I'm 4

Bike ride

So, we have been building up for this weekend for a while.  A big weekend too as Tom turned 4. Last year he was slightly aware of it being his birthday, this year he was very aware of it being his birthday.

As we don't know many people yet 'up North' and because we didn't want to drag both sets of parents back up after Christmas, we decided to do a half way meet.  Mid way between the 3 of us is Malvern - very nice, but not very much to do in a February especially with the cold and wet weather we've been having recently.  So we decided to meet in Telford.  We know Telford, we have friends in Telford, seemed to be the perfect solution.

We had a hunt on Late Rooms and decided to book Buckatree Hall Hotel.  We didn't know it but it looked nice in the photos - it was that or Park Inn Hotel which we knew was in the main part of town and would be noisy and very formulaic.  We were lucky - it was a nice secluded spot and the rooms were pleasant and bar very comfortable.  It was also rather empty, meaning we more or less had the run of the place which was great.

Cycling down the lane

We headed down on Friday morning, stopped off for lunch at Sam's cafe (for the first time ever, Sam wasn't there - she's opened a new place in Stafford Park - oh hum, it was still fast and tasty and a fraction of the price it would have cost to have lunch in the hotel).  I then left Matt at the hotel and headed to Shifnal to meet up with Rachel, Mae and Lucy.  Last time we came down to Telford Mae had Noro virus so we didn't get to see her, I thought it would be a real treat for Tom to have the chance to see her 1:1 as parties are always a little manic.  We had a lovely time.

Hugs

It didn't take long for Tom and Mae to get to know each other again and before we knew it they were upstairs in Mae's room playing happily.  It was a gorgeous day and as we had been stuck in the car for half the day we decided to go out for a bike ride.  Tom on his pedal bike, Mae on her balance bike and Rachel and Lucy on their bike and carriage.  I had to jog!!!!  It was great fun, all children enjoyed themselves and I was very much out of breath!  I stupidly didn't have my proper camera with me, but I managed a couple of shots with my phone which give you an idea of our fun.

With Lucy

When we got back to the hotel, Tom was fast asleep having lots of happy dreams, so I stayed with him until he woke up.   Granma and Pop Pop were already at the hotel, and their room was next door to ours so much fun was had running from our room to their room and back again.  He was a very very excited boy.  Grannie and Grandpa then turned up, so he had another room to explore - what could be better.

At 6, we went to The Horseshoe - a pub just down the road for dinner.  It was empty which meant we (Tom) could make as much noise as he wanted and not disturb anyone.  Fab.  Tom, as always had the best dinner (ie a bit of everyone's) and did really well.  He also had a huge amount of pudding - greedy boy!  He entertained us with a number of nursery rhymes.  He decided that it would be fun to do them in a Brummie accent.  I don't know why - but once he realised he got a huge laugh when he did it, he kept doing it, quite the entertainer!  He didn't get to bed until after 8.30, dirty stop out!  Mum wasn't feeling 100% so said she would stop in and listen out for him so we had a nice evening in the bar.  Tom was an angel, he went straight to sleep and didn't stir at all.  Matt and I snuck into bed, he still didn't stir and although Matt and I had a bad night's sleep, it certainly wasn't his fault, he was quiet as a mouse all night and hardly moved, what more could we ask for?

Surrounded by Land Rover and trailers

Saturday was Grand Parents' Day.  Officially Tom was still 3, but we moved his birthday forward a day so we could all enjoy it together.  We all ate breakfast together and then met in the lounge for the very important job of opening presents.  We had the lounge to ourselves which was fantastic, we made ourselves at home and sat back to watch Tom open his mountain of gifts.

Ground control to Major Tom...

You can tell that Tom has been influenced by his environment.  He is currently obsessed by hooks, especially those belonging to Land Rovers and apparently every self-respecting Land Rover should have a horse box.  I luckily came across a fantastic Land Rover and horse box set and let both sets of grandparents know what we had got so they could purchase some complimentary trailers for it.  Tom was very pleased these as you can see from the pic, certainly a hit.  He was certainly very spoilt, got loads of gifts - thank you everyone.  He now has a couple of good starter sets of Lego (can't wait for him to get started on that), lots of books, crafty things, Japanese train goods (and we still have some more stuff to give him for Christmas!), pyjamas, a Spacesuit and many other wonderful things, thank you everyone, you were all very generous.

2 Spacemen

After coffee etc we headed off in the rain to Cosford to look round the museum.  (There was nothing else open in the area including the SVR which was still closed - half term is next week in Telford).  It didn't matter that Tom has been there many times before, each time he goes he's able to learn something new as his concentration span and understanding is getting better with every day.  First of all he got dressed in his Spacesuit (very apt for Cosford). He was quite happy to run around in full space suit, spreading his love around, spending time with everyone.  I even managed to get him to sit down and watch the video about the space race which was a first (although of course helped by the fact Tom was a mini spaceman today)

John Deere!!!!!

We had a quick snack (none of us were very hungry on account of eating a full English for breakfast) and then headed over to Fun n Flight where Tom had a very good play, in fact at one stage I didn't think I would be able to get him away without a fight.  We then headed back to the hotel for birthday cake.  Tom, however, fell asleep so we left him be for an hour and then met up for cake.  This year I was good enough to ask him what type of cake he wanted.  He told me he wanted a tractor cake, (very happy he didn't say Land Rover with a horse box!).  He thinks John Deeres are the best, so that is what I made.  I'm a bit out of practise making cakes at the moment so was pleased to get the opportunity to get my teeth into something.  The tractor is made from rice krispie treats, came out OK.  The cake itself was chocolate cake as requested by the birthday boy.  To make it properly Northern, I put a dry stone wall around the edge, with black sheep and Bluebell from the field next door also featuring.  It's not beautiful but very bespoke and tells the story of where we have been living recently.  We sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed a slice before freshening up for dinner.

We had booked ourselves a table at Abdul's for dinner - curry is still Tom's favourite food.  Abdul was very very pleased to see us and welled up when he realised it was Tom's birthday - very sweet, Tom gave him a huge hug.  Abdul then treated us to a huge platter of starter - full of really lovely food especially the chickpea and paneer dish which was lovely.  We then had our curry and once again it was around 8.30 before we got back to the hotel.  Tom was getting quite fidgety and fractious towards the end of the evening, but only through tiredness, he ate a good dinner.  He was then quick to bed whilst we all retired to the bar a good day was had by all.

Zonked out!

Sunday we all had breakfast together and then we said goodbye to everyone and headed out to the Town Centre to the new softplay area at Telford Ice Rink to meet up with Tom's old friends - just as well we had organised this as it was a very very miserable day.  As is always the case with these parties, it was very manic.  Luckily the play area wasn't that busy (it is brand new and not yet well known), but it is impossible to see everyone and chat to everyone and spend as much time as you would like with everyone.  Tom had a great time, he was straight into the soft play and didn't really come out, all the children played really nicely with each other - it was good to see (although I didn't see much of it).  Apparently they were going round in a group, exploring together as most hadn't been before.  All the children got stuck in which was good and I got to hug baby Thomas who was adorable for a while:0)

The cake got demolished and Tom received yet more presents - all very kind and generous - we were just so happy to see Tom having fun with his friends and of course the chance to have a quick chat with everyone.  Tom went like a train, time went so fast that we extended our original going home time.  Before too long we had to say our goodbyes and take leave.  I wasn't there to see it but apparently Mae burst into tears when Tom said goodbye - Matt said he almost lost it as it was so emotional.  Mae promised to come to visit us soon.  We just about managed to fit all the extra presents in the car and then headed back home. Tom slept for 1.5 hours, clutching his treasured Land Rover.  When we got home, we lit a fire in the lounge (the house was freezing) and Tom opened his new presents.  We then had a dinner of spring rolls, ebi parcels and goats' cheese bruschettas (they were in the freezer left over from Christmas).  Tom was then in bed by 6.15 one exhausted but very happy boy.