Summer Fun 2

Here's the second part of our summer holiday adventures, starting with continuing our visit to Leyland. Zachary had a fantastic time at the Monkey Magic soft play area, particularly playing with balls from the ball pool, walking along the netting and climbing up to the top with Auntie Marilla.

A great view from the top

Another baby with a big head

How big are you?

Zachary loves animals, so he very much enjoyed a visit to the Bowland Wild Boar Park and liked watching a family of meerkats eating their lunch.

Baby boars up close

Compare the meerkats

We had a lovely time visiting Zachary's Great-Grandad who sadly passed away a few weeks later and will be greatly missed.

Cuddles with Great-Granded

Here we are at Whalley Abbey spending the day with Helen, a family friend from Whalley.

Wandering the ruins

Here we are at Cliffe Castle in Keighley.  We (and Zachary) particularly liked the room of shiny precious stones with UV lights.

Zachary usually isn't a fan of playgrounds but he loved going around in Mummy's arms on this old roundabout (unfortunately they don't make them like this any more).

Whizzing around

On the way back to Cardiff, we stopped off to visit our friend Ashok and his family in Birmingham:

Cuddles with Cecilia

Goodbyes in Cardiff

Zachary paid a last visit to Ivy and Delaram to say goodbye and we were amazed at how active they've become.

Climbing on anything and everything

Packing commenced and it was fantastic to have a lot of help from Auntie Phobe.

Our goodbye party was a success; Zachary spent the evening entertaining and scrounging food.

He took a particular liking to Uncle Steve

Something to remind us of Cardiff

Auntie Vickrum's birthday was in August and we celebrated with some pitch 'n' putt at Heath Park.

Looking after the spare balls

Holding the flagpole for Uncle Dan

Uncle Gibbs takes his eye off the ball for a few minutes

It was an extremely close match but Daddy came out on top - well done Daddy!

One last play with Auntie Vickrum before heading home.

Summer fun 1 (of 2)

Zachary had a wonderful summer, spent visiting relatives and friends. Here are some of the highlights:

Dan and Sarah returned from around the world for their 'welcome back' party. There was fantastic food and company; Zachary particularly enjoyed exploring and being thrown around by his aunties and uncles. 

Bookshelves are there to be emptied

Washing lines are there to be emptied

This is a few minutes before Zachary fell flat on his face (uncle Dan didn't realise he couldn't walk yet!)

Just for fun!

We enjoyed a very active and fun-packed two weeks staying with Zachary's grandparents in Leyland, Lancashire. They love to see him and he very much enjoys the attention! Here are some of the highlights of the two weeks...

We went for a stroll through Cuerden Valley Park and Zachary enjoyed watching the children playing in the water.

Daddy had to tread carefully across the stepping stones

We enjoyed the water features in a woodland walk through Fairy Glen and eventually found the clearing at the top.

Fairy Glen, Appley Bridge

Here are a few more hill climbs (Auntie Marilla's favourite) in generally good weather. 

Parbold Hill, with lovely views from the top (Zachary likes to lean in his carrier for a better view)

White Coppice - a picturesque village at the bottom and a lovely view from the top

Waiting for the 'oldies' at White Coppice

With the threat of rain, we sought refuge under a tree

We headed out in the summer sun to the lovely Southport Botanic Gardens:

A fancy bridge

Zachary looks at the birdies in the aviary (with a zombie hand to point)

After the ice cream had gone

Before he was walking he needed a little help

Being pushed around on the gym equipment

We also enjoyed visiting some family friends, Carol and Mike, who had their grandson, Archie, around for Zachary to play with.

This isn't Archie, it's Dougie the dog!

Playing together in the shade

A few more lovely walks around the northern countryside:

Beautiful views from Rivington Pike, West Pennine Moors

A short climb up Beacon Fell (Zachary with his makeshift hat)

Have a look next week for instalment number two!

Walking!

Zachary took his first steps a few weeks ago and has been coming on leaps and bounds since then. Here's a short video of his recent progress (a full 'summer' post will appear in the next day or two). 

Holidaying in Dorset #3

Here's the final part of our Dorset holiday diary. We had a lovely wander through Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens which has a huge array of different plants, trees and water features.

Daddy and Zachary enjoy the fresh air

A beach view with a cannon from the top of the gardens

Having a nap amongst the giant rhubarb

We later headed to Athelhampton House which has beautiful gardens and was the location of filming for an old Dr Who episode: The Seeds of Doom. The family that own it still live there and use the public rooms when visitors aren't around.

Majestic Athelhampton

Giant pointy bushes

Zachary enjoyed wandering around on the cool stone floors

The following day we headed onto the ferry to Sandbanks peninsular, the most expensive place to buy a house in the UK. We looked for Harry Redknapp's house and think we might have spotted it, although all of the houses looked rather extravagant.

The Sat Nav looks odd in the middle of the sea

We enjoyed a stroll along the beach at Sandbanks

Later that afternoon we visited a wonderful themed garden called Compton Acres and Zachary enjoyed looking at (and touching, in some cases) the different plants and flowers.

The highlight was the formal Roman gardens

Zachary grabbed what he could as he was pushed along

Too many plants for a little boy

Daddy takes advantage of a helpless young lady in the lavender garden

Daddy sees a scary dragon in the Japanese garden

Stepping stones and goldfish!

Riding high in the Japanese garden

We spent our last evening in Dorset strolling along Poole harbour and enjoying a meal at Pizza Express.

Zachary was most interested in the passing dogs

"Yum yum!"

On the way back to Cardiff we stopped off at Sherborne Abbey which was a wonderful place to cool off and relax after escaping the heat.

Sherborne Abbey interior

Zachary looks at the many colours of the stained glass