - which was fab.  

Tom has grown quite a lot since we last visited (last July), we were pretty sure he wouldn't fit in their cot again, in preparation for this we converted his cot into a cot bed at the beginning of March to give Tom time to adjust to sleeping in a bed.  This he did with no problems (apart from falling out of it the first night  onto his bean bag we had strategically placed by the side of his bed to cover this eventuality).  We bought a little wedge of foam to put under the covers and stop him falling out and since then he's been fine.  He hasn't worked out yet that he can get out of bed, out of his bedroom and cause havoc if he so wishes, not sure how long it's going to take him to work that out - so far so good, but we are dreading to hear the pitter patter of little feet in our bedroom late at night / early in the morning.  Anyway, this was all done so he could sleep in the single bed at Grannie and Grandpa's.  This he did without any trouble at all, in fact he really liked his bed (duvet cover had diggers / buses / tractors etc on it which kept him entertained very well).  So that's another milestone met!

Mammoth transport

Thursday dawned a beautiful sunny and warm day so we decided to revisit Beale Park - once again he did really well and showed off his new found confidence by walking off to play in the sandpit by himself whilst we sat and had drinks (note to self, next time we go, we must take buckets and spades to play in the sand with).  We had a good look at the animals, a ride on the train, more animals and lunch.  The afternoon was spent in the Little Tykes village where Tom rode bikes / cars, conquered a castle and generally had a lovely time pottering about.  Gave us all a chance to sit down and enjoy ice creams - we had to shelter in the shade as it was getting ridiculously hot!  After a while it was clear that he was flagging so we called it a day and returned home.

Friday we split into girls and boys for the day.  Grandpa, Matt and Tom went riding trains including the  Docklands Light Railway which is unmanned - meaning that Driver Tom could be in charge - I hear he did a good job.  Pat and I went into London for some sightseeing - Borough Market (beautiful food - expensive prices), The Globe Theatre - very interesting and much more ornate than I was expecting, across the wobbly bridge to St Paul's and a new shopping centre next door with a roof top cafe overlooking the cathedral - all very nice but I'm not sure Pat and I were their target market - we brought the place down with our fleeces and jeans and order of coffee and juice - should have been in designer wear and ordered bubbles.  Pat and I then split up and I had 2 hours to amuse myself (not often I get that) before meeting up with Lindsey for dinner at Belgo's on Kingsway - my old stamping ground.  Had a lovely time, lots of gossip - mainly around Lindsey emigrating to Australia (another great excuse to go there next year) but before we knew it we were both yawning and so said our goodbyes and returned to our homes.

The train's coming!

Saturday, the weather had turned - poo!  Thick cloud and quite a bit colder than it has been.  Oh well, we all went to Windsor for the day, to look at castles, explore the train station, discover one of the best toy departments I have ever seen (in Daniels Department store) and take the train to Slough to go and watch the fast trains whizz through the station.  Slough wasn't a huge success, the trains were too fast and too noisy and too windy, but hey unless you try you never know!  We had lunch at Cafe Nero (paninis all round) and then took the train home.  Tom had a nap when he got back - very active days and going to bed late at night taking their toll on him!

Sunday we had sunshine again, but it was cold - boo hoo!  We had been invited to Jake's 4th birthday party in Aylesbury today, so decided to make a day of it and went to the Ashridge Estate in the morning.  Unfortunately we forgot to bring Tom's bike with us as this place would have been perfect for it, but we had a good enough time with the football and climbing on fallen trees, hiding in dens etc.  We had a fabulous lunch there - freshly bbq'd burgers for Matt and I and a huge hot dog for Tom and the best selection of cakes I've seen for a long while.  Before we knew it, it was time to head to Aylesbury and see the cousins.  We got there early so they could have some time with each other before the other guests arrived, once the other guests arrived it was the usual chaos of a party, not helped by the fact it was a gorgeous day and the hall they had it in was set in a sports field with a play ground, meaning that everyone did pretty much their own thing.  Oh well, I got to spend quite a bit of time with Amber which was good.  I've never been 'allowed' to hold her before as she has always demanded Mummy when I've been around, but today she was happy to be held with me which was nice.

Monday came all too quickly, and we went home via Upton House in Warwickshire where we had a picnic and a ramble around the grounds in the sun before coming home.

Anyway, big thanks to Grannie and Grandpa for looking after us all and playing with Tom so nicely - he had a fabulous time and keeps telling us how much he is missing you.

Magical Day Out

Flat out

Two Saturdays ago we had wonderful warm sunshine (most likely this year's Summer), so we donned our t-shirts, shorts and sandals and decided to visit Powys Castle for a family day out.  The sunshine shone on us, until we entered Wales and then thick mist rolled over the car and got thicker and thicker.  Well done us!  The whole country was bathed in sunshine and we managed to find the only bit which was cold and cloudy!

We continued on, ever hopeful that it might clear (it didn't) and parked up in an almost empty car park - we desperately looked for the sunshine but could only see a thin disc of light behind thick clouds.  Oh well - we were determined to have a good day anyway.  Matt had cold wet feet and I had cold legs, Tom of course was well prepared and appropriately dressed.

There is something about Powys Castle, whenever we have taken Tom there we have had a fab day out and today was no exception.  Tom was immediately in a good mood and decided that he was going to spend the day playing football.  (Something to do with him wearing his Ajax top maybe?).  And off he went kicking his football all along the terraces, down the steps (where Matt had to crawl though undergrowth to retrieve it after Tom pushed it through some bushes) and down to the grounds at the bottom of the house.

The grin

At that stage I went to the loo and told the weather to clear up and be sunny when I came out.  Lo and behold, I came out into sunshine AND it was warm too.  Hurray!!!!!!  We made our way to the fountain (Tom's favourite play place in the property), striped back down to T-shirts and had a wonderful time playing football, hide and seek, dipping hands and balls into the fountain, eating our picnic, having races and generally having a lovely time in the sun.

Standing on Mummy

Tom played and played and played, he was on such good form it was a pleasure to be with him.  He didn't tire at all - even after doing about 4 circuits of the grounds, he just kept going and going.  His football really came along as well - kicking it straight and at a run which he hasn't done before.  Eventually the heat got too much and we decided to go on an ice-cream hunt, so went back up to the property to see if we could find one, which we did.  Now, we spent our last holiday in Spain teaching Tom to like ice-creams and we got there.  Looks like he has forgotten as he showed no interest at all - having the odd lick of ours, but really not wanting one (oh well guess it saves our £s in the summer!)

By about 3pm Tom was beginning to flag (no surprise) so we headed home.  He was asleep in minutes and stayed asleep for a good hour.  A fabulous, magical day out - Powys Castle really is one of our most favourite places and certainly we have some of our most cherished memories from there.

Oh the video, Tom was having such a good time, I thought I would record it, but we didn't have the video camera, so I used my camera - not great resolution I'm afraid, also the battery ran out as I took it - so it's not as good as it could have been.