No sooner had grandpa arrived that he departed…for a splendid day out on the Mid-Hants Watercress Line!
The weather, was bland, bordering on pouring rain (luckily not until we got home).  However, that made for some great lighting for my photos — see our gallery!
This is a steam train line that has many engines and rolling [...]

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Its been a complete shock to us.  For years (well, two) Tosha has point-blank refused to eat fruits and veggies. There had been rumours that he had fruit up at the Oak Tree nursery, but we didn’t believe them.
He reminds me of my childhood: for years, I’d only eat hot-dogs.  Favourites: smothered in peanut butter; [...]

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I’ve lost track of how many Power Picnics we’ve hosted over at the Millennium Meadow.  I think today was the third.  Sorry, yesterday.  I really must start these blogs entries earlier, lest I fall further behind — forgive me…I was listening to music while sprawled on the sofa with my feet and legs twinging from [...]

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Today, it was my turn to introduce another generation of Reeves-Halls (and a Popova) to the wonders of a magical airshow.  Okay, probably more magical to me because of the nostalgia angle (hey, I am 40 now).
Photos, as usual, are in this website’s photos section — better: look at them in our new gallery!
The parking [...]

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The only sheep we saw was a stuffed toy.  However, the rest of the party in Whitchurch’s neighbouring town, Overton, was beyond expectations.  They closed Winchester Rd to have a big party (more photos in our gallery).
Who can’t enjoy watching the local townswomen getting out to protest for the vote?  I really do have to [...]

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Tosha earned his “Ducklings Award Grade 1″ certificate today at his swim lessons.  You might remember that he put up a bit of a fuss at his first lesson…well, he calmed down and got on with the business of learning to swim!
Today, Tolii, too, earned his latest, and last, Ducklings certificate: Grade 5.  Now its [...]

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Tolii and Tosha camped out in the backyard last night.
Our cats, Snape and Lyra, were most interested in this adventure.  They slipped between the outer and inner parts of the tent roof and started jumping on any fingers swipped across it.  The boys learned quickly not to sleep anywhere near the edges of the tent!
It [...]

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This afternoon, we joined up with Kudrat and most of his kids to have a “power picnic” on the Millennium Meadow.  As usual, there are lots of photos of the event!
The power was supplied by the turbo-charged (it seemed) power lawn mower owned by the Millennium Green Trust. The picnic was supplied by Katya.
Andrew [...]

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Tosha said to mummy tonight: “I’m an Oaks Boy now, I don’t need a nappy!”
So, Tosha went to bed for the first time without his pull-up.
Now daddy, fresh off the plane from his latest trip to Munich, has to figure out how to get two boys to the toilet for their midnight wee…

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Today was Tosha’s first day in the Oaks group at the Oak Tree Nursery. Like Tolii before him, he aged himself through Acorns and then Saplings.
Tosha was on best behaviour all day; as Tolii showed him about and guided him through the daily routine (play, play some more, eat, play some more, tidy-up, eat, [...]

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Although the weather has cool down to about 16C, its still fine enough for a trip to a garden on the southern edge of the New Forest: Exbury Gardens and Steam Railway. It was about a 50 minute drive, heading south of Whitchurch. The admission was about £7.50 per adult. Kids under 3 [...]

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The second week of May has been stellar! The temperatures rose to above 25C - and that was all we needed to haul down the pool from the loft, fill it with warm water (by attaching the garden hose to the kitchen tap), and take a plunge!
Daddy enjoyed himself so much at his party [...]

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To round out this May Bank Holiday Weekend we visited a farm park near Stone Henge which we have never been to before, but had read good things about: Cholderton Rare Breeds Farm, also known as Cholderton Charlie’s Farm.
Their website sadly, as of May 2008, wasn’t too inspiring. But that made the pleasure of [...]

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We headed over to the Longstock Park Water Garden in Leckford after a busy morning (again) of football practice [Tosha kept busy by running around the huge field] {I don’t know why I like using different kinds of brackets for these asides}.
The water garden is owned and managed by Waitrose, of the grocery fame (in [...]

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We had a wonderful afternoon walk after the kids’ swimming lessons (like last week, Tosha put up a fuss, let’s hope he’ll settle into the lessons by next week). We’ve written a separate Kids’ Outings page about the walk itself. There are a ton more photos, of course, in our gallery.
We drove the [...]

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