If you build it, they will come!

Tom loves Lego. I can't tell you how much of an understatement that is! It is pretty much the only toy he plays with. We had promised him a trip to Legoland during the summer holidays, but didn't fancy traipsing all the way down to Windsor and paying the exorbitant entrance fees. Luckily for us, the new Legoland Discovery Centre has recently opened in Manchester, a mere hours journey from us. It is much smaller than the Windsor one and correspondingly cheaper (though by no means cheap!), so it seemed like the right thing to do!
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We had to queue for 45 minutes to get in, but Mark took Tom and Lily into the shop to kill time and Emma was happy in her pram, so no problems there. Lego Miniland was lovely, though nothing compared to the one in Windsor (Mark and I went many years ago, before we had children). The real attraction of this place was the hands on nature of the main part of the centre. There is Lego everywhere and it is all for the children to play with. Tom took up residence in the enormous Lego pool and didn't move for 90 minutes. Lily, being by nature more flighty, played with the normal Lego, princess Lego (wish they had that when I was little!), Duplo, giant Lego and the adventure play area. There were other things there that we didn't actually bother with because the Podlings were happy enough with what they were doing.

To complete the treat, we told Tom and Lily they could choose something from the shop. Lily chose a very girly stable set (complete with horses) and Tom chose many, many Lego men. Tom has a bit of an obsession with Lego men and spends hours swapping heads, bodies and legs around. Imagine his delight when the gift shop had a whole 'build your own Lego man' stand. He was one happy bunny!
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Our visit made one Lego-obsessed little boy very happy and we all had such a lovely time that we decided to buy the annual pass, which allows us to go as many times as we like over the course of the year. It also gives us 10% off in the shop, something that will come in handy around Christmas and birthdays!
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I've never been to the real Blackpool, but I was rather taken with the Lego version, complete with illuminations. Emma enjoyed the 'fireworks'
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Tom played in the pool of Lego for an hour and a half and constructed an elaborate Lego city. He didn't budge from this spot until it was time to leave. I've rarely seen him so content!

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Dipping her toes in the Lego pool
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Emma loved the Lego pool and was kicking her feet and 'splashing' like she was in water.

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Lily has taken to pulling some peculiar faces when I want to take her photo! The tower ended up taller than her, but it fell over before I got a picture of it.
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Tom has a real obsession with Lego men and was really taken with this Lego football stadium with its huge crowd of Lego spectators. I had a great deal of trouble getting him away from it!
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Tom's love of both Lego and Star Wars is not surprising. Mark has an impressive collection of Lego Star Wars and I couldn't resist taking this picture of him with Lego Darth Vader. May the Force be with you!

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A picnic in the park

On Sunday afternoon we met up with some friends and their two children for a picnic at Tatton Park. It was the first time I'd been there and I was astonished at the extent of the grounds. We set up next to the adventure playground and just let the children run free and enjoy themselves, something they haven't been able to do much during this rainy summer holiday. Tom and Lily had a great time in the playground and had a go on some of the merry-go-rounds nearby. Emma was content to explore the interior of the picnic hamper, a pleasure second only to the joys of crawling around slipshod and blackening her feet and clothes. I must stop dressing that baby in white!
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The Podlings enjoyed playing with two year old Simon and 10 month old Sophie. I was particularly amused when Emma and Sophie were sat together on the blanket and Sophie started trying to feed Emma with a spoon. So cute!

We all had a lovely afternoon, the novelty of which was enhanced by hearing an announcement over the tannoy for a peer of the realm. Now that's a classy place for a picnic!
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(Fiona has some more pictures from our afternoon here. Would you look at the gorgeous dark eyes on her children...beautiful!)

Waiting for a ride.

The children were keen to have a go on the vintage car merry-go-round
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Lily was surprisingly gracious and let two year old Simon drive the car without throwing a wobbly. She would, I suspect, have been less gracious had it been Tom in the driving seat!

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The pen is mightier than the sword!

Three Podlings contained in a playpen...the possibilities are endless!

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Emma is a real outdoor baby. She would live in the garden given half a chance. Tom and Lily were playing outside today and Emma, naturally, wanted to be with them. Emma is a very active little soul and needs constant supervision, but I needed to do a few things in the kitchen. In order for her to have some outdoor time with her siblings, I pulled our playpen out of storage and set about putting it together. I wrestled with the mighty beast for 20 minutes and produced a lovely little baby cage, much to the delight of Tom and Lily who instantly took up residence and demanded I give it a roof! My efforts were in vain however. About five minutes after I completed the playpen, it started raining and I had to dismantle the whole thing again. Bother!

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Still, the idea of containing three children in a cage has promise! Failing that, I could follow my mum's suggestion that I sit in the playpen with my knitting and ignore the chaos around me!

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Sophie strikes a pose

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Did I mention I was addicted to making sundresses? This little matching dress for Lily's doll, Sophie, took less than half an hour to put together. Love it!
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The first of many...

I was looking through some old family pictures from our time in Malaysia the other day and I noticed a fair number of shirred sundresses on my mum, my sister and me. My mum is an excellent dressmaker and I knew she made most of our clothes herself, so I asked her how she made them. Between her advice and Google I now have sundress fever! The first of the many I plan to sew was this little number for Lily. I made it from some strawberry print fabric I had in my stash and it took no time at all to put together. It is a trifle long at the moment (though not as long as it appears in the photo), but I figured that we don't have much summer left so if I made it a bit long Lily can wear it next summer too. I have enough fabric left to make a matching dress for Emma and Lily wants me to make a matching dress for her doll too, so I hope I can eke out enough fabric for that. I also plan to make myself a couple of sundresses, but in different fabric. I love matching outfits as much as the next mum, but I draw the line at dressing like my children!
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I had some co-ordinating gingham ribbon that I used to make the straps of the sundress.
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Lily is as pleased as Punch with her new dress
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Tittesworth reservoir

On Sunday afternoon we decided to take advantage of a rare dry day to head out for some much needed fresh air. We packed up a picnic and headed out to Tittesworth reservoir near Leek. There is a lovely children's playground and sand pit there, so we let Tom and Lily loose to burn off some energy and then we enjoyed our picnic on a bench under the trees. After a little more play, we went for a short stroll and let Tom and Lily throw stones in the greatly depleted reservoir. I don't understand how the water levels can be so low when it seems to have been raining almost the entire summer holiday! We had a lovely afternoon and I think we were all better for the time spent outdoors. A little improvement in the weather to allow some more outdoor fun would be nice!
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Spoilt for choice! Emma simply couldn't decide which rock to eat first!

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We couldn't believe how low the reservoir was. Last summer when we came here, the little beach we were standing on didn't exist.
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We found this amazing carved sofa (complete with scatter cushion) and a chair (pictured below) on our little walk. Prime photo opportunity!
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Not the best picture of any of us, but I am in front of the camera so rarely I thought I'd include it anyway, just to prove I exist!

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Favourite summer reads

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We are a family of bibliophiles. The Podlings love it when we pack up a snack, a blanket and a pile of books and head outside for a good reading session. We have lots of favourites, but I thought I'd share some of the ones the Podlings are enjoying most at the moment. The crucial thing about these books is that not only do the children enjoy listening to them, I enjoy reading them. There are no doubt books in every child's library that leave the parent groaning whenever they are asked to read them, but I could happily read the following books to the Podlings again and again and not mind at all. Without further ado and in no particular order, here are a few of our favourite children's books this summer:
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"Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" by Judith Barrett is a wonderful story of a town whose weather comes three times a day, at breakfast, lunch and dinner. All is well until the weather takes a turn for the worse! This book has a lot of American terms, but the Podlings will now happily tell me that they mean jelly when they say jello and jam when they say jelly. It's a really fun story and always leads to lots of discussion.

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"Where's my teddy" by Jez Alborough is a short story of what happens when a little boy called Eddy loses his teddy in the woods. The rhyming text is a delight and it never fails to make Mark laugh when we read it, so there's a ringing endorsement! Other great books by Jez Alborough that we enjoy include "Fix-it duck" and "Yes".

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"Harold and the purple crayon" by Crockett Johnson is a popular bedtime favourite with the Podlings. It follows a little boy whose drawings come to life and his adventures when he goes for a walk in the moonlight with his purple crayon. It is masterfully told and the simple illustrations add to its charm. We really love this book. We also have 'Harold's fairytale', which, though lovely, just isn't as good as the original.



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"Caps for sale" by Esphry Slobodkina is a retelling of a traditional tale of what happens to a peddler who falls asleep under a tree and awakes to find a bunch of monkeys have stolen his wares. It has proven a great favourite with Tom and Lily and is much requested. I bought this book after reading about it on aspiritedmind.com, one of my favourite blogs. A fellow bibliophile, Catherine has frequent book reviews on her blog for both adults and children and her recommendations for the pre-school crowd are worth a look.

To prepare Lily for school, we have been reading a few 'starting school' type books. I love Shirley Hughes, and "Lucy and Tom go to school" doesn't disappoint. It simply tells of Lucy's first few days at school and I hope it gives Lily some idea of what starting school will entail. I hope she doesn't expect the milk in the playground that Lucy gets though, since that hasn't been available for some years! I find Shirley Hughes' childhood tales very comforting. We are also currently enjoying "Sally's secret" and "Annie Rose is my little sister" . Her nursery collection is also a favourite.

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"Nighty night" by Colin McNaughton was Tom's 'prize' from his school prize giving assembly and it has proved popular with the Podlings. Littlesaurus isn't tired and doesn't want to go to bed and comes up with a stream of excuses as to why he shouldn't have to go to sleep. Tom and Lily love to join in when we are reading this one and it has become a regular bedtime favourite.

No English childhood would be complete without a healthy dose of Enid Blyton! I loved Enid Blyton as a child, so I am thrilled to now be able to read her to my own children. "Five O'Clock tales" is a collection of 40 short stories that are fairly typical Blyton fare. We haven't read all the stories as the Podlings have their favourites that they like me to read time and time again. The book is a good introduction to stories without pictures as most of the books we read together are picture books. Can't wait until they are old enough for the Famous Five!

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Of course, we have many more favourites and I could go on talking about books until the cows come home. Instead, I think I shall retire to bed and read my own!

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I want to ride your bicycle!

We took the Podlings out for a quick go on their bikes after tea this evening. Tom and Lily quickly commandeered the ride-on toy we brought for Emma. Not to be outdone, Emma had a whale of a time on Tom's bike. At least everyone was happy!
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