Thomas Land

Oh yes, there is a Thomas Land!! It is very new and only opened in March. It is part of Drayton Manor Theme Park.

Oliver just loves Thomas so naturally, there had to be a photo with him. We even went on the Thomas train tide with Annie and Clarabel the coaches which Thomas pulls.

This is Knapford station where Thomas pulls in to pick up his passengers. You truly felt you were at a real station.


Oh my!!! THIS is Oliver's first ever roller coaster ride. This one is with the Troublesome Trucks. We all went on it the first time and he didn't seem too keen on going again but just look at him in this photo - he LOVED it! LOL. In the end both Rob and Oliver went on it 4 times.

This ride is Cranky the Crane. That little blop on the right is Oliver! LOL You can hardly see him and he just made the height restrictions. I sooooo did not think he would like this one (this is my kind of ride). I actually took some video footage so if I can, I will upload it so you can see it.

The ride goes up and down and you feel like you will lose your lunch but Oliver was giggling and squealing the whole time. They went on this 3 times in a row. The first time I watched and laughed at Oliver laughing, then the next time I took these shots and the third time I took the video.

Oliver got to shake hands with the Fat Controller (Sir Topam Hat). His wife was also wondering around too.


This is Toby and one of the trains gets out to play with at home.

This train is Mavis. I think Oliver now says her name correctly but he used to pronounce it Mabis. He just couldn't get his tongue around "v's".

This boat is 'Bullstrode'. This ride and the Troublesome Trucks were to two he kept asking to go on later on in the day.

This is Jeremy! Another ride he liked.


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Play Time

It was such a lovely day today that we took Oliver to the park just around the corner from our house.

How grown up does he look on his bike! He LOVES to ride his bike.

Here he is riding in the play ground (we were the only one's there so it was a good opportunity for him to ride his bike). At one point, Rob was chasing after him and Oliver was trying to pedal faster but couldn't because he was laughing so much.

You can see where he parked his bike - he didn't even take off his helmet to play on the play centre.


Here he is getting a push from daddy! He kept saying to Rob 'higher daddy!'




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Where's Oliver?

It is my MIL's birthday tomorrow and it is very difficult to buy something for someone who has everything. We ended up getting a photo frame and putting one of these pictures in it. That is why Oliver has bubbles all over him - plus he loves it! Just look at that face!

If I didn't know any better, I would think that Oliver likes having his photo taken! LOL.


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Cooking Time

It was baking day today! Oliver and I made some some chocolate cup cakes at the beginning of the week (forgot to photograph them) so it was daddy's turn to cook.

As Oliver loves to watch Tom & Jerry, we thought he would like to bake them too! LOL They are strawberry flavoured with, you guessed it - strawberry icing! Talk about OD'ing on strawberry.

Here is Tom up close. It is rice paper with the pictures printed on it.
Here is Jerry! Rob got a bit carried away with the icing and instead of adding tsp of water, he added Tbsp so luckily I had some icing sugar in the cupboard and added that to thicken. It is still too runny (as you can see by how the icing went on) but Oliver didn't care!

This is also what they cooked. They are cheesy bread animals. L-R: turtle, dinosaur & pig. Apparently there was also a car and a smiley face. They ate the smiley face (because they could!) but the car was rubbish so Rob ate that before I could take a photo.


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Good News

For those of you that know my dad, will also know that he has had his business up for sale. He OFFICIALLY sold it a couple of weeks ago! That is a welcomed relief for both my dad and my mum. He will stay on for another 12 months but this time he is the employee and not the employer. Mum will retire so she should be able to put her feet up a bit more.

Dad has a pretty sweet deal with the new owner in terms of his working hours. After his heart attack last year (it is almost 1 year ago!), he needed to slow down and take care of himself.


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Oliver's Spending Money

I completely forgot that Oliver got some money for his birthday and Christmas. I had put it away in my other bag for safe keeping!! LOL

Anyway, we went out today and he finally got his 'Thomas Bridge' and there was enough money left over to buy 3 trains. I don't think that there are too many trains he hasn't got.

Here he is with his cheeky grin! Yes, he just had to be in the photo too!


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Howletts Zoo

It was an overcast day but as our friends from Germany are visiting, we wanted to do something together. We were going to go to Legoland but left buying the tickets online too late. It was waaaay too expensive to buy tickets at the gate so we went to Howletts instead. The kids love animals.

The photo doesn't really show just how BIG this elephant really is! They are beautiful animals.


Here are the Black Rhino's. There are actually 3 of them with one just to the right - out of view.

We actually went at the right time because is was 'feeding time at the zoo!' Here is one of the tigers with his/her (I cannot tell!) bag of goodies but the one on the right that is jumping up was the one to get stuck into the other bag.

I didn't get to take photos of the gorilla's. They were funny when their food was dropped from the top of their massive cage. Some had climbed to the top to be the first to get the carrots and lettuce but the other ran around on the ground picking up the food and hoarding them in their arms. They would then go and find a quiet place to sit and munch away.


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Artist In Training

Today was painting day! I bought Oliver these new tubes of paint (so much easier than using a brush!) and after priming them ready for him to use, off he went!

Do you like how he is sitting on his chair? He carries this chair all over the house - especially in the kitchen so he can see what I am doing!

This is his second painting and he clearly likes the colour red! I managed to get the purple in his hand but he is distracted by the television in the shot. He does love to paint.


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Do It Yourself Icing

Our local super market sell these un-iced ginger bread man cookies and while walking up and down the isles the other week, I cam across these little tubes of icing already to go! I thought it would be a good idea (and funny!) to get Oliver to ice his own cookie.

He loved it! He needed a little help in squeezing the tubes though!

You may notice he is in different clothing! - I took him up to have a bath!

He thoroughly enjoyed his self-iced cookie! I think these ones are just the right size for him to eat too. The other ones we get are bigger and only a few times has he not been able to finish it.


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Snow Time - 1st Post

This is what we woke up to this morning - SNOW! And lots of it too.


Here is Oliver getting ready to go for a walk in the snow and throw snow balls at daddy !! LOL

This will show you just how much snow we had in one night !! OMG. This doesn't happen very often, especially in the London area and especially in APRIL !!!

He is throwing snow at the garage door. Bless him !! He couldn't really throw properly so it was funny to watch.


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Snow Time - 2nd Post

We decided to walk down to the shops to get food for dinner.



Rob was shaking the trees as Oliver walked under them but this one got Rob more than Oliver ! LOL

Another shot of Oliver in the snow.


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Party Boy

Doesn't he look smart !!

One of the boys Oliver used tos wim with is having a party today with a bouncy castle. The past few days have been lovely weather but today is going to be cold with snow predicted over night.


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I've got a Mouse !

Rob got a new mouse for Oliver to use while playing his games. It is the perfect size for his hands.

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Computer Game

Rob bought Oliver some computer games (his first ones) as he likes to sit on Rob's lap and watch Rob play his game (Lord of the Rings).

It is called "Piglet's BIG Game" and Oliver loves it. Rob showed him how to use the mouse and that the arrow needed to be white before he could click on the item......he picked that up in no time !! Our mouse is a little too big for his hand so we are going to look for a smaller one just for Oliver to use.

Ok, so the game is really good for kids. You travel with Piglet through the Hundred Acre Wood collecting items Rabbit needs to make his Very Large Soup, visiting all the other characters along the way as they each have something to add to the soup.

Here he is concentrating !! LOL Isn't he cute !!

Rob bought 3 games in total but the other ones wouldn't load on the pc so we are trying to sort those out.

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