Summertime in the Garden

Charlie is turning into a keen gardener, by which I mean, someone who is keen to be out in the garden ... where there is water and a hose, you will generally find Charlie attached and shouting for more. For a little guy who doesn't like to get his head wet in the bath, he takes to watering "everything" in the garden with surprising ease. On this occasion he is being helped by his cousin David - this "watering" thing clearly runs in the family!

Just back from Dorset

Popped down to visit Mum and Dad for the weekend. Anyone who knows Charlie will not be surprised that his removal company goes from strength to strength ... here he is moving the chair out of the conservatory. He has another tooth (molar - Ouch!) coming through which has meant he has been a little grizzly ... but he still found time to flash all the pearly whites that he has.

... and finally Charlie, emptying the toy box as usual.

Charlie and Matt in Maidstone

We spent the weekend with Annie and Steve in Maidstone, we love going over to see them and as always it was great for sisters, brother-in-laws and cousins to catch up. You can see that Charlie and Matt stole the show ... here's a couple of images of them holding court on the sofa.

Charlie at Frimley Lodge Park

Frimley Lodge Park is now our local park, just a short walk away (or trike away as you'll see below). Charlie absolutely the swings and is warming to the climbing frames too.

Basingstoke Canal Centre

Well, it's on our doorstep so we thought we would swing by and take in the sights. The "visitors centre" is shut on the weekends so we took a quick walk around the small number of canal boats that appeared to be berthed for the winter. On the bright side, there was a great coffee shop and a small playground so all was not lost.

Seems a shame to be going home ...

... when the little guy is having so much fun here. Tenerife definitely seems to have been a hit with Charlie.

Out and About in Tenerife

Some of the images from around Los Cristianos ...

My favourite beach scuplture

Away from the tourist promenades of plastic tat, Tenerife still has something of the island rustic about it

Happy Birthday

A couple of images of Fay and Charlie just before we headed out for my birthday dinner.

"Charlie, have you seen Daddy dancing ... I mean REALLY dancin' ? "

.... Oh ... OK, then ....

Sea Lions Show at Loro Parque (Tenerife)

Apparently it has been raining really heavily on the north of the island - we have heard that there are some villages that are cut off and being air supplied. So we thought we would go with the wet weather programme for a day trip and visited Loro Parque (in the north of Tenerife). Having seen some of the landslides blocking the roads, we were a little nervous that it was going to be "wetter than expected".

But ... amazingly, the weather held, the sun broke out and we had a fantastic day at Loro Parque. The sea lion show was amazing, the trainers and the sea lions have a really great bond ... as well as some pretty cool tricks.

I'll follow this post with some of the other images from the day ...

Crocs and things at Loro Parque (Tenerife)

Fishes at Loro Parque (Tenerife)

Some of the images of fishes at Loro Parque.

The Apes & Monkeys - Loro Parque (Tenerife)

Some images of the Apes and Monkeys at Loro Parque.

The Penguins - Loro Parque (Tenerife)

Some images of the penquins at Loro Parque

Charlie takes to the pool in Tenerife

Charlie has always been a bit of a water-baby (he should be with an Aquarius star sign), so it came as no surprise that he wasted no time in getting his water-wings on and splashing about in the kids pool and emptying the water onto anyone within carrying distance. Fortunately, he's not perfected his water carrying technique so we only got the occasional surprise !