Catching up with my blog again – it’s getting harder to find time to keep things up to date 😦

Where was I?  After the wonderful spell of Summer weather, we were plunged back into the cool and damp weather of 2012 just in time for a family week off.  Our childminder took half term week off, so Matt and I took the three days after the jubilee weekend as annual leave and had a bit of a London holiday.  Despite the weather, we had great fun!

Our only dip into the London jubilee celebrations (apart from very much enjoying the 4 day weekend!) was a trip to Hyde Park to the Sainsbury’s Jubilee Family Festival.  Turned out to be a disaster, with a 45 minute queue to get in the door, huge queues for everything inside, high barriers around the demonstration and parade area so Alex couldn’t see, and a woefully small “children’s area” which was immediately over capacity meaning we couldn’t see Thomas the Tank Engine or Fireman Sam – poor Alex!  Despite the disappointment, Alex enjoyed the train and bus journey, splashing in puddles in Hyde Park and watching the motorbike display from daddy’s shoulders!

We missed the jubilee river pageant as we travelled down to Shere for our nephew’s 6th birthday which had a brilliant pirate theme which Alex loved (and in fact, he still has a helium balloon in his room in the shape of a pirate ship from the party).  We all ate large amounts of cake, and Alex again demonstrated that he has no idea how little he is as he tried to follow the big boys on the inflatable slides and bouncy castle.  We took a little break from the big boys, and headed into a little play area where Alex loved riding the mini motorbike:

On the first bank holiday Monday, we travelled to Polesden Lacey – a gorgeous National Trust property near Leatherhead with several friends and their children. Here’s Alex taking very seriously the instruction to always wear his entry sticker:

Alex tried out his new wellies and had a complete blast jumping in puddles!  The older children enjoyed a traditional Punch and Judy show (so politically incorrect!) and all of them tried out mini golf together.  It was a fabulous place, well worth another visit.  Here’s a slideshow of pictures form the day:

Katharine joined us for the second half of the week, and we all trekked over to Greenwich to visit the Cutty Sark.  We’ve wanted to do that for ages, and it didn’t disappoint.  It turned out to be a great place to take a toddler – lots to explore and pretty safe and open.  It’s incredibly impressive standing under the ship and seeing it’s full scale.  Katharine helped us get some lovely pictures, including a rare family shot or two:

Other highlights of the week off were exploring the amazing new children’s playground in Brockwell Park (although i’m not sure if Alex was disappointed that there were no longer any diggers in the park as the construction is complete!).  Here he is loving one of the many slides:

And showing no fear on a really quite high bridge:

We concluded the week celebrating little Henry’s 2nd birthday at a birthday party with a strong hint of choo choo trains, much to Alex’s delight.  With the exception of making himself a little bit sick drinking bubble mixture (!), Alex had a fun time eating more cake than sandwiches, and completely missing the point of “pass the parcel”!

It was a lovely, relaxed week off – made even more special by two date nights for Matt and I.  We took advantage of babysitting offers to visit the cinema and check out the London Nocturne bike race in Smithfields (well worth a visit next year if you like cycle racing!).

Anyways, dinner is ready, so will sign off now – but expect another update soon on what else we’ve been up to in June.

x