Trip to Taunton

 

We recently took a trip to Taunton to visit the grandparents, and Teddy's recently emigrated Kiwi cousin and Aunty and Uncle. Above is not the train we took across country, but it is the train we took for a trip to the beach...

 

... here's Ted and Rose at the beach..

 

... and Ted relaxing in a steam train...

... back at the house there was much to play with in the garden...

 

... we discovered Ted loved to drive with the music blaring in "grandpa's car"...

 

... the park in town has a great sand area...

 

... the boys having a snack in the park.. 

Picasso's Trousers

We have recently been reading "Picasso's Trousers" by Nicholas Allan, it may have rubbed off on Ted... here's one of his recent paintings (and his Picasso trousers... no, no, no Picasso):

 

the artist in his studio

the canvas drying

and here's the painting hanging in our stair well. 

Playing in Art Galleries

Our local Art Gallery, CGP, had a very toddler friendly exhibit which included a lift... where you could get into it and press all the buttons... ideal!

Gardening like the Good Life

 

This summer our Garden has really developed, we've had some great flowers - some from seed, some from freecycle, and some from the Kensington Palace gardeners...

... and we've also had some lovely, and very tasty veg too...

Fathers day flowers

On fathers day we took an outing to Columbia Road Flower Market. It's a pretty amazing array of flowers and plants...

... not to mention of course the usual array of market foods... nom... 

... spotted this, no longer amusing graffiti, on the way back...

... here's the fathers day Sunflower... 

... and an array of other flowers were also purchased for our growing garden... 

4 Grandparents in a city made of wool

Teddy recently received visitors from America, as his grandparents took a trip to see us. The main outing we all took was to Bristol, where we met with the English grandparents and Teddy's newly arrived cousin, Uncle and Aunt, who've returned from New Zealand. 

We visited the city of Bristol, here seen depicted in wool in an exhibit at the fabulous M Shed entitled "Briswool". 

... a view of the Matthew from M Shed.... 

... Rose holding court with all the grandparents... Ted and Bailey (unseen) playing on the floor of this kids section... 

... Ted in the train on the trip back ensuring no-one takes a nap... 

Note: the internet provided information about "family friendly" places to eat at, and they got it right....  due to where we were planning on seeing, we went to @Bristol Cafe for lunch, and ate an early dinner at the Watershed... both were great super baby friendly (and the food at Watershed was great, something you can't always say for baby friendly places). 

Yurt Lush: A Ger Glamping Adventure

We recently went on Holiday to Ivy Grange Farm, in Suffolk, where we stayed in a Mongolian Yurt (Ger)... and explored the local area and the two nearby towns of Beccles and Halesworth. This style of camping is known as "Glamping" and Ivy Grange definitely falls under the eco-tourism umbrella too... it was a lovely site, but sadly the weather wasn't great and so it was really windy and thus a little cold (the Yurt was nice and warm especially once we got the hang of the wood burner --- the secret being make a big fire!)

Here's a few photos from our trip...

... for some reason the number 9 features on the packing list... 

.... en route, doing a little sketching of the views out the train window...

... outside the Yurt...

... tucked up in bed in the Yurt...

... playing table football.... concentrating hard...

.. the cob oven for pizza cooking...

... more than 3 hours of constantly feeding and moving the fire later... ready for action...

... pizza on the peel... the oven was amazing, cooking a pizza in about a minute and a half...

... Teddy and Rose, off on an adventure (or possible for breakfast in the Barn)...

... Teddy eating breakfast in the barn... 

... Teddy and Rose meeting a horse...

Following Paddington to the Canalway Cavalcade

After reading "Paddington Bear at the Carnival", and having a slight obsession with boats, it seemed only fitting that we should attend this year's Canalway Cavalcade, in Little Venice.

... there were of course plenty of boats to see..

... here they all are parked around "The Pool", all decked out in their flags...

... we saw Mr Mylo the Children's Mime Artist... who was amusing...

... and we watched the opening ceremony from the Bridge on which it is hosted, and the very same bridge that features in the final page of the Paddington book...

it was a fun day out... and best of all we got Ted a badge from the IWA that reads "Captain".  

The Men Who Stare at Boats

Drawing influence from the Stargate Project, Teddy has begun a series of experiments on London's waterways.... Teddy is the first in the new intergalactic battalion of Men Who Stare at Boats.

...this mostly involves walks along the southbank in Rotherhithe to look at boats between Tower Bridge and the Peninsula...

... in the rain...

... or

... nice weather...

... and even walks down onto the foreshore beach to see the boats from their level....

... and a spot of sketching from time to time...

... sometimes with a vehicle... 

... this has earnt Ted the local nickname... "The Captain". 

Easter Activities....

... some things we got up to over the Easter Holidays...

... On Good Friday... we went to the newly opened Magic Garden, at Hampton Court Palace (photo knicked from HRP)...check out the link for more info and photo's on it...

... there's a dragon that breaths steam... seriously awesome! (photo also knicked)..

... Teddy and Rose running wild on the high walkways on way to the massive slide...

On Saturday after a morning at Museum of London Docklands, we went to "Big Stick Day" at Stave Hill Ecological Park... 

... we made a magic wand, which turned out to be useful to banish cars the next day... 

... After a Lazy Sunday... we raced through Storm Katy to Messy Monday's at the National Gallery, messy play here we come!!! 

... stick day clearly rubbed off on Teddy, as he stopped off to pick up sticks! 

... a week later we sort of closed off Easter by feeding the Lambs at Surrey Docks Farm... 

... amazing, fun times for all!