welcome to may - even though we are fast hurtling towards the middle of the month! the last couple of weeks sped by and are now a mere blur in our memories. or rather mummy's memory! my memory is sharp - i'm only 4! nothing escapes me, mummy however is another kettle of fish entirely. she's nicknamed herself Dori from Finding Nemo. daddy always says if her head wasn't attached to her body she'd forget where she left that too!

may has been good so far. it has brought with it the sun - and for that we can only rejoice! bank holiday monday was a bit drab but by today, we were positively sweltering in the high 20s centigrade! so what have we been up to? well, in the spirit of getting out & about a bit more, mummy bought this amazing picnic blanket (her words, not mine!). she is in love and believes it shall increase her desire to go out & about. because it is pretty. and she likes pretty things. she got it from Great Little Trading Company after missing out on last year's edition that she loved so much but procrastinated on till they sold out. This year she wasted no time as soon as they had one of the 20% off everything days! she loves it because it's a good size, has waterproof backing, rolls up into a bag with carry handles, and is just so pretty! oh, and it's lovely to sleep on in the sun. #fact.





 we went to a food festival on bank holiday monday and forgot the blanket at home! what a clever blanket - fulfilling it's purpose without even having to be present! mummy pretty much starved herself that morning in anticipation of a bbq'd burger or some other such bbq style meal. unfortunately for her, there was not a burger stall in sight. just all kinds of street food, whose prices were polar opposite to the container sizes. the food was tasty but as mummy had come prepared for a carb fest, she left needing to top up at home.


judah's been continuing to provide amusement as is his custom! mummy took us to the park to feed the ducks after a classmate's birthday party. (i tell you, the sun brings out a different side to my mummy! normally she can't wait to get home and bemoan how her social life consists solely of my social life. not so now - these days her optimism knows no bounds - i love you sun!) back to the park - we fed the ducks quite fine, but judah was keener to be at one with the river thames. "not on my watch!", said mummy - as she quickly took a picture, then rescued him from the fence. #priorities!
again, blanket wasn't really required as we just had a bag of crisps and rather dry bread. bread for the ducks, crisps for mummy to fuel up & keep up with judah!

oh dear, what's he up to now???

that's right - about to scoot down some steps...

today after church we were back in the same gardens, enjoying a lovely picnic lunch. judah wasn't as keen on the old ducks - more interested in going after people's water bottles and chasing unsuspecting kids. oh, and crying for my scooter each time he saw me on the move. mummy has promised she's getting him his own now. le blanket was definitely in full use today and i must admit it is pretty! "it looks like it has giant cupcake sprinkles!" i exclaimed.

now we want to keep the dream alive! we want to hit as many gardens and beaches as we can over the next few months with our picnic blanket! any suggestions?? we'd love to hear from you as i'm worried mummy will wind up just sleeping on the blanket in the back garden and call it a summer!

so what was happening today? daddy took the day off & they said it was a surprise for me! daddy moaned about the mega pram. he asked about the cheap little buggy. mummy said it's now in zim. hmm.i didn't think we could do a quick detour on our way to london so mega pram was coming. mummy did a quick back flip with a triple axl somersault. she also got to paint her nails in the car because daddy was driving - hmmm...who was going to be at this place? she went so far as to do her make-up. GAME ON. excitement was now at fever pitch!



we parked our car at a place called perivale and jumped on the tube. but not before mummy and daddy huffed and puffed with the pram up 3 flights of stairs. mummy avoided eye contact with daddy as she imagined how much easier that fold up buggy would've been. she consoled herself by thinking of a) how happy the woman she gave that buggy to was & b) how all this exercise was keeping her nice and warm on this otherwise cold day! yes, this was good!




next stop was oxford circus! are we in oxford? is there a circus? oh, we are now headed to picadilly circus...whoa, these are the fastest crosscountry trains ever! i can't wait to get to this circus! but not before more huffing and puffing and eye contact avoidance. finally at the circus...




but there are no clowns, no tent, no animals, just the biggest crowd of people. maybe they are all looking for the circus too. disappointing times! "Shaftesbury Avenue!" says dad and we continue to move in a circle...on the spot. maybe thats why it's called a circus...everyone is holding maps, chatting in different languages, smiling sheepishly as they bump into eachother and trying to look like this is their hood. uh huh. "Google maps!", says mum but dad has found it & off we go!





RAINFOREST CAFE! I was so excited! we were greeted and taken down to the restaurant area - but not before I eyed up a cute pink teddy. mummy excitedly brought it down for me (she loves a memento). then she saw £20 and put it back. a teenage boy was eyeing up a £35 tshirt behind us & his mum advised him to keep his money in his pocket. she called him poppet. not sure he approved.



we had a fantastic meal, seated next to 2 very obliging elephants. one of them let me touch his ear - he did turn and look at me which scared me a little.



 we all managed to eat something we loved which was great = i had macaroni cheese, daddy a burger & fries, mummy sea bass & mash and judah ham & cheese pasta. i don't know what mummy was expecting but she kept exclaiming how good the food was! it sure was yummy. the whole restaurant is done up like a rainforest. at first i thought we really were in the rainforest. i'm still not decided because i don't think those elephants can live in a restaurant. hmm.




mummy had had grand plans of exploring london a little more with us but the thought of those steps waiting for us was enough to get her back on daddys one way street...but not before i spotted this weird looking policeman! i just had to mimic him!

two weeks ago, mummy and daddy had the opportunity to go on a weekend break with a group from church. mummy was excited - she's easily excitable that one. they decided to let my little big sis stay over at my godsister's  house. mummy did try to fob me off to my godmother tinashe but she was having none of it. she said "who? that one! errr...i have plans friday, saturday, sunday, infact i'm fully booked until his wedding day."  so, i tagged along. as we set off from Ivana & carmen's house, mummy was feeling excited. she had some decisions to make and she felt that this time away to reflect, pray and relax would be just the ticket.

but before she could get to enjoy the weekend, she had to do her part of the long drive to the back of the beyond aka Alfriston aka yes, i know....alfriwhatnow? phone batteries held on for dear life, then eventually died and all that was left was the temperamental satnav which seemed to be leading us deeper and deeper into thick  woodland. mummy woke daddy up to discuss whether he had a will and that they really need to sort out what happens to the kids should anything happen to them. as mummy's mind began to picture the chaos of people fighting over my little big sis after we got swallowed up by the darkness, we saw the pub that everyone was gathered at and dad heaved a sigh of relief. #dramaqueen

we greeted, we ate, we slept on a bunkbed and had a fun night.

the next day some activities had been planned. mummy had signed herself and dad up for a group of activities that kept her feet as close to the ground as possible: mountain biking / canoeing / archery and........ there was high ropes but she wasn't up for that. she thought we'd be done in a couple of  hours then she'd get on with the relax & revive she longed for.

2 hours later mummy was standing at the foot of a tall tree about to climb up a ladder and walk across a log to another tall tree. (basically she hadn't thought through what i'd be doing whilst she was mountain biking and canoeing - no baby carries on canoes!)



so here we were, me and mum, in the group of activities her nightmares are made of : high ropes, log walking, abseiling, archery. mummy had initially said a flat "no" to the log walking. then she stood there and watched as one after one, the other members of her group climb up and triumph. she started to feel like she could do this. i mean honestly, some of them were positively skipping across the log and came flying down the rope to ground level. when, aunty anna, who mummy was hoping would be her partner in not going on the log, went up and triumphed, mummy decided to give it a go. how hard could it be?



mummy was fitted with the ropes and stood at the foot of the tree. she took about 3 steps up the ladder and froze. "I can't do it!" she shouted to the guy who could probably still smell the sausages from her breakfast in her breath! she was that close to the ground!

"Yes you can!"  - everyone shouted back.

"no I can't, I really can't!",

"YES YOU CAN!!".

so off went the reluctant Obama up the ladder. once up there she hugged the tree. then wouldn't let go. she hugged that tree and asked to come back down.

"take a step!" , they shouted.

"no! I can't!".

she was petrified and really wished she had never decided to come here. she stood there and really wondered about that will. this could be it.

"take that first step!" came the shouts from below. "you won't fall, and even if you do, we've got the rope, you'll just dangle!" .

she knew they meant well, but the idea of dangling was almost worse than walking on the log. mummy thought about all the fears she had brought with her on this trip, the ones she really wanted to face. if she could do this, she could face those fears too. she took the first step, and the guys cheered!





then she went on and on. she said the middle was the most petrifying but she made it to the other side. she was then too scared to go to the next level and the instructor allowed her to come down. when her feet touched the ground the group cheered for her & she felt great.





here's what mummy said she learned from that log walk:

1 - things always look easy when others are doing them : it's so easy to shout at that apprentice on TV who gets it wrong, or scoff at the blogger with a million followers on instagram. you try it & lets see.

2 - it's easier to face your fears with people who believe in you by your side: i love the guys from Hillsong Oxford for being so kind to me. i could never have done that without them.

3 - God's got your back : what's the worst that could happen if you face your fears? if i had slipped, i would have been ok. and i could have gone back up if i wanted to.

as mummy was busy climbing logs and getting deep revelations about life, i was getting revelations of my own! mud tastes soooo good! mmmm mmm! i really cannot wait till we get a garden - that stuff was good! it was such a revelation!





we all enjoyed our time away and had a most fabulous reunion with morayo-hope who had had a fantastic weekend with her new bff's Ivana & Carmen. i'll let her tell you about it herself but here's a sneak peak of her weekend sleepover.

at the beginning of the summer, when hope was truly alive and a strong wave of optimism swept over my daddy, he promised my mummy we'd go on holiday as soon as we had completed on the house purchase. 3 months on and no progress had happened when mummy was threatening to go into our vendors agents office and throw her toys out of her pram. (i didn't know mummy had a pram). daddy suggested maybe we should all take a short break somewhere to take our minds off the house move stress. mummy didn't need to be asked twice. she looked for a break somewhere with water: Lake District was the obvious choice! after a few days of searching it became very obvious that this was the wrong time of year - fully booked! ok - a beach location. sandy beach thought mummy. Bournemouth was the obvious choice so it was bound to be fully booked. and we've been there before. no go.  Brighton was out - pebbles. Eastbourne! mummy was E X C I T E D! she had visions of herself relaxing on the sandy beach, the gentle sea humming in front of her as she drifted into a delicious afternoon nap. judah and i would supposedly be building sandcastles with daddy. yes, it was going to be awesome!

we arrived at our sea-front boutique hotel. mummy looked at the shore. pebbles everywhere.







she went into the boutique hotel. hmm. they stuck a bathtub in the corner of the most averagely average room and called it boutique. mummy was annoyed but determined nonetheless. if there's one thing mummy can't stand it's hotels that pretend to be something they are not & charge you through the nose for it.

the next day we went to the beach to live out mummy's fantasy. she spent the morning stopping judah from eating the pebbles.
























after that we found a sandy patch. judah was delighted and proceeded to eat the sand. mummy and daddy soon gave in and we vacated the area. we went to a highly rated local italian called Solo Pasta that was super yummy!  we ate till we nearly popped.













on our way back mummy saw a lot of second hand bric a brac and furniture stores. like a moth to a flame she ran into one and we all knew we wouldn't be leaving empty handed. she spotted a wardrobe, a chest of drawers, a mirror, a chandelier....she looked like me in a candy store. daddy didn't mind because he knew we couldn't take any of it home - so she couldn't buy it! until she saw a dolls house and fell in love. yes, if she couldn't have a real house just yet,
she was he was buying this house & she'd renovate it for me and judah. she was ecstatic. daddy tried to tell her it wouldn't fit in the car. she told him it could. he was adamant. she was adamant. they bought the dolls house. daddy brought the car round and the dolls house didn't fit. sound familiar?







so the shopkeeper loaned daddy a screwdriver and he dismantled the whole house as passers by stopped to admire it and marvel at the bargain price they got it for. mummy cheered daddy on, who doesn't like attention on a good day. buses were stopping at the ever-red light and passengers were enjoying watching the mini spectacle. a local italian grocer came out to help supervise the operation. mummy told daddy she keeps life exciting with all these little curveballs she throws into the mix. why buy it off amazon when you can have a story to tell the grandkids in years to come eh?! too soon? ok.....

as they finished packing the house into the boot, mummy said "i told you it would fit!". daddy shook his head and jumped in the car.

we left eastbourne the following day so we could come home and start packing up the flat ready for our buyer to move in.  we got home and everyone slept. mummy said she needed a holiday after that mini break. so we slept the next day and the day after that. i don't know when mummy will learn to stop fantasising about what can and can't happen now that we are here.

by the by, mummy has been telling daddy we need a bigger car so we can fit all the babygear. translation: we need a bigger car so we can fit stuff i want to buy when we visit faraway places. we are onto you mummy.

we stayed at the waterside boutique hotel which was generally average. breakfast was included in the price.

we ate at Solo Pasta - The bestest and yummiest pasta we've ever had. It's a small independent restaurant with the friendliest staff. We had sea bass, lasagne and spaghetti all of which were  thoroughly enjoyed.

we ordered dinner from Thai Terre which was really yummy but a bit sweet and not as spicy as mummy had hoped. she had the massaman curry and daddy ordered the Yellow curry with chicken. i ordered egg fried rice but decided i wanted just white rice when it came - because that's how i roll!