Summer at last

Right, straight onto it this week.
Wednesday we went to Pizza Hut with Nanny. It was really good, I ate garlic bread (and learned how to say it as well) before eating masses of pizza all the while keeping the nice young waitress sweet with long smouldering looks (well, a cheesy grin with pizza smeared over my cheeks). It must have worked because I got two balloons and a saucer of sweets from her…..
Dad’s been keeping up with the cycling home from nursery lark, although I was a right little devil on two days last week. Well how would you like to be woken up and strapped to the back of the fool’s bike? Have you seen the way he rides it?
Friday we went round to nanny’s to cut her grass. I helped dad out a bit by doing a bit of sweeping and helped nanny out by eating loads of her jaffa cakes (I won’t tell Dad, you’re allright).
We went home and had tea and then Nanny turned up with Trish and Al. I hadn’t seen them for ages so it was nice to have a bit of fresh blood to play with. I escorted Mum and Dad off the premises and then Aunty Chris came round too. We had a great time as usual, I even put her shoes on for a walk around the front room.
Mum went to work on Saturday because the weather was soooo nice. What a shame. Dad and I got up late and then went down to meet her for lunch.

We had a picnic in the park before playing on the swings.

All too soon Mum had to go back to work and then it was off to the pub.
England were playing football on the telly so it was quite a big gathering. I was surprised to see Max again so soon.

I quite enjoyed the table football but couldn’t really be bothered with the proper match. In fact Max and I got dad to push us on the swings for the entire second half.
In the evening, when mum got home we had a barbecue. I ate most of mums spicy chicken kebabs much to their surprise before getting sauce all over mums sun lounger and spilling a load of coke all over the patio….
Sunday I had a lovely half ten lie in before getting up to another lovely sunny day. We played in the garden all morning then Grandad and Anne came round for a little play. Anne’s sand castles were brilliant. We then had a Sunday roast sat outside which was quite novel.
Monday afternoon we went to the swimming pool again. After a bit of a hesitant start I made good progress again. I’ve started trying to doggy paddle under my own steam and I’m quite happy to get about on my own as much as they let me.
I’m also finding it quite funny to call dad Malc and Mum Sally, they try to ignore me but I can see them sniggering….

Street Life!

Hello once again.
You’ll all be sorry to hear I’ve been a little poorly lately. I didn’t got to bed very well last Wednesday night so dad came up to see what all the fuss was about. I was sick all over his feet through the bars of my cot. After a change of bed clothes and a cuddle from mum I was off back to bed okay for the night. The next morning I was sick again though so there was no nursery and a trip to the doctors instead. The doctor diagnosed and ear infection and I was given some lovely banana flavoured medicine. I was fine again by the afternoon and pretty much back to my old self.
Friday night we went West again to see Max (and Emma and Dean of course).
We went out for a pub lunch, I was allowed to sit in a real chair rather than a high chair which was nice. You could even see sheep out in the field behind. The weather was pretty wet so we went to Wookey Hole.

Here we are waiting to go into the cave. I’d never been in a cave before so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It was dark and wet inside and we had a man that took us in and told us all about the place. He was telling us all about a witch that lived there in the olden days pointing out some steps down that were surrounded by a red glow that were apparently the steps down to hell. Once he had finished his patter I pointed straight to the stairs and shouted ‘this way’ towards the steps in question….I wasn’t quite sure about the caves to begin with but I really enjoyed it in the end so that’s another experience I can tick off my list. Outside the caves were some huge dinosaurs and a massive monkey, apparently called King Kong:

I decided to call him Ting-Tong though. There was also an indoor playground a ball shooting arena thing and an old fashioned penny arcade:

Here I am on the bandit, didn’t win anything though. I did however have more luck on another machine where an arm swept your prize off of a revolving table (with a little help from dad). The spoils of our success were a pair of lollipops which I shared with Max. They have some funny ways down in wildest Somerset you know:

Here’s Max and I eating our lunch in traditional regional attire. Emma and Dean seem reluctant to join in though.
The weather did finally cheer up a bit in the end and we sat in the garden for lunch on Sunday:

What a banquet, we ate like kings before making Dean get every single one of Max’s outdoor toys out for us to have a play with. As usual, I had a great weekend, thanks Max.
We went out to feed the ducks in Hungerford yesterday. The problem was everyone else had beaten us to it. All we could find was a load of plump ducks who couldn’t be bothered to swim across the river to eat my bread. We had to walk quite a way up the bank to get some more eager takers. I found it really funny when they snapped their beaks at the pieces of bread before tossing their heads back and eating the stuff.
I tried English mustard for the first time last night. Mum put a big dollop of this yellow sauce on her plate and I wanted to try it. I stuck my finger right in it then put it in my mouth…..and pulled a face……then stuck my finger in it again……and ate it again. I’m not sure if I really like it or not…..seems a bit strong?

Wet!

I hope everyone is enjoying the lovely summer weather as much as I am? Good job I’m still enjoying playing with all my birthday presents still while the rain comes down outside.
As if it wasn’t wet enough we went swimming again last week. My confidence in and around the water is coming on in leaps and bounds. I went down the slide in every way I could think and even a few I couldn’t. I was seeking out the bubbles and jets of water and made a trip onto the pirate ship a few times to check that out. My biggest achievement though was jumping in off the side of the pool. I saw some older boys doing it and decided I was going to get in on the action. Mum was on the edge of the pool with Dad waiting in the water for my splashdown. My first attempt wasn’t too good to be honest, I only just made it over the edge and into the water. I’d also decided I didn’t want Dad to catch me either….On my next few goes I decided it wasn’t such a bad idea to let him give me a bit of gentle assistance as I was going right under the water. After about eight goes I had it down to a tee and was loving it.
Saturday we went to town in the morning, we saw one of Dads old work mates with her new baby. I’m really interested in babies at the moment and like to point any out that I notice during our comings and goings. In the evening we went to Ben and Rach’s to watch the Eurovision song contest. As usual there was a sweepstake but with the addition of a national dish from the country you had picked. Mum spent hours making what appeared to be the most vile drink in history while dad melted some cheese over a candle. Neither of them won any money as usual.

I spent a large portion of the night with my laydeez Jeanette and Katie.

I’ve even managed to distract Owen while there was a scantily clad lady on the telly here…..

Here I am making off with a mini toad in the hole, Owen’s interpretation of English fayre. Dad got extremely drunk and went to sleep even before the results came in, he’s such a lightweight.
Sunday we went to a big blue building in Bristol. I think it was called IKEA or something. It was filled with weird furniture and stuff. Then all of a sudden right in the middle of the shop was a mini playground! There was a smart tunnel/slide combo, some little tents, rocking chairs and loads of other stuff. I took some prising away from that I can tell you.
I decided on Monday night that I didn’t fancy my high chair any more and wanted to sit in a real chair. I had to admit it was a bit low so I was quite glad when Dad got my booster seat out. Two days in and it’s going okay, just wait till I have something really messy though…..

Wheels!

Hello once again, how are we all?
Dad’s been keeping up the bike trip back from nursery, even if it looks like it might rain, it's great. We haven’t been caught out yet so fingers crossed. I like to helpfully shout out the word 'Wheels' at every oppurtunity while we are ridning along, i'm sure Dad finds it re-assuring.
Mum had Thursday afternoon off so we went to Lepe Country Park:

The sun was out and it was lovely and warm. We had a play in the park and had a long walk along the seafront without the buggy. The park had a big metal tube to crawl through, it was really funny when I was half way through and Dad wacked it one making a loud ringing sound. He had to do it so much he got a sore hand I think.
Friday we took the car to the garage. I was quite worried when a man made the car go up in the air and then took the two front wheels off….how were we going to get home? Dad assured me it was okay as he was just putting new tyres on. Never the less I was quite relieved when the car had it’s full complement of wheels attached and was back on the ground once more. After all that trauma we went to see Nanny. We went out in her garden and there was a frog in the grass! He hopped really well until he disappeared next door.
Then on to the weekend! Saturday morning and we went to Fantasy Land. I haven’t been for a while so was well up for it. My climbing skills had come on a lot and mum was amazed at my skills. I made dad climb all the way to the top with me and then made him go down the big slide with me on his lap. I wasn’t too sure on the first descent but by the 7th go I was loving it although I’m not sure dad was quite so keen. After that we went to Nicks to watch some football match or other and then have a barbecue. What a good day I had. I played in the garden with Yanna and Fen (thanks to Kin and Melissa for looking after me while mum and dad took it easy on the sofa).

And then we had a pitstop:

Later on I made everyone chase me around Nicks house, my energy was boundless. Thanks to Ben, Andy, Owen and Nick for the physical effort you made to keep me entertained and arranging the bean bag so nicely in the drop zone.
Sunday was at a slightly different pace to Saturday. We had a lovely lie in before going to get Great Grandma round for lunch. I got to ride round on her lap in the wheelchair which was proper smart. After lunch I was helping the table clearing process along to speed up the arrival of pudding by depositing the contents of my plate all over Grandma’s feet…sorry!

After dinner was done and dusted, I let her have a kip and a cuddle on the sofa.
After we had taken Grandma home I helped Dad wash the car with Mum. I loved splashing in the puddles and bubbles.
Monday Dad got all brave and let me help in the kitchen! We made some shortbread biscuits with chocolate chips in them. I helped mix the ingredients together in the mixing bowl and then supervised cutting them out. I took charge of adding the chocolate chips…some of them even made it onto the biscuits! Once they were in the oven we sat and watched them cook through the glass door.
On Tuesday dad picked me up from nursery on the bike and we went down the park to meet Mum for lunch. Things took a bad turn when I dropped one of my lovely home made biscuits in the dirt and cried my eyes out. Not even the offer of another one could ease my woe. I got over it eventually and we had a go on the slide in my super slippery trousers. Once we got home dad got me to help him put a load of dirt in a big tray and then poke some tiny little balls into the earth. He then got me to spray water all over it..most odd! I don’t know what all that was about, maybe I’ll find out later.

Hello, hello, hello, hello....

Alright then blog-monkeys!
I’ve seen lots of people over the last week. Nanny came round for the afternoon on Wednesday and then she stayed for tea, I ate 67,208 raspberries and a good lot of strawberries, I love fruit. It’s okay though, I still love my cake too!
Friday afternoon dad finally decided it was time to tidy up the garden. He got the lawn mower out and cut the grass which was a good job done as it was very nearly up to my waist. Whilst he was doing it I sat on my bike and laughed at him wandering up and down the lawn over and over again. Once he was finished, I got my lawn mower out and finished the job off properly. He also got rid of Santa’s tree hat had been going brown around the side of the house since Christmas, I’m a bit concerned that Santa won’t have anywhere to drop of the presents next time….Just as we were getting my tent/tunnel combo out for a game Aunty Chris turned up with Nanny again, bonus! I got to play with them in the garden for the afternoon. In the evening Alan came round to look after me. We had great fun, he’s such a soft touch he even gave in to my bed time demand of my huge horse coming in my cot with me.
On to the weekend and it was potty training time. Mum had me naked from the waist down with my potty ready for action. I pretty much had the idea of it from the word go and had several wee’s in it as well as depositing some solid matter a bit later on. I’m still a long way from the finished article though. Slim and Tracey came round in the afternoon, I had great fun with them. I even said ‘Tracey’ for the first time, even though it was about five minutes after they had left.
We went down the farmers market on Sunday and came away with nothing but a few organic carrots. I ate some of them cold, but decided against them once they were cooked with my roast. I like to stay a bit fickle and keep them on their toes. In the evening, Aunty Chris turned up for baby sitting duties. That’s twice I was abandoned in one weekend! Then Laura and James arrived too so I made sure I got rid of mum and dad quicksmart.
I’ve really been enjoying my train set of late:

I’m really enjoying putting the track together and then sending Thomas and friends around my creations.
I’m also enjoying my medical kit:

I’ll now be known as Dr Atkins if you don’t mind.
Dad came to pick me up from nursery today as usual, but we didn’t go home in the car….we went by bike! It was great, we rode past the fire station and saw the nee-nar’s before going through the park and along the canal past the boats and the ducks. The best bit was the big bridge over the water. On the way back down we went proper fast over the bumpy bits which really made me laugh. We finished off by going past the horses in the field over the way. I hope he can be bothered to do this again, it was really good.

Seaside!

Been on my travels again, back to the familiar territory of Cornwall.
I’d been promised ‘seaside’ all week by mum so I was more than ready to finally get on the road Friday evening. I was a good boy in the car and I had Andy for company in the back so that was good. I was sold a bit of dummy though because it was dark by the time we arrived and the seaside would have to wait until morning. Never mind, I ran around the caravan like a loony until I was finally wrestled into my jim-jams and put to bed.
Saturday morning we were off down the beach:

I did loads of digging and really enjoyed myself. I love the seaside almost as much as mum but I get the benefit of getting sand stuck to my snotty nose, it’s lovely.
Sarah and John came over in the afternoon, they had bikes!

John’s was a bit big but Sarah’s was okay as long as I had a little help. John had a smart book with animals in it and a couple of dinosaurs to have a play with.
Sunday was time for mum’s pilgrimage to Polzeath. We had the usual trawl around the shops and then it was lunch time. Here I am getting busy with an iced bun:

I only ate the cherry and the icing before handing the soggy bun remnants on to dad to get rid of. Next up was another digging session on the beach although the weather was quite so sunny and warm this time, it didn’t last quite as long. After that it was bouncy castle time:

This one was a lot bigger than the last one I had a go on but that meant that mum, dad and Andy were also allowed to play too. I think they enjoyed it more than I did to be honest:

In the evening we went to the Harlyn for a meal. I had Pizza, Chips and Beans (well just chips and beans really, I left the pizza) before my finest achievement to date…I ate an entire grown up sized slice of Banoffee pie. My face was a picture by all accounts when mum presented me with it and I polished the lot off (all bar the crust of the pie anyway).
Monday the weather was much better again and there was some surf too! Back down the beach for more digging! Dad and Andy tried their luck surfing while me and mum chucked rocks in the stream. There was even a horse having a run about on the sand just for my entertainment. I was also approached by a big old doggie who had a strange fondness for taking stones I was about to throw out of my hand with her mouth. It gave me quite a fright.
So then it was time to load up and go home until next time….

Down the gee gee's

Hello once again, another action packed week to report.
We went to the races on Saturday. Dad forgot the camera so there’s no photo evidence of the day at all. The weather was lovely and things got off to a good start with dad picking the winner on the first race. Sadly it was the only one of the day. Mum didn’t pick any winners either, rubbish! Ben seemed to be doing okay though!
I especially loved sitting right on the rails watching the horses go past to the start and the ‘copters taking off and landing from the field. I also had my first go on a bouncy castle. It was brilliant and I got to bounce around with all the bigger children, I soon got the hang of it. I kicked up a proper sink when I had to get off though….We saw Laura nad James there too, nice shoes Laura!
Saturday night the usual suspects came round for a barbecue. It looked pretty hot to me once it had got going, I made sure I told everyone. There were all manner of garden fun and games going on and I had a great time. Look how tall I am:

Sunday was a nice lay in followed by a trip to Grandad’s for lunch. I had a late birthday present due to duplicated lawnmowers which was a car transporter lorry with six cars on the back. It’s brilliant and the cars zoomed really well across his smooth wood floor. We also got to look at some of Grandad’s really smart books on trains. There’s no stories to water them down, just pictures of trains and hard hitting technical detail, just how I like it. I pointed out Thomas and Percy and Grandad showed me a picture of the real life Spencer. After lunch we went out for a walk around their village. Dad always says things are a bit odd over Swindon way and now I can see why, it was the village scarecrow hunt. This seemed to involve scarecrows dressed up to represent films or characters from films being placed in peoples front gardens while families wandered around all afternoon looking at them and trying to decipher what was what. Dad was pretty good at it really, the only one I recoginsed was the Andy look-a-like Shrek.
Nursery news and my bestest friend in the whole world Jude has gone up a room (he’s six months older than me). I do sometimes get to see him when I have a sneaky visit into the other room and I’m sure we’ll be re-united soon when I go up as well. I’ve coped with it all pretty well though.
In the mornings I now have to tell mum that it’s time for her to go by shouting ‘Mummy, Door, Work’ at her if she gets a bit too settled playing with all the toys and some days I even wake up properly when Dad comes to pick me up so I don’t have to be carried out crying at my rude awakening.

Happy Birthday to me

So then, 2 years old! How about that?
Mum had my Thursday (my birthday) off work. While dad was at work in the morning mum and I made a cake! She let me help and everything which is more than dad ever does while he’s cooking. It actually came out really well for a couple of amateurs, although the icing left a bit to be desired…

When dad came home we got on with the presents. They had got me a really smart bike, it is a little on the big side but I can still get on it okay.

The best bit was probably the cards though, I love opening them!

In the evening I saw Uncle Alan and Andy which was good.
Friday and no one went to work because it was a bank holiday or something? Mum and dad were pretty busy in the morning doing stuff around the house so I fell asleep on the floor of the front room. When I woke up the house was full of people and I seemed to be in the middle of my own party!

The weather cleared up and we got out in the garden with the bubble machine, it was great fun.
We had loads of lovely food (especially all the cakes) and I had loads more presents. Really good presents. Thanks everyone I loved them all.

Here I am in my tunnel/tent complex which provided plenty of laughs for everyone.
This was a strange one, I’m always warned to stay away from hot things and then they go and shove a flaming cake in my face and start singing?

I wasn’t having any of that.
Here I am having a late night cuddle with uncle Slim:

Speaking of late nights it was 11pm before I finally turned in, I had a great party, thanks everyone.
I must give a special mention to Chard and Kaz who sent me a scratch and sniff Banana card all the way from Australia, how cool is that?
Saturday mum was at work. Dad woke me up at 11:15 so we could go and meet her for lunch...I think I deserved a lie in.
As if the birthday wasn’t enough excitement for one boy, it was Easter too! Chocolate time. Mum had this crazy idea of hiding some chocolate eggs around the house and handing me a bucket to put them in….I think not. I found one and then scoffed it, she carried the bucket.

We went out for a bit of a walk in the afternoon and we went to feed the ducks (and Swans) in the park. It was quite funny as they were really greedy. We saw some boats on the pond and had a play on the swings and all the rest of it.
Monday came and they still didn’t go to work. We went to Bucklebury Farm park instead. Now this was my kind of place. Animals (proper ones too, none of these fancy Tigers and the like) Tractors and Playgrounds.

Here we are feeding the sheep. It was really funny getting mum to feed the donkeys from her hand, she squealed and shrieked as she didn’t like their wet old tongues. Ha ha, Dad didn’t seem to mind as much. We also saw some ponies, lambs, goats, piglets and cows. They had tractors you could sit on:

We even went for a ride on a tractor and trailer into a field with lots of deer in it, when we stopped they came up to us for some food and we got to see them really close up. I wasn’t fussed though, I just wanted more bumpy tractor action across the field. They also had a really big slide in one of the barns:

Dad and I came down together really fast and the bumps were good too. We had a good few goes before the poor old man was worn out….
What a great weekend!

The Great Outdoors

Busy old week again this week.
Wednesday afternoon we went up the woods with Emma and Max.

It was a nice day but it had been raining so there were plenty of puddles for us to go fishing in with our sticks. I caused hysteria on a narrow bridge when a bee landed on my welly, Emma, Max and Dad almost all ended up in the water.

We played a bit of ball on the field before having a mighty picnic comprising of one small packet of chocolate buttons, a small bag of minstrels and one bottle of ‘looking for Nemo’ water, what a treat for the tastebuds.
Thursday night we went to Rach and Ben’s. They had some cool furniture for me to bounce on and didn’t seem to mind me boinging about and throwing their cat’s ball around. Andy then showed up and then Nick and Carol. Ben had organised a sweepstake on the Grand National, and I was in charge of drawing the horses and names from the hats. I enjoyed my position of power but soon started to abuse it by pulling handfuls from the hat at a time before actually donning the hats themselves. I did look cool in them though.
Friday was Mum’s birthday, she was really pleased with the card I made her at nursery (Dad wasn’t, when they gave it to him to bring home the glue was still wet).
Once Dad had got home from work and they had discussed what we were actually going to do for an hour or two we headed off to Toys R Us. I rampaged through the bike and pedal car aisles before reaching the playhouse section, it was great fun. After that we went into the Oracle and had tea at Chili’s. I bellowed ‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye’ to everyone who passed our table.
On Saturday the weather was nice so we played in the garden. Well I did, Mum and Dad were on a tidying mission or something. Dad cleared up the conservatory and Mum and I cleared all the dead leaves from the drains. I stuffed a handful of leaves down my top for good measure which wasn’t such a good move as they were pretty scratchy by the time they had got into my nappy. Ouch. I fell asleep in the afternoon on the sofa, and only caught the last half of the biggest horse race of the year! Dad won a fiver for having last horse home the loser. Ben and Rach came round for tea on Saturday night so I got to show just how many raspberries I could eat.
On Sunday, Number 23 in an occasional series ‘Dad takes us out for a walk in woods he wants to sus out as a potential biking destination’ took us to West Woods near Marlborough.

Here I am examining some horse footprints in the soft ground. I had great fun pushing my own pushchair about (except I kept running it into the gulley’s at the sides of the track). We got a good way from the car when the sky turned quite dark. It started to rain so I took refuge under my rain cover in the buggy leaving the fools to get wet outside. Except it wasn’t rain, it was small white blobs of something or another, they called it hail? Whatever it was it made a good noise on my cover although it did drip onto my head eventually (Dad, fix my buggy skylight please).
Monday afternoon Dad told me we were going out on the bike but then put me in the car. I was not happy. I hadn’t noticed him loading the bike onto the back. We went to Greenham common and rode all the way around the outside fence in the lovely sunshine and saw cows, birds and rabbits, as well as lots of cars. I liked the cars.
That’s all for this week, I don’t know what’s lined up for the next seven days although there has been lots of whispering and suspicious packages being secreted about the place, I’ll let you know if anything comes of it….

Scarborough!

Get yourself comfy, here comes the holiday update!
Now then what happened….they loaded the car up Friday lunchtime strapped me in and said we were going on holiday! Smart I thought, off to see Max in Somerset. So I started shouting MAX MAX MAX! But we went north. We never go north, sometimes South, Sometimes East, mostly West but never North. And north we went, and went and went. For a solid seven hours. The traffic was pretty bad but Mum and Dad remained surprisingly calm up front. I enjoyed the trip really. I had a lovely long kip, played spot the lorry out of the window and got fed at regular intervals. When we got to the place we were staying it was really foggy and dark, I had no idea where we were although I didn’t really care as it has a lovely comfy sofa to slouch about on while they got all my stuff in from the car.
Next morning this was where we were:

Lebberston, just outside Scarborough. We were staying in the old farm building but sadly the cattle had moved out. The drawer under the telly had Thomas the Tank engine DVD’s and there was also a special house just for me in the courtyard:

It was really good and I held several tea parties which went down a storm.
We were soon out and about and went to Cayton bay:

Here’s me and Dad chucking stones in the sea before running for it when the waves came in. The waves looked really good out the back and there were a fair few surfers out there, I decided that it must be Andy as he is the only one I know silly enough to go in the North Sea in March. I shouted ‘Andy’ at all of them. After that we went into Scarborough itself. The waves were crashing into the sea wall and sending spray right up into the air, it was really funny and I loved watching it and shouting splash!
They had a fair and everything, I had a go in this car amongst other things:

Sunday was an early start as we were going on the North Yorkshire Moors steam railway, we still only just got there in time. I loved going on the train and got a nice seat to myself right by the window. Dad taught me a new word, river as we crossed the bridge. It didn’t take me long to spot a group of young German ladies just down the carriage and start woo-ing them with a game of peep-bo. They loved it. We got off the train at Pickering and went for a walk round, it was pretty boring on a Sunday there to be honest so we soon headed back to the station. We got really close to the engine when it pulled in, I shouted ‘HOT’ each time it puffed out some steam in case anyone was in any doubt.

Mum bought me a lovely Thomas the Tank Engine book from the shop at the station before we got back on the train to go home. We sat opposite another family on the way back and since mum and dad didn’t seem to be too interested in me pointing out the river every time we crossed it, I told this other lot time and time again. They must have liked it as they gave me a lovely posh chocolate biscuit.
Onto Monday and we went to the Sea Life Centre. I wasn’t really that bothered about it initially and just ran through it all as quick as I could en-route to the café and play area which I played on for ages. We had another look round and I started to get into it a bit more. I saw some Sea Lions, a big Turtle, jellyfish and some sharks which were all okay but best of all was the Seahorses (just like a normal horse but with no legs, a pot belly like Dad’s, really small and live underwater….what ever next?) and a real life Nemo. After that we went to Filey. On the way Dad thought he could smell the country side, but it wasn’t the countryside, it was the contents of my nappy. Very runny they were too. Oh dear, Filey aborted and back to camp for a change of clothes and a bath.
Tuesday came and we had a brilliant game of hide and seek in the cottage before we went off to Whitby, even further north. It was pretty nice there, we saw loads of boats and a parked up fire engine that we had a good look around. Best of all though was the arcade:

Here I am having a few laps. Mum played against Dad, so I helped mum by sitting on her lap and wrenching the steering wheel away from her when I fancied it. She still set the fastest lap time though, I think I’m glad dad does most of the real driving. There was a big old moving horse thing in the window that I had several goes on. It was really high up so Mum had to hold on even though I had a firm grip on the reigns. I also got a taste for feeding the penny falls machines. You get some coins off of Mum or Dad and then shove them in the slot and watch them get pushed about. On the edge of the piled up coins were some small toys, Mum quite fancied seeing if she could get an aeroplane to fall down for me. Dad dismissed it as impossible and said he’d never seen it happen. About £395 later the plane duly dropped into the tray down below, although mum and I missed the great event. Mum then spotted a car also teetering on the edge of oblivion and started shoving coins in again….it didn’t show much chance of shifting so mum and I wandered off leaving Dad on a mission. Another £276 later and I had a car to go with my aeroplane and Dad had a new ‘Proudest achievement’ to put on his CV.

We went on to Robin Hoods bay:

The tide was in so we couldn’t get on the beach. I did have the pleasure of an extreme push chair ride up and down the steepest hill I’ve ever been on though. I’m glad dad was pushing.
On Wednesday we went into Scarborough again, on the way in we saw a man leading four ‘Donkeys’ (looked like Horses to me) down the road towards the beach. Mum told me I could go on one which lead me to repeat the word Donkey every 30 seconds or so for the next few hours, interspersed with the occasional ee-aw.

When we finally got to the beach the Donkeys were on lunch break for an hour! I was devastated, we went for a walk up the beach but I soon nodded off:

Once I woke up, the Donkeys were working again, fully refreshed and up for it! Here I am riding one of the beasts:

I was a natural, although I did have to stretch my legs a long way to sit down. Mum didn’t even really need to hold me.
We went to the Lifeboat station and Dad got me some boats for the bath, mum got herself a fishing game and I charmed the two old ladies in the shop.
After all the Donkey excitement and old lady pleasing we had another go at Filey. The tide was in so we couldn’t go on the beach again. We had a walk along the prom though:

Thursday we went to York. We parked the car and then got on a bus. I found this hugely exciting and shouted ‘BUS’ every 50 yards or so. I also pointed out houses, cars and lorries for the benefit of anyone within earshot. We just went in loads of shops so nothing to report really. Although I did get marched out of Pizza Hut for being naughty, Ooops.
So Friday we packed up and came home, but not until I’d thrown one last tea party and had a last scoot around the courtyard in their little car. I had a really good week but was really tired. Roll on the next one. The journey home was much quicker and we got home in time to pop round and see Nanny who I’d been pining for since Monday.
Saturday we had a quick trip out on the bike as I’d missed it on holiday before Grandad and Anne came round to look after me in the evening. They had got me a really smart Monster Truck from Florida. It’s brilliant and I’ve tried to take it to bed every night since. I even filled the back of it up with soggy Rice Crispies on Sunday morning. Great Grandma came round for lunch on Sunday as it was her birthday so that was nice. She sat next to me at dinner and let me have loads of pudding, she can come again.
So then it was back to nursery and back to normal. When Dad came to get me on Monday I had a great big Orange splodge of paint on my bum where I’d fallen over ‘foot’ painting, he said he was glad I got all this out of my system on someone elses carpet…..
Thanks for getting this far, it's been a monster this week.