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!! 

Staycation: A trip to Battersea Park

First day trip of the staycation, Teddy and Dan set out via tube and mainline train to Battersea Park, a 200 acre green space in the London Borough of Wandsworth, situated on the south bank of the Thames; which opened in 1858. 

Getting off the train to make our way to the park we noticed the progress being made on taking down the Battersea Power Station, but no flying pigs were spotted... 

...after that we made our way into the park, and walked around the lake a little, spotting a Barbara Hepworth sculpture on our way...

...after a little walk we made it to the kids playground... which has a whole bunch of stuff to do, Teddy enjoyed it all, especially the stuff designed for older kids like this giant swan!...

..there was a fair ground in town, so we took a look around, there was a massive blow up slide, which I'm sure Ted would love, but there's no way we could get him to the top of it...

...we continued our tour of the Park, to stop off at the Peace Pagoda...

...and took a Buddha, Baby, Selfie...

...we continued onwards to the "pleasure gardens", which were created in 1951, as part of the Festival of Britain, Teddy was intrigued and a little freaked out at the giant water fountain, but enjoyed playing by the edge with other kids where the water fountains were high enough to splash you...

...and then back across the park, to the playground again...

... then time to leave, to get back home to see some tall ships sailing by the end of our road on their way to start the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.... Teddy enjoyed waving at the crews as their stood on deck waving to the crowds...

Sand Castles

We've been trying out sand play in London, there are a few nice sand pits on the Southbank, near the Horniman museum, and a local one in New Cross. 

Teddy likes sand, especially knocking down sandcastles and getting sand between his toes. 

I'm the King of the [sand] Castle!

 

 

The last few weekends of summer are open us, and we have a staycation planned for the end to get a chance to see some of the local things we never seem to have time to check out.

We will keep ya'll posted of our adventures.

Urban Babies Enjoy Brutal Architecture

Taking a leaf out of one of his books, Teddy paid a visit to the Royal Institute of British Architects; and their temporary exhibit: The Brutalist Playground.

Part sculpture, part architectural installation, all play. 

The Brutalist Playground is a new commision by Turner Prize nominees Assemble and artist Simon Terrill, exploring post-war design for play. It takes the now lost playgrounds as a starting point, recreating in 1:1 scale elements of several playgrounds, but instead of concrete and steel they're built out of reconstituted foam, allowing the spaces to be fairly safe place to explore the ideas and materiality of the Brutalists.

So that what was once...

Is now recreated as... 

 

...and we had a lot of fun...

Swimming!

Teddy loves swimming, especially with his cousin Bailey Channon

Mark and Bailey explore the paddling pool

Loving it!

Golden Child

Sunsafe!

Daddy and Mommy get a chance to relax in the pool as well

One for the CV

Teddy was awarded this certificate of achievement this week for completing stage 1 & 2 Sing and Sign. His first certificate, after his birth ones! 

It was a good course, and we hope to keep using the signs as a way of increasing communication as Teddy learns to speak. Ted has made a few friends from the class that he also sees at Stay-and-Plays and in our local park. 

Attending the Baptism of Marie Carol Hansen

On 4th July we took the tube to Kentish Town in north London...

.... to attend a Baptism...

.... here we are.... Baptism is full swing... 

... and the after party in the Church Garden...

You look so pretty, as you're riding along...

While in Taunton most days we went to the local park (Taunton Park as its now oddly known - it was Wellsprings park when I was a child), and as well as running around the massive field chasing a football, we played in the playground.

The playground had a whole bunch of new equipment, and appeared to be in the process of getting rid of some of the old (now I'm fairly sure deemed unsafe) equipment that I played with as a child - luckily the tractor that I remembered fondly still remains and we got to clamber about on it together.

Meeting Bailey

After a brief meeting in London, Ted spent a week in Taunton visiting with family, including his cousin Bailey Channon (4 months old) who was visiting from New Zealand. During this time amongst the rest of the merriment we took a family portrait, which should be out in a few weeks.

...the Boys meet each other...

...Bailey and Teddy laying down in a park in North London...

The boys in Taunton

Growing like a weed!

We planted some poppy seeds last November and now we've got quite a garden of poppies.
Teddy is smaller than most of the plants, he is enjoying some time in the garden now the weather is nice, we've all been getting out more, which is why we haven't updated the blog much, but you can expect more updates soon as now it is too hot to get outside and we have to have a little siesta each day.

Purple Poppies!

Our little man amongst the flowers