Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas from the Cull's... here's what we got up to over Christmas... 

In the run up to Christmas Stockings were hung... hoping Santa didn't forgot about DRE

On Christmas Eve we attended a Christingle service at St James Church, during which this brilliant video from New Zealand was screened...

On Christmas Day we made a Veggie Christmas Dinner.... 

Christmas Day Cooking underway!

The Menu: 

Nut Roast

Texan Stuffing

Roast Potatoes

Roasted Red Peppers stuffed with Fennel 

Roast Parsnips

Bashed Neeps and Carrots

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

Brussel Sprouts

Gravy

Caramelised Orange Trifle

Christmas Cake 

Mince Pies

Christmas cake... yum! 

After Lunch Presents were opened by the tree... thank-you for all our presents! 

... and then a walk was taken, during which Teddy took a well earned nap... the rest of the day was food, walks, playing, naps, seeing Christmas lights once it got dark.  

Just a selection of autumn images

Going down the big slide with Dad

Selfies

Fall Colours

Crunching through leaves...crunch crunch

Some days you win....

. . . and some days you go out still in pyjamas, and eat the 'sensory play' materials. Yum Yum!

 At the playgroups we go to often food in used to encourage sensory play, and this particular day it was quite tasty. I wonder if this is what Teddy dreams about, a giant bowl of cereal!

Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we were in London. We celebrated by attending two different parties hosted by American friends, both of which were attended by a whole bunch of other little folk.

On Saturday we spent the evening at a friends house and had a traditional Thanksgiving meal, at one point all the kids were even happily playing by themselves and all the adults were sat at the table... a rare moment indeed. 

On Sunday we visited another friends and spent the afternoon at their 'pie party' where we all devoured a huge selection of sweet and savoury pies (pumpkin empanadas were Ted's favourite), and Ted also had a blast bouncing around on a trampoline and making a new friend in the process. 

A trip to Hauser and Wirth Somerset

We recently took a trip to Somerset, and spent a day in Bruton at the new(ish) Hauser and Wirth Gallery (Somerset), which was great... a truly amazing cultural addition to the county. The main show on was Jenny Holzer... no photos are allowed inside, and that was most of the more photo-able stuff. 

... arriving in the car park Ted checked out the massive pumpkins..

... we went to the Bar & Grill for both a morning tea, and for lunch... they have a fabulous locally sourced menu, and were very accommodating to the little man... even introducing him to his first babyccino...

... the central courtyard with Louise Bourgeois's Spider... and benches by Jenny Holzer...

...At one end of the garden is the striking Radic Pavilion, designed by chilean architect Smiljan Radic...

...Teddy sitting inside the Pavilion with the grandparents...

...in the field beyond the gallery and gardens is Mark Wallinger's Beyond a Boundary, 2015 ... brilliantly funny piece...

Teddy checking out the art, in the foreground is Dan Graham's (S Curve, 2001), to the left behind that is Alexander Calder's (Tripes, 1974), and on the barn in the background is Rodney Graham's (Weathervane, 2007). 

...Ted sitting in black granite eye by Louise Bourgeois...

#lazysunday

Sunday, Sunday, here again...

... first thing in the morning we came across a tank... as you do...

... then a film crew filming this sports car, and this tiny car..

... later in the day we took Teddy out for a walk, he loves running down ramps...

... and then we stopped off in the Ship pub on the way home... where the beer garden is full of kids toys..

A trip to the Den

Millwall is our local football club, and this weekend Dan took Ted to his first football game, we went to see the Millwall Lionesses at the Den; they played (and sadly lost) to Villa. 

Mural of Neil Harris, manager and legendary ex-player, on the way into the Den...

...Lionesses take the field... (photo stolen from the Lionesses Facebook page)...

...Ted having a snack and taking it all in.... he was thrilled at a whole crowd of people clapping... 

... not sure who the sign is intended for... 

... a fun day out, and one we'll probably repeat soon...

"No one likes us, no one likes us

No one likes us, we don't care!

We are Millwall, super Millwall

We are Millwall from The Den"

#refugeeswelcome

This weekend Ted attended his first demonstration; it was in support of the #refugeeswelcome movement across Europe. Police estimates put the size of the demonstration as being in excess of 50,000 people, others estimate around 100,000. The demo was called by groups including Amnesty International, the Syria Solidarity Movement, Stand Up to Racism, and Refugee Action. Other marches took place across the country and solidarity actions also took place at places like football grounds. The march in London brought out loads of families, it was practically a sling convention! 

Here we are at the start of the march, it was a little while before the march got going so we went into the park and had some snacks and hung out by the Woodcraft Folk who were playing games with a giant parachute. 

Here's the woodcraft folk joining the demo as it gets going. 

...our favourite sign of the day. 

Ways to help: 

• check latest on calaidipedia, incl. for grassroots appeals 
• educate people about the realities of police oppression of migrants 
• support the migrant offshore aid station, and help save lives at sea
• donate books, or money to buy books, to the jungle library project
• donate to the red cross, save the children, or oxfam appeals

Staycation... fin

So here's a summary of the last few days of our staycation.

On Friday we set out to Kew Gardens, it was a lovely day for a picnic and a wander around the gardens, and its super nice knowing that you can let Teddy run around without any worries.

Teddy exploring Kew Gardens

The Japanese Garden at Kew... super peaceful... in no way were we tempted to encourage Ted to run through the gravel... mwhahaha.

On Saturday the weather turned pretty terrible so we didn't venture too far. Dan and Teddy undertook a morning expedition to do some shopping under the arches in Bermondsey, and stopped off in a playground on route. We also stopped for the obligatory Croissant, a staple of Teddy's since our trip to Paris.

The Little Bread Pedlar, does by far the best Croissants in London. 

That is one satisfied customer with a face covered in crumbs!

On Sunday the weather flipped back to summer, and so we headed out into the big wide world; well Canary Wharf.

Teddy took a walk along the river, particularly enjoying walking up and down steps and slopes wherever they could be found. 

We visited the Museum of London: Docklands. We toured the excellent current show "Soldiers and Suffragettes: The Photography of Christina Broom". 

...Teddy took the opportunity to pretend to be Christina Broom...

...before we went to Mini-Mudlarks and Teddy got involved with some heavy construction work...

...our staycation ended with another tall ship event... this time the sailing of the ARC Gloria, the flagship of the Colombian Navy, which had been docked near Canary Wharf and took a final sail under Tower Bridge before heading back out to sea... it was an amazing sight as the sun went down the Gloria was sounding its horn and playing Colombian music.

ARC Gloria sails off to sea 

Staycation returns

In today's instalment of "staycation news"... we discover that there was a visit from the Grandparents... shown here out for a stroll & roll to the pub for dinner. 

... the following day... the grandparents took Teddy to softplay at our regular, and awesome, Riverside Parents & Carers Association at the Salmon Centre. While Rose and Dan took a trip to the Sky Garden on the 35th floor of 20 Fenchurch Street (aka. the Walkie Talkie). 

Amazing views, despite being a slightly overcast day. 

.... after this we then went out for an early Birthday Lunch for Nana...

... and on our stroll through Bermondsey Teddy showed off his favourite current pastime of button pressing. 

...stay tuned for further staycation adventures in and around London town... 

The Staycation Continues...

As well as a variety of trips we also had one home based project for our staycation... cleaning all our carpets with a Rug Dr! We hired one from Tesco's, and went to town on our rugs, it was actually very successful. It might become an annual project.

The Rug Dr is in the house! 

Our next mission for our staycation was to go to Ahoy! Childrens's Gallery at the National Maritime Museum; part of the Royal Museum's Greenwich. It was really good and well worth a visit, obviously no photo's allowed inside a children's gallery... but here's some others of the rest of the museum. 

Teddy and Rose on the "big map" 

Teddy by the superfast boat... 

Royal Yacht of ye olde times

Head of HMS Bristol 

While in Greenwich we also went to a couple of other places for  quick poke around... 

We went to the Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre, at the Old Royal Navy College. 

We went to the Meantime Brewery for some lunch

and we wandered past the Cutty Sark... our second clipper related activity this week! 

Stay tuned for more staycation updates!!