This is Spinal Tap

An impromtu jam session at Auntie Anna's. Trust me, this one went to 11:)

Jack's speech

My nephew Jack started school full time in September. He is only 4, but children start school the year they turn 5 in England. As Jack has a May birthday he is one of the younger ones in his class, but he seems to be doing very well. I was interested to see Jack's school both as his auntie and as a teacher. I was really impressed with the warm environment, and how small and personal it was. There is only one class in each grade and there are less than 20 students in each class.

Each month one of the classes hosts a family assembly and today it was the turn of Jack's class. The assembly theme was 'people that help us' and Jack had been practising his words all week. They give the assembly in the main hall so he practised saying his part really loud. He is quite shy so I was thinking he might be overwhelmed on the day, but he did a great job. The rest of the assembly was super cute with some of the class members acting out scenes from Florance Nightingale's life.

I couldn't get any pictures during the assembly but I was able to line the cousins up for a photo op on a school bench.

Nice Ride

We have had a couple of clearer days lately so we have been playing out a bit more. My parents barn is a treasure trove of old cars, and to be honest lots of old stuff. Amongst the items (dilapidated tellys, vintage MG's, aeroplane propellers to name but a few) we found Theo's 'pedal' car and decided to take it for a test drive. The car is actually designed so that you push a pedal and it goes by itself, so I am guessing it is electric. However it wasn't working so we just had fun pushing it around.

Where Daddy go?

Every day Max and Zoe ask me the same question "Where Daddy go?" I always give the same answer "Daddy went skiing on a cold mountain." Well today after nearly a month he is back in Argentina and sent me this picture. That dot in the middle is him making turns to the ocean. So tomorrow when the munchkins ask "Where Daddy go?" I'll show them this picture.

Pretty damn cool.

Sea Life

Today we decided to travel further a field and headed north up the coast to Blackpool. For those of you that have never heard of Blackpool it is a rather run down seaside town in Northern Lancashire. It is famous for it's tower, which I think was designed by the same person that designed the Eiffel tower. Aside from that it is a traditional English seaside resort with a lot tourist attractions and fun things to do to do with children. Due to endless days of freezing fog we decided to visit an indoor attraction called sea life which is a great aquarium.

We took the slow route as I wasn't keen on driving on the motorway and the journey took about 2 hours. The kids did really well and I think that is the longest I have driven them by my self. Crisps and sweets help:)
Theo, Jack, Zoe and Max ready to have fun.

Once we arrived we headed into the exhibits. This aquarium was different from the one in Seattle because it was very dark. At first I thought Max and Zoe would be scared, but with their cousins for support they had a blast. The first thing you see is this enormous shark which Jack and Theo loved. M and Z not so much, but I didn't really blame them, that thing was massive!

Next we headed to the touch tanks which were a big hit with everyone except Max, who thought it was "yacky."

We spent the rest of the morning herding the quartet through the exhibits and trying to prevent drownings.





We ended the outing with a trip to the ball (aka e-coli) pit, a lunch out and a visit to the amusement arcade. It was a great day out.

Auntie Jen's and the big neigh.

Max and Zoe both love all things 'neigh'. When we go to the zoo in Seattle their favorite thing is to ride the carousel. They were truly gleeful when they got to ride ponies at Remlinger farm at the end of the summer and at farmer Ted's this week they couldn't stop talking about the big neigh. So yesterday when we paid a visit to my Auntie Jennifer, we got an introduction to a few different horses. My aunt doesn't own horses anymore, but there are several at livery at her house so we went to say,

"Hello big neigh"

First we took rare opportunity to play outside as it was sunny for a change. We checked out the play structure and Max jumped on the trampoline until he was pink in the face.

Then we headed to the field with handfuls of carrots in the hope to give someone a treat. Max and Zoe loved Sherade and with my help fed him a few carrots. Then we headed over to the neighbors house to see to other big horses and two very fat Shetland ponies. Zoe was very sure that these diminutive beasties were "Zoe's neigh" and "Maxi's neigh" so next week we plan on a visit to the pint sized pony, Bo with a hope for a ride.

Not too much room

Here are all the cousins enjoying after dinner time with granddad. It's the best seat in the house as far as they are concerned!

Happy birthday dad! 72 today:)

Nana has been shopping

Three cute boys in three cute cardigans thanks to Nana.

Farmer Ted's

Another cold blustery day in West Lancs so what to do? We headed out to farmer Ted's farm park just outside of Ormskirk. I say that like it was easy right, because I lived in Ormskirk for nigh on 20 years and should be able to find it no problem. Well not so much. Max, Zoe and I took the "special" route to farmer Ted's. Which took an hour with a detour through Ainsdale, which I don't think I've been to before.
Here we are at the gate, but where is Theo? Well he was fast asleep because he had been up at 5 and also because his auntie was a bit late.

The first place we headed was the animal barn because the Guinea pigs were out and the we wanted to stroke them. All the kids did a great job being gentle and the guinea pigs were super cute.

After a great time handling the guinea pigs one of the staff was kind enough to bring out a lop eared rabbit for the children to stroke. Well and for the mummies and nana too. The rabbit was a boy and they had thought long and hard about his name and called him, can you guess? Yes Flopsy that is right. Anyway, he was a lovely rabbit and a hit with the munchkins.

Next we headed to the tractor riding and massive sandpit. Unfortunately, the roof of the sandpit had broken in the heavy snow, so it was a bit water logged, but fun all the same.

Zoe had a great time running around chasing the tractors. She was hard to get a photo of.

After all that fun we headed inside to the indoor play area which everyone loved even me! It was a great morning out and I think we'll be back at Farmer Ted's again before we head back Stateside.

Happy Hippos

With the bad weather and the cold here we have had to spend a lot of times indoors. Though the weather is often rainy and cold in seattle, somehow the rain is just colder here in West Lancs. Anyway, today we headed to a new indoor play area in Ormskirk, my home town and let the cousins loose in "Happy Hippos". The play area is very different than any I have been to in seattle. The main part is an enormous rope area with slides, a ball court and tunnels. There is also a a smaller area with climbing platforms and ball pits, which Max and Zoe loved. The rest of the space is for tables and there is a great coffee bar. So today the mummies got to drink lattes whilst the kiddos got to play.

It was really difficult to get any decent pictures because of the myriad of strip lights, but I took a few just for documentation.