Center Parks Day 1

This must be a new record number of days since my last blog update. But rest assured there has been plenty going on in the boys lives as we have recently returned from vacation in Center Parcs. During the vacation we took some 300+ photo's (mostly of Joshua and Brandon) and endless video files, so there is a lot of new material to share on this blog. So over the next week I will try to show a day by day report on Brandon's first holiday and Joshua's second trip to Centre Parcs.

But before I get into Day 1 just a few generic updates about the boys. Firstly Brandon continues to gain weight and topped the scales at 17lb 4oz today. Would you believe he is already in the same size nappies as Joshua and I swear his legs are thicker than Joshies. Secondly over the course of our holiday I have only just noticed that Joshua doesn't really make noises to communicate anymore. He pretty much talks constantly all the time. Everyone will say he has been talking for ages now and they are right. But within the talking there was still the odd grunt or noise where words were missing. But now he seems to have a word for everything. The grunting has been passed to Brandon who has developed this nicely (especially at feeding times!). Thirdly the two boys are really starting to interact well together. Its lovely to see them rolling around on the floor or the bed and Joshua is constantly giving his brother kisses (and the odd slap!!!). I can't wait until they start talking to each other and playing with toys together.

So with that out of the way its onto holiday - a week in Center Parcs. Both boys travelled very well. Brandon slept most of the way and Joshua watched a DVD (Scooby Doo) half the journey and then slept the other half. Once we arrived there we parked up and headed straight to the Village to get some lunch and find something to entertain the boys until we had access to our Villa at 3pm.

Upon arrival Joshua was clearly excited by the stunning view around the lake.

And here is Joshua in sitting in a chair carved from a tree trunk.

We stumbled across a large playtime session for babies and toddlers which was perfect to entertain the boys for a few hours. Joshua was absolutely fixated on this Little Tykes car and at times got a bit over protective about it by pushing other children away from it. We already knew he liked these cars and with his love of "nee nahs" we have ordered him the police version for his 2nd birthday in just under a months time (don't tell him as its a secret!).

Brandon on the other hand was fixated by this floor standing mobile which has lots of mirrors and jingle bells on it.

And here is a selection of a few other nice pictures taken from the boys play session.

If anyone has ever been to Elveden before you will know that the squirrels, rabbits and bird life is fantastic and extremely tame. On Day 1 Joshua was greeted with squirrels and rabbits. He soon learnt how to say squirrel and rabbit and was very sharp at spotting them as you walked through the woodland.

This was the view from the patio doors of our Villa.

Joshua was very good at playing in the woods and was very water safe. Don't ask me what he was doing here though. PS You can hardly see the little guy dressed in all his camo gear!

At the end of day 1 we headed into the Village and had a nice family meal in Huck's restaurant. Great food, great service, good child's menu's and a play area for Joshua afterwards. Brandon could get free baby food here, so it was smiles all around. Its very weird going out for dinner now as all your focus is on whether they have a good child's menu and baby seats as opposed to what we fancy eating. After dinner we had a nice walk back to the Villa and found this electrifying tree!

Check in tomorrow for day 2 of the holiday.

Toast

Not many words today as I am knackered after a very long day at work. So lets start with Brandon having his first experience with a bit of solid food - sucking on a small piece of toast this morning.

And look who is now sitting up on his own with no assistance (ok just a cushion behind in case he falls over).

And this picture I have just thrown in for the hell of it.

That's all folks.

I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

Brandon gets his first ride in Joshua wheels. Today we managed to dig out the seat harness, arm rests and rocker plates so that Brandon can now start learning to drive (well almost). Luckily for Brandon he has a big brother on hand to show him all of the controls.

After a quick driving lesson courtesy off JJ driving it is time to go it alone.......

As for Joshua - he was busy learning how to blow bubbles (and soak the decking in bubble water).

Joshua was also extremely helpful in the garden today. Whilst Mummy and Brandon had a lunchtime nap Joshua helped me mow the lawn, sweep the path, pick up the grass and empty the bin. It was really cute to see him pushing his little toy mower along side me. He seemed to really enjoy himself.

Tandem Trike

Both the boys were weighed on Friday and have made healthy weight gains. Joshua put on over 2 lb and weighed in at 26lb whilst Brandon has gained almost 1lb weighing in at 15lb 9oz now. Speaking of Brandon - check out how fluffy and spiky his hair is looking these days - how cool!

Joshua can now amazingly recognise size, shapes and colours of cars. When ever we are out and about you can always say to him "where is our car" and he responds with "I see". Despite changing the Fiesta last week Joshua has already learnt the new colour and now any Fiesta he sees in tango red colour is "Daddy's car". Even more impressive though is that he recognises the shape of a Ka as Michael's Ka and since all Peugeot's seem to look the same he recognises them as Nanny's car.

Joshua's development is absolutely amazing and you can pretty much talk to him in sentences and he understands exactly what you are saying. His vocabulary expands daily and we are already at the stage where we have to spell out certain words so that he doesn't understand what we are talking about. Incredible when you think he isn't even two yet!

Joshua getting to grips with a PC and mouse. He was fascinated with the google search on Scooby Doo and Fireman Sam!


Both the boys are still keeping up their weekly swimming sessions. Brandon loves having a splash and kick around. He also likes finding his feet in the small baby pool. Joshua just does his own thing when we go swimming now. He jumps into the big pool on his own, swims around on his own, climbs out on his own, runs in and out of the showers, throws toys from the baby pool to the big pool etc.etc.etc. It is really great to watch him enjoying himself and other swimmers seem fascinated by his keenness to keep climbing out of the pool and jumping back in unassisted (often as a belly flop!!!). On Tuesday some woman saw Joshua jump in the pool and went dashing over in life saver mode thinking he was in trouble and that he was unattended. She didn't realise that he was fine on his own and does it all the time. She was shocked afterwards at how confident he was in the water at such a young age.

Also today we registered Brandon for the nursery which Joshua goes too. The plan is for Brandon to start around Dec/Jan time. The nursery had an open day today so we took Joshua down there to show his little brother around his "hood".

What a cool tandem trike for toddlers. Joshua will be able to keep a close eye on his little bro at nursery with these wheels.

Road Rage

Looks like Brandon is also showing a keen interest in driving just like his older brother. Here is the little guy getting to grips with his kick and drive from a seated position.

Joshua continues to get smarter, faster and cheekier every day. At dinner time now he no longer seems to eat off off baby cutlery. Since Mummy and Daddy use big knives, forks and spoons then Joshua has too. And if you don't give them to him, then he will just take yours. Speaking of taking stuff - tonight he ate all his dinner (it was his favourite, sausage, mash and beans). Anyway he ate 3 sausages, then polished off his mash and beans - then he used his "big boys fork" to stab a sausage off of Mummy's plate and declared it "mine"!

One really nice thing Joshua has learnt is "home sweet home". Whenever we go out in the car; upon our return as we pull into the drive I always say to Joshua "home sweet home". He now recognises home and as you pull into the drive he says "Eee Eee home" or "Home Ee Home".

Anyway enough waffle - a few more pictures from the boys at partyman this weekend.

Joshua giving some road rage to the kids in the car to the left - must be a woman driver! Either that or he just run over Postman Pats cat.............

Summers Day

Been a few days since the last blog update - been a busy man lately. So for today there is just some nice pictures to enjoy and not too many words. The first few pictures are of Joshua and Brandon enjoying playing on a nice summers day.

And the next few pictures are of my boys doing some driving in their Daddy's new company car.

Seaside time

Not sure if I ever got around to posting the picture showing Brandon now holding his own milk bottle. If not then here it is. Also as of 2 days ago Brandon has now sprouted his second tooth.

Also yesterday we had a family day out to the seaside. We headed over to the lovely Mersea Island and found a nice quiet bit of beach with good quality water. Joshua absolutely loved playing in the sand with his bucket and spade and then having a good splash in the sea.

Here is me and Joshua building sand castles. Well me building them and Joshua knocking them down!

Me and the two boys have a little stroll in the sea water.

Time for Brandon to get in on some of the sand action.

After the beach we found this nice little park for the boys to have a play.

Joshua giving Mummy and Brandon a spin - time to get dizzy.

And after all that activity it is time to stop off for a bite to eat.

Unfortunately after this Joshua and Brandon were both very tired and we didn't have time to go crabbing before they were both zonked in the car. So crabbing will be for our next outing there.

Whipsnade Visit

Before I get into toady's blog update there is some breaking news on Brandon. He has finally managed his back to front roll for the first time. So that is now back to front and front to back. Crawling soon...........

Anyway today we had a family day out to Whipsnade Safari park. At times it was a little too hot to be walking around outside (I think even the animals would agree), however it did give the day a genuine safari feel. Once in the entrance we were greeted with some free roaming Maras. Despite Joshua's fear of dogs he seemed pretty comfortable getting fairly close to these animals.

After that we found the sea lions - this is a great picture. It looks like Joshua is kissing the sea lion through the glass and Brandon has that look on his face as if to say "WHAT!".

Here is me and my boys at the elephant enclosure. Joshua would not pose for the camera as he now knows how to say "elephant" and was pretty fixated on these animals.

Another piccie of me and the boy's....

Whilst Joshua was having his milk me and Brandon went walkabout and found some free roaming wallaby's. As it was so hot they weren't really free roaming - but just laying in the shade. We didn't complain as it gave us a chance to get real close.....

No real reason for the next picture other than it is a nice colourful photo.

The boy's saw tigers and lions, but the cheetahs were all hiding in the shade. So this was as close as Joshua got to a cheetah.

Joshua learnt two new words today - the first was "hippo"

And the second was "rhino"

Joshua enjoying some chocolate ice cream to help cool down..........

Again no real reason for the next piccie other than I think it is another good shot.

Did you know that Whipsnade even has a "build-a-bear" shop???? Here is the bear that me, Joshua and Brandon built today.

More of the elephants............later in the afternoon these were free roaming around the park. Can you spot the tiny little baby in the picture.

And to end this blog update - the classic pictures with Joshua and Brandon's head shots amongst some pictures of animals. There are two monkeys in the picture below........

And Brandon sandwiched between a lion and some meerkats.