my new contact lenses have arrived! My life has been lived through a blurry haze since the week after Melrose with only short lived temporary relief from my eye drop habit (seriously, I was on two bottles a week 🙂 )
Had a fab day today – Scarlett woke briefly at 3am but was asleep again within 15 minutes, so a good start there. Raced around the house to get out before 9,30 and failed! Sent Ros a text to say we were running late but had overestimated how long it would take and ended up on time anyway! Then could not reach Ros to tell her as no signal at Drusillas so hung around the entrance for a bit wondering whether they had already arrived and gone it or not. Eventually decided to go in and were there about half an hour before I reached her and she had just pulled up in the car park (both your texts to me arrived in the car on the way home – clearly a signal valley at Alfriston Ros 🙂 )
Kids were having a great time running around, looking at the animals and so on. Scarlett freaked me out at one point when I told her to get in the giant egg next to Davies so I could take their picture and she refused saying ‘no. egg banged my head last time’. That would be the last time we went back last year – a good five or six months ago which I would have put money on her not remembering. My first memory is when I was 2.5 at my brother’s christening – so how come an only just two year old can remember not only the place we are at (probably been there four times in the last year so not very frequently), a specific event there and articulate it? Memory and stuff like that in kids has long since been a fascination of mine, particularly since Davies has been able to astound me with his – must look into it and see what research and theories exist on it.
Shortly afterwards Ros, Pea, Boo and Buzz arrived and we whizzed through the next bit with Scarlett randomly running off and being returned to me by Pea and Boo, Davies and Buzz running off and me and Ros trying to chat 🙂 Eventually we sat down in the big play area and drank tea and let the kids play so we could chat. Either we have some very similar life philosophies and ideas or one of us was being polite in agreeing with the other but I really enjoyed our chats! 🙂
The kids got on really well again – Davies and Buzz seem to have really hit it off, Scarlett seems very taken with both the girls (they wear pretty clothes and are also quite girly 🙂 ) and it was a joy to let them all get on with it and not have to sort out any tussles. Davies did at one point end up in a corner while I thought he was on a wooden adventure thing – he was insistant he was lost (despite Pea and Boo being there) and two fairly burly keepers were trying to talk him out like some sort of hostage negotiation type scene. Clearly they have been instructed not to touch children but it was hilarious when I got there, they looked at me with blatant relief and said ‘we couldn’t move him!’. Not really sure what that was about really but Davies does struggle a bit with all the physical climbing and chucking yourself about that such places require, whereas Scarlett – and Buzz, both younger than him were happy on the highest slides and climbing the tallest ladders. He did warm up by the end though and is always really delighted with himself when he does push a bit harder and discovers he can do it.
Then we went into the smaller kids area where Scarlett was utterly charmed with the trampoline and bounced for about an hour 🙂 and then, ahem, we had lunch 🙂 Predictably the kids all ate very little before we had another play and then onto the train. While we were queuing for the train the smell of the nearby doughnut shop lured us in so we all indugled (except Ros) and I demonstrated a comedy moment worthy of you’ve been framed when I climbed over a fence (bruise on inner thigh currently purple and green, will not be blogging a photo 🙂 ) to get back to the train. We parted with promises to do it all again soon. A lovely day 🙂
On the way home we stopped at Matalan – I wanted some sunglasses for me and both kids, Tarly needs a sunsuit and Davies or I had managed to lose / leave behind his juice at Drusillas so I had promised him a new cup to make up for it. We walked round and both kids were so badly behaved that I put the basket down and walked out with them. Davies was really upset that having chosen a new cup I had not bought it for them but I had asked them both twice to stop whatever it was they were doing and on the third time, having just caught sight of the queue – a good 10 minute wait – I decided i could not face it and did not want to end what had been a lovely day on such a note anyway. So home we came.
Third night of baths in a row – shocking for my two who usually average two a week 🙂 and early nights all round.
Finally spoke to Mum and Dad on the phone – Dad had been ringing through the day and leaving hysterically funny but very un pc chinese accented messages for me. It was 3.30am there but they had been asleep since 9pm their time and had woken up for a cup of tea (so British!) and could not get back to sleep so rung us.
Tomorrow we are going to Rachel’s first thing for a cup of tea and chatting and then I have a few bits to do in town – also really want to do something of educational value with Davies so might try and squeeze that in tomorrow afternoon.
Well I wasn’t being polite! You even saw beyond the groomed me :-). We had a lovely time also!
Comment by Roslyn — 22 March 2005 @ 8:54 am