You wouldn't think the Easter holidays were only two weeks the amounts we managed to cram in. We also didn't anticipate needing another holiday to get over the one we just had. Hmmm. Mama had better plan things a little differently next time or we might have mutiny on our hands.
Expecting the weather to be foul just so we had to deal with cabin fever of a never before imagined scale, we were surprised by the first rays of sun in some time and of course, this had to celebrated. First a visit to Wellington Country Park and the Baby Big Top! After seeing the worst petting farm in modern history (and no, Jeff did not hold back on the smutty jokes)we queued very patiently for what turned out to be a fantastic hours entertainment. Oliver laughed like a drain while Pip sat in fierce concentration at all the shenanigans. We had hula girls, uni-cylcists, balancing artist all the way from Africa, juggler, trapeze and good old fashioned clowing around. And it was only 4 people. Very good indeed.
We made Easter Bonnets too. Pip seemed particularly keen.
Next day was Easter Sunday which was spent at Nonna and Big G with the usual crowd - us, Nanny, Toby and his girlfriend Sam, and a quick visit from the Asquiths. What did we do? Ate, drank and ate some more. And then had an Easter egg hunt and an egg and spoon race. There was some serious competition amongst the Asquith boys and the little Sweetwater boys cottoned on fast and wanted to continue racing long into the night, but were persuaded to come in with promises of yet more cake. They do have some Drinkwater genes after all.
Pip is trying to forget the latest few Arsenal results by looking as ridiculous as he can.
Off we go...
A little help from Mr Hand and Mama....
The Asquith boys getting competitive. Its compulsory in their house.
Things were looking up with a second 4 day week (we could get very used to this)and Jeff celebrated by getting his golf lesson that Mama bought him for Christmas. She had obviously noticed his latent talent and he came back with glorious tales of near perfect swings that were - wait for it - better than Big G's!!!! Big G has been noticeably quiet on this point ever since.
Mama and the boys celebrated with a trip to Woking cinema on the train. Quite what was more exciting, the train or the movie I'm not sure, but we saw the only suitable film for small ankle biters - "Alvin and the Chipmunks - the Squeak-el". Mama gives it 1 star, mainly since she was mildly disturbed by the CGI gyrating chipmunks. Oliver and Pip gave it 5 stars. Although we're not entirely sure Pip saw the last 20 minutes as he disappeared to do the stinkiest poo known the man in the back of the cinema. In her wisdom Mama decided to stay, because it was five minutes to the end, she had no clean nappies anyway (am very bad mother) and there were only six other people in the cinema. Actually if she was honest she say it was to piss off the four grown adults that when the cinema was completely empty made a point of saying we were sitting in their seats and then sitting exactly behind us. In an empty cinema. In a film for toddlers.
Train to Woking. Oliver is on phone to Dada. We got a few funny looks. Pip gave a few back.
Revived by our 'rest' day (hah hah) we met Fie, Jules and Lucas aka Superhereos extraordinaires at Marwell Zoo the next day. Geared up in superhero costumes we made our way to the entrance with scooters and bikes only to be told that scooters and bikes weren't allowed any more. A short panic later, we arrived again at the entrance with two prams for four children hoping desperately they wouldn't get tired at the same time. And they rewarded us by careering round the enormous zoo for pretty much an entire day, paying almost no attention to the animals and being more interested in the train, tractor rides and various playgrounds dotted around the zoo. Still Mama got to see her mate, some snow leopards hiding away and to eat some dodgy hotdogs. Nice.
Superheroes are go....
Pip chuffing. The train isn't in sight, don't worry.
A banana eating superhero. Everyone needs sustenance you know.
And then there was the annual pilgrimage to the Watercress Line 'Thomas Day Out'. With our lovely friends Denise, James and their three boys Will, Scotty and Alex. No surprises this year but there were lots of screams of delight - going down inflatable slides and seeing Thomas. The weather turned out the be glorious and we sneaked in a decent coffee at the trendy deli in Alresford. AND we only managed to lose one child - Pip all the way over the other side of the railway station - stairs and everything - and I think the adrenalin shot to both Mama and Dada made us jittery for about a week after.
Will, Oliver and Scott
Dada and Pip complete with cheesey camera smile
Go Pip Go.
Friday loomed and Oliver was booked in to have his pre-school jabs before a trip to Alice Holt with friends. Luckily we hadn't had much time to spend worrying about the fact that this is the first time Ol is fully aware of what's going on when having jabs and the fact that they are two quite big and nasty jabs. Poor buba. He was so brave and the nurse so very good. Distraction and good bicep strength managed to get us through but I don't think he'll be forgetting that in a while.
That meant Glenn and Megan got to see Oliver is a particularly great mood over the weekend when they came down to see us. It was so lovely to see them after such a long time, and, as with good friends, it was just like we'd seen them last week. Mama got to try out her new recipe book and then we dragged then to a 4th birthday party with promises of beer at the local pub that never materialised. Both looked fantastic and it was great to hear how well everybody seemed to be getting on back in Oz. It did make Mama feel quite homesick.... Big kisses to everyone in Sydney.
Then came our obligatory holiday trip to London. Quite why I put myself through this I'm not entirely sure, but the Transport Museum was calling. So Oliver, Pip, Joe and Hal departed on the 9.28am train to Waterloo with three slightly nervous mummies. We managed to make it for the storytelling which Oliver later described as his favourite part of the day. The museum was rammed to the rafters with buses and trains you could climb all over (and fall down in both Joe and Pip's case), underground train simulators, and men handing out old bus tickets that the conductors used to stamp, then keep the resulting tiny circle of ticket, who then passed it onto a group of women (isn
't always the case?) at the end of the day, who counted every single tiny circle to cross reference the numbers of travellers on the buses. Just how insane is that?!!!
Luckily the boys were mostly well behaved - lets face it, no more badly behaved than usual - so we didn
't have to put them on counting duty, and we had a lovely day. I think the three Mamas were just pleased to make it home in one piece with no lost children or major trips to A&E.
Our intrepid travellers (l to r Oliver Pip Joe and Hal)
This sign lit up every time you trod on the rails. Pip insisted on going back and forth over this. I don't think that was the idea but you try and stop a toddler being dazzled by zippy lights.
Since Tiger Woods is having a little, er, hiatus in his golfing career we thought it best to try and fill that gap by getting the boys into golf. You know, to keep us in the way we're accustomed. What better way than heading 40 minutes up the A3 on Big G's recommendation to: Dinosaur golf. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. With rather large dinosaurs that go 'rah' the boys zoomed round 18 holes of fantastic crazy golf. I think you could have heard our hoots of joy back in Farnham when Oliver managed to score TWO hole in ones on his first two holes. We could see the dollar signs ker-ching before our eyes. ;-) To top is off, there's a Coata coffee there so Mama and Nonna could have a flat white (yes it has finally reached the UK burbs) before our dino fun. Complete with a rendition of the high-ho song on the last hole it was the perfect way to spend an afternoon.
www.jurassicencounter.com It rocked!
The next big thing in golf. Watch out Tiger.
Added to all this madness, Mama had previously decided to sign Oliver up for swimming lessons at 8.30am every morning for the second week. It seemed like a really good idea at the time (was I slightly deranged?). It has to be said though, Oliver really enjoyed his lessons at the Hart Leisure Centre and the teachers were great. And on the last day he swum on his back ENTIRELY BY HIMSELF. Just how amazing is that? The teacher said he wasn't far on swimming on his front. Go Ol. See you in 2016. Maybe 2020 if you're being a little lazy on the training front.
We had managed to meet Vicky and Hal at the Coral Reef swimming pool earlier in the week and Mama had, for the first time, felt comfortable going swimming with both boys. With Oliver so confident in the water and in arm bands it was easy to hang onto Pip and try to navigate the hords of holidays swimmers. We even managed to go on the family flumes! Pip and Mama went down first leaving a very excited Oliver at the top, who then came down all by himself. His only complaint - he had to push himself along to go faster as he was too small to build up momentum. Bless.
And for the piece de resistance we had almost front row seats to The Gruffalo stage show which we'd all been hanging out to see since Ol's 3rd birthday treat of the Room on the Broom at the Chelsea Theatre. The same theatre company - Tall Stories - were doing the production and it lived up to all our hype. The entire Drinkwater clan came, Nonna, Big G, Terry and Toby and all I could hear was Oliver screeching with laughter. It seemed he got over being lost for a good five minutes when he wondered off and both Mama and Dada thought the other one had him. A lovely lady had picked him up and was talking to him when I found him. I don't think I've ever felt quite so sick and so relieved in such a short space of time. My recommendation? Chain them to your ankles.
RELAX. DEEP BREATH. Start Pip at nursery. Gulp.
Oh and did mention we got to have our first (of many) viewing of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Oh yes. Pip now talks about the 'old peddlar woman' non-stop and they love the hi-ho song. Mama is loving getting into all the old Disney classics. So far we've worked our way through The Aristocats, Dumbo, Snow White, Cinderella and have some more lined up. Bring on those cozy afternoons with popcorn and sofa time.
