Dumbphone, Part 5

Scroll down for Part 4.  And maybe get a cup of tea.  Lots of photos here.

C in her brother's rainboots.

Play.

Writing, tea, scones.  Rare, nice afternoon break.  Scuse my finger in front of the lens.

Driving the... uh, contraption... at a local playgroup, just before E started school.

Dancing inside the "disco room" at a local soft play center.

Climbing trees at Wandsworth Common just near the fence separating the park from the train tracks.

Sharing a frozen yogurt during a rare restaurant outing.

Stalking pigeons.

Climbing the wooden pirate ship during her first day at playgroup.

Watching something on the ipad.

"I'm swiiiinging in the rain...."

Inside the gorgeous wooden playhouse at C's playgroup.  Lots of things to do in there.

Off to school with lunchbox and bookbag...

...while C and I become the ladies who lunch.  Or at least have tea and a babyccino (frothy warm milk)

Visiting the London Transport Museum - E posing in front of an old train carriage.

Driving a bus at the museum.

He really wanted to try this fizzy drink but didn't much like it in the end.

This chocolate shake at Hamley's was far more to his taste.

Her Lego Maj.

Reading "The Tiger Who Came to Tea"

Swinging together at the local park.

Building a house with Duplo.

C's first painting.

"New" marble run from the thrift shop, has most of its parts and works fine until one of them dismantles it (which is too often).

E's school project robot.

Running through the leaves past E's school on the way to the park.

The baby "wanted" to climb on the ropes, so C was helping her.

Recent picnic by the duck pond on the Common, they're inspecting their cookies before eating.

Little Red Riding Hood on the round'n'round.

Glittery rocket project.

Today's photo... we made "leaf masks" on our way home from school.  Cuz why  not?

And that's all until next time!

Dumbphone, Part 4

As I posted nearly a year ago: I have what I fondly refer to as a dumbphone. I should clarify that it has one or two bells and whistles, namely the camera (which is all I use it for apart from the odd text or call), but it's certainly no top of the range thing. Still, it enables me to point and shoot, capturing the moment here and there without fuss.

Here's the fourth installment of Dumbphone pics.  They start at around June-ish and continue until November.

Homemade waterslide in the back garden.

Riding in the classic Austin Joy cars on a warm day at Southbank.

Watching the boats float down the Thames past the Houses of Parliament.

Colored sand at Southbank.

Every few mins they would run down the street, stop, and give each other a big hug.

Driving the 2mph car at Legoland.

Around the track.

Funny Lego panning-for-gold guy.

Went to the park during the "summer" holidays and got stuck in a downpour.  Too late to get inside the nearby shopping center so we ducked underneath the pirate ship in the playground and waited 20 minutes while the kids served me pretend hot chocolate and giggled.  We stayed dry!

Rainy birthday trial of his new "stomp rocket" - an air propelled foam rocket that goes quite high depending on how hard the child jumps on the attached pump.

I have fond memories of going through a rotating barrel with my godsister in Hawaii.  Here's E going through his first one at a summer funfair.

Late July/early August it finally got warm enough to eat ice cream.

Multitasking toddler.

Artwork teamwork.  There were googly eyes to glue on, and feathers.

Driving a plane, with added passengers.

I guess she picked up some things from me.

Moving bricks with a wheelbarrow, at the 1 o'clock club.

More cuddles.

Firefighters rolled up to the 1 o'clock club during late summer with their fire engine and hoses.  The kids could sit inside and also try out the hosepipe.

E decorating a cookie at the 1 o'clock club.  Yes.  It IS partially eaten.

Blackberry-stained toddler.

Putting cheese and sauce on our pizza before baking it.  Yeah, I know that's a white shirt.  I like to live on the wild side, what can I say?

Round'n'round at a park in Clapham.

Catching up over a cup of tea/hot chocolate.

Neat swing setup at a park in Clapham.

Off on the scooter to go meet a friend.

Will update more next post, because this is getting looonnng.

Halloween 2012

Life's getting more complicated now that E is older.  Four is old enough to begin to really grasp the traditions of certain holidays... and Halloween is no exception. 

Beginning to scoop out the pumpkin... we all took turns wielding the spoon.

The final result: here is "Scary Pumpkin Dave" as named by E.

Blurry pic of the kids before we set out trick-or-treating.  E was a scary knight with a giant trident and C dressed up as her brother, wearing his yellow construction vest and carrying a foam sword.  We live in a great, very safe neighborhood.  England doesn't do Halloween like America, but some houses really tried hard.  We only called in on places with lit pumpkins.  About a quarter of a way into our route we met up with folks we knew and went in a big pack down the street until we eventually split up again to come home... have I mentioned yet that I love this area?

Halloween aside, it's been a few weeks of mundanity around here.  I took the camera along to our neighborhood park recently....

Today we went to the children's zoo in Battersea, which has adventure playgrounds and a fire engine to clamber on in addition to animals. 

Beep beep.

He spent ages on this sand digger.

Really was too cold for sand and water play.  Went to have lunch and peek at the animals after this, then back for another 20 mins play before leaving.

BIG smile.

And that's all for now.

And, Just Like That...

...it's October.  School continues to go well for E.  I gather he is receiving a bit of extra attention/instruction off to the side.  He tells me he and a few others are taken off to play games or do projects with Ms. K-- who works with the special ed area (this area also covers gifted children).  I guess I'll find out more later this month during parent-teacher conferences.

I am overdue posting photos from last month's visit to Hever Castle... here are a quick few.

(It didn't rain on us!)

 E doing the Water Maze.  Step on the wrong tile and you get squirted!  He got pretty wet but fortunately it wasn't very chilly.

Couldn't take pictures inside the castle - but everyone enjoyed traipsing through and seeing Anne Boleyn's old bedroom.  After the water maze we took a walk near the Italianate gardens, past a fountain and waterfall, and smelled some of the most beautiful roses I've ever seen/sniffed.

Exit to the hedge maze, decorated for the Queen's Jubilee.

Not pictured: the adventure playground.  They had good fun there - zip wire, wooden maze with slides, swings etc.

We went to the Science Museum on Sunday.

Here's C (with E in the background far left) exploring the water feature in the part of the museum designed specifically for young children. 

E was absolutely fascinated with how he could change the flow of the water with the removable plastic dams.  There were also plastic boats to float down the stream and squirting jets that the kids could change around. 

Taking a break from the water table to explore cause and effect, heights and pulleys together.  The kids at the top threw these beanbags down the chute....

...the kids at the bottom wheelbarrowed the beanbags to the other side and loaded them into the pulley to transport them back up top again. 

Brief visit of the Flight exhibition.  Lots of real old planes and a decent overview of the history of flight.  The kids were on their last legs by this point so we went home--a surprisingly short drive, maybe 20 minutes--so C could have a much-needed nap.

Think I'm caught up on most of the photos.  I'm due a Dumbphone download soon but I've been busy editing my novel in order to submit it to a publisher.  Still haven't heard back from the other place but it's only been a month and they're holding a big convention this week.  In the meantime I wrote a 20k novella that has the potential to be part of a series.  I plan to edit that after I finish revising the novel (I'm about halfway done).

So that's all for now!