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.

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.