The last two days have been a whirl wind of activity, on Friday I strapped on my big girl knicker and took both kids solo, well with another friend who has two young ones, to Colchester Zoo. On a whole I have left major outings till the weekend when I would have back up support from Daddy but the opportunity presented itself and I felt a little more adventurous knowing I would have our dear friend Fran's support even though she would have her own two to contend with.
I have to admit I am still finding it hard to have realistic expectations for Joss at three years old. She frankly does not care that it takes military precision to get two kids out the door with all the paraphernalia, around naps, and drive an hour to the zoo. Nor does she care that it cost £30 just to get in and not only should there be no whinging or melt downs but it should be pleasant and enjoyable for all and she should be having fun gosh darn it!
She did have fun there was just a lot of whinging and melt downs mixed in with it. I also just need to learn if she is required to walk more than 50 yards I had better bring the double push chair because no matter how slow I am prepared to walk if Jasper gets to ride in the pushchair then so should she.
Feeding the goats and seeing the pigs were probably the highlight of the Zoo trip. I missed the peak time for Jasper's nap driving home and spent over 30 minutes singing The Hokey Kokey with Joss on the drive home which oddly settled Jasper to sleep.
Today we set out for the Romney, Hyth and Dymchurch light railway in Kent about 90 minutes from where we live. Joss has been asking for weeks to ride on the train (we drop Philip off nearly every morning at the train station). It was a great call. We got on at Hyth and jumped off a few stops later at New Romney to visit the model railway museum. This turned out to be a huge hit with Joss she watched the trains go round the model tracks and got excited to push the buttons to start up different trains.
There was even a Postman Pat model train!
We then got back on the train to the end of the line at Dungenes which has amazing pebble beaches and Joss got her fill of throwing the pebbles back in the sea.
I have never seen star fish on the beach here and Joss had great fun picking them up and having a good look.
The day was tempered with it's fair share of whinging and melt downs but on a whole very enjoyable and definitely right up Joss's ally and Jasper sat in my arms mesmerised by the model trains reaching out to try and grab them each time they went past.
While the effort seems enormous to execute these days out seeing Joss's excitement and wonder at things really does make the effort seem worth while.
2 comments:
Love J in a kangaroo pouch!
Andy doesn't love taking outings in public with the kids (haha),and our weekends are so fragmented, I tend to do most of the fun stuff with the boys during the week. It's crazy most of the time. Soo much whining and fighting and not listening, I understand your hesitation!
It is Merritt's dream to ride a real train. We were looking into a polar express experience in West Virginia but they're already sold out!! We hesitated on the price but next year we'll get tickets early.
We are lucky with all the public transport especially with a three year old who loves buses and trains!
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