Vacation Part 2

We arrived back from Dorset with a week still to go before returning to work. We made a few trips out when the weather was kind to us, otherwise trying to get a few jobs done at home (including getting this blog back online). The day after we got back we didn’t go far – just a trip up to Farley Mount where the children’s favourite activity (after the play equipment) is building dens. It’s also an excuse for Christine and I to take turns at having a run.

After a day spent on back-to-school shopping, we decided to get out the National Trust cards one more time. This time it was for a trip to Mottisfont Abbey. The children enjoyed the Wind in the Willows Quest which meant that, when we had to retire to the house to avoid the downpour, we could play weasel spotting rather than admiring “Rex Whistler’s trompe l’oeil design in the drawing room”!

By now we were sufficiently rested for a trip to the Science Museum in London. It was a close run thing as the children’s favourite – the train/underground ride there or the museum itself! We started with all of the hands on exhibits which the children thoroughly enjoyed. I suspect Duncan could have played all day with the water in “the Garden”. We went to see the free “Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles” show where, as you can see, Emma go to be encased in a bubble.

The Google Web Lab was a bit disappointing: five exhibits of which two were broken, one had a long queue (the virtual visitors had half of the robots drawing in the and), and one just told you what you had (failed) to do in the others. When asked for his favourite bit of the museum, Duncan replied ‘the steam engine’. Let’s hope he doesn’t turn out to be a complete Luddite!

We spent the bank holiday recovering from our trip to the big smoke. Emma and Duncan even got to watch Emma’s Tangled DVD end-to-end in one sitting. (Duncan just about stayed awake for the whole thing although is breathing slowed considerably!) The forecast was set fair again the next day so we cycled over to Fleming Park to make the most of the paddling pool before it closes for the winter. With the sandpit and playground the kids could easily have stayed there for the whole day.

After a trip to my parents, it was time for Christine to return to work and Duncan to go back to nursery. Emma and I went to Manor Farm Country Park where she particularly enjoyed feeding the calves. I had to milk the cow though when they brought out the one that had given her a (friendly) head butt earlier in the day! Back to work for me on the Friday. Even that wasn’t too bad: 500+ emails reduced to three, setting me up for the next week.

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