family

we went to a traditional bank holiday monday car boots sale this morning. we made sure we were in by 8.45am to catch the early bargains.
on the way out we saw this children’s car on top of a hedge. i recon it was bought at the car boot sale by an irate parent. when their kid didn’t stop nagging they probably shouted “shut up, or we throw your plastic car away”.
he didn’t so they kicked it on to the hedge. a different type of car boot.

we knew we had a tight intinery today. i wasn’t surprised that esther had set her favourite toys up to discuss a game-plan.

there was a fanstastic scarecrow hunt in a lovely thameside village called Sonning this afternoon. unfortunately it chucked it down with rain and i hadn’t brought the girls’ rain coats or wellies (i admit it, i’m hopeless). we met our friends there and they got wet too.

before it got too wet we managed to spot a fair few of the 70 scaregrows on display. here are a few photos.
it’s on tomorrow so if you are in europe you could probably get there in time.
uri geller lives just off the main street in sonning so you could pop in to see him too.


update: more pictures from the next day here

next door to the cat show was a soft play kids thing so we went there for 2 hours this afternoon. kezia is qute liable to get stuck in the middle of these things. she’s driven by her determination which often takes her beyond her capabilities.
the end result is that i spent two hours following her up and down slides and ladders and all sorts and generally squashing down gaps which 5 years old find tricky to fit through.
but it’s cheaper than gym membership.

jane gave esther, kezia and myself a long shopping list and we spent a ‘happy’ few hours playing find-the-foodstuff round Asda.
here are kezia and esther having a telly-tubby style big supermarket hug

and here they are playing toilet brushes like trumpets.

here is kezia’s friend luke. he’s party boy adam’s brother and we were invited to their house for a secondary birthday experience.
Andy had set up a very elaborate obstacle course in the garden which esther and kezia (and luke) enjoyed hugely.
Adam chose to spend the party playing his new computer game inside which is fair enough. he is a boy after all.

it’s a little bit chilly today. too cold for just a t-shirt. you’re better off with a light jumper in my opinion.
certainly the place NOT to be is in the padling pool which is filled up with cold water !

esther and kezia went to their friend Adam’s party this afternoon. it was at one of those massive soft play places. in this one people parents are allowed to go round with their little kids to help them.
i ended up going up slides and through rollers and ball pools with kezia whilst esther went off with the other party people.
it was most excellent and a very good way of tiring the kids out before their party tea (seen here). esther is sitting in the middle by the birthday boy !

here is esther dressed as a king. her hat is chained to the wall so no-one steals it. it was very heavy.

kezia and esther listen to sound archives

jane has a meeting in london today so we travelled in together which was excellent.

my mum generously got esther a watch when she visited last week. esther loves it.
yesterday we had time checks every 5 minutes.
jane: “when the long hand points to the number 10, that means it’s 10 minutes to the hour”
esther: “that can’t be right, otherwise the long hand would have to go backward to count down to the hour”. (she’s right you know)
my favourite was when she chose to be completely vague
me: “what time is it esther ?”
esther: “just past mid-morning”

esther and i played shadows this afternoon. esther’s shadows have mysterious properties and make her look like she’s a tall skinny model (holding a small bean-filled lamb).
The picture on the left may in fact be a time-travel shadow of her in the future on her 18th birthday ?

i’m sure i’ve already mentioned that it’s jane’s exam-marking season which means for the next 6 weeks-ish she’s busy – er – marking exams and i’m busy looking after the kids.
this afternoon they were happy to play in the garden which was great. after 3 hours i got bored and suggested we went to the local swing park.
esther and kezia took their baby-buggies which meant the 5 minute walk took nearly half an hour !

the park has recently been reopened following the installation of a new slide. it’s nice and shiny:

kezia loves chocolate ice-cream and makes sure every last drop is eaten.
(but first she checks to see if anyone is watching)

here is our friend tony (regular commenter on this blog) and his daughters (who are esther and kezia’s best friends). we had a lovely time at wellington country park.

here is kezia and my mum