We had another after school trip to the park to see which ones of Ned's friends were about......unluckily for everyone else at the park, and indeed anyone within earshot (probably about 150 miles?) it was Alastair!
We had a great time, chasing each other, climbing, running, having a bundle and then antagonising the older kids through the fence at the athletics club!
Andy looked after us on Thurday night after tea. I'm not sure what Mum and Dad were up to though?
Finkley Down farm then, we had our school trip. It was great on the whole, except I didn't get to hang out with my mates all day like i'd hoped, we were in small groups. Never mind. I didn't even get to sit on the back seat of the coach as the grown up helpers/teachers did (I guess you never grow out of some habits eh?). Never the less it was a good day out, the animals were great, especially the chicks we got to hold, nearly everyone else's did a poo on them. Best of all was the go-karts and playground though.....
I hope you're all ready for another shock this week....we didn't go anywhere over the weekend!
We didn't, but I did have a haircut! That took a very long time indeed, there was a lot of it. I had decided that it was high time for it to go though so I had to be patient while the lady hacked away. The lollypop was a well deserved reward I think.
I got one too and didn't even have a haircut!
We carried on into town afterwards, I bought myself some new spiderman sunglasses:

As well as a Star Wars Clone Wars t-shirt. I am very cool indeed. We went to show off my new look to Auntie Christine in her shop.
I got a smart new sun hat!
We had a visit to the park on the way home and I amazed Mum, Dad and even Ned with my advanced climbing abilities.
Once home we aettled down to watch Total Wipeout, my new favourite programme, apart from Primevil, oh or Beat theStar....
Sue came round to look after us in the eveniong as Mum and dad were going out for a second weekend running! I don't know that they think they're up to?
Needless to say we had a lovely time without them!
We all had a lovely lay in on sunday morning.....
And in the afternoon we went to see Kimi, he's two now!
We had a lovely time playing with his toys that he shared with us very nicely.
And I got to look really big compared to Marny.
We got home and had a cuddle:

Swimming again on Monday. Things didn't start too well when dad wanted me to get out of the car before i'd had my fill of Frank Turner on the CD player......I had a right old crying fit and refused to go into the pool. I gave in eventually and did pretty well actually. Dad keeps telling me that it's not a race when we have to work our way accross the pool but it's hard not to get caught up in it. Still, I do try and managed to get accross the pool first without resorting to running instead of proper swimming.
I've decided that the potty just isn't for me after all, no, I want the proper toilet instead! I made sure I told everyone that I managed my business on the proper toilet last night as well. I even had a go at Nursery today, that impressed them no end! As did my skills at body painting this morning.
So that pretty much brings us up to date, there's a short video in a pathetic attempt to try and distract everyone from the lack of photo's this week and to try and make up for the lack of update next week as we'll be on holiday.
Not Cornwall this time though..............

Hello again, here we go with another round of news.
Yup, first off i'm doing a lot of walking backwards. I can do forwards easily, even running (especially now i've decided to keep my hands out of my pockets which makes falling over much more pleasant).
It was announced last week at school that we are having a trip to Fnkley Down farm this coming Friday, i'm so excited about it you wouldn't believe it. I've been having a christmas style how many more sleeps type countdown and everything. While we're on school news I got to do show and tell again this week! Check me out! I sat and did a lot of writing (mostly animal names) and a few pictures that seemed to go down well with the teachers, I think i'm on to something with my choice of materials......
So then, wednesday is still shopping day, still learning my colours with the fruit and veg. Really good on strawberries, raspberries and red peppers, not too bad with carrots or orange peppers and passable with banana's. So i'm not doing too bad really.
Chard appeared on our front garden last thursday afternoon, which was something of a surprise. He'd been doing some manual labour at my school and thought he'd pop in for a bit. We had a great game of slaps!
Friday we went down the park after school, Ned loves it as a lot of his friends seem to go down there. I don't mind, that means I get Dad to myself, to push me on the swings for ages and help me with my jumping.
Down the park with my friends from school is brilliant fun!
So the weekend then, now brace yourselves for a shock........we had a day out in Thatcham!
But it wasn't as bad as it may first seem, we went to the bike jumps on the sports field, I wanted a go:

It was my idea to go there, so I can take the blame:

Here we are checking out our lines (we're like the Athertons http://www.athertonracing.co.uk/ )

Once we'd had our fill of wheeled action we took to the park:

Mum looked really comfy on this roundabout:

The hunger was obviously kicking in by now so we headed to the Discovery Centre for a picnic. Mum had never ventured any further than the playground before so she was pleasantly surprised.

We even walked all the way around the lake (once we'd managed to bribe Ned):

I do like a climbing oppurtunity:

We stopped to wash our hair:

And then finally reached the playground, hooray!

Auntie Christine came to babysit, I was more than happy with the arrangement and made sure I had plenty to say to her!

I needed a little encouragement but soon came round to the idea of course, I was just tired after our thrilling day out and mildly traumatised by Primeval on the telly!

Lazy day sunday, we watched some bike racing on the internet, watched some cars racing on the telly, we played in the garden in our tent which we filled with toys and cushions to give it a more lived in look. We went for a short and sweet walk up the field and then did a little tidying up in the garden, it's actually starting to look like somewhere you might want to play for a bit......

Especially on Monday when Dad removed the fence by the path (under mum's instructions), it's provided us with a great little slope to ride bikes and scooters down, or my favourite, me driving the tractor with Ellis in the trailer!

We headed back to the park straight after school again today, Alastair was there this time, we terrorized the park for a bit and then started on the bigger kids doing athletics in the field next to the park!

Had I mentioned that I can't wait until friday?

We went up the common with the Halfords last week. We found a suitable dwelling for ourselves and made a few small amendments just to put our own stamp on it:

What he really means is we piled more logs up until the whole structure was really unstable and Ned was the only one daft enough to get inside it!

I contemplated life as a pixie:

But decided that a life with limited access to shoes simply wasn't for me.
We also like a nice cosy up now and again too:

So then it was soon enough the weekend! A long one too. Great.

Yup, Saturday morning we went to the Oasis for some swimming action, it's been a while since i've been so I really enjoyed it. I went on my first ever flume ride too with Dad, we spent ages climbing the steps until we finally reached the top and launched ourselves down a water chute that twisted and turned all the way down to a splash pool at the bottom. I loved it.

And I really loved jumping in off the high wall, especially when the wave machine was going as then I could make sure I only jumped when the water was really low and hit the bottom every time, despite Mum and Dads timing advice!

It was also Deans birthday so we headed off to the bowlers arms to watch some cricket and take a long cool drink on the decking outside, lovely!

Yeah, Max, Thomas and I also got a little game going when someone lent us a bat and a ball! Then it was onto the Halfords for a barbecue.

We played in the garden....

...and the boys headed upstairs to watch Star Wars when it got too cold and dark outside. I was not happy having to leave at midnight at all, I still had plenty left in the tank!

A lovely lay in on Sunday before heading off to Grandad and Anne's for lunch, and then off out to do the scarecrow trail, this years theme, tales and fables! Just my area of expertise!

Here I am contemplating one of the more cryptic entries:

The three little pigs was easilty solved though:
As was Pinocchio:

I got to walk loads and make friends with all the Wanborough cats so I was very pleased!

Crafty raft day on Monday, the boats are not very interesting if truth be told (we only saw a couple anyway), but the fair, thats a different proposition alltogether!

Max and I went on the tiny teacups:

Dad helped the man on the ride out a little with the odd sneaky spin for us. i think we enjoyed it a lot more than Ben did.....

Then of course it was wrestling time with uncle Al, he loves it!

And then finally I got to get in on the fun, I loved this roundabout:



Yeah, I didn't mind having to look after her on it in the least:



We walked back to Andys, I tried to take as few real steps as possible:



We bumped into Uncle Slim and Trace at a barbecue, I helped them reverse a landrover with no backwards gear, as you do:


And then Andy came round for tea with us, doing his best to provide equal lap space for us both to watch you've been framed!
Okay then it's time for this weeks gardening round up, Dad's carrotts are still showing no signs of growing at all, my cress that I bought home form school on the other hand is really flourishing!
I finally got to do show and tell at school, i've been trying to do it for weeks but never get picked. Mum reckoned i'd dtand a better chance with one of many paper aeroplanes than my previous hope of the Ben 10 watch. She was right!
And a few bits of Ellis news, I can now manage a roly-poly! How about that? I did my first public one on saturday night to a rapturous reception. I'm still expanding my vocabulary at every oppurtunity and i'm not doing quite as much falling over as I used to. I'm also having a great time at nursery with Eva, my friend. Every when Dad comes to pick me up we're the only two still awake, and although sometimes we are having a cosy time in the book corner, more often than not we're climbing on something, or sat at the table making a mess with some art stuff or just generally running about being nuisances!

So we bought the lovely weather back from Cornwall with us, we've been out and about as much as possible.

We went to the castle with the Halfords on Wednesday, we had paper planes, sweets and a lovely big muddy puddle for Leo to try and soak up with his trousers, oops!

Yeah we had great fun throwing a hand grenade at each other (well, a packet of tissues anyway).

Owen and Hannah came round with my late birthday present on Thursday, a ramp. I don't know who was most pleased, me, Dad or Owen! We headed out to test it out:

I gave it a few test runs usuing the scooter:

But the threat of Owen having a go on my bike soon convinced me to up the ante a bit:

Here's my first go, I gave it plenty:

And progressed very quickly onto this one footer (actually it was an accidental one footer but i'm still going to claim it):

Yup, and while all this was going on I was trying my best to get to grips with Ned's old three wheel scooter. I'm so desperate to get moving but it's a bit of a struggle and I normally end up resisting mum's attempts to help me and just walking along with it.

Saturday was Shimon's birthday party, it was a bit off/on/off/on due to the weather but everyone decided to press on with it in the end, a Scooby Doo themed treasure hunt at Snelsmore, cool!

Good job too, it turned out to be a lovely day. Here's Yannick and I considering the merits of dragging outsized sticks behind us:

It was a proper adventure, so we needed to keep pur fluid levels up. It was a good job Shimon's mum knew how to make cups from a sheet of paper:

After following a trail of ghosts, finding clues and fending of monsters we finally found the treasure....sweets!!!!

And then it was all back to the car park for a picnic:

What a great outing!

Later on that afternoon we had to go to the shops....I got some smart new headgear to keep the sun off my head.
And I spent some of my birthday money on a Ben 10 watch......cue endless questions about what time it is.
Sunday saw my belated birthday party, it was well worth the wait. kicking things off (literally) was the bouncy castle. Veterans of my 4th birthday party (Alastair and Hugo) knew what to expect, 20 minutes of Power Ranger influenced carnage. I think it may have been something of a shock for everyone else and their parents...ooops!

They weren't so scary, I decided to get in on the action:

Thats right, Alastair and I even jad a nice 'cuddle'

We then had a good stint in the Bumpers play area. Everyone really seemed to like this bit with all the slides and climbing and chasing about.

Then it was upstairs for dinner:

Well, you do need something to soak up the tomato sauce:

Here i am with the boys:

I sat as far away from them as I could get:

I think there was some concern when I announced I had a garlic cake, when infact I had a Dalek cake:

The candles were so hard to blow out I had to pretty much put the last one out with my tongue and almost set fire to my hair!

I polished off any leftovers!
All that was left to do was haul my massive sack of cards and presents home to open. I'd like to thank Auntie Christine for coming along too, my friends loved playing the I-phone drum kit and I know they appreciated your attention during times of injury and ill health! Ha ha!

While i'm at it, i'd also like to thank everyone that got me a card or present this year. It's been a long drawn out celebration and the presents have been nothing short of spectacular, so a really big thank you to you all!

I can't wait until mine!!!!

So I rounded out my holiday time with Max nearly two weeks ago on wednesday. It's been lovley, we had our ups and downs but Emma's made sure we've had plenty to do and places to go so a big thanks there!
Yup, at least it was the last time I had to leave the boys to play while I had to go to nursery. Still, I shouldn't complain, i'm loving nursery at the moment!
Thursday I had a day with Auntie Christine. We managed to do so much Dad reckons it must have been two days and Uncle Ian reckons that she was so tired that evening she had an early night! Thanks Auntie Christine, it was great fun.
So then, Friday was a bank holiday, no work, no nursery and no sunshine! A quick venue change change for Carol's birthday to the bowling alley:


Good job I had a big enough cake for the job:


Here I am looking for seconds, sat next to Max, I like Max, I can say his name really nicely:


Plenty more birthday action for us too, Emma's 40th party followed on on saturday!!!!
(after an afternoon visit from Sue and Charlotte!).
Owen and I won a few quid on the fruity:


'The boys' had a three hour wrestling match outside on the cricket pitch before sneaking in to watch some truly embarassing 'Mum dancing'

Before I succumbed to the music and threw a few shapes with my sister:


We stayed up sooooo late I had to wear a disguise in case wee willie winkie came round to check if we were in bed or not:

So a big night out with a gone 1am finish, what better preparation for a drive down to Cornwall?
Dad managed to get his sorry hungover self downstairs to load up the car so we could hit the road. Mum drove which was all a bit odd....
There was a lot of sleeping done in the car on the way down but I did manage to wake up just in time to hear the sat nav get very confused with the new junction, she does it every year, you'd think she'd learn?
Anyway, we were soon in sunny Cornwall, great! We wasted no time cracking the boule out while Dad unpacked the car:

Once the wetsuits were found we were off down the beach for a dip in the sea, it was a little cold but great fun all the same.
Dad had promised me gallons and gallons of hot chocolate on holiday if we were cold after going in the sea, We sat around looking pathetically chilled for long enough:

So he kept his side of the bargain, we're so classy I even had a saucer:


Once we were warmed up we made the most of the evening sunshine and went out for a lovely walk:

Here I am in a rare outing in the buggy, i've decided i'd much rather walk whenever possible now.
Mum and I had our own private beach for the evening:



And I found a nice little set of steps to jump down, again, and again, and again....


We found some dandelion clocks to blow:

Even if I did end up either breathing them in or blowing them over the back of Ned's head!
Then it was bed time, now you see me:


Now you don't:

I had a bit of troubled nights sleep with a touch of ear ache, Dad said it was surfers ear and nothing to worry about......I managed to pull a bed swap and got in with Mum, Dad sloped off to the single bed in with Ellis. Must have been a squeeze, thanks Dad.
I was quite surprised to see him there in the morning thats for sure!
So then it was my actual birthday! Yay. I'm now five! Yes five. can you believe it? Even more unbelieveable is that i've got a DS with Mario Kart! On top of all that, we had been visited by the easter bunny and had to have the egg hunt in the caravan. How much excitment can a boy have in one day?

And this is how I spent the early part of the day. I played on the old surfers ear condition to make sure i got plenty of time with my beloved new toy and my easter goodies. I did finally give in and decide we should go to Crealy:

The horses had chocolate eggs in their ears again! Winner.

I loved the indoor bits in particular:

Yeah so did I, the weather was pretty grim so I suggested we leave and get off down to the pub for some eats!

Good idea Ned, i'll have a carvery, a big carvery:

And i'll have sausage and chips:

Followed by a game on the shooting machine:

And then a surprise birthday cake (no. 2) when we got back to the caravan:

The weather was much better on Tuesday so it was off to Polzeath:

I'm really loving climbing the rocks this year as you can see from the above picture.

I'm really not loving sandy, lukewarm sausage rolls that I have to finish before i'm allowed an ice cream though:

I'm loving just about everything, water, sand, digging....

.....and shouting at sea-gulls to scare them off under Ned's carefull guidance:

Wafting my net in the rockpools is also good, even if I don't really know what i'm supposed to be doing with it:

We had ice creams (eventually) and then we headed for home again. Dad was enticed into the sea at Harlyn on the way back though, so Mum, Ellis and I had an impromptu frisbee session which was great fun.

When we got back to the caravan Dad fired up the barbecue for tea, lovely, what a perfect summer day out in April!

What a perfectly miserable April day on wednesday, it lashed it down. We stayed in, had an enormous cooked breakfast and played games until the rain finally eased up enough for us to sneak out onto the beach for a walk and a dig.

The sun was back out on Thursday so it was more beachtime.

We finished off with an evening walk along the cliffs on the other side of the bay and trip thorough the dunes:

Gary was packing his shop up for the night when we made our way back so i helped him fold up his tarpaulin sheets. He reckoned I was a real expert and paid me for my work with a Chupa-Chup. When I grow up, I think i'd like to work for Gary.....

Andy turned up on friday, hooray, we love Andy.

He went for an early surf with Dad meaning Ned and I could get in bed with mum for a lovely cuddly lie in!

We went to Crealy with John and Sarah in the afternoon, I was finally allowed to ride a horse alone:

We kept the grown ups captive in the castle:

here I am checking one of the escape routes:

Mum, Andy, Sarah and I went on the log flume:

The independant panel all agreed that Mum got wettest!

She dried out in time for a cuddle though

We headed back to the caravan via the chippy and then sat and ate them outside, lovely.
Then it was all inside for a three way Mario Kart DS frenzy, brilliant:

We spent Saturday morning on Constantine beach, it was lovely:

Before heading back to Treyarnon for a cream tea, enjoying the legendary hospitality at the Youth Hostel.

In the evening we went rockpool fishing. Dad and I headed for the deep water and big climbs only to be shown up by Mum who caught a fish almost immeadiatley in the smallest pool i've ever seen. Suitably impressed we adjusted our technique and added another couple to the evenings tally before heading back to the van via the more direct rocky route for the first time ever.

So soon enough it was Sunday, our last day...booo!

It was another glorious day so we hit the beach. A special thanks to Jean (Andy's mum) for helping us out with the sun cream, much appreciated.

I decided to really get into surfing, I caught a few good waves with another couple of lads my age. I much happier about going on the sea after my swimming lessons!

I found another little girl to play with, Rose. We dug, we splashed, we sat up on the rocks with Ned, it was really quite nice.

Yeah, I think we've both missed our friends a bit to be honest.

So that was our week done, never mind, it'll soon be August and we can go back!

Mum was off work Monday morning, we had a lie in and then had to go to the shop for some basic provisions. Dad was on duty in the afternoon, we lazed about until Grandad and Anne came round with my birthday present! My birthday seems to have lasted for ever this year!

Yeah, doesn't it just!

Laura came round as well later on, with some more presents and an easter egg! Brilliant.

For the first time I said 'night night Daddy' and 'Night night Mummy' at the appropriate time to the right person last night, they seemed to like that.

So tuesday and everything really was back to normal, I was back to nursery and marched in like I owned the place! I really enjoyed hunting for bugs while were outside, even though the ladies at nursery weren't that keem on having worms handed to them!

And I was back to school. There's new stuff in the playground which is most exciting. I was quite happy to be back, if a bit tired by this afternoon.......

Oh, and one final note, I lost my last remaining muzzy on holiday and i'm having to resort to Ellis' pink ones to get my fix now. If anyone has one I may have left behind at any point in the past, you know where I am!