On Saturday morning, I managed to have what will probably be one of the last breakfasts this year on the terrace.
We've had to move the outdoor furniture to the sunny side of the terrace as it's quite cool outside now in the mornings and evenings; although it's still hot in the sun, the wind is chilly and you can tell that autumn is on its way.
After some time of promising my little grandson that he could go to see owls, snakes and crocodiles, we carried him off to Beaver Water World shortly after breakfast was over to do just that.
As soon as we arrived there, he was delighted with the rabbits and the mice. There was one little brown mouse with big ears that we decided looked a bit like the mouse in the book about the Gruffalo, so he was quite delighted with that. Then we went off to see Colin the crocodile.
I think he was a bit surprised by the large size of Colin - he's about 4 feet long I suppose - as it's hard for a child to have any appreciation of the size an animal is when he only sees photographs. Colin was a bit static though, so my grandson was more interested in the snakes, one or two of which were quite active. I know I've said it before, but what kind of person imagines a crocodile is a suitable pet?
The owls were a success, as were the macaws, but the hit of the morning was undoubtedly the big tortoise coming out for a walk.
The play area was also popular! He wasn't really interested in the marmosets or the lemurs or even the meerkats because I think he had difficulty in seeing them - the enclosures aren't really designed with two year olds in mind.
After all that excitement, and then the excitement of my sister arriving for the rest of the weekend, this particular two year old became quite tired and needed a sleep. During his afternoon nap, we three girls all walked into Oxted for shopping while Paul babysat. Once he woke and we came back, the excitement continued. My grandson is extremely interested in the Gruffalo, and after this morning, has already seen the mouse, the snake and the owl. I showed him the photo I took of the fox in the garden, and we went to stand where the fox had been. So he felt all he needed next was the Gruffalo. Then my sister took him for a Gruffalo hunt in the hedges which seemed to involve a lot of screaming, though I am happy to,say they failed to find one.
Family supper was late as my poor son sat through lectures on his course until 7.30 at night, then had almost an hour's drive home. And he had to do the same thing again on Sunday, followed by a drive back to Manchester. I don't think he found it a very restful weekend!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment