Rainy day, sunny day

What a glorious week we had.  Bright sunshine and warm - even hot!  I had a mid week cake to make - boo, but managed to get out to Leck with Caroline on Thursday morning and enjoyed a brisk and beautiful walk up the dale.  Of course, the weather changed on Friday afternoon and by Saturday it was cold and raining!

Matt was away Thursday to Saturday and then playing cricket on Sunday so it was Mummy and Tom time.  We didn't really know what to do on Saturday, Janine came to the rescue on Friday afternoon, inviting us to Seth's birthday party on Saturday morning, so we popped along.  It was raining but between a tent and a caravan the children had lots of fun and didn't notice the weather.  Tom won best boy dancer in a competition and he won pass the parcel and came home with a good haul.

In the afternoon we did a quick circuit of the village, taking in the butcher's and discovered that an Indian restaurant is opening soon - fantastic news.  Apparently the owner already has 3 restaurants in the Lakes, so should know what they are doing.  We then came home and
had a long lego session before tea.  Matt arrived just before Tom went to bed.

Nik & Tom April 2015

Sunday dawned bright and sunny.  It was too good to waste the day so Tom and I decided to do the Waterfalls Trail.  We said goodbye to Matt and went on our way.  We decided to do it back to front (I prefer it that way).  We had the first ⅓ of the trail to ourselves, once on the open moorland we started to meet a steady stream of people coming in the opposite direction.  Note to self, it is probably easier not to do the trail the wrong way round during high season as some parts are quite narrow, meaning sometimes you have to wait quite a while to be on your way!

Boy and Ingleborough

Thornton Force

We came across a pile of slate in which people had scratched their names and dates, so we decided to do our own and leave it with the others.  Something to look out for when we come back next.

The weather stayed bright and Tom was in good form chatting away.  He even volunteered information about what has been happening at school - it turns out that one of their topics this half term is plants.  He knew you can get Evergreen and Deciduous trees and that plants breathe out oxygen.  So he has been listening.  It's funny how information he receives gets processed - seems it will stay in his brain for a while and then come out at completely random times, not when you ask him about it!

Money Tree

Tom and some mushrooms

We had lunch at Thornton Force, where we may have witnessed a wedding proposal.  We saw a couple climb up onto a large rock in front of the waterfall, the guy then got down on one knee, there were then lots of kisses and cuddles going on!  How romantic.  We carried on against the traffic to the beginning of the trail, spent quite a while admiring the wonderful money tree and then spent half an hour or so in the Falls Cafe where Tom played in the adventure playground.  I eventually dragged him away.

Caitlin, Tom & Lottie

Tom decided to walk home through the park as he needed the toilet.  There we bumped into Caitlin, Lottie and Rich and ended up playing in the park there with them for another hour.  We didn't get home until 4pm.  Tom was still full of energy and chat!  He did slow down around 6pm and was happy to be in bed for 7pm.  A lovely day.

Weekend in Manchester

This weekend we headed down to Salford to see Adam, Karen, Leia and Rosa.

Yummy steamed buns

Our weekends always follow the same routine when we go down there.  First stop Wing Yip for Asian food shop, then to The Glamorous for interesting Chinese lunch and then to Go Outdoors for a look around the tent department.

All went well.  Tom ate up well at The Glamorous - in fact he got lots of lovely glances from the waitresses as once again we were the only all white family in the restaurant and Tom was the only white child!  We stuffed ourselves with the dim sum, steamed buns and other things on offer, including one suspect sausage thing that certainly wasn't a sausage but some grainy type thing with peanuts in it - oops.

See - saw

Once we had had our romp around Go Outdoors we headed to the Komorovskis.  Wow!  Rosa has grown up big time - a proper little girl and very beautiful.  I wouldn't have recognised her.   As usual Adam and Karen were playing tag team parenting.  Karen had just been away for a couple of days and got home about 5 mins after we arrived, Adam was off to Zimbabwae on Sunday afternoon.  Adam and Matt went into town to collect food for the evening meal, whilst me, Karen & the kids enjoyed sunning ourselves in the garden.  We then headed to a play park to stretch our legs and enjoy the last of the sun.

Happy families

Table for two please

Not much really happened during our stay in Manchester, Tom and Leia played beautifully - not a cross word between them all weekend which meant that we basically didn't see them or have to manage them.  We were with the adults having adult conversations whilst they were in their own space playing.  It was divine.  Rosa, unfortunately wasn't feeling too well and was very grumbly - we found out why on Sunday morning as her ears started to show a discharge - she had a bad infection.  So bad that Adam and Karen took her to the walk in centre, so we took Leia and Tom out for lunch.  They were so happy in each others company that they ended up having a table for 2 and ordered for themselves -  we very much weren't wanted.

We returned to the Komorovskis house dropped off Leia who had to do her homework so we headed home ourselves.  A lovely, relaxing weekend.

More Holidays

So on Thursday we had a useful day.  First of all we found ourselves in the Clarks outlet in Kendal replacing Tom's school shoes (he's managed to scuff a hole into his current pair through using his shoes as a brake when scooting to school - bad boy!).  I found a pair with a thick 'front bumper' on them and got those - one day I will find a pair that are indestructible!

We then went to Booths for lunch - can't help ourselves if we are in / near Kendal at lunch time - their restaurant is so good.  We then headed to Asda before returning home.  As I said a useful day.

Friday was a horrible day weather wise.  Tom requested a swim so we went to Stacksteads for a dip.  At first he was pretty rubbish - he seemed to have forgotten everything he's learnt during swimming lessons, refusing to swim very far, not swimming under water, not jumping in etc etc.  I was beginning to get quite exasperated, when Lynne and Matthew turned up.  Then everything changed, it seems if Tom has a friend in the pool, suddenly he gets better at swimming.  Suddenly he was laughing and larking about. Jumping in madly, swimming between my legs, not needing his woggle but just swimming naturally.  He won't swim for me but he will for a friend.  Oh well, at least he ended up having fun - in the end he spent over 2 hours in the water and still moaned when we got out!  Not to worry, though Lynne and Matthew invited us round to theirs for lunch and a play.  He had a ball, other people's houses are always more interesting than your own - with lots of toys to explore. Before we knew it, it was 3.30 and I had a text from Matt saying he was finishing work, so we said our goodbyes and returned home.

Muddy front...

Saturday was a nice day, we decided to go for a bike ride, so loaded up the car and headed to Halton where we parked up.  The plan was to ride to Glasson Dock - south of Lancaster.  We hopped on our bikes and headed along the cycle path towards Lancaster.  We were hoping for clear signage in Lancaster to get us to Glasson Dock, but unfortunately it wasn't and we sort of went the wrong way.

Not badly wrong, more we went a dull way rather than a nice way.  Oh well, never mind.  We found the right way out of Lancaster alongside the Lune and cycled past lots of fields towards Glasson Docks.  It was a nice day and the cycle path easy (ie flat).  Tom was a little glum to start with, but said he wanted to do it so we carried on.  Just before we got to Glasson Dock, we came across a nice looking cafe, and as it was lunch time we decided that we would stop there, sit down in the sun and have lunch.  Tom had an evil looking chocolate milkshake and big toasted tea cake which seemed to revive him.

and muddy back

Once restored we headed back, this time with a much happier Tom.  It was the same way back, but this time we found the right route in Lancaster and cycled along the Lune all the way back to Halton.  All in all we did 16 miles.  It took 1.5 hours to get to the cafe and an hour to get back - the difference being a happier Tom on the way back.  You would think he would be tired after all that?  Oh no!!!!!!  We went to the Wheatsheaf for tea as it was their music festival which is organised by the cricket club.  Tom spent his time in the pub garden running round and round and round!  Sometimes I just don't know what will tire him out!

Train spotting!

Sunday it was very foggy.  Matt had done some homework around heritage railways and had found another one to try out.  This time it was the East Lancashire Railway which goes from Rawtenstall to Heywood via Bury.  We drove out of the fog and into sunshine as we headed south and made good time meaning we got the first train of the day from Rawtenstall which was a small green steam engine called Sapper.  It is a nice journey - a good 12 miles from one end to the other.

Two solemn Victorian gentlemen!

We got off at Bury where there was a transport museum for us to look round.  It was small but very good.  Lots of buses, coaches and other vehicles, but more importantly lots of really good activities for children.  Tom built a bridge, learnt how the inside of a steam engine works, was a manager in the freight office, driver of a modern bus and dressed up as a Victorian boy.  We spent a good hour in there, but came out needing food.

We found it in the rather good pub, The Trackside on the platform in Bury. They serve real ale and were very efficient in providing us with lunch.  Being Bury, black pudding was prominent on the menu:  Matt had a black pudding and cheese toastie (probably the only place in the country that serves something like that) whilst Tom and I went for something a little more normal and healthier!  We then got a diesel train back to Rawtenstall, then the same train all the way to Heywood and again the same train back to Rawtenstall.

Tom was the driver!

At Bury we had a long wait.  Tom and Matt went to investigate and were invited into the cab.  Tom sat on the driver's seat and was told not to press the horn.  He was good!  Anyway, you can say we got value from our tickets!  Oh, did I mention the weather was amazing?  Deep blue skies and sunshine.  We spent the day lugging our coats around with us as it was too hot to wear them!  Is Spring in the air?

In the circus

Monday we had thick thick fog again.  We consulted the weather charts on the Internet and couldn't find anywhere local that said the sun would be out, so we decided to do an indoor activity and go to the circus in Blackpool as we had tickets for it.  We headed out in the fog which got thicker and thicker.  Found ourselves a cheap (but slightly dodgy looking car park) near the front and headed to the tower.  We got our tickets and then did a spot of shopping - both Matt and I got some new trainers without really trying which is almost unheard of.  We then bought ourselves some sandwiches from Boots and headed in to the tower in an attempt to get some good seats.  It worked, we got ourselves some seats on the second row so we settled in and ate our lunch whilst we waited for the show to start.  We weren't the only food smugglers there, pretty much everyone was doing the same.

A rather nice looking vintage tram

The show, once again was amazing.  There were tumblers, cowboys and girls doing tricks with whips and lassos (the whips made Tom jump - thought there would be tears for a moment), clowns, tight rope walkers (one almost fell off, but managed to grab the rope in the nick of time), a unicyclist.  An amazing magic act, where a couple kept changing clothes.  They were so quick and the new clothes just kept coming - we were very close to them and couldn't work out how they were doing it.  A cage of death which motorbikes zoomed around in, and the most amazing contraption, known as the wheel of death which involves two giant hamster wheels suspended above the ring which acrobats run round in with no harnesses.  At one point they do it blindfold which is scary as you can see they are on the edge - there were a lot of wobbles going on.  It was 2 hours of very good entertainment.  Tom sat still - that means it must have been good!!!!!

View of Blackpool Tower from the pier!

We came out of the circus and found the fog was even thicker - we couldn't see the tower at all!  We decided to go for a play on the North Pier.  Tom had a go on the helter skelter and double decker carousel (an improvement to 2 years ago when he wouldn't entertain the thought of having a go on either!) and then we went to the arcade to see how long it would take to loose £1 changed into 2 pence pieces.  It took longer than we thought as we all managed to win quite a bit before loosing it all!!!!  We then decided to head back home as the weather was very miserable and we were cold even though we were in jumpers and coats.  We got back to sunny Ingleton (poo!) and had tea at the Masons Arms.  We then got home to see lots of photos from friends around the area in the beautiful sunshine - seems that the only place where the fog didn't lift was Blackpool.  Oh well, we had fun so it didn't really matter.

Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful days, Tom played football for 5 hours with Jordan.  Came home on both occasions covered in mud and with some scratches and bruises which means he must have been trying hard which was good.

Lollies on the wall

Thursday Tom spent the morning with Enjoy-a-Ball Paul.  He was there with quite a few of his friends: Isabella, Lucas, Evie & Issac.  I then picked him up with Isabella and had them for the afternoon.  Tom and Isabella get on really well.  Mainly because Tom is happy to be bossed about and will do anything he's told! However, Isabella is a lovely girl and they do have fun together.  As it was a lovely day we decided to go down to the park where we bumped into some more friends.  We then returned home and did some skipping, football, tennis, science experiments.  you name it, we did it.  Isabella was fine until her mum appeared and then she went all grumpy and teary!  A mixture of tiredness and putting on your 'best' behaviour for your mum!  She went home and we continued to enjoy the good weather.  We had an early tea, then went for a walk around Storr's Common and then popped into The Old Post Office on the way back.  a very lovely day.

Packhorse bridge near Hawes

Friday we all took the day off.  We decided to go to Hawes and do a circular walk taking in Hardraw Force.  It was another gorgeous day, but a lot hazier than recent days, meaning that although it was a lovely day with good views, they weren't as good as recent days.  Oh hum, never mind.  The walk took us up into the hills and past Simonstone Hotel (the location of the 'famous' fracas between Jeremy Clarkson and his producer) looked a nice place, but we didn't stop.  We got to the village of Hardraw and went looking for the waterfalls.  It was a strange set up, to get to the waterfalls you have to go through the local pub (they own the land it's on) and you have to pay £2.50 each.  We turned up - but they didn't seem to know what they were doing and there was a bit of hanging around whilst they got themselves sorted and took us to the turnstile to let us in.  The waterfall was quite impressive considering it hasn't rained for ages.  It was very tall, and the path took you right behind which is always a good novelty factor.

Swaledale lambs

We hung around for a while and then headed back on the path to Hawes.  We got there at lunchtime - our tummies were rumbling, so we headed into a cafe for a cake each - leaving room for some cheese later on.  We then did a little shopping.  High on our list was a flat cap for Tom.  Since Matt got one, Tom has really really wanted one, and we've noticed a number of boys at the school do have them.  We have looked around for one for him, but not had any luck.  So, we decided to go to the same place Matt got his to see if they do smaller ones.  They did.  There were 2 which fitted Tom - he was so excited (as was his Dad!)  I left them to it and a cap was bought. Tom put it on immediately and had a huge grin for the rest of the day.

We then headed up to the creamery for our second lunch: a cheese platter and cheese on toast shared between the 3 of us.  Tom ran around with his flat cap on.  After a tiny spot of cheese shopping we returned home.

Hardraw Force

Saturday the weather turned - boo, hiss!  It was clear enough but cold, very cold.  There was snow on the hills again.  We debated for a while on what to do and ended up deciding to visit Rheged in Penrith.  Is is a place built by the co-op that run the Tebay Services.  We didn't really know what to expect, it was much much bigger than we thought - an eco-friendly grass roofed building that just seems to go on and on.  The main attraction is a very big screen cinema that has lots of 3d films on it.  On a Saturday morning they have a family friendly film at £2 per person.  Today it was Ice Age 4, we thought it would be perfect for us, but Tom now has a slight fear of cinemas as he does tend to get upset at films - he's cried at the last couple.  Nothing we could say would change his mind so we didn't go - shame!  So we had an explore.  This place is a quality place, all the shops sell good quality gifts, clothes etc, so it was nice to wonder around.  It is also child friendly with soft play, a pottery workshop, and a lovely children's shop.  At the top of the building was a gallery with prints by Ian Lawson who is well known for taking amazing photos of Herdwick Sheep in the Lake District.  I got a book by him for Christmas which is full of the most wonderful photos.  We all enjoyed the gallery - could easily have bought many of them!

Reet Yorkshire

We then had a sit down, drink and shared a cheese scone in one of the 3 cafes, (Matt was hungover from a heavy night in The Old Post Office), we then looked around the shops and had lunch.  Matt went to look at another gallery with photos from Wildlife Photographer of the Year whilst Tom and I went outside and to play in the Turrets and Tunnels playground.  This was small but packed with great features, it kept Tom occupied for a good hour.  He did some great climbing up a wall and came down a huge long slide many many times.  After another drink we headed back home.  We all had showers, and then headed to Austwick as we had been invited to Rachael and Graham's for tea.  Wow!  What a spread. Rachael had obviously been listening to Matt over our dinners at the Game Cock and put together his all time favourite: beef stew with dumplings, Yorkshire puddings and the best dauphinoise I have ever had.  We were all in heaven, plus it all kicked off with some amazing crisps we have never seen before - they were so good, that we went through 3 whole big packets between us all - they are Masa crisps with Mexican flavours - so so good!  Pudding was chocolate brownie and pavlova.  We were all very stuffed but very very happy.  We didn't have to entertain or even talk to Isabella and Tom.  They disappeared when we arrived, appeared for tea and then disappeared again.  Once again Isabella led the play and Tom joined in and did what he was told.  It was harmonious which meant that we were able to relax and enjoy adult chat.  Rachael did ply me with quite a bit of red wine, secretly filling up my glass again and again, so I was a little worse for wear at the end of the evening, but it was a good night, fun was had by all.

Sunday was a horrible, horrible day.  Cold and heavy rain.  There was nothing we could do with it so we had a useful day.  We went down the tip, popped into Booths (seemed to buy a trolley full of crisps we discovered last night - as they were half price!) returned home.  We then had a clear out - Matt in the garage and me and Tom went through his toys in the kitchen which were separated into tat, baby toys for jumbling / raffle etc and keepers.  We got rid of quite a bit.  Next stop was lunch at Inglesport (it's just been sold to a local - one of Matt's cricket team mates so he was keen to go along and show his support).  When we got back home we decided to give in for the day and put the telly on.  We watched a Thomas Tank Engine film (yep - you guessed it - Tom cried at the end, it wasn't even sad?!!!!!!), then some motorbike racing, football etc etc.  Not a great last day to the holidays, but it was revolting weather.

London

On Friday we headed to London on the train - it was Grandpa's birthday.  We went the Ribblehead / Leeds / Kings Cross way which meant that we could have yet another serving of Wasabi sushi as our lunch - yipeeee.  (Although you have to be fast with sushi and Tom as he will match us 1 to 1 on volume!)

We arrived into London exactly on time and were met by Grandpa, so he got his birthday hug.  We then made our way across London and to Mortlake.  Tom was straight into the garden plane spotting. I got the app working on the ipad and was made to make a tally of all the different carriers whilst he told me where they had come from.  We only came in because we were both getting very very cold.

On Saturday we had planned to meet up with one of Matt's friends for lunch, but through a number of complicated turns of events this didn't happen and instead we met up with him at 3.30.  This meant we had most of the day free, so we decided to spend the day riding trains and buses in town.  

Being casual

Palace Soldier

Royal Shaun

First of all we went to Green Park and walked over to see Buckingham Palace - Tom thought it was bigger than our house and that the Queen's dining table probably sits about 10 people!  He liked watching the soldiers stomping up and down.  We were there at the right time for the Changing of the Guard, but unfortunately not the right day! We will have to try to put that right another time.  

Tom was happy sitting there for some time, before heading back to town via St James Park.  Whilst we were in the park we saw a big Shaun the Sheep - dressed up as a king.  Strange but interesting.  Apparently there are 50 scattered around London.  This then became the theme of the day - finding the Shauns and taking photos of them.

On the way to Piccadilly we came across a nice looking ramen shop so stopped there for lunch.  It was pricy (it is Central London after all) but it was good, Matt said they were perfect, so it must have been good.

We then headed to Piccadilly, found another Shaun (this time an Axel Schaeffer themed one) and the Japan Centre were we bought a bag full of curry blocks for the Ingleton posse - we have introduced them all to Japanese curry and now they can't get enough of it so I have to take orders whenever we go near an Asian supermarket.

We then decided to get a bus up towards the Tower of London as Tom has learnt about the Tower of London at school.  We first got a bus to St Paul's where we found lots more Shauns and a Shaun Trail Leaflet which was very handy, we took some pics and then got another bus to the Tower of London where we found 2 more.  Tom was quite interested in the Tower, he knew about the Crown Jewels, he knew that it was a prison (from Guy Fawkes) so I think we will go to it properly next time.  The moat was looking very muddy and sorry for itself, but then it had that huge display of poppies in it at the end of last year - it's not recovered yet.

Lots more Shauns

We got a train to Blackfriars, then tea and a bun in Starbucks before heading to Herne Hill to see Michael.  Michael has recently been diagnosed with Bone Marrow Cancer so we were expecting to see a glum, ill looking version of him, but he was surprisingly chipper, he has had a very bad year for all manner of reasons, but he hasn't lost his sense of humour.  He was incredibly chatty, in fact I don't think he stopped to breathe the whole time we were there.  We had a good walk around his local park: Brockwell Park: it had a huge children's play area, a BMX track, a 50 meter outdoor pool which is open ALL YEAR ROUND! a lovely cafe, tennis courts, paddling pools, ponds etc etc.  Everything you need from a park.  We had a good time, then ended up chatting in a pub until we had to part to get back in time for tea.

We got back via bus and train, it was a long day but a good day.

Sunday the boys had a day out looking at model railways whilst I went shopping.

Pub lunch

Yes, today was a boys' day out in the car, to the Model Railway Museum in Pendon, near Oxford. The weather was absolutely foul, so a day spent sitting in the car, a pub, a museum, and then the car again was well-timed. In fact, the car was getting blown about quite alarmingly on the M40, but we arrived at a pub called The Plough near the museum and ordered our lunch: a sort of sausage-containing ploughmans and fish and chips for me. Tom, of course, ate a significant portion of both, although he wouldn't eat the very nice cheddar cheese. I don't think his mother was too impressed. In any case, the food was nice, the service was friendly, and our meals arrived extremely promptly.

With happy tummies, we drove the very short distance to the museum, where Grandpa managed to park in an extremely narrow space. Just as well he doesn't have a Range Rover. The museum essentially consists of two very large layouts and a couple of smaller ones, which weren't operating. Both of the large layouts are based on parts of the West country, one in the Vale of the White Horse, and the other on the edge of Dartmoor.

Dartmoor layout

The attention to detail on these layouts was remarkable, easily up to Japanese standards - Tom is something of a model railway snob, having been seriously spoilt in that respect on previous trips to Japan. Sadly, both layouts were experiencing some electrical gremlins, meaning that trains weren't running as frequently as they might be, but Tom still got excited every time one came past, and had to chase it along the viewing platform until it was out of sight. Every so often, they turned out the lights so that you could see the level of detail that they'd gone to, for example individual beer pumps and bottles of whisky in the pub, a robin on a spade, a tiny white butterfly in a garden, etc.

Anyway, watching model railways is hard work, so we spent 20 minutes also in the café having tea and a bun, which gave us enough energy to spend a bit more time watching the trains.
The weather on the drive back was somewhat better, and the only traffic we encountered was a short delay on the South circular.

All in all, a good day.

Tom + Javelin

Monday we had a train spotting day.  Apparently it was very important to go to St Pancras to get the Javelin (a copy of the Kyushu Shinkansen).  We took it to Ebbsfleet because it goes at full pelt between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, it then slows down and goes at the usual British trundling rate.  If you were wondering about Ebbsfleet - it is a car park, nothing more.  However, you can see the Eurostars rush through the station, the Javelins stop and go and other trains going here there and everywhere.  Luckily the sun was out so it wasn't too cold waiting on the platform.

Bob had bought Tom a note book to note down engine numbers, so we were there, pencil in hand noting all the engines we saw, yes it has happened, we really are true trainspotters. We (I) can't fight against it anymore.  Oh hum!  Luckily there was an M+S food shop at the station, meaning we could feed ourselves, Bob generously went for lunch and came back with a bag full of goodies - king prawns and dip and a hot sausage roll for Tom (he was in heaven) and sandwiches and a rather lovely cheesecake for us.  Bob headed home after lunch, we stayed behind and watched 2 more Eurostars blast through the station and then headed back to St Pancras.

Water pumper

We had some time to kill so thought we would head over to the British Library for a look around.  We were hoping there would be a children's section, but no it is 100% for adults, apart from the shop which strangely was full of children's books.  However, there was a nice cafe, so we sat down for tea and a bun and then headed to Stratford on the Javelin to find the children's playground in the Olympic Park where we were meeting up with Katherine and her family.

3 course tea

Unfortunately, Katherine was running late (an hour late) so we played by ourselves, until they arrived.  It was very windy and threatening rain, but once Edward and Lily arrived, Tom had playmates and it didn't matter anymore. Helen then arrived with Isobel (Lily and Isobel are very good friends) and then Max.

The kids could have played for ever and ever but we had a date at Pizza Express to meet up with Phil and Anna so we dragged them away.  All the children were lovely, Pete, Katherine's husband was lovely (he reminded both of us of Tim Milburn - just a taller version) we all felt like we had known everyone for a long time we all had a good time and all suggested to do it again.  Tom and Edward sat together and shared games and playthings whilst the girls managed to get a table to themselves and ordered away.

Edward, Isobel, Lily and Tom

The crowd

Tom inhaled his pizza and then helped Edward with his second portion of pasta.  That was on top of dough ball starter and chocolate brownie pudding.  We were all chatting away.  Helen is now 5 months pregnant and was showing nicely so there were plenty of jokes going Max's way about him becoming a father.  Anna annoyed us all by turning up really late and then not eating anything when it was her that insisted on Pizza Express as a venue! Oh well, some things never change, she's always been like that!

However, the evening went with a bang.  Tom and I were the first to leave, then the boys went to the pub whilst the girls went shopping (huge Westfield shopping centre at Stratford).  Tom and I didn't get back to Pat and Bob's until 9.30 and that was after doing a 2 minute dash across Waterloo to just catch the train.  He buzzed all the way home and was still buzzing when he went to bed. A good day all round.

Tom and a gorilla

Tuesday our last day, we had Tesco vouchers for London Zoo.  We got the bus to Hammersmith, then the train to Baker Street and then Grandpa treated us to a taxi ride in a traditional black cab.  We then handed over our Tesco vouchers to cover our entrance fee - it was a hefty £97 for us all to enter, so we are really glad we had the vouchers, we ended up only paying £7 so for us it was a very reasonable day out!  The zoo is quite big, bigger than Dalton zoo by some way, and had huge collections of some animals, especially in the reptile house which Tom really enjoyed: plenty of snakes, lizards, frogs and crocs etc.

King Cobra

Tom and Matt's favourite was the King Cobra - which did look rather magnificent, but my favourite by some way was the White's Tree Frog - peeping out from behind a shower head. I still have a very soft spot for frogs.

White's Tree Frog

Next stop was to see the gorillas.  We (Tom) spent some time learning to be a gorilla, trying to climb trees, climb wooden frames etc.  The gorillas weren't out today (too cold and windy) so we found them inside.  First of all we saw the lady gorilla and thought she looked good, but then Tom pointed out the other one - he was so huge I can't believe we didn't see him to start with!  He was a rather magnificent figure, sitting proudly on his beam.  He didn't move a muscle but it didn't matter.  Unfortunately it was too dark in his enclosure to get a photo, but he will stay in the memory.

Melati

Next stop was to see the tigers.  There are 4: JJ a male, and Melati, a female tiger with 3 cubs who are a year old so quite well grown.   JJ was walking up and down strutting his stuff, whilst Melati and her cubs were in a separate enclosure, sat at the back, trying, I think to try to get out of the wind.  Although they were far away, they were still very striking and regal looking.  We ended up eating our waitrose lunch whilst watching them, hoping that they would do something whilst we were there.  They didn't, but at least we were out of the wind too whilst we ate.

We then found a Komodo Dragon.  Tom has been learning about these from his animal fact cards and was very keen to see one in real life. I think he was a little disappointed to find he didn't have wings, and didn't breathe fire!  However, it turns out he is quite a famous character, having been in Skyfall - helping dispose of the baddies.

Penguin Shooting by

Pretty butterfly

Next stop was the aquarium - with plenty of fish of many different sizes and colours.  After having a good look around we decided to head to a cafe for a sit down and hot drink (for the men anyway).  We were surprised to find quite a good restaurant serving good looking food, and welcomed the opportunity to sit down and rest.  Once restored we headed on to Penguin Beach.  This is a new enclosure for the penguins.  It is huge - there were plenty of places for a small boy to watch them darting round underwater.  Tom LOVED IT.  He squealed loudly with delight every time a penguin shot past him at high speed.  He couldn't get enough of it - so we stayed for quite a while.  This was certainly his most favourite part of the day.

Next stop was the butterfly house - there were plenty of them around.  Tom wasn't convinced by them, but I enjoyed spotting them.  Just round the corner was the bug house which we explored.  Tom was mesmerised by the microscope showing off tiny bugs and spent a long time in queue patiently waiting his turn and was delighted to look at them all.

Climbing in

Made it!

After that we headed round the corner and were on our way to the African part of the zoo when we came across an interesting climbing frame of a bird.  You had to climb into a cage which could then be bobbed up and down.  I took one look at it and predicted that there was no way Tom would do it.  He climbed up towards the cage and then started to cry not because he was frightened but because he was frustrated that he couldn't get into it!  Matt managed to shove him up and then he and Grandpa bounced him up and down.  I was speechless, but in a good way.  I NEVER would have believed it if I hadn't had seen it.  I was very proud though.

Next stop was the African enclosure so we could see my favourite animals - giraffes of course.  First stop was the hippos - but they were being shy and wouldn't come out to say hi.  Then were the zebras - they showed us their bums but wouldn't turn round to say hi.  The Okapi was next - she was a little better, but was in quite a difficult place for us see her properly.  Finally we got to the giraffes, they were sheltering from the wind and now rain, however, they didn't disappoint - a keeper came with a mother and son who were doing a feeding experience so we were able to see their long black tongues wrap around some carrots before crunching them up.

Great tail!

By now we were all getting tired, so we decided to call it a day.  We walked to the exit via the Lemur walk through.  Tom seemed to have no fear at all amongst the lemurs - very strange as he is still very very scared of dogs and wary around cats!  In fact he was so comfortable around the lemurs, at one stage I thought he wasn't going to stroke one!  I will never fully understand him!!!!!!

Just as we left the zoo, the heavens opened upon us.  It chucked it down!  We were going to get a bus back to Baker Street, but it was so revolting we hailed another black cab.  By the time we got to Baker Street, the sun was out again - it was pure bad timing!  Oh hum, it meant Tom got another ride in a black cab, so he was happy.

In a London Taxi

We got back to Mortlake around 5pm so it was a long day.  I thought Tom would be difficult to handle today with him having such a late night on Monday, but he was very well behaved, couldn't have asked for better really.  We handed him over to Grannie and Grandpa and then headed to Richmond for a night out.

We decided on Persian cuisine for the night (very exotic considering what's on offer in Ingleton) and were very happy with our choice.  Great service and lovely food at very reasonable prices.  (Note for next time - there was a very lovely looking Argentinian Steak House on the same street).  We also did a spot of Estate Agent viewing - the prices in this part of London are astronomical.  One selling point for a masionette going for £2.2million was that it has its own front door - that's a selling point - really!  We felt very blessed we live where we do.

3 of a kind

Wednesday and it was time to say our goodbyes and return home.  We had a great time and Tom had a ball - he was noticeably more stimulated this time, asking lots of questions and understanding more about what London is.  He certainly loves his trips down and although we tried to show him some of the sights, his overriding memory of his time was the transport!

Anyway thank you very much Grandpa and Grannie - we all had a fab time.

We had an interesting journey home.  We were delayed by 33 minutes going between Kings Cross and Leeds and had a 35 minute connection.  This meant we had to sprint across Leeds station to get our train (the next one went in 3 hours time).  We made it by the skin of our teeth and took a while to recover!.  Our next door neighbour picked us up from Ribblehead station in a full on gale.  We got home, put the heating on, washing on, made dinner and collapsed.  A sign of a good break.