Running down the road!

One of the great things about having children is an excuse to be childish again!

Rambling with Nana

And Papa and Great Grampa on the bridge in the background...

Lazy summer days...

Well here we are, still blogging from late August - life has been pretty hectic. I guess there weren't many of those lazy summer days!

Here we are enjoying some time with Lara's family, walking across the meadows and playing poohsticks from Rainbow Bridge.

The virtuoso

Rose has a new method of plucking the ukelele (or, according to Ana, 'the gidar'). This energetic method of playing necessitates constant retuning of the instrument, so this musical style may not catch on...

Ana and friends

Ana is a very sociable little girl, and loves to be with her friends.

Jumping bean!

Jumping in a sunbeam, very very high!

Chasing the croquet mallet

With all the excitement of croquet, Rose was not one to be left out. She sped across the lawn towards her sister's unattended mallet, seized it, and promptly whacked herself in the face with it. Isn't croquet fun?

Don't worry, after a cuddle with Daddy she was soon chasing mallets again.

Ana on the bouncy castle

One of the great delights of childhood...

(By the way, this is still from our holiday in Cambridge in early August. Yes, we are THAT far behind!)

A really big slide...

Ana provided the perfect excuse for Mummy and Zoe to go down this wonderful giant slide : )

An Ana snapshot

We had to blog this; it is just SO Ana!

Concentration

Ana loves cutting up paper.

She spends such a long time, for a toddler, in extreme concentration snipping off little bits of paper. A little bit off here, a little bit off there...

The other day, when I asked her what she was doing, she told me that she was "making kites", and indeed, she was - hundreds of tiny triangles scattered everywhere.

Croquet for toddlers

I don't know if you've noticed, but toddlers love to do the same as they see their parents doing, and croquet is no exception.

To assist Ana, Tim hunted out a mallet and softball that were just right for her to join in with!

Biking with Daddy

On our holiday in Cambridge a special little seat was found to attach to the bike, and that, together with Uncle Simon's old helmet, meant that Ana had a wonderful time riding up and down the street with Daddy.

Things only got better when Grampa took her all the way to church on it.

We could only stand by and watch

When Grandad was a wee little lad his father bought the family this very croquet set. When we met up the other day we had a quick game of croquet. Quick because Grandad proceeded to whoop us all!

Rose should have been in bed...

... but didn't want to miss out on the fun and games with Auntie Amanda!

Gran and Leia

Happy sleeping in the garden.

Introducing...

Leia Anwen Farewell

This is a late introduction to Ana and Rose's youngest cousin, and our new niece! Apologies for the tardiness of this post, we can only blame the fact that meeting her was somewhat delayed, as has been our blogging...

Anyway, she is gorgeous and lovely and everso cuddly : )

Happy Birthday Grampa!

Here is Grampa with all three of his granddaughters on his birthday, though the youngest was SO tired by all the excitement she just couldn't keep her eyes open!

Croquet anyone?

Rose was all dressed up for Grampa's birthday, and decided it was high time for a game of croquet. Though, having waist-high hoops does make it a little harder...

Faster Daddy, faster!

After the dolls had had their turn Ana and Rose went for a spin too, Rose being held nice and tightly by her big sister... what a lot of fun!

Little Red Wagon

Daniel and I (Tim) used to don ice hockey equipment, hop into this wagon, and propel each other up and down our street as quickly as possible.

Now, Ana does the same for her dolls, minus the protective clothing...

See-saw

You may have noticed that parks feature quite frequently in our blog. This is because Ana, and increasingly Rose, LOVES them.

But we do try to expand their horizons in childhood activities, so we took them to Wimpole Hall Home Farm to become acquainted with the various rare breeds of beasts they raise. Our children placated us with a few cursary glances at the animals, but, when the question "can I ride on the .... " was too often answered in the negative, the appeal of the animals deminished.

Thus, we ended up at the park on the farm, which, of course, they loved!

But we were not to be outdone, and ended off the day with a horse-drawn wagon ride, and thankfully Ana was delighted by this!

The assembled multitude

And here we all are nearing the end of our lovely day by the sea.

Ana and Grandad's sandcastle

Ana and her great-grandad did well to find sand on the otherwise pebbly beach. But Ana was determined to build a sandcastle on her trip to the seaside and so they DID!

Oh, and yes, the requisite plastic spade was broken during the construction on this mighty fortress.

Yes, even Tim went in!

A rare sight - Tim entering the sea (in a typically calm and collected manner).

At first, the water was very cold, but once your body temperature was significantly lowered, it was actually quite pleasant. And then it was time for lunch!