Happy Birthday Fen!

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Well being in Bumblebees has sure taken it out of me. Dad’s had an easy ride in the afternoons as I’ve been so tired from nursery all I’ve wanted to do in the afternoons is get some shut eye.
Andy came round Friday night so I made him read my ‘Scared of a bear’ book from the library. It’s my new favourite, mum picked some real good ones for me.
Saturday was a pretty busy affair. We had a bit of a lie in before going to the Coral Reef for swimming. I had great fun (once the rain cloud had stopped doing it’s thing) but was quite happy to stick to the shallow water and normal slides. After that it was a whirlwind of shopping. I think we went to Marks and Spencer (got my own Thomas the tank engine wheeled bag for holidays), the bike shop (where dad test rode a big fancy bike as the big oaf has broken his own) and then Toys R Us! I love it there. I got to ride loads of scooters, trikes and cars as well as playing in the fun houses and on the slides. In the midst of all this mum and dad were actually trying to buy a birthday present for Fen. I wasn’t much help, I thought he’d like everything!
In the evening we went round to see Rach and Ben who were back from their honeymoon. I had a great time on their bean bags and made Rach read me the bear book a few times.
Sunday morning and Mum wrapped Fens present ready to give it to him in the afternoon, so I promptly tried to open it….I don’t get it, aren’t all presents for me?
We went and got Grandma round for lunch so that was fun. I refused Dad’s home made rice pudding in favour of some strawberries much to her surprise.
After we had taken her home we went to pick up Andy before we went over to see Fen. He finally got his present fully wrapped (sorry the paper was a bit tatty on the corner) and mum was relieved I hadn’t tried to claim it again. Andy had got him this:



A massive lion ball pool! It took them ages to blow it up and they all looked a bit faint once it was done but we showed no mercy and started letting rip with the flying balls!

An addition to this weeks entry!

Check this out, my internet monkey has hopefully worked out how to get video on this here blog!

Bouncy!

Must be Tuesday again then? Here goes….. Friday was my last day in the ‘Caterpillars’ room at nursery. I took a box of chocolates and a card in for Tim and Marie who’ve looked after me for the last year or so. Dad was surprised the chocs actually made it to nursery with mum and me taking them in. In the afternoon we went to the park with Emma and Max. Emma’s baby bump is looking really impressive! We played on the park and then had ice lollies: I didn’t even get too messy with it. Later On Ben and Rach came around, they had just got married by all accounts! So congratulations to them but never mind all that they bought us some wedding CAKE! Andy and Owen must have smelt it as they were round soon after. Saturday mum went to work, so it was the regular lazy morning before meeting her for lunch. I demanded a trip to the pasty shop, it’s my favourite. We sat by the canal and ate it before mum went back to work. Dad and I then went to look at some model railways. I’d never seen one before and thought they looked brilliant diving in and out of tunnels and over bridges. Dad had to tear me away in the end but I didn’t want to go quietly so I left kicking and screaming. It paid off though as he took me straight round to see Nanny: We went for a walk over the common. We saw loads of cows, they were walking all over the road and causing a bit of a traffic jam. Dad took us a bit closer to them but Nanny and I were keen to keep our distance from the beasts, they’re pretty big you know! Sunday we had a pretty lazy day. We played in the garden, the highlight was when dad got the tent out. As part of my ongoing potty training I was ‘without clothing’ and decided I should get in the tent and have a small sprinkle on the groundsheet….dad was not a happy bunny. Ha ha! Monday I had my first day in the ‘Bumblebees’ room which went okay before Mum came to pick me up (she had the day off). We went to Milletts farm in the afternoon. They had a Maize maze but once we had paid to go in I decided I was more interested in the free animals over the road. I won out in the end and we went to see the animals instead, even the lure of bouncy castles and trampolines wasn’t enough to tempt me. I got my fill of goats, pigs, sheep, cows and horses and then gave in and let them go back to the maze. Due to my excellent navigational skills we were soon at the exit where we got an ice-pop as a reward for our endeavour: I dropped mine in the dirt after a few bites. I cried, Dad said tough luck but Mum asked the man for another one! After that we went for a ride on the tractor around the bumpy field, had a good old bounce on the bouncy castle and an even better bounce on the trampoline:

Seaside again!

Well looks like summers over already then, must be Autumn already? I’ve had to wear my coat to nursery the last couple of days.
Before the hot weather disappeared we went to the pool again last Wednesday. I had a really good time again and made friends with a nice young girl, we splashed about together for ages after i'd played hard to get for while. We were even allowed an ice lolly from the shop, even though most of it melted and has left a rather unpleasant looking chocolate coloured stain on my towel…..
In the evening Grandad and Anne came round for a barbecue:

They were great fun as usual, they even bought a lovely chocolate cake with them.
Friday mum and dad went out for a meal on their own, the cheek of it!!! Never mind, Chris and Nanny came round to babysit. I made sure I turned the waterworks on to make them think I was upset they were going out, but no sooner than the door shut I stopped. We had a good old time and then Laura came round with fish and chips. I may have helped Nanny with a few…..
We didn’t do much on Saturday. Just a quick visit to town and a trip to the park. There was some sort of music event on in the park with some DJ’s playing records in the bandstand, I think the people at the bowls club must have loved it. I certainly did and kept breaking into impromptu dance moves while I was playing on the climbing frame.
Sunday I was very rudely awoken at 6 am only to be bundled into the car with Andy and Owen. We were going to the beach! After initial confusion (I thought we were going back to the caravan in Cornwall) we were on the right track. I sat in the back of Andy’s car between Mum and Owen. From my vantage point I had clear views of everything around me so I gave a full running commentary on every tree and car we passed all the way to North Devon. I’m sure I made the time pass quickly for them.

Here I am doing my best surf catalogue pose!

And here I am trying to get those rubber clad fools out of the way in case any of the girls on the beach couldn’t see me. We had a great day, although I wasn’t so keen to join them for a surf in the sea, it was much colder than the little pools in the sand so I stuck to those instead. They had to make do without my commentary on the way home as I slept nearly all the way.
When we got back to Newbury we went straight to see Abi Hardy! I’d been excited about it all day long.

Here I am giving her a kiss. When we got there she was asleep, the grown ups seemed quite happy about this but I wanted her to wake up and play with me! Never mind, there'll be plenty of time for that later on.
Monday afternoon, Dad and I were lazy little monkeys and slept almost all afternoon to make up for our exertions on the beach on Sunday. I hope mum doesn’t find out….
Today, Dad took me for a walk in the woods (another tip off for a bike riding location, he’s so predictable) but I didn’t like it one little bit! I wouldn’t walk and made the big oaf carry me around, constantly asking to go back to the car and go home. That’ll teach him to use me on his little expeditions. Do it Saturday morning while I’m having a lie in next time!

Racing!

Hello once again everyone, hot enough for you?
We’ve been making the most of it that’s for sure. Last Wednesday we picked mum up from work and went straight down to the outdoor pool, it was brilliant. I’d only ever been here once last year and I cried my eyes out and we went home after about 3 minutes…..this time they struggled to get me out! We did loads of splashing and I raced dad up and down the pool, I kept beating him! I hope we can go again soon.
Thursday afternoon dad got me to work in the garden. He got out something he called a gazebo (looked like a tent to me) and I helped him to put it up all the while singing the Bob the builder theme tune. He wouldn’t let me have a go with the mallet, so I tried to bang a few pegs into the ground with a plastic golf club, I think he was impressed by my ingenuity. Once that was done, we got the big paddling pool out and filled it with water…it took ages! Finally I got to go in and have a good old splash about with Mum and Dad before dinner.
On Friday Dad didn’t take the usual route home and we ended up at the racecourse. We watched the horses being unloaded from their lorries and being led into the course before going up to near the starting gate to watch the start of the first race. As the horses thundered past I shouted ‘HOOF’ at them a few times. I thought it was really good but now I’ve become a bit obsessed with racing. On the way back I got Dad to race a train pulling out of the station and although we out accelerated it for a bit, it soon overtook us. He’s too slow, I need a faster pedaller!
Mum went to work Saturday, so Dad was fearing the worst….he needn’t have. We had a nice slow start in the morning and went to meet mum for lunch. In the afternoon I came home and went to sleep on the sofa…all afternoon! I even missed the thunder and lightning. That evening we went to the pub to meet up with all the holiday gang and Nick, Carol and the bump and had a pretty late night.
Sunday we went to feed the ducks in Hungerford (I ate most of the bread), we had a picnic on the common (I only wanted crisps and cake but wasn’t allowed any) and then we went fruit picking again!


This time we picked Raspberries! They were better than strawberries in so much as I didn’t have to bend down quite so far to pick them up. I was stripping the bushes bare and mum and dad were having a fit in case they had to pay in instalments for my mighty harvest….they only cost £1.03 (after Mum had chucked the iffy ones i’d put in the basket). Still, I probably ate a fivers worth before we even got to the shop to pay….ha!
Dad was pretty brave on Monday and got the painting stuff out single handed (albeit in the garden). He even made me some potato prints which were pretty good to be fair. What he doesn’t understand though is that I’m in my green phase at the moment…dark pond slime green (well that’s what colour it goes when I mix ALL the colours together anyway), He just doesn’t get true art.
In keeping with my racing interest at the moment, I tried to egg dad on to race lorries up the dual carriageway on the way to the supermarket this afternoon. He overtook one, but wouldn’t got for the next one so I cried! He said something about getting told off by the Police if he wasn’t careful.
We got in the pool again tonight:

We played ring-a-ring-a-roses, but no one wanted to do the falling down bit except me. Pretty soon I’d ditched the singing and the dancing in favour of just the falling down….I thought I was hilarious!
We got a letter from nursery today, saying I can go up a room in two weeks time, I can't wait to get back with the old gang again!
Now then, there’s some new arrivals we need to talk about!
First of all we have another Nedster! The eagle eyed, computer literate among you will have noticed his comment on last weeks entry, but for the rest of you, here’s a link to another Ned on the other side of the sea, how cool is that:
http://thenedster.blogspot.com/

And also, a very special welcome to Abi Hardy, who still isn’t even a day old yet! How brilliant is that? I can’t wait to show her a few tricks to keep Nick and Carol on their toes. Mum’s been telling me all about it, hopefully I’ll get to give her a cuddle soon (I’m into cuddling at the moment).

Cornwall!

Back again, did you miss me?
This is how they packed me:

So we’ve been to Cornwall again, there were fifteen of us this year so there wasn’t many quiet moments.
We dug sandcastles at Watergate:

We had a rather one sided tug of war match with Sarah and John:

We had lovely weather on the beach:

Sat in the first class carriage on the steam train with Fen and Yanna:

…..and got grated cheese all over the seat eating a picnic:

I got over my fear of showers:

(steady now ladies)
Sadly the donkey derby wasn’t on so we had a nice cold drink overlooking Newquay harbour:

We had a lovely day out with Slim and Trace and dad tried to look like a lifeguard:

After we had been on the beach we went to have a cream tea in the middle of a farm. It was ace, there were chickens and geese wandering about and we threw apples for the pigs to eat in their orchard.
We all rode on bikes:

I think I’m probably pointing out the pasty shop in far off Padstow here. I was also armed and dangerous with a water pistol! Tucked in behind dads bulk I’d let rip with a stream of water at unsuspecting passers by. Dad kept me entertained on the bike by weaving through the others and racing along, although Chris and Alan were really zooming on the tandem.
We sat outside and ate like kings:

So just the same old same old really!
Other notable events had to include the boat trip to puffin island…. The weather was beautiful and the surf had all but died off so no one really believed the man on the boat when he said it was rough out at sea. We should have. The boat was getting tossed around like one of my bath toys. Now poor old Ben isn’t the saltiest of sea-dogs to be honest and I don’t think it helped with me shouting out ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ as the boat rocked from side to side. There were kids being sick left right and centre and Andy was laughing his head off. At least we saw a few puffins!
I kicked dad off his skateboard at the skatepark and started scooting along on it all on my own, that pleased him!
I caught some fish in a net with Sarah and John and Dad managed to drain a rock pool into a lower one by digging a really long trench in the sand….it was great watching the water rushing down and once it had all emptied, John had me running up to the top rock pool with buckets of water to fill it back up.
We played on a machine in the pub where a robber got chased by a policeman and when he caught him he hit him over the head! I was quite worried about it until mum explained it was only pretend, anyway, dad let me help him play a game called Area 51 where you got to shoot aliens…..not sure he should have done that?
As is customary on these sort of entries I’d like to thank Andy, Ben, Rach, Alan, Sonia, Owen, Linda, Chris, Kin, Melissa, Yanna and Fen for helping me have such a good time. Can't wait till next time!

Hot hot hot!

Blimey it’s been hot! I’ve been going to bed in just my pants to keep cool (steady on now ladies). My skin has been much better since I went in the sea last month so I don’t have to scratch myself hardly at all now.
Saturday we went to a barbecue at Yanna and Fen’s:

They had some really smart toys and best of all they had their own little wooden house in the garden, although no one would come in there with me as it was so hot. Melissa is great, she gave me beans and everything for my tea.
Sunday Uncle Slim and Auntie Trace came round to put their tent up in the garden:

It was as big as out house I reckon. I ‘helped’ Slim sort the ropes out….
They’re going on holiday in it next week and wanted to make sure it was all okay before they went. Dad even cooked them some dinner (a roast the silly fool, in that heat!) and we had a play in the garden.

Mum is off work so on Monday afternoon we went to the Coral Reef swimming again. They must have known something was up from the start as I couldn’t really be bothered with the small childrens slide, I had my sights set much higher….the flume rides! After climbing endless stairs we got to the top of the tower and there were funny tubes with water rushing down them. People were getting in them and zooming off before disappearing round a bend with a scream. It looked great. We sent mum off first and then I got on Dad’s lap and we were off……but really slowly. We splashed down (finally) in the pool at the bottom and I made sure we got another go…. This time was much better, he managed to get a right head of steam up and came flying out of the bottom bouncing off the sides like pinball before going right under water. I didn’t mind at all and wanted some more…we had about five goes in all before their tired old legs couldn’t carry me to the top anymore. On our trip around the pool I also noticed a tunnel and an open doorway I hadn’t seen before…we went through it and ended up outside, but still in the swimming pool! How weird is that? This bit was really good and I did a lot of really good swimming out here. After all the fun of the pool we went to a park at the lookout and I had Mum and Dad climbing and swinging after me all over the place, it was smart!
Today I went to see Grandma in hospital (she’s broken her foot) I took her some chocolate and a big picture of me and her to cheer her up, I know what the ladies like. She loved it and I entertained all the old dears on the ward before coming home for bed.
There’ll be no update next week as I’m off on my holidays tomorrow to Cornwall for a week and a half…so to keep you all sweet, have a look at some of my pre-blog web stuff on the following links and see how much I’ve grown:

http://uk.geocities.com/dhtraildigger/NEDSPICTURES04.HTML

http://uk.geocities.com/dhtraildigger/NEDABOUT04.HTML

http://uk.geocities.com/dhtraildigger/NEDWARMING.HTML

See you all soon!

Shoes, Strawberries and Steam engines

Another action packed weekend again. We kicked off early Saturday morning with a trip to Kingston upon Thames to go shoe shopping. We also took Andy, Ben and Rach along. We went all the way to the top of the multi storey car park, so high up we could see the trains in the station below us. Mum taught me that Dad and Andy were going to buy shoes and Ben was going to buy some boats…. When we got to the shop I had to help Andy pick which ones to buy as he was way out of his depth. I thought the shop was rubbish though as they didn’t have any small enough to fit me so I came away empty handed. We got some sandwiches for lunch and sat and ate them by the Thames watching the boats go by, all very civilised indeed.
Later in the afternoon it was time to entertain the oldies (Grandma and Nanny).
I had a great time showing off and even ended up in the paddling pool fully clothed, complete with shoes and socks (Dad was a bit ‘tense’ about this one). Dad cooked us a curry and we sat in the garden to eat it (I had Thomas the tank engine pasta though), the oldies even ate Samosa’s and Bhaji’s!
After all the food was finished we did some drawing:

We also had a few laps round the garden in Grandma’s wheelchair, a game of football and golf with Nanny (she’s still pretty sporty) and I did some top quality scootering.
Then it was Sunday. Off to Grandad and Anne’s for dinner which was nice and then on to the fruit picking farm for Strawberries and steam. Now this was really something…. There were all these low bushes in neat rows, and if you looked under the branches there were strawberries! I know, how mad is that?

Here I am with Anne checking out the fruit on offer, I can’t believe these things actually grow on bushes…where is the plastic container and cling film? I had a few sneaky ones before we paid for them of course.

In the field behind there was a steam fair. There were all these huge contraptions that sort of looked like tractors, but also looked a bit like trains….weird!

They moved quite slowly and puffed steam and smoke out all over the place, I think I quite liked them.
I had a go on my first roundabout:

Here Grandad is giving me a crash course in driving a steam engine. I was okay for a few spins but it started going a bit quick and I got a bit tearful. The man operating the ride (obviously a seasoned professional) tried to reverse the situation by producing a small fluffy dog to play with but in these situations only a cuddle from Mum will do. The ride had to be stopped so I could get off, so apologies to all the other children.
After all this fun and games we headed back to Newbury to watch England play again. I don’t know why they all bother watching it, they don’t really seem to enjoy it at all. Anyway, Katie had some smart fluffy toys that were far more entertaining than the match and I had a great time playing with Linda and throwing gravel over Katies nice lawn.

More football....

Sorry, late this week…..World Cup’s fault!
Last Friday we went out for a walk after tea. We walked through the farm over the back (which was good because there were horses and lots of tractors) and ended up at some playing fields with a rather nifty park. I never even knew it existed and I can’t believe it’s taken them this long to take me over there. There was a Fire Engine and a motorbike on a big boingy spring, a swing, a couple of roundabouts and a climbing frame/slide combo. The climbing frame had a really tricky section that I just about got the hang of although I was glad to feel Mum or Dads hand help me along on the odd occasion. As seems to be a bit of a habit the fool forgot the camera so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
Dad was out for ages on his bike on Saturday so mum and I got bust sorting out his fathers day card and present….. Once he got home we had some lunch and went down the town. We saw Aunty Trish and uncle Al in Marks and Spencer which surprised us, stick to Amazingstoke next time! Grandad and Anne came round for tea and we sat out in the garden to eat it, it was really nice. After the food was gone we watered the plants with a watering can. Well, I watered Grandad’s feet most of all, it was really funny.
Sunday was fathers day so we gave him his card and present. The present was just a boring old CD and a DVD with really scary old looking blokes talking about funny little bikes, not my cup of tea at all. Dad and I got the paddling pool out and I helped him fill it up with buckets of water…..it took ages! We then went out to the shops and I got some nice new stuff, best of all was my new Spiderman sandals. We had a roast dinner on the patio again which was nice before getting in the pool!

Then Slim and Trace called round. Result. What you really need when you are out in the garden with a load of cold water and various buckets etc is someone like Slim to egg you on…..It all culminated in Dad sitting in the pool fully clothed and getting a good dousing from me (under Slims careful supervision)

We went round to Nanny's again yesterday to cut her grass. Once it was done Nanny and I had a game of golf on her immaculte lawn before haveing a cuddle and watching the horse racing.
England played again in the evening and it was our turn to provide the venue. Instead of the usual barbecue, it was a takeaway extravaganza and as usual I got fobbed off with a marmite sandwich before the real food arrived. I did alright for prawn crackers though, and thanks to Ben for the offer of sharing your chicken, but I didn’t like it!

World Cup!

In case you hadn’t noticed by now, the world cup has started. It’s my first one! Dad has taught me to say ‘World Cup’ (which I think sounds much better with a long pause between the two words) and mum has taught me ‘Come on England’ So I was ready to watch the opening match with Dad on Friday afternoon and the next one with all the usual suspects later in the evening. I had the honour of picking the names/teams for the sweepstake and between me and mum we made sure dad got Brazil. I’ve heard they’re quite good but mum reckons they won’t win as she fancies Poland!
Saturday we went to Paul’s to watch the first England game and have a barbecue (I can say that now as well, although it sounds more like ‘barcoo’). He had a smart little wooden house at the bottom of the garden that reminded me of the one in Scarborough (although it was bit bigger) so I had an imaginary tea party with mum in it.
In the evening we went to Aunty Tracey’s 40th birthday party, a Barbecue in the garden. It was lovely and I had all my favourites on tap:



I’m lead to believe Trish’s knees are now better after last weekends crawling round the living the room marathon. They were telling me all about the man in the moon, I never knew such a thing existed. I spent a good portion of the night with the birthday girl herself and finally said her name properly…..although dad din’t seem to manage to get a picture of me with her, oops! I had great fun delving in the water butt drink coolers and got completely soaked. Hope you had a happy birthday Tracey!
So after a bit of a late night on Saturday I was awoken early doors on Sunday morning to be told we were off to the beach. Andy came to pick us up, I love going in the back of Andy’s car because I can see much more out of the window than Dad’s.

We set up camp, Chrissy had brought the biggest umbrella in the world and provided shade for the entire beach I think. I had a bit of a grumpy start but soon cheered up once dad took me to the café and we shared a lovely chilled Twix. We dug holes in the sand, ate a picnic and eventually went for a swim. Anday was first in, followed by Dad and then Owen. Chrissy didn’t seem to fancy it much as initial paddling had revealed the water to be freezing cold. Owen however gave him some rather ‘gentle persuasion’ and he also took the plunge. I had my wetsuit on already and was desperate to get out there with them, so Dad came back in and picked me up before going back out into the little waves with me. I didn’t feel the cold like the other woopsies and really enjoyed it.

Here I am doing some digging with mum, notice the responsible parenting on display as I’m in the shade, sometimes they almost seem competent.

Eventually we gave in and had a nice kip in the beach tent before packing up and going home. I must thank Chris and Katie for letting me ruin their picnic and letting me scrounge most of their food off them, I think they’ve realised opening Raspberries around me (or crisps) is probably best avoided.