Fun, fun, fun

We have lots of fun photos to show from the past two days, so I'm running them small. Click on any you wish to see full-size...

On Monday, it was a Bank Holiday, so Dean and Jenny were both off.

It was pretty rainy for the first part of the day, so we all traveled to a place called Tropiquaria, which was part zoo, part family fun center, with outdoor and indoor playgrounds.

The first three photos are from Monday.

On Tuesday, we went to Crealy Adventure Park, an amusement park about an hour's drive away near Exeter.

We went there two years ago, and it was fun to return with two more little ones to enjoy it.

Crealy offers roller coaster rides, farm animals to pet and feed, a duck pond, playgrounds, indoor play equipment, and more.

Violet loved petting the animals - we will have to take this toddler to the zoo more often!

She also really enjoyed the toddler play area, with big soft play toys. When she saw it, she knew it was for her: her face lit up with a huge smile. She also like practicing her walking.

Cora loved the rides best, and the giant slides. She amazes me with her fearlessness.
And, she rode a pony!

Chocks Away

On Sunday, Dad took to the skies over Dorset for his 60th birthday present, a flight in a 1930s De Havilland Tiger Moth biplane.

He was very apprehensive about going up; a week before Dad's flight, there was a tragic crash at the airfield involving another Tiger Moth. When we arrived at Compton Abbas Airfield we were greeted by the sight of a fire engine and ambulance on the grass runway tidying up after another small incident.
This did not nothing to ease Dad's nerves.

On arrival we were told that it was too windy and to check back in half an hour to see if the weather conditions improved.

While we waited outside, the owners pulled out the Tiger Moth. This seemed to ease some of Dad's fears and now he was eager to go up if the weather improved.

We were given the all clear. The wind had dropped and the skies were starting to brighten up.

Dad got kitted up in a leather flying jacket, helmet and goggles.

Chocks away! With the engine now up to full power the pilot and Dad taxied out to the start of the airstrip. They started the run down the field and within about 20 seconds the old bird (the plane, not the passenger) was airborne.

The flight lasted for 30 minutes before the plane emerged above the trees and headed for the end of the runway for its landing.














A very excited Dad jumped out of the cockpit to tell us all about his flying adventure. We were all glad and very happy to see that he really enjoyed his birthday present.

















Three months of planning, two weeks fearing impending doom, thirty minutes of worrying because of bad weather. Fullfilling a boyhood dream: Priceless.
Happy Birthday Gord, Dad, Pop.

On the way home we stopped at Shaftsbury for a walk up and down Gold Hill, a very old street made famous in the 80s by a Hovis bread commercial. The wall on the right in the family picture is 700 years old and used to be the outer wall of Shaftsbury Abbey. The view from the top of the hill over the rolling Dorset countryside are breathtaking.

Ham Hill with Euan, and sleeping!

We met up with Dean, Jenny and Euan at Ham Hill the other night - one advantage of being here in late May is that it stays light so late, you can go to the park after dinner.

We got to see Euan the Toddler in action - he is a beautiful little boy, and had a great time running around, playing on his tractor and on cousin Cora's bike.

He and Violet were great together, playing and touching each other's faces.

Cora made us laugh on the way up there - she asked Stace why it's called "Ham Hill," if there is no ham there. Stace explained that it's named for the hamstone quarry - a type of golden stone used to build many of the nearby buildings.

"Oh!" she said. "Like hamsters, that live in the water!"

We had Euan with us all day Thursday, as Sue watches him Thursdays while Jenny works.

The kids had fun together, and Dean and Jenny came over for dinner.

That night, we had our first full night of sleep!

It was our sixth night together, so it felt like a long time coming.

Violet kept waking at night, ready to play. Also, she is such a light sleeper! Cora sleeps like a log, but Violet wakes up easily. We had a lot of trouble getting both girls down together in the same bedroom, since they aren't used to it at home. Cora would call out for me and wake Violet, or Violet would shout out for "Gia" and wake her.

We ended up switching out Cora's bed - she had a blowup princess bed, but it made a lot of noise. We're now bringing up the cushions from the couches for Cora to sleep on, since they're quieter.

Cora is mobile, too

And off she goes!

Cora's second time on her big-girl bike brought her cycling success.

Amazing.

With help from Daddy, Uncle Dean and Pop, Cora was pedaling around the fields of Ham Hill. She was balancing as she turned into wide circles, and stayed upright when she went over a rock.

The terrain wasn't flat, with lumps and bumps, but that all just added to Cora's fun.

We figured it was safer to practice there, since we hadn't yet bought Cora a helmet in England.

As Cora excitedly put it, she's a lucky girl to have bikes and, soon, helmets, in TWO countries!

She was so happy, beaming from ear to ear, as we all were.

It's hard to put into words how proud we were to watch her riding for the first time. Right before my eyes, my baby-turned-toddler-turned-little-girl seemed to grow into a big girl.

Just once, I was the one to give her a starting push. It was hard for me to know when to let go.

I feared that if I let go too soon, she'd fall over and get hurt... and yet, she was just fine. When I took my hands off the handlebars, she took off faster and faster, all on her own.

What a metaphor for parenting, eh? Give 'em just a little push, then LET GO, and watch them take off.
Love you, Cora Rose.
Loads and loads.

Callie!

I've already had one of the highlights of this trip to England - meeting Callie, JT's new baby girl!

She is 3 1/2 months old, and cute as can be. Beautiful dark blue eyes, like her mama.

While Stace and Cora spent time together Tuesday, Violet and I went with JT and Callie to a moms/babies group at her church.

We then had lunch and did a bit of shopping. Our babies had fun together - Violet was very interested in Callie, often pointing at her and squealing "Dada!" She also wanted to give Callie kisses - that's what's happening in the middle photo.

Good Girl

Cora has been so well-behaved for the first several days of our trip, including her excellent behavior on the airplane.

Wow. What a different child than the one we traveled with in August!

To reward her, Stace took Cora and his Nan to Rugrats, an indoor children's play center.

Its compact layout meant that Mary could easily see all the fun from the cafe.

Cora took the photo of Stace playing, with our bigger camera.

Then, they took a picnic lunch to Ham Hill to enjoy the sunshine - we're having some brilliant weather at the start of our vacation!

Stace and I have tried a few new things with Cora over the last month or so, with her behavior.

When she was rude at a birthday party (after lots of warnings and pre-party prep), we sat her in the corner for a couple of hours. Two days later, more rudeness, more hours in the corner.

It did seem to help, to give Cora something to think about: Mum and Dad are serious about her being kind to people.

We've also started a marble-reward system, by which Cora can "earn" the privilege of watching television. She needs to earn five marbles for a 30-minute program, and eight for a movie. She earns them by being friendly, obedient, kind, etc. She also loses them, for the opposite sorts of behavior.

We've seen this really helping, so far. We've been hearing a lot more "Yes, Daddy!", "Yes please!" and "OK, Mummy!" Not that she's perfect, of course - we had to take two away for rudeness to Nan's coworkers this afternoon when we visited the shop to walk Nan home.

News Flash! News Flash!

We interrupt these England reports to bring you very important news!

Violet Mae is walking!

I repeat, Violet Mae is walking!

She has taken two or three steps a few times over the past couple of weeks, and loves walking when you hold her hand.

On Sunday, at Big Nan's home, off she went - one, two, three, ... SEVEN steps!

Like a lot of new walkers, she still crawls a lot, but we've seen her taking several steps quite often the last few days. By the time we fly home, I'm sure she'll be walking a lot more.

Good job, Violet!

Two-wheeled surprise

Big Nan and Nan gave Cora some new coloring books and color pencils, so Cora has been enjoying them.

The small playground near Nan and Pop's house has been improved recently, and the tire swing was a lot of fun.

Nan and Pop surprised Cora with a new bike! She's been doing so well on her balance bike at home, they thought she might be ready to try a true "big girl" bike with no training wheels.

On her first attempt, Cora was getting the hang of the pedals while Daddy held her steady.

The next few shots are from Big Nan's home. We've spent several hours visiting her there, and she's been with us at Sue and Gord's home, too. She's doing well and loving seeing her great-granddaughters.

Planes, Trains

As a reward for all of Stacey's hard work on the kitchen, we went to England!
OK, not exactly. But the timing did work out well for Stace to have a true rest after the project ended, with some time away with our family in England.
Here we are on Friday afternoon, ready for our next big trip across the pond. The girls did very well on the plane again. Cora was excited to see everybody, so excited she could barely sleep the night before. Violet had to sit on our laps, as the bassinet attachments were broken. But it went fine, all in all.
Fine, but as exhausting as ever. Cora and Violet each slept for about two hours, and not at the same time. That meant I didn't sleep a wink. Stace got a bit of shut-eye, but he needed it more than I did - he had been up most of Thursday night, having his turn with the stomach flu that went through our family last week. So much for getting a good night's sleep before our big travel day.
Sue and Gord came to pick us up, and drove the girls back to Martock. Since there wasn't room in the car, and Dean had prior weekend-vacation plans, Stace and I took the Tube into London.

We had a couple of hours to see the sights before our train trip to Somerset.
In July, it will be 10 years since my first trip to England, with JT, when she and I visited Stacey and Jim. We enjoyed a few days of sightseeing in London that trip, including a boat ride on the Thames (behind us). Fun to think about now, a decade later. If you'd have told us all then...!
Then, it was on to our train ride - as soon as I closed my eyes, I was out like a light.

We reached Somerset in about two hours, and checked into the Dean&Jen Hotel. Since they were away, we took advantage of their roomy three-bedroom house for our first two nights.

Cora sure took advantage of the sleeping arrangement - she slept through the night Saturday, on our first night in town! That's remarkable when you consider the jet lag. Violet, not so much. Saturday and Sunday, she went to bed easily at 8 p.m., but was back awake between 1 and 4 a.m. On Monday night, she slept better, after she went to bed at 10:30 p.m.

And now, dear readers, since my girls are both asleep and it's after 10 p.m. here, I'm off to bed. More blogging tomorrow, I hope.

End of Terrific Tots

Cora had her final Terrific Tots class this Thursday, marking the first of many such bittersweet growing-up occasions we'll encounter.

As it's a co-op preschoo program, I planned my working day to coincide with Cora's last class. It was nice to be there to take it all in.

Cora and her buddy Matthew were joint line-leaders as they went back to class after playground time. We'll miss some of her little friends, and seeing their moms twice a week.

Since we are leaving class a week early because we're off to England Friday, Miss Diane made several mentions of it being Cora's last day.

She got her certificate and posed with Miss Diane and Miss Linda, with her thank-you gifts and the pictures she painted for them.

We'll see Miss Diane again this summer, as we signed Cora up for a city-run camp for 3- and 4-year-olds. It will be Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9 to 12:30, for four weeks.

Then, in August, Cora will start at a new preschool, in a three-day-a-week pre-K program. That will be an exciting step for all of us!