Jack & the donkey
Originally uploaded by chiggster
When you have a toddler & a nursing baby there really isn't much point attempting to hire a babysitter and book a romantic candle lit dinner for two somewhere expensive... it aint gonna happen! So we thought about it for a while and opted for a fun family day out instead. We took the kiddies to Blackpool Zoo (http://www.blackpoolzoo.org.uk/)
It was a great day out too. Jack loved the dinosaur safari best I think, and the red river pigs, donkeys and spider monkeys. Tom slept for most of the day but woke up to see an elephant - and pulled the best "what the hell is THAT?" face I have ever seen on a baby. We were all a bit disappointed that the big cats were all too sleepy to be interesting to Jack, but we should know by now that they tend to sleep all day.
We took loads of photos and mini video clips which are all on Flickr. This is one of the best though, Jack and the donkeys. Typically the first animal noise he made was a camel noise. Right before we went to see the donkeys we'd seen the camels and I had tried to coax him into making his camel noise but we wouldn't!
I wish the camera we have was more responsive. We went to see the spider monkeys in the "Amazonia" enclosure where they are running free. We were warned as we went in not to have any food on display, and to hide the kids dummies because the monkeys steal them! The video clips we DIDN'T manage to get are Jack falling about laughing as a troop of monkeys shot across the path in front of him, scrapping and tumbling like clowns, and the monkey that sat on top of the pram searching for a snack. Mark managed to get a shot of it just as it leaped off the pram though, just to prove it was there!
The only down side to the whole day was the mysterious disappearance of the suncream from the change-bag... I know for a FACT that is was in there while I was packing up for the day because I'd double checked. Unfortunately Jack is very fond of the sun cream, and knows where is it kept. We think he took it out again to play with it... so once we were at the zoo and the sun came out we found we had no sun cream. Jack has a few pink patches of skin this morning, Tom has one cheek slightly rosier than the other but both kids are fine. Mark is un-singed. I, however, am lobster red from shoulder to knuckle and we have no after-sun. Ouchie! I really hope our kids have inherited their fathers ability to tolerate the sun. (As I have been typing this Jack has turned up with BOTH bottles of sun cream from what ever hiding place he had them in. Grr!)
So it may not have been a "typical" romantic anniversary, but it's one of the best we've ever had - I can't say THE best, because on our 6 yr anniversary we got married... not sure that can ever be topped! :oD It seems to me that this is a good way for us to spend our anniversaries while the kiddies are little. Maybe it'll show them that a successful and long lasting marriage is something worth celebrating too
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