Roary and Big Chris

For bank holiday weekend we headed down to Brooklands today where the Mercedes World is located. There were really two reasons for going here 1) Roary the race car and Big Chris where there for the little one's to meet, and 2) the Turkish Grand Prix was being shown on the big screen for the adults. So all in all a testosterone petrol head day for the boys and unfortunately for Tina she got dragged along with us.

Anyway for this that do not have young kids and keep up to speed on the latest characters. Below is Big Chris and Roary the Race Car.

Here is Joshua on a podium with a bottle of bubbly at hand.

Arriving at the Roary area ready to meet the characters and go for a play in the soft area.

Brandon really got into the spirit of things and was waving his roary flag around.

Both boys were wearing their specially made Roary shirts today with their names printed across the top. Some of the staff there were very impressed with their t-shirts and made comments about how good they looked.

And what about this for a picture. Both my boys sitting on the wheels of their beloved Roary the race car.

After meeting Roary and Chris the boys got to sit down and do some colouring in of various Roary pictures. We also managed to bring home a load of goodies including books, colouring sheets and pens for the boys.

The soft play area was basically a big Roary with detachable parts that the children could jump all over or assemble to the vehicle.

Joshua with a rather large spanner practicing his pit stops.

I would really hate the even estimate just how much this car is worth. But before I could blink Joshua had climbed up and was reaching for the door handle!!! Woops. They have some absolutely stunning cars on display, some were unlocked for the children to play in.

Here is a nice little shot of the 3 petrol heads!

Joshua & Brandon maybe showing a keen interest in Roary, but he has not forgotten or abandoned his Fireman Sam by any means. Probably Joshie's highlight of the day was this fire engine parked outside which he was allowed to climb all over and pretend to drive.

Even Brandon got to have a drive.

And check out these fab shows of the boys wearing proper fireman's helmets. How cool do they look. Ladies eat your hearts out.

On the outdoor track there was some absolutely mad driving to be watched from the Silver Arrows display team. Those dudes are seriously mental at drifting 600bhp cars on the slippery skid pan. But it provided a good 30 mins entertainment for me and he boys. Also we got to watch the Grand Prix on the big screen (not quite the same as the comfort of your sofa with a power nap) but a great atmosphere. Afterwards we got to simulate the podium finish our self. Josh took Lewis Hamiltons 1st place, I took Jenson Buttons 2nd place and Brandon took Mark Webbers 3rd place.

And finally here is just one of the dozens of cars which the boys were in and out of. Given that Mercedes World is basically a glorified showroom some of the staff looked like they were about to have a heart attack seeing my boys jumping and climbing all over 30 grand Mercs!

Day 8 - The Return of the King's

Before I close out the episode of holiday blogs, can I just say that Joshua came very close to be disowned today. We was driving into town listening to a good bit of ACDC and he accused Angus of sounding like Donald Duck!!!!!!!!!

Right so Day 8 - the final day of our holiday. The car was loaded up the night before so that we could maximise time on our final day. We decided to spend the morning and lunch by returning to Robinhill, then headed down to the ferry port after lunch. So some of the pictures will already look familiar from the previous trip to Robinhill. Me and Joshua went on the toboggans another 2 times! But this trip started with some play up in the trees.


Then after a couple more rides on the Moo Cow train it was back to the diggers and dumpers.

The boys got a giggle out of throwing the wood bark from the tractor trailer over their dad!

Another rare shot of all four of us.

Me and the boys posing by the World Record tree carving.

Here was me experimenting with a little macro photography whilst the boys were off playing.

But all good things come to an end and we soon found our self back on the ferry. Brandon has fallen asleep in the car so Tina stayed in the car with the little guy and me and Joshua went up onto the deck.

Time for a quick snack before heading back down to the car.

Brandon all chilled out with his shoes off and the in-car TV on.

And Joshua even more chilled out as he had an afternoon nap in the car.

THE END.

Day 7 - Ryde

The penultimate day was a bit more relaxed as we had another beach day up in Ryde. The beaches here are beautiful and the boys enjoyed watching the boats and hovercrafts as well. Here is me and the boys as we arrive in Ryde.

We found a really nice play park right on the sea front. Below is a picture of the boys taking their day on a cruise.

And Joshua sailing solo.

It was lovely to see both the boys playing together in the sand and filling their buckets up.

Here is little Brandon playing in the sand with Mummy watching on from the sea wall.

The park also had this great little digger which Joshua kind of claimed as his. Whenever any other children went near it he got very jealous.

It wasn't long before both boys were looking out over the sea wall wondering what was the other side. So it was time to climb over and head onto the beautiful sandy beach.

Both the boys were fascinated with the hovercrafts. Later in the day we went over to the hovercraft port and they got to witness up close one turning around on the beach.

As you can see there was acres of sand beyond the sea wall for the boys to run around and play in, fortunately the tide was out and so there was only little pools to run in and out of.

As it was a scorching day we whipped the shoes off and went for a paddle on some of the shallows.

Joshua enjoyed running as fast as he could and getting as wet as he could in the process.

I also taught Joshua how to find cockle shells and we managed to crack a few open to show him a live cockle living inside.

The little black thing you can see in the distance is a military hovercraft which was out there practicing some drills.

Earlier in the holiday blog you might remember I spoke about Joshua's very impressive driving skills on the bumper cars. Well this was exceeded yet again as he took to the wheel in this go-kart!!! I did not think they would let him drive it and was dubious about letting him go on it without any harness or strap, but he did a great job.

Tomorrows blog is the final day of our holiday and includes a return trip to Robinhill along with some nice pictures from the ferry ride back.