Junior Biggles

Well Joshua has been in race cars at Brands Hatch and JCB's at Digger Land, but driving aside, he is still a young plane spotter at heart. So today we took him and Brandon to Hendon Air Museum for the day. Young Biggles was in his element running around the museum and jumping in and out of planes. His batteries just didn't seem to run out today!!!! Mind you he did get told off a few times by security guards - but that's another story!!! Anyway I won't bore you with too many pictures of planes as this blog is about Joshua and Brandon, so enjoy

Me and my boys all dressed up in our camo gear..........

This photo is a bit dark, but in the background is the breathtaking Lancaster Bomber - I love these planes.

Another big bomber.....

Tina and Joshua in front of some very decorative stained glass.

Huummmmm, anybody's guess what Joshua is thinking hear. Perhaps he is wondering why the manikin is not answering him back.

OK so letting Joshua tamper with the bomb load of a Vulcan bomber might not be one of the smartest moves!!!

Fortress tails..........this is about the only time I seem to recall Joshua sitting down and not charging around like a loony.

At Hendon they have a great interactive children's area where they get to sit in various cockpits of planes and helicopters and generally learn about flying etc. He loved playing in this helicopter.

Anyone brave enough to be a passenger?

Time to try out some gliding, hang on, Joshua needs a co-pilot...........

Brandon to the rescue.

Time to go it alone. Ready for take off.

Oh no, is that a woman driver. At this point Joshua starts to panic.

Here is a clever little shot. It almost looks like Tina and Joshua are in the cockpit of this jet fighter.

Second only to the Lancaster and the Vulcan I would say this KittyHawk was one of my favourite planes of the day.

That little dot in the middle of this picture is Brandon. He spent a fair bit of time in the baby harness today so that he got to see a lot more than just being pushed around in the pram.

Young Biggles at it again.

Rolling Thunder

Looks like the latest poll has ended and the end result in 9 to 1 votes for Brandon looking more like Tina. No votes for looking like me and 1 vote for looking like Josh.

Today's blog update is really dedicated to baby Brandon. Two major milestones have been achieved in the last two days. Firstly Brandon has started to hold his milk bottle on his own, and secondly, he has learnt to roll from his belly to his back. Tonight he managed the roll about 7 times and was often too quick for me to even get the video camera ready. I will try and get some pictures of these two developments over the next few days. So how long before he learns the front to back roll????

Here are a couple of nice pictures of Joshua and Brandon both playing with their kick and drive toy.

And here are some more nice pics of Brandon in his door bouncer. He really gets into his bouncing now and gets plenty of air time and spins!!!

The last picture of the day is of Joshua playing in his playpen/tent. Between the 3 of us we will convince Tina that camping is a good thing one day.

Joshua Aged 3!!!!!!!!!

Well today I had a pleasant day off work and went to Digger Land with Tina and the two boys. I was a bit dubious about going as I didn't think there would be much for Joshua to do - but he would be aware of everything and want to try it all despite not being big enough. Well it turns out I was completely mistaken, you see Joshua told a few little porkies about his age and by claiming to be 3 years old managed to wangle his way onto just about every JCB and digger he could lay his eyes on. Enjoy the photos...................

The day started with some little electric cars...........Joshua took a liking to the big red lorry.

Here is me and Josh at the entrance to the park.

Joshua's first encounter with a digger, just a little one to get him warmed up.

After that we found some push along / peddle tractors. I managed to get a good workout by pushing the boys around.

The first family shot of the day. The two boys on tractors and Mummy and Daddy behind.

Another nice shot of the 4 of us sitting on a dumper/tipper.

The boys even had a run around inside the tipper.

Me and Joshie then went on the JCB train ride for a tour around the park. Unfortunately Brandon was too young for this. They wouldn't even let him sit on our laps.

After practising on the little diggers earlier it was time to set Josh loose on the real McCoy. Between the two of us we managed to hoist all of the ducks out of the water.

Then we managed to get Brandon on board for a piccie of Daddy and his boys.

The next dumper truck was the star of the day. This was one that Joshua had to tell a little white lie about his age in order to ride on. However he absolutely loved these and was chuckling all the way around. He pretty much told me off every time I touched the steering wheel. I think between me and Tina we ended up going on these 3 or 4 times with Joshua.

The next vehicle was a bit slower but used the dual type robot joystick controls. Joshua was more interested in pressing the buttons and flashing the lights.

Look at these idiots - but who is driving.

The final vehicle of the day for Joshua to drive was this funky little tractor type car. Probably the fastest vehicle we set him loose in all day.

After all this fun it was only a matter of time before both the boys were out cold taking their afternoon power naps.

Roll on when Brandon is Joshua's age as I think we could have even more of a blast at Digger Land.

Tour De England

Forget the Tour De France now - Bradley Wiggins has slipped to 6th and Cavendesh has lost the green jersey. So lets concentrate on the British interest in the Tour De England.

On Sunday me and Michael cycled 52 miles from London to Southend in an impressive 2 hours 48 mins. At the finish in Priory Park we were greeted by some of the family and of course my two little boys. I only hope that the two boys grow up as close together as me and Min and also participate in these kind of events - maybe even dragging their old man along behind if he isn't past it by then!!!! I live in fear of the day that either Joshua or Brandon can beat me in a physical challenge - I am sure the day will come though. That aside It would be great to one day complete one of the big 50-100 mile charity rides with my two boys.

As much as I would love to see the boys involved in these kind of activities - lets all hope that they do not follow Min's choice of attire with the black mankini..........

Anyway here we are at the start of the race. Heads down as both me and Min try to locate the cleats in our pedals.

Right the cleats are in, time to hit the open road.

After 52 miles of cycling (the last 7 or so into a bitter head wind) - we both arrived at the finish.

Here are the boys waiting at the finish to see their Daddy and Uncle.

Here is Joshua giving his Dad's bike the post race inspection (and getting his hands and face all greasy in the process!).

After the pre-race inspection it was time for Joshua to don the cycle helmet and show everyone how it is done properly.

Brandon was just catching some rays and practicing his hand to eye co-ordination by playing with anything within his grasp.