Ted as Mr Darcy

This weekend we headed to the city of Bath, to meet up with the Grandparents...  

... Teddy also got to meet Jane Austen...

... and to dress up in Regency wear... 

... not to be outdone, Ro donned a bonnet too...

... and then Ted went into full Mr Darcy mode... 

... we wandered all over the city... here's the Abbey (sadly having their AGM, so we couldn't go in)... 

... we found a park, where the Grandparents could play...

... and visited the Egg Cafe (seriously child friendly cafe)...

... Ted took the Grandparents for a walk around town... until their legs got tired and a cup of tea was needed... here they're all staring at the Obelisk.. 

... now some sites of Bath, this was just a lovely street view...

.... Dalek in the shop window, why? who knows ...

... the famous weir... 

...and associated one end of the Pulteney Bridge...

... Ted playing with sticker book on the train ride home after a lovely day trip to Bath...

... sadly Ro left her scarf on the train, and in contacting lost property discovered this wonderful "Teddy Rescue" service that GWR have to reunite lost Teddy bears with their families! Perhaps influenced by the most famous lost Teddy Bear in the world (and conveniently their network hub) Paddington Bear. 

Alpacas and Ack Ack: A typical day in the East End

We try our best to adventure off on the weekends and see something new, this weekend we set off to Mudchute farm, an amazing piece of countryside in the East End...

Teddy in the wilds of the East End... 

...running through the farm path...

... ALPACA.... seriously teddy loved this alpaca...

... the pigs however scared him...

...bull in a field...we didn't go in here...

...nuff said...

... oh yeah, and there's an ack ack gun...  

...and some tropical birds...

...on the way back through Canary Wharf we saw this amazing system that wrote words in the air using sprays of water... it was drawing quite a crowd!...

Adventures in NW1

...onto the Tube...

...adventures this way.... 

...look who we bumped into, old JFK himself...

... our main destination was Regents Park, where we discovered the  Frieze Art Fair Sculpture Park...

... more sculpture...

... water fountain and the BT tower in the background... Ted loved the water fountains... 

... our destination, the Play Ground.... it's an amazing looking play ground with a great big slide, but I think it was a little cold as the slide was a little slow today... 

... after much playing, we made our way to the Wellcome Collection, where we saw the Tibet's Secret Temple exhibit, and had a spot of lunch...  

Let the reading begin

"Libraries Gave Us Power"

Teddy is now the proud owner of a Southwark Library card... so he can get his own books out!

We're also entering a "winter book challenge" to read a book everyday and record what it was between now and the end of march.

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...