Summer 2012, Part 2

LOTS going on lately.

Here are a few shots of Legoland back in July.

In the last picture, C is wondering why the water park is closed - there was a fountainy area that they'd blocked off temporarily.  Other pictures - E in miniland looking at the lego boats (afterward, we went to the Build and Test place and found out how simulated earthquakes affected our lego structures!), E and Dadden in the helicopter, E and I taking a ride on the lego monorail.

Legoland was good fun - I didn't take as many pictures as I could have.  E did a "Learner Driver" ride - I didn't have the camera with me, so if I do another Dumbphone upload I'll post the shots I got on my phone of him driving a Lego car at 2mph around a track.

Going back a bit further in July - here is E watching the Olympic torch procession near our house.  He was a little bit underwhelmed and we only got to see the torch for about 3 seconds.  The highlight for him was playing with neighbors' children at the local park afterward.

And jumping back forward....

...a shot of E at his birthday party.  He wanted to dress up as a knight, so he did.  There was dancing and pass the parcel and superhero moves and cake and lots of playing - and a sackful of presents afterward, pretty much perfect for a 4 year old.

The day before he turned 4 we went on the London Eye so that E could get on free.  It's fun to be a tourist again even in the place you live.

The weeks have gone quickly even if the days seemed to sometimes drag out (especially in those long afternoon hours when everyone is a bit crabby). E went to sports camp once a week for four weeks and really enjoyed himself, played with friends, met up with cousins and uncles, went to lots of parks (including new ones - we are branching out and getting more adventurous with catching the bus to different places), splashing in the paddling pool in the back yard, and generally toodling about.

We have been enjoying Kew Gardens with its huge adventure playground (I'll post pictures someday, I promise!) and generally being busy busy busy.

E and his friend A met up twice this week - on Monday they had scooter races and today they went to visit their new classroom (they're in the same class at the same school which is nice since the boys have known each other from a previous playgroup they started at age 2!).  Tomorrow we are going back in to talk with the teacher and let E get used to the classroom a bit more - then he has some time off before he starts on Sept 20!

In other news, an editor at a publishing house has asked me to revise and edit a novella I sent in - she says she really enjoyed it and suggested a change I might make.  Of course I emailed back right away thanking her and taking her up on the offer.  I spent two weeks revising and polishing the story and resubmitted yesterday.  Writing something else now and trying not to be on pins and needles... it may very well get rejected.  To be honest, even if it does get a rejection, the place I've subbed to is a well-respected publisher with lots of clout and history, so the fact that an editor enjoyed my writing is a pretty big ego boost.

I'm sure there's tons I'm forgetting to record here, but this post is getting long  now so I'll sign off.