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By Gareth, May 19, 2009 10:42

Last week we had a trip to Thomas Land at Drayton Manor Theme Park.

We went with Gemma’s friend, Charlotte and her two children, Abigail and Oliver.
It was a fantastic day out. The weather was very, very kind to us all day – hardly a cloud in the sky. All the children has a great time, even the big ones! But by the end of the day everyone was pretty tired.
I hope the photos do justice to the day.

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By Gareth, April 15, 2009 20:50

I’ve added some new photos taken last weekend on a trip to Llangollen.

We all had a great day out and the weather was very kind to us too. This has its drawbacks as it brings all the crowds out, but this didn’t dampen our enjoyment. Ellie and Liam both really enjoyed the train ride, and also the ride on the horse-drawn barge along the canal.

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By Gareth, December 9, 2008 22:39

It’s taken me a while to get round to writing about our trip to see the MPH Car Show and Top Gear Live show at the NEC in Birmingham.

We made the trip for Gemma’s brother Shaun’s 21st birthday, and we all had a great time, with the highlight being the “Top Gear Live” show.

Continue reading 'Top Gear Live'»

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By Gareth, December 2, 2008 22:15

Cars in the Snow

…causes so much chaos!

This morning was the journey from hell to work. Not that I got there!

It all started when we were woken at around 5am by Liam who was asking for a feed. As I got up to see to him, I had a quick look out of the window to see how bad the overnight frost had been. It didn’t seem too bad. I went into Liam’s room and changed his nappy, while Gemma went downstairs to prepare his bottle. Continue reading 'A Little Bit of Snow…'»

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By Gareth, February 18, 2008 20:37

On Saturday we decided that we would take a trip to Knowsley Safari Park. We had not been on a trip together for a while, and it was such a glorious day. The weather was sunny, if a little cold.

When Gemma arrived home from work, Ellie and I gave her enough time to get changed and grab a quick bite to eat before we headed off. In the 30 minutes or so it took us to drive to Knowsley, Ellie managed to fall asleep in her car seat. She was well away and was still fast asleep as we were about to enter the enclosure.

A little encouragement was needed to wake Ellie up, and she stirred not really knowing where she was. Once she came round properly and realised that we were going to see the animals she got very excited.

“Animals” she shouted. “Go see, animals.”

With Ellie now fully awake and eager to see the animals we headed through the gates of the enclosure.

The first animals to be seen was the herd of Fallow Deer, who thought it would be a good idea to congregate across the road, whilst they ate what looked like a tonne of carrots. This did give the opportunity to see the Deer up close.

There was a little drive to see the next animals as it is winter so the deer are not grazing. The next animals to see were the Tigers. Unfortunately for Ellie they were hidden in the grass so that she wasn’t able to see them. It was a shame as she was excited at seeing them.

Next up were the Lions. The lions were very popular, with a large number of cars queueing to get a good look at them. All of the lions were lying next to the road so everyone was able to get a close up view of them. With the large number of people trying to get a view of them, it was difficult to get a really good view. That was until the lions decided it was time to get up and have a walk.

The lions made their way around and in between all of the cars. The photo on the right shows how close we got to them. I was a bit gutted how it turned out. Just as I was tracking the lioness and pressed the button the windscreen wiper came into shot. Aaaaagh! Can’t win them all, I suppose. From the lions we headed amongst the emus, buffalo, more deer, wallabies.

As we came out of the lions enclosure we had a very easy decision to make.

Do we go into the Baboon enclosure and have our car pulled apart? Or, go on the car-friendly route along the edge of the enclosure?

Tough one that!

We took the car-friendly route. And it was a good decision looking at the cars already travelling through the enclosure. The most common items to disappear were the windscreen wipers. It was quite amusing following a car trying to clean the rear window without a wiper blade.

The baboons are always good to watch, climbing over everyone else’s car, and chasing each other. There was a big free for all when the keeper brought them some more food. All of the larger males chasing off the smaller ones who would dare to try and get their food first. No respect for their elders!

From the baboons we then went through to the camels, ostriches and the rhinos. I was surprised by the sight of the baby rhino who was so much bigger than the last time we had seen him (or her – not too sure). I didn’t think that it was that long ago that we’d last seen it. Obviously it must have been. The rhinos were the last stop in the enclosure and we headed out of the gate.

The elephants were our next stop, who have their own separate enclosure. This was only a quick stop, as there was only one of the elephants wandering about, and shortly after getting Ellie out of the car, she wanted to get back in. I couldn’t blame her as it was pretty cold.

We then parked the car and went for a little walk. Ellie wanted to go and see the giraffes, so we walked the short distance to the giraffe house, passing the meerkats and otters on the way.

We then walked back up to the Children’s Farm. Ellie really likes this and you can stroke the animals. She was a little wary of stroking the animals at first, but once she got over her initial nervousness she had a good time. At one point she put her head through the bars on the pen for the pig to get a better look. Luckily she didn’t get stuck!

Ellie really enjoyed seeing all the animals, and also enjoyed her freedom wandering around on her own, giving her that little bit of independence. She looked so cute, trotting about with her little backpack on.

After a good walk around it was time to head home as a certain little girl was getting very tired, and I’m sure that Gemma’s legs were getting tired having to carry her bump around.

We all had a really good afternoon out, sunny weather if a little cold.

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By Gareth, December 14, 2007 22:29

Ellie and I had a great time yesterday afternoon. We ventured out into the cold and went to the park to have a play.

We set off, both of us wrapped up against the cold and walked to the park. Although Ellie didn’t walk too far as she insisted on having a carry! We got to the park and Ellie ran off towards the play area. She soon turned around as the local ducks and geese headed towards us, as they were expecting to be fed. Ellie ran towards me shouting, “Daddy!”

She practically jumped into my arms as the army of birds began to surround us. One goose in particular was a bit braver than the other, and stretched his neck up to have a good sniff.

After a few sniffs Ellie got bored of the goose’s company and headed to the swings. I lifted her on to the swing and set Ellie on her way. Ellie was having a really good time. She looked so cute wrapped up in her hat and scarf squealing on the swing, “Woo!”

The next place Ellie wanted to go was the climbing frame, so we headed over to it, where Ellie bounded up the steps so that she could go down the slide. She spent a good time on the climbing frame going up the steps, down the slide, all the time shouting “Again!”

On the climbing frame was a fireman’s pole, which she spotted and shouted to me “Sam!”, as in Fireman Sam. With a bit of help from me, Ellie had a few go’s at sliding down the pole. “Wee!” was the cry.

After a time, a group of other children arrived from one of the local nurseries. I was impressed with how Ellie handles herself with all the other children. Not once did she get all possessive over the play area. She always waited her turn to climb the steps and go down the slide. She had a really great time, following some of the other children around.

Ellie went back and to between the swings and the climbing frame. At one point on the swing she said to me, “This is fun!”

I’ve never heard her say anything like that before.

After a good hour of being out in the cold I suggested to Ellie that we go home. But she was having none of it, she wanted to stay out and play. Can’t blame her really, even if it was freezing cold. After a little persuasion, and the promise of a drink of juice and a biscuit when we got home, Ellie reluctantly agreed to head home.

As we left the park, Ellie didn’t seem to keen on walking, so I gave her a lift on my shoulders. She really enjoyed this, bouncing along on my shoulders.

By the time we got home, Ellie was absolutely knackered. We both had a great time, in spite of the freezing cold.