A day at Beale Park

Well, the L plates may not be long in the bin, but I decided to be brave and drive the kids on a 40 min drive to Beale Park this afternoon. We all made it in one piece, thanks to our good friend Tom Tom.. whos sage advice and non judgemental attitude more than makes up for having Rich in the passenger seat (though his conversation skills could do with some work, Tom Tom's that is, not Richard's). The only major embarrasment was stalling on a roundabout in Reading with rush hour traffic piling up behind me.. but ahem, we didn't do too badly really for our first trip out. We met up with their friends from the Easter Egg hunt of the previous week and spent a very fun afternoon picnicing, and looking at all the animals. We rounded off the day with a trip on the mini train :)



"I love you this much.."




I thought Noah looked very cute sitting in these blue flowers, until I realised he was EATING them!






http://www.bealepark.co.uk/ This place is well worth a visit if you are in the area!

Easter Egg Hunt at Basildon Park

In an effort to stop the mothers going (even more) insane, we decided to take the kids on an Easter Egg hunt (a bit late, but the chocolate still tastes the same) at Basildon Park this afternoon. We were VERY lucky with the weather as it started lashing rain just as we were packing six very tired and happy children into the cars.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-basildonpark.htm










Mission complete

Finally, the moment she's been waiting for.. keeping her eyes on the prize, she blows out all her candles...


..eventually.


Having a gossip over lunch.


Acting the clown around Wokingham town on Saturday.

Thomas the Tank Engine

We spent much of today at Didcot railway centre where they were having a special Thomas the Tank engine day. Looking at the pictures, you'd think it was beautiful weather, but there was a cold wind, and by the time we were leaving, there was a downpour. At least we were on our way, some poor souls we're just arriving. It was a very nice day.

The man himself


A rare treat: a picture of all four of us


The Fat Controller has been on a diet. There was a slightly embarrasing incident earlier in the day, when we pointed out what we thought was the Fat Controller to the kids. He actually wasn't the fat controller, just a slightly rotund man in a suit.


All smiles and sunshine




These balloon makers were very popular, and slighty eccentric. The lady had a badge saying "Yes, I really do this for a living"

Our own version of little chef. Amie kindly donated her apron to Noah when she was given a lovely new one by Marie.


As seems usual with most things regarding bring up the kids, I got landed with the nitty gritty of getting the job done, by preparing the perfect pancake batter...


.. while Rich got to revel in all the glory and impress the children with his pancake tossing technique (luckily none landed on the ceiling, though the same cannot be said for the floor). And who will have the job of washing the floor? Hmm I wonder..

Still I can't complain, as I was finally vindicated by an article in last night's Independant that compared the stress levels of a stay at home mum looking after two children (and one of hers was 6 and at school most of the day) and that of her husband who had to commute to his full time job. Guess who had to deal with more stress throughout the day? (Here's a clue, it wasn't the one who looks forward to his daily commute so he can sit down and read the paper ;)


Amie helping her 2 year old brother open his birthday presents.


Compare Noah eating an ice-cream with his big sister doing the same... though he actually looks as though he's puckering up for a smoochy




We paid a visit last Saturday to Beale Animal Park http://www.bealepark.co.uk/. The weather was really lovely and the kids got to enjoy a good run around, and a ride on a steam train.


Noah finally finding somewhere to plant that smaker he's been working on ever since eating his ice-cream (very slowly... getting most of it on his coat)






A few weeks ago we took the kids to visit the REME Museum of Technology http://www.rememuseum.org.uk/ It's probably more of a thrill if you're actually interested in the army and stuff of that general ilk, but they did have a helicopter suspended from the ceiling so the kids enjoyed it.

Rich couldn't make it to work on Monday, so had some fun directing operations in operation snowman instead