Swimming, soft play again and a bus trip

Last week we attempted to go swimming on Thursday however the pool was shut because it was too cold for swimming...they offered us free soft play instead at the leisure centre so we had our second dose of soft play that week. We were more adventurous with this one and went on some big slides together. Slides seem to be Isla's favourite thing. Agin was said many times. A small snotty boy followed Isla round. One pair of parents spent ages trying to entice their son onto the equipment without them by saying they were too big and it was just for children. I didn't help their case by walking past them several times on the way up to the slide with Isla!! Definitely not just for toddlers to have fun on! And it was free.

On Friday we tried a different pool and succeeded in going swimming although it was so popular that we had to wait twenty minutes before being allowed in. The pool was very busy but it was good fun. Isla liked sitting on the side like Humpty Dumpty who of course had a great fall, and splash in our case. Ring a ring a roses was also fun to spin round to, also involving a splash and a fall down!

The weekend was very rainy here. We had a wander around town and Andrew baked a delicious chocolate cake. Yum yum. We cooked our HUGE 3 kg pork shoulder joint that Mr Tesco delivery man brought us. It barely fitted in the fridge and was ridiculous in size! We have half left for next Sunday though.

Since it is half term, there was no Tumble tots class this week. We went to toddler group instead, which was lovely and quiet. Although Isla was expressing her authority as a toddler and was not agreeing to very much at all! Negotiations failed and no peace process was agreed on unfortunately but an afternoon nap resulted in a ceasefire. In the afternoon we dismantled the happyland train track and setup the roads, farm and shops.

We woke up to a scattering of snow and a chilly morning of 1degree according to my car. Isla and I set off for an excursion on a bus into Bath. We took the park and ride and it was very exciting. We had a look round some shops and had a snack break involving a chocolate brownie. Isla walked back to the bus stop. On the way, we watched a street performer juggling fire which amazed Isla. She clapped for him a lot. We also went into a toy shop to get ideas for birthdays and also went into the abbey for a quick look (and to get a bit warmer). Will upload some photos soon!

Dentist visit and a big pink octopus

Today we went to soft play in the morning. Isla liked going on the green slide best of all, into the ball pit and she managed to find lots of ways of going down the slide. Every time she got to the bottom, she said 'agin' meaning again, and so I helped her out of the ball pit and off she toddled to climb up and go down the slide many, many times!

There was a big pink octopus to climb up too, with a slidey side to slip down onto a friendly crab:

There was a dolphin to ride on too, which is a good skill to learn before visiting Spain next:

After having fun with the sea creatures, we went to visit the dentist. I had been talking to her a lot about what to expect, and Isla reminded me that she had watched Peppa Pig go to the dentist on the t.v. Peppa Pig's dentist is an elephant and Isla kept telling me that we'd go to the dentist and 'elephant come to check teeth'. I think she was much more excited to see her actual dentist than an elephant though! Isla was very good and helped her dentist, who is also her daddy, to examine my teeth. She pressed the button to make the dental chair go back, and she kept saying 'Isla help daddy check teeth' and wanted to stick a mirror in my mouth. She also pulled random things off the dentist table and passed them to her daddy. She didn't mind when the sucky things got switched on. When it was her turn, she sat in the chair and lay back, and opened her mouth for the dentist to have a good look. It was all very exciting, and she chose a Thomas the Tank Engine sticker at the end from Sam the nurse. Afterwards, we went to Pizza Express for a yummy pizza and Chocolate Fudge Cake for pudding. And then went and brushed our teeth of course......... ;)

Jelly cat

We made a jelly cat on Sunday:

It was strawberry flavoured and had blueberries in it too. Isla liked the ice cream best that it was served with but liked the wobbliness of the jelly too!

Isla on the slides

Today we went to soft play. This is where toddlers can run about and climb on stuff. Isla loved the slides and went down them like a speed demon! Here are a couple of videos showing her doing this:

Oodles of Grandparents

This week, Isla had lots of Grandparents visiting her; she was a very lucky girl. Her Grandparents from Wiltshire came over for lots of playing and lunch on Wednesday and then Isla's Grandparents from Essex arrived too, which was lovely. On Thursday morning, we went off to toddler group where they made and played with 'gloop', which is cornflour and water mixed up. Isla enjoyed playing with the space rocket in particular, and said that it was like the one on Button Moon. She has been watching a bit of Dogtanian this week too as a change from Peppa Pig and Big Barn Farm. She has also been playing a lot with her cuddly toys, especially Baa Baa, and also Raa Raa the tiger and Applejack the Pony. Oh, and Applejack's friend who is a purple snail. Isla likes singing nursery rhymes to them and reading them stories. She also sat on the sofa breastfeeding her cuddly puppy this week, which was very sweet to see! We had a nice morning with Lucy, Harry and Archie earlier this week too, but I forgot my camera so you'll just have to imagine that one. On with the photos:

We enjoyed some pancakes with cheese and ham for lunch last weekend:

Isla's Grandma from Essex played Lego and cuddly toys with Isla:

Isla putting some bread out for the birds:

Grandma and Grandpa taking Isla for a walk to the country market:

Playing in Jura Lodge:

We have snowdrops this week! Spring is on its way! Isla asked when the snow would come again though and where the snowman had gone. She will be very excited next time it snows here.

A Hellebore flowering:

We made apple crumble as this is one of Grandpa's favourites:

More playing in Jura Lodge:

Had a nice lunch out on Saturday. Isla tried olives and liked them a lot after getting over the initial shock that they weren't grapes.

Playing 'one potato, two potato':

Wibbly wobbly jelly

We were still under snow this week, but today it has all melted away! It is a relief because it was quite tricky getting around on our untreated roads and pavements for most of the week. The village has bought a gritting machine but for some reason they don't do any of the streets around where we live, even though they are very slippy and lots of people use them. One neighbour cleared some of the pavement that goes past our house though. It was much easier to get about once we were out of the village. 

We went swimming this week, the first time in ages, and it was great fun. The pool was a bit chilly at 29 degrees but it was fine once we got splashing about. We had the pool to ourselves for a bit and Isla liked using all the watering cans, boats and floats that were there. She had her arm bands on and liked floating on her own most of the time when she was out of her depth. We went to toddler group this week, where we enjoyed seeing our friends and playing with the cars and baby dolls. At home, Isla has been playing with her trains a lot, and also plays with her big green tractor, gadget the robot and aqua doodle too. The reindeer we saw at Christmas time have made a big impression on her as she has been telling me about how reindeer like eating carrots and also bacon (!). 

Yesterday we went to a 2 year old's birthday party in a village hall. We wrapped up her birthday present before we went, and Isla said that Father Christmas was coming. The birthday party was great and we knew everyone there because they were all from Tumble Tots. There was a lot of soft play equipment out, including an inflatable ball pit, and there was lots of yummy food including jelly for the children to eat! There were even party bags at the end. All the children enjoyed the party very much!

Isla enjoying some snacks with the other children. They had strawberries, cheese, sausage rolls, crisps and grapes: 

Isla was the first to sit down for the food, and was still going when all the other children had lost interest and wandered off!

 

Isla enjoyed playing on a big soft see-saw and singing 'see-saw margery daw'. She also liked the slide and riding around on a squishy pig!!

Then it was time for dessert of orange and strawberry jelly. It was very funny watching the toddlers eating the jelly!

Andy Murray is leading in the 1st set tie break but who knows what will happen..... enough of my ramblings for now.

Pants and snowman building

Today Isla and I went on a shopping trip to buy lots of pants and socks. After the excitement of choosing pants, we both needed a nice sit down and some snacks. Isla helped eat the icing from my carrot cake, and tucked into the middle bits of some sausage rolls:

This afternoon, we made a banana loaf using a recipe from my Jo Wheatley cookery book. It smelt yummy and we're looking forward to eating some later on. Isla did some whisking and sieving with Raa raa observing:

While the cake was in the oven, we went into the garden and made an Isla-sized snowman:

As you can see from the photographs, it was starting to get dark when we were playing with the snow and a little while later it began snowing very heavily again so it looks like we'll have a lot more snow on the ground tomorrow. Monty was getting very excited again, a sure sign that there is more snow to come!

A faster sledging video

Here is another video of Andrew and Isla sledging, they were going soooo fast that it was tricky to keep them in the shot:

Lots of sledging

On Sunday there was still a lot of snow on the ground so Isla went sledging around the village!

Andrew and Isla went zooming down the snowy hills, both enjoyed it a lot!