Mini in the Park

On the way home from Nan’s we went to Mini in the Park.  Just as we arrived the monster trucks and stunt driving were going on so we went there to watch….

The monster truck only managed 2 goes over the cars before it broke its back wheel and had to stop…

…so we wandered off for our dinner.  After that it was the jet car!  Austin had fallen asleep and somehow managed to stay asleep right through it all!!  The jet car is seriously noisy so I have no idea how!

We then walked around the show and saw the minis.  Noah and Austin also bought a drag car and monster truck and Caitlin got a note pad.  We then saw the stunt bikes.  Austin loves bikes (maybe even more than cars!!) and he spent the whole time copying their “no hands” and jumping up in the air pretending he was on a ramp!!!!

…luckily he didn’t fling himself upside down when he saw them doing this……

After the bikes it was Terry Grant, a stunt driver who drives on 2 wheels and gets out of a don-nut’ing car!!!  Here he is getting out of his car….it is spinning around while he does this….

Just as we were leaving there was a jet car that was letting people sit in in return for a charity donation so they all sat in….

Noah also found a piece of tyre rubber on the ground which he was pleased with!!!

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Flowers and an early birthday party

Today was our last full day at Nan’s and the weather was looking iffy again!  When it brightened up the kids played in the garden for a bit….

Nan’s boarders look so bright and colourful…I’d love ours to look like that…maybe one day!  After lunch we went to see Nan’s allotment….

She has 2 allotments next to each other, one for veg and the other for flowers.  Today was the local flower and veg show and Nan had entered a few of her flowers so we went to see.  The flowers were all gorgeous and the veg was massive and so perfect!  I was very impressed with these cabbages….

Lots of Nan’s flowers won and so she got a trophy to bring home!! 

As it was our last night and so close to Caitlin’s birthday we went out for a meal.  Sit down…here is a very rare and token photo of me!!  There’ll be another in about another 18 months!!!!

We had a lovely meal and cake and presents for Caitlin…who will be SIX in a few weeks!!!!!!!!!  I have no idea where the last 6 years have gone!!!!

Maldon prom take 2

There were a few clouds out but we decided to give the prom another try.  It was cloudy but dry by the time we got there so we parked up and walked down….

The first thing they found was the sand pit and although we did have swim things with us we stupidly thought it was just sand and so didn’t change them!!  That was a big mistake!  The sand pit was very wet and very dirty….

…and so were they within a few minutes of getting in!!  After the sand we went to the splash park which is what we had brought the swim things for…but it was too late for that we needed to keep the swimming costumes dry to change into!

They were a bit cleaner and much wetter when they came out and so they got dried off and put their costumes on.  Luckily the sun decided now was a good time to come out so they were warm enough to carry on along the prom in just those!  They then tried out some more zorbing….

…before it was picnic time.  Noah made a friend during lunch…..

(There’s a ladybird just below his eye incase it’s too small to see)  After our picnic they played on the pirate ship.  I think Austin scared quite a few people on this…he is really good at climbing and thinks nothing of climbing up a rope ladder like this.  He just needed a bit of help with me telling him where to put his foot at the very top to get him onto the wooden platform….

….and Caitlin built a sandcastle in some much nicer cleaner sand with Nan….

before it was home time….  They had a great day out, there was loads to do there shame it’s so far from us or we’d go again!!

 

Maldon prom take 1!!

Nan wanted to take us all to Maldon prom so we made a packed lunch and set off.  We were almost there when we noticed some very big and very black clouds!!!!!  By the time we’d arrived it was raining quite heavily so we went to a soft play to see if it would brighten up.  The soft play was great, it was really big and weirdly tall!  The upstairs floor was about 3 flights of house stairs up and a few of the slides went from that floor right to the bottom…they all loved it.  There was also a big inflatable thing to bounce on and loads of space to run around and play.

Once our 2 hours were up we went back to the car and ate our picnic.  It was still raining so we decided to go bowling in the afternoon….

I let Austin take a few of my turns and he was so chuffed to be bowling…he loved it!!!

(shame it’s the ramp and not Austin that’s in focus!…one day I will learn to use my new camera…just need to organise a babysitter since me and Austin are surgically attached!!  Or maybe I’ll just learn in 14 months when Austin will be old enough for nursery…)

Anyway…me and Austin won…with Noah in very very close second.  Although the adults were all cheating really as we couldn’t work out how to get the barriers down.

Off on a little holiday

We set off on a little holiday to visit Nan.  We arrived in the late afternoon and went straight to her park for a play….

…and there was just enough time for a walk along the river and a quick drink!  How grown up does Austin look!!!

We went back for tea and bed before a busy day planned tomorrow…..

Chester zoo

I love summer holidays…outings and great times!!

Today we went to Chester Zoo.  It was a bit breezy and cool but it didn’t rain on us so that was good.

Austin was amazed by all of the animals, but he’s not keen when they come close so I think he liked the fact they were all contained in their enclosures!!!

We went through the butterfly house and Noah nearly crashed into a really big butterfly on a post….

We stopped for dinner next to the giraffes and it turned out it was their dinner time too and the keepers came and gave them new branches and they all came over to eat it…Austin did not like them being so close to him and just cried!!  Noah and Caitlin seemed to like it though…

There was also a dinosaur exhibition on as well…but I thought it was rubbish… a load of scaled down model of dinosaurs making odd ghost like noises!  Caitlin was terrified and so was Austin!  Noah seemed to like it though….

We also went on the monorail and bought a souvenir at the gift shop.

Plane spotting…..

When we got our taxi to the airport I spotted a pub on the way which looked like it was virtually on the runway.  I had this great idea that we could go there and have a drink and some food while we did a bit of plane spotting!!  It would have been a better idea if the weather was a bit better…it was quite wet and windy and very cold!!!!!!!  Because the weather was rubbish the pub wasn’t too busy and of it had been sunny the beer garden would have been great.  But the pub itself was quite scruffy and although the staff were really nice there was no real service…they shout out your food number and you collect your food from the kitchen on paper plates and clear it all away yourself too, not a problem at all…but I’ve not been in such an expensive pub for quite a while!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway…the view of the planes was great…..

They flew right across in front of us to land too….brilliant view…

While we were there we met a young girl…about 10 years old…who was a complete plane geek!!  She knew all of the plane types and seemed to know the arrivals for the next hour!!  She told us the big A380 was due to take off in about 40mins so we decided to wait and watch it.  That was a bit of a disappointment really as it didn’t come to the end of the runway to take off like we thought it would.

We all had a great time despite the slightly dodgy pub and rubbish weather…

VWNW

Today we braved the threat of rain and went to VW Northwest to see all of the beetles and campervans!

Before we’d even left the car park Noah was admiring a camper van and asked to borrow my camera to take a picture…when I looked at him he was crouched down taking a photo of the inside of the exhaust!!!!!!!!!!!

He is completely mad!!!!!!!!

Inside the show were loads of cool campers and beetles! 

There was also a new VW which had a load of smarties in the boot bouncing up and down with the vibrations of the stereo!!!!!

Yes…Austin and Noah both tried to pinch the smarties…yuk!!

We also saw a dog that had been dreadlocked….that was also really cool!!!!!!!

The sleepover

Yesterday 2 of Caitlin and Noah’s friends arrived for a sleepover as their parents were at a wedding.  It’s only the 2nd sleepover Caitlin and Noah have had to stay at ours….I’ve kind of avoided sleepovers just yet because I’m not sure they are old enough.  So there were 5 kids in total!  They had a great day playing together in the park, making cakes and then making pizzas from scratch.  We then watched Stuart Little 2 before bed.  They were very excited and there was a lot of discussion about who would sleep where!  I tried to put Austin in the bed with them for a photo but he went mad!!  He is so set in his ways and was refusing to go to bed in the wrong place.  He just started crying and ran off to his own room shouting bed….

He went to bed and pretty much instantly fell asleep as usual….  The other 4 played musical beds for a while…got a bit upset because they were missing their mum and dad…..(I was right they are a bit little for sleepovers)  After the tears stopped they ended up all four of them sleeping along the length of the double bed.  Gradually one by one they fell asleep…the excitement was too much they just couldn’t get to sleep…Noah was first…and then at 10pm when I gave up and went to bed myself there was just Caitlin and her friend still trying to get to sleep!!!  They must have gone to sleep in the end (I hope!!) but they were awake again before 6am…..

They all had a great time but we all needed an afternoon nap today………..

Swimming

Richard is on lates so this morning we all went swimming.  I figured Austin especially needed to practise over the summer holidays!  His swimming lessons aren’t going too well….lesson one was good, but from then on as Graham has let go of him more he has become more hysterical!!  He has spent most of the past 3 lessons screaming…proper tantrum like screaming!  Although his last lesson before we broke up he was screaming but also swimming!  He was really angrily swimming along while kind of growling!!  It was funny really….

Anyway we went swimming and Austin was really happy and we didn’t have to hold him at all!  He had his belt on and just swam around the pool on his own for over an hour!!!!!!  Caitlin and Noah also loved going swimming and both swam around all on their own.  I can’t believe how quickly they are learning with Graham!!  In just a few lessons they have all gone from being complete non-swimmers to swimming completely alone for Caitlin, swimming quite a way in Noah’s case and in Austin’s case swimming with a belt but not being held!!