Day 2 BlackGang Chine

The great thing about these blog updates is that I only need to tell all the holiday stories once and everyone can read them. So no repeating the same old stuff over and over. Although that is not usually a problem for me when talking about my boys. Anyway Day 2 was off to the South of the island to Blackgang Chine. But first we had to wake two little sleepy heads!


Once in the park one of the first things we did was visit the dinosaurs. Tina and Brandon were first to spot a dinosaur coming face to face with a Brontosaurus.
Here is me and the boys with a triceratops. Joshua recognised the horns as bone!

Despite ready the boys lots of dinosaur books the name of this little beast has slipped me memory. Hopefully you can all name the two little beasts on top though.

Who can mistake a T-Rex. Joshua is just the right height to hide in between his legs.

This little dinosaur got a right good telling off from Joshua who was not in the slightest bit impressed that he was biting another dinosaur. For about 10 mins all we got was "naughty dinosaur", "don't bite".......

Joshua loved playing with the water guns and thought he was fireman Sam. Needless to say this machine saw the better side of my wallet every time we went past it.

Daddy and Brandon riding on the spinning tea cups (a beer barrels).

As you would expect with a name like Blackgang Chine there is a lot of Western/cowboy themed parts to the park. Here is an old steam train which Joshua pretended to drive.

All good cowboys can ride horses..............so here is me and Josh saddling up.

Brandon was a bit small for the big play horse so instead we took him on the horse and carriage,

Then Joshua took his little brother on a ride on a little mini horse and carriage.

Check out this picture. Look closely and you will see a rope around my neck. Look a little closer at the rope hanging off to the left and you can just about make out Joshua holding the rope.

Day 2 was the only day during the week when we had a slight bit of drizzle. Fortunately for Brandon he was just the right size to camp out in the shoe house until it blew over.

Tina and Brandon walking through the skeleton of a Whale found off the coast of the Isle of Wight.

And then Brandon running up and down the inside of a whale. He loved this and both boys were chasing each other through the whale as it squirted them with water.

Was it the steering wheels or were the boys genuinely interested in the workings of these mini engines. You decide..........

We did a lot more at Blackgang but this Day 2 blog is starting to drag out a bit and I need some sleep before work tomorrow. So I am jumping ahead to the evening in the arcades. Firstly Joshua practicing his pool skills. Is this the making of the next Ronnie O'Sullivan?

And then a final outlet to let off some steam before bedtime - smash some annoying little frogs over the head with a hammer.

Check in for Day 3 tomorrow with highlights from the Zoo, Dinosaur Isle and Sandown Pier. It could be another long one.

Isle of Wight Day 1

Well we are back from an awesome weeks holiday in the Isle of Wight. The weather was fab and the boys were both very well behaved given the new environment etc and their first holiday in a caravan. The week was jam packed with various activities including theme parks, beaches, pools, zoo's, dinosaur stuff and so on. So over the next few days I will try and provide day by day updates on the boys trip to the island.

Two amazing things which I will take from this holiday are 1) The experiences we have given Joshua and Brandon and how much they have learnt over the week and 2) watching the two boys get on so well together and play / chase each other around etc.

On the first point about learning, Brandon has learnt lots of new words this week including rabbit, car, boat, Josh etc.etc. and is really trying to replicate any sound you make. Joshua has learnt what a toboggan is?, How a ferry works?, he can now recognise churches, he has learnt about the seaside and how to find and open cockle shells etc.etc. Even more impressively he was picking up leaflets in the caravan and recognising placing which he had been 2 or 3 days earlier.

So onto some pictures. Well upon arrival at Portsmouth we boarded the Ferry to Fishbourne. Joshua took to the helm and drove onto the big boat (cool dude sun glasses).

As you can see from below the weather was nice from Day 1 with blue skies and temperatures in the 20 degrees, what more can you ask for with a UK based holiday.

A rare family picture of the four of us on the Ferry. Yes I know Brandon needs a hair cut and has the wind swept look.

Notice I am missing from this picture. I was actually running all around the ship on the lower decks trying to chase down Joshua's hat which blew over the railing.

The two boys loved having the freedom to run around and explore the decks of the ferry.

The blue non slip surface was perfect for little Brandon to find his sea legs.

Once at Fishbourne it was back into the car to head off to Nodes Point. On route we started pointed out the churches to Joshua.

Not to waste anytime, after a nice lunch and checking into our caravan we took off for a nice stroll down to the local beach. Below is some odd tower located in the sea front, I assume some sort of look-out or out-post from previous eras.

As you can see the water was amazingly clear and Joshua wasted no time in getting his feet wet, regardless of whether he got his shoes, socks and trousers wet in the process.

Little Brandon loved playing in the sand and when he wasn't in the sand he was picking up stones and then toddling down to the shore to throw them into the sea. He has a mean right arm on him!!!

As this was a bit late in the day and a bit impromptu we forgot the bucket and spade. Brandon was not amused.

Here is Joshua teaching his younger brother the finer art of "lobbing" stones into the sea. Don't ask why I rolled his trousers up as they were already soaked anyway.

After the long journey and then the fresh sea air both boys were absolutely shattered and despite the excitement of holiday and the caravan environment, they both slept very very well and were out cold at around 7pm. So after a good nights sleep the exploration of the island started on Day 2 with a trip down to the South of the island to Blackgang - check tomorrows blog for Day 2.

These boots were made for walking...

Well everybody leaves behind some sort of legacy in their lifetime and for me I have to say that so far my greatest contribution to this planet and my greatest creation by far is my two little boys. But whatever my legacy is that I leave behind, either one or both of them will one day have to step up to the plate and fill their old mans boots. Joshua has already been practicing for when this day comes and as you can see from below the boots are currently a bit too big for him to fill!!!

Last night we had our second parents evening at the nursery and our first one for Brandon. It was a very useful evening and it is great to sit and talk with the staff to understand the boys interests, what the nursery are doing in terms of their development, what we are doing at home with them and what jointly can be done to further help their development.
Brandon received an absolutely flawless glowing report. He is a very happy, content child who eats well, sleeps well, plays well (especially with his cars) and enjoys cuddles. So no surprises there really. He has shown a very keen interest in the sticking/gluing exercises so this is something we will have to do at home with him. To date all we have done with him is painting, drawing and play-doh.

Joshua was equally as good. We thought there might be signs of some behavioural issues or maybe a clash of personalities with his key worker. But it actually turns out that his problem (which is a very nice problem to have) is that he is too clever for his age and the children in his class! He requires more stimulation to keep is little mind occupied than the other children and is constantly asking what everyone is doing and helping. The nursery has even started letting him use a PC and mouse there to provide the extra stimulation that his little mind/brain needs. The other factor with Joshua is that two classes have been amalgamated together and he is kind of piggy in the middle. At 2.5 years he should have gone into the next group, but instead they have merged together. So he is in a position where he has not yet bonded with the older kids and is too clever for the younger ones in the group. I think I have also dug my own grave a little as I pretty much spend every waking minute with the boys either doing crafts, playing cars, in the garden, over the park etc and they are used to having constant attention and stimulation provided by me or Tina. Subsequently when Joshua goes to nursery he expects the same level of 1 to 1 attention and obviously cannot get it due to the staff to children ratio.

Anyway I now have two folders full of all the boys arts and crafts work from nursery, so if anyone would like some free art work then let me know. There is plenty to go around. Also I have copies of their learning journals from nursery so if anyone would like a read/copy then just let me know.

And finally to end this blog update - here is Brandon showing off his nearly pearly whites.

Redbull or YellowBall?

Sorry folks getting lazy with the blog again lately. Mind you it is not so much a case a lazy with the blog as it is just too busy with everything else to have time for the blog. So no pictures for today I am afraid.

Over the last two weeks Joshua has started to show an interest in Roary The Race Car. This is a blessing in disguise as it means I am A) no longer cycling to work humming the theme tune to Fireman Sam, and, B) I am not having to read Fireman Sam stories at bedtime every night (instead it is his new Roary book!). I think the interest in Roary has come from the father/son time we spend watching the F1 Grand Prix (or the "race cars" as Josh calls them - he is fascinated with the crashes and the pit stops). Anyway this weekend during the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying I was explaining to Joshua all the different cars and he came out with one of those classic Kids comments that had me in stitches. One of the Redbull cars was coming around a corner and I said to him "That car is a Redbull". At which point he jumped down off of the sofa and picked up one of his balls on the floor and said "No Daddy, its a yellow ball".

Also another major step forward in Joshua's potty training. As you all know Joshua has been dry for a good few months now, but we still put him to bed in pull-ups just in case of an accident. Well since his pull-ups are always dry in the morning and he always goes for a wee as soon as he wakes up, we decided last night to abandon the pull-ups!!! His bed was modified with one of those absorbent mattress covers (just in case) and he was sent to bed in just his pants and pyjama's. But woops, Mummy and Daddy forgot to make him to go to the toilet before going to bed last night (doh!). So we were expecting the worse. Instead, Joshua woke up at 4am this morning and went into the bathroom by himself and did his wee. I went up stairs to check on him and he went back to his bed for another 3 hours with a nice empty bladder and a dry bed (what a star eh?). I hope Brandon's potty training goes as well. We have started to introduce the potty to Brandon by making him sit on it when ever his bigger brother goes to the toilet now.

Brandon's vocabulary is expanding exponentially at the moment and he is trying to mimic sounds and words all the time now. I think over the weekend he must have caught us with a good 6 or 7 new words plus he has learnt to blow kisses. The most impressive of his new words is "tractor". He is also now saying "bye bye", "night night", "brother", "bubbles" and many more. The weekend was not all good for little Brandon though as unfortunately he is entering the next round of teething and the poor boy does suffer in that respect. No amount of calpol or bonjela helped him (or us) to get a good nights sleep last night and even more shockingly he is completely off his food.

Whilst Brandon is learning new words all the time, I am slowly trying to teach Joshua the alphabet. On Friday we finally cracked the "E". So now he can get to A, B, C, D and E on his own. I will give him a few more days before we introduce the F. On the downside me and Joshua are having multiple arguments about the word "barbecue". He absolutely insists it is "barlecue" and not "barbecue", in facts he even accentuates the "cue" part to "koo", so he actually says "bar-lee-kooo".

Football Kits

No real theme for today's blog, just a few recent pictures of the boys doing various activities in or around the house. With our mini heatwave Joshua has taken to watering the plants - especially his two strawberry plants.

Joshua found it funny to also pour water on the foot path and then Brandon found it even funnier to run bare foot through the puddles he was making.

Do you like the Chelsea football kit?

And the kit is not just for show, the boy knows how to play the beautiful game.

Joshua is getting very good at his daytime power napping.

And finally for today some pictures of the boys doing some more painting / craft activities.

1st England Cap

Another lovely spring Saturday which saw us heading over to South Weald park after the boys finished lunch today. As soon as we had parked up both boys headed straight over to the deers and were pretty fascinated by them.

Do you like Brandon's new England baseball cap - all ready for the World Cup!

After the deers it was down to the lake to feed the ducks and swans. As usual Joshua was throwing the birds the bread, and Brandon, well as usual he was eating the bread!

Joshua got fed up feeding the birds and started feeding his little brother instead!

Both boys enjoyed a good kick around with the football, particularly Brandon. The little guy absolutely loved it and walked for what seemed miles today - and most of the time he was kicking the ball along as well.

Is this a future England superstar in the making?

Curl it like Beckham.

Joshua getting to grips with nature and exploring some of the cavities in the big old trees.

And when he wasn't trying to get inside the tree, he was trying to climb the tree. A proper little boy!

Can you see a face in this tree?

And after all that running around and football it was time to have a bit of chill time.

Art Attack

No words needed - the title of this blog update and the pictures speak for themselves!

Tell Tale Signs

Want to know a few tell tale signs that you are a full hands on Dad:

• You used to cycle to work humming the cool rifts of the likes of Korn, Metallica or Limp Bizkit. Nowadays more often than not the soundtrack to Fireman Sam is constantly stuck in your head.
• You have forgotten what the middle part of a garlic baguette tastes like as you cut all the nice fleshy bits out for the boys and only get to eat the crusty outside bit yourself!
• You start putting on the pounds as you would rather eat the boys left over's as opposed to throwing away good food!
• You have read the pop-up dinosaur and Fireman Sam books so many times that at night time when you read the boys their night time story you can read through the books with your eyes closed and know each page word for word.
• Poo, wee, snot, bogies, dribble, sick.............it really doesn't matter anymore. Over the years you have seen and cleaned up so much that you are hardened to whatever the children throw at you (or throw-up on you!).
• 6.30am is a lay-in!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh to have a night with 8 hours uninterrupted sleep would be like heaven.
• A good weekend used to be judged by how much you got completed around the house and then the intensity of training sessions down the gym. Nowadays it is judged on quality time spent with the boys, heading over parks, out on the bikes, finding ice cream vans, playing in the garden, teaching them painting/drawing etc.etc.etc.
• When ever you walk into Tesco's / Sainsbury's you always check out the children's clothes, toys and children's book isles!!!
• Road rage now involves calling the driver who just cut you up a "monkey" instead of using swear words.
• Your garage which once housed a pristine classic American car now stores multiple children's bikes and accessories, push chairs along with box loads of baby clothes which are all too small now.