Peques, Nicholas' nursery school, had their annual fun day followed by a bbq. It was great watching Nicholas interact with his teachers and friends and even some of the parents. I was especially proud when one of the moms told me that I had a very special little boy that she adored. They had loads of fun with egg-and-spoon races, three-legged races, jumping-in-the-bag races etc. The little medals were a good incentive and reward!
We managed to do a few of outings to the Natural History Museum. Nicholas is still obsessed with dinosaurs so we always start off at in the prehistoric area and then he gets to choose another area on the map for the second part of our visit (one time it was volcanoes and the earth, another time it was the mammals and the third time it was the deep, which was a very impressive display about the depths of the ocean). It's awesome how these visits fuel his curiosity and inspire days of discussions afterwards. It also amazes me how good his memory is. Daniel happily tags along where ever we go and I figure it must be good for him too!
Whenever we have a moment to spare on weekends we pop to Richmond Park. Sometimes we just drive through and other times we go for a little walk. The boys enjoy looking for and watching the deer. I hope that if we end up staying here that we learn to spend a lot more time in this vast and wonderful open space right on our doorstep!
The duck pond in Barnes is one of our favourite spots to kill time on a Tuesday when we have an hour between Peques and Playball. It's where we feed the ducks, race around on scooter or balance bike with Freddie, have a mini-picnic, eat ice cream or just sit and enjoy the sunshine. I must say it is a lovely setting with the best collection of waterfowl that I've come across in this neck of the woods!
It's awesome having Putney Heath on so near. I always feel refreshed after a walk in the forest. We usually go with Claire and Phillipa - Claire knows all the paths like the back of her hand - besides it's nice to have company when on a walk. These are some photos of Nicholas and Phillipa enjoying the fresh air at the troll's dam. They really are the best of friends!
All the kids adore Claire. She is definitely one of Daniel's favourite people in the whole wide world and Nicholas has always had a soft spot for her. Here they are competing with Phillipa and the two kids she looks after, George and Annabel, for her attention on the playing field at The Telegraph.
Claire and I took the three little ones to forest school run by Sure Start in Roehampton. A dear lady who is ever so enthusiastic and knowledgable about nature runs the sessions aimed at toddlers. She is really excellent and has some fabulous ideas. Daniel didn't really understand what was going on but he had loads of fun anyway. I'm hoping they do something similar for the older kids in the autumn!
There's a indoor play centre called Gambardo just around the corner. We finally managed to try it out the other day when we were invited there by some of our Fulham friends. It's off the chart as far as these kinds of places go. Both Nicholas and Daniel had an absolute ball and had to be torn away when it was time to go home. One thing I realised is that I am a bit of an overprotective mom. The photos are a bit arb (none of the lovely Rose) but they'll give you an idea what kind of place it is and how much fun the boys had!
We met our old friends, the Winders, on Box Hill for a picnic. In true fashion Brian marched up the hill and convinced Martin and Nicholas to join him. I was a bit worried at first but my little boy didn't have a problem walking to the top. I guess it needs to go down as his first official hike. I hope that we will climb many mountains together as a family in the future!
We took the boys to Santus Circus. We were motivated to take them because they both love the Little Gym so much and also because Nicholas really enjoys Dr Seuss at the moment and one of his favourites is The Circus McGurkus. They sat dead-still staring with open mouths from beginning to end and Nicholas spoke about it for days afterwards. So evidently it impressed and inspired them as we hoped it would!
No comments:
Post a Comment