Warning : this is an image heavy post! Well, I had a lovely surprise when Liam came home from school last Thursday as he brought a friend to stay for the half term holiday. This is Winnie, the class bear. He even has his own book, not as cool as a blog but cool none-the-less.....
He's seen a bit of the world has our Winnie, travelling round to different people's houses etc. We spent Friday getting to know each other, and I have to say - I like this guy and I reckon we're gonna have a lot of fun this coming week....
Hmmmmm OK, so by Saturday I was beginning to feel a little bit left out. Surely it is me that gets all the attention and photos taken? I got in a bit of a sulk, but then Joe's mummy had a little cuddle and a chat with me and I now see that we are trying to make Winnie feel really welcome and special. And of course have lots of interesting photos to put in his book! ;-) So here he is with Liam ready to go to his football lesson. Was a bit chilly, so rather him than me.....
On Sunday the humans went swimming and so we thought we would have a go at re-enacting Home Alone (not that we have seen it but we've heard about it).
hahahaha that was fun!
Banister sliding really was a good laugh, right up until you get to the end. Luckily my feet and legs stop me...
but poor old Winnie! No wonder he said something along the lines of *%@*$*%
To make himself feel better, Winnie ordered us in some pizza.....
and while waiting for it to be delivered he managed to find the sweets cupboard - must remember that for future reference!!
We went to bed feeling a little sick, but very happy!
Monday was a well exciting day... we went to Oxford. We drove to the Park & Ride and then took the bus into the centre.
There's lots of lovely architecture (buildings to us laymen!) in Oxford:
and this is the view when we get out of the way....
We visited the Natural History museum. Liam loved it, as he does have a thing for dinosaurs and animals - and he has been learning about skeletons at school during the last couple of weeks so he was in his element. Joe on the other hand kept saying he was scared, so I had to occupy him while Winnie and the others were looking at the exhibits.
(forced smile!!)
(one of my ancestors I expect...)
we learnt about fossils too:
The dinosaurs were really good, there was lots of displays and information about them
Note from Joe's mummy: before you get all
uppety and grab the phone to call the Monkey Protection Society.... this was
NOT my idea!! Believe it or not, other humans want to get in on the act. Random strangers at that, and the lady who orchestrated this little moment was taking it all very seriously, ensuring everything was at the right angle for the photo (which by the way isn't great as I couldn't use flash and the slightest movement resulted in big blur).
We had a really nice bus driver back to the Park & Ride and so we asked if Winnie could have his photo taken with him.
And would you believe it, Winnie was allowed to help drive the bus (photo has a lot of reflection on the windscreen, but he's there holding the steering wheel). Lucky thing. They asked if I wanted a turn but my arms are too short so I passed.
On Tuesday we went to Wales. Not that I saw any of it, because I spent the whole day in Joe's rucksack! Yesterday was very tiring for a little guy like me, so I was happy to let Winnie have the adventures today.
Here he is just about to cough up £5.50 to go
into Wales......... {no comment!
lol}
and then on the old Severn Bridge. Can't say that I would like to do this crossing on a windy day. You can just see the new bridge through the drizzle and mist.
We didn't do much on Wednesday. Winnie and I had some play time together and it was fun. In the evening we went to the crop with Joe's mummy. I've
scrapbooked before, but it was Winnie's first time. I think he really enjoyed it, especially when the biscuits came out :-)
And then Joe's mummy turned her back for 2 minutes and Winnie was looking for honey in her empty glass.....
but from the back he looks like he is trying to live up to his name!
Thursday was a shopping day, bit boring if you ask me but Winnie and I did enjoy going to the library.
At this point I was having a nosey at the returns machine and almost got swallowed up by the thing! Glad the camera wasn't pointing in my direction, that would have been embarrassing having evidence of me clinging onto the hole so I didn't drop into the book collection trolley. Yikes!
On Friday we met Uncle Jim and Aunt Jean in
Wantage for lunch. These fresh ham sandwiches were lovely. So were the cakes the humans had afterwards apparently but they were gone so quick there was no chance of a photo!
We learnt about King Alfred....
and then went to the museum, where they had lots of cool things to look at. Liam dressed up as King Alfred, doesn't he look a dude?
And then we learnt lots about the olden days, and the humans thought it would be funny to put us in the stocks. Yeah, very funny {{rolleyes}}.
Saturday saw some sunsine - yay! They don't call me Extreme Sports Monkey for nothing, and I'm trying to give Winnie a few tips this week, but we're struggling to think of things that I haven't done before. Anyway, here we are abseiling.... with a nice freefall bit at the end.
Really good fun and the safety harnesses worked very well; no unfortunate accidents thankfully.
On Sunday we had some friends over for pumpkin carving
and we made some spooky gingerbread biscuits - yummy!
Then we had a go at apple bobbing. It was great fun. Poor old Winnie had to just watch though as he has to go back to school tomorrow and couldn't risk getting wet.
Shame, as I thought this was brilliant!
even though I did fall in!
but would you look at the state of Joe lol. He wanted to wear his swimming goggles to put his face under the water. He looks a right twit, but at least he got his apple!
I've really enjoyed Winnie being here with us this week. We've put some photos into the class scrapbook, and then we made a mini book showing all of his adventures.
I think he might need a little rest after all this to be honest! And if you have managed to read this whole post, I think you probably do too lol.
I made a new friend over Christmas too - this is Blitzen. He was fun to hang round with - and for a reindeer, very good at climbing trees!
He's also really good at playing games and we had a real giggle playing charades for kids....
.... although this one was easy for me
Of course, being the sporty type I was keen to see the basketball hoop that the boys got for Christmas. It was pretty impressive I have to say..... and Liam is quite good at scoring (of course the fact is the hoop is too low for him really but any higher and Joe doesn't stand a chance!)
On the other hand, you need to wear a hard hat when it's Joe's turn as he is full of enthusiasm but his aim is terrible!!
And then next thing I know, this is happening:
... followed by me going back indoors in a sulk. There is no dignity in being suspended upside down from a basketball net I can assure you.
Worth it to lick the whizzer though :-)
and they were super yummy when finished (ate mine too quick to get a photo apparently! - also not sure why the photo has come out so small...).
After indulging in those bad boys, we thought it wise to have a go on the Wii Fit to burn off some calories. Well that's a feat in itself when you're my size!
I much preferred playing the olympics sports game:
And just out of curiosity, I checked my end of year weight compared to my first post on this blog....
Oh dear, that is disappointing! I managed to gain 1g this year, it must have been all those choccies at Christmas lol.
