The combination of a real steam railway, a play park & a wooden play train & station is a real winner for our children! They LOVE to go to The Train Park in my parents' town.
On this visit to the park I lost Luke for quite sometime at one point. Eventually after much calling his name his cheeky little face popped up from inside the wooden train's coal tender! I should have known!
Next to the park is the disused mainline station. Train enthusiasts run short steam & diesel rides along a small section of the track at weekends. They also restore old engines in the train yard. My Dad, Lee, & I had popped into the local bike shop to take a peek at bikes for me (I took a shine to a gorgeous
Pashley bike! I have expensive tastes no? But they are beautiful!) while my Mum & the kids went ahead to the park. Just as we began to cross the track into the park, the guard began to clear the line as a train was coming. He is a friend of my parents so we were allowed to stay at the track side. I took a photo of the train coming towards us. Can you see little hands waving at the back of the carriage?
I took a quick snap of the train as it passed us only to realise that the five heads peeking out of the back were my children & their Grandma!! Quite fun! And only £1 a ride or something wasn't it mum? The kids thought it was marvellous! Thanks Mum!
When we walked through the town on the way to the park we stopped to make a couple of fruit smoothies outside the local wholefood shop. The boys all had a go pedal powering the liquidiser to make a smoothie from fruit juices, bananas & grapes.
Luke's legs were really too small for such things but he wanted to sit on the bike anyway. We turned the pedals with our hands for him!
Timmy mastered the art of standing while pedaling. It was hard work & the smoothies weren't smooth at all but they tasted good! And it was fun too!
Annie-Joy didn't want to try the bike. She preferred a horse ride outside the pet shop!
Back at the park, the kids had fun playing on all the fantastic new equipment. Have I told you how great Jordan is at the monkey bars? He really is amazingly strong!
Luke prefers to swing low, but he is also very good! He learnt to do a backwards roll while holding onto a bar over the summer. He was SO pleased with himself & went round the whole park telling everyone that he was very clever because he could do gymnastics!
There is a bit of modern art at the top of the slide mound. I am sure it has some art significance but.....
.... it also makes a lovely seat to survey the view and....
....to take a small nap before...
....heading off down the impressively high & long slide!
There are steps to get up to the slide but Timmy preferred a more adventurous climb up the mound itself! I did it too- it really is VERY steep! Can you see Luke running in the distance?
Eventually it was time to go back to my parents' house for tea. We prized the kids away & Timmy & Luke held Gap's arms & swung him between them all the way home! Cute! :o)
Almost without ceremony, 2010 is ending! After a fun filled, challenging & adventurous year we are quietly creeping into 2011. Lee has been ill for the past 4 weeks with labyrinthitis & what with all the ice & snow & Christmas celebrations we are all rather tired! I just wanted to post a few recent piccies to end the year. Above is the snow blizzard that AJ & I walked home from Baby Ballet in at the beginning of December. Brrrrr! It was cold! I slipped & fell on the walk home & hurt my back. I rediscovered hot water bottles at this time- what a great little invention!
Talking of inventions, we met Wallace & Gromit when we went to Spaceport for the day to celebrate Timmy & Luke's 7th birthday. We had the place to ourselves as well as life size Wallace & Gromit tour guides much to the kids delight! :o)
AJ & I enjoyed many a frosty walk looking at the beautiful patterns on leaves....
....and berries....
...and other greenery.
We had the pleasure to watch Timmy & Luke in their Christmas musical. Timmy was one of the three kings & Luke was a king's pageboy. Timmy delivered his lines with surprising reserve & shyness. Luke outshone the entire infant school with his improvised dancing & over the top enthusiasm! Both were a delight to watch, as was the whole Year 2 cast. Sadly, I never got to watch Jordan's Christingle service as it was cancelled due to treacherous walking conditions.
Lego has been a passion for all the children lately, especially Timmy & Luke. Timmy built this boat with the help of Mummy & Grandad. He was very proud of himself!
Jordan won the school talent show with his magician's act, some of the tricks devised by himself. He didn't win the hat decorating competition for his class party but was very pleased with his creative efforts none the less!
The heavy snowfall provided much excitement at the beginning of the Christmas holidays!
Luke tried to make the biggest snowball he could & then turned it into a snowman later on. It was heavy!
AJ takes after her mother & loves the snow very much! She looks for it every day now that it has melted. 
Jordan & I had a snowy walk home from church just before Christmas. The sun made the snow sparkle gloriously & we paused to take photos....
....kick the snow....
....and generally have a bit of fun!
Christmas itself passed quietly after the busyness & chaos of the build up & preparation. It was fun to sing in the church choir for the candle lit carol service & to be creatively involved in the worship & prayer at church during Advent & for the Crib service on Christmas Eve. We had a fun day with my parents, sister & husband & their two Jack Russel dogs. AJ loves them as you can see from the photo above. Anyway, all that remains now is to wish you all a very happy & blessed new year! Thankyou for continuing to read faithfully despite my lack of updates in recent months. God bless you all in 2011 with every good thing. 
