Holiday Weather

It's a long weekend this week. Dad's even taken Monday off. But the weather has been awful. It rained so hard yesterday I had to go out in it without a jacket and play for a while!

But Mum and Dad would not come out to play and it was the same today so we stayed inside and made some stuff. We made some aliens:

And some flying things:

The flying things flew really well too!

Canal Locks

Today, while at Auntie Lesley's, we went to the canal. There are loads of locks at this canal and while we were there, a group of people were taking their boat through the locks. They very kindly explained all about the locks to me and allowed me to help them open and close one of them. It was great fun! Afterwards, Dad dragged us on a long walk to the bottom of the lock flight. It's a total of 16 locks (and three geocaches!). It's fine going down, but then you just have to turn and come back up! You can learn more about the locks here.

Moving

Everyone agrees I'm getting too big to continue sleeping on the floor in the same room as Mum and Dad when we stay at Granny and Grandpa's so Grandpa has very kindly agreed to relinquish his workshop. We all feel bad about this, and not just because it's going to be quite a lot of work to get all his gear out of there and then get the room decorated and carpeted!

So, after everyone had picked it clear of everything worth keeping, it was time to help Dad dismantle his workbench and lift the floor and then get all of that stuff out to the shed ready to be burned. Ah, I knew there would be something else worthwhile in all this - can't wait to burn this stuff!

Engine Engine Number 9

When we were at the Glasgow Science Centre on my birthday, we spent some time building a model of a steam powered wheelchair from Wallace & Gromit. A little ironically it was battery powered but that wasn't important. The lady explained to us how to build it and we talked about the drive and the impact of putting different pieces on that resulted in the wheel not running centrally (a funny lumpy ride was the result!).

Anyway, a nice surprise was that we got to take the model home to finish off. Finishing it off required the cardboard wheelchair shape to be correctly folded and added. Today, Daddy and I did this. And it was no surprise why they didn't want us doing it there! It was difficult and fiddly work. However it did come together in the end and we were both extremely pleased with the quality!

Here it is ferrying some Lego minifigures across the floor:

Soap Making

It's so very nearly Christmas. Only 4 more days of school - and that's assuming we're not snowed off again (which is looking increasingly likely)! So time to get presents for my teachers sorted. And this year they'll be getting soap. Because they all smell really bad! No, not really. But Mummy and me have made this soap ourselves. It smells lovely and has stars inside it!

Monopoly

I was asking Dad what his favourite boardgame is and he said Monopoly. I'd never heard of Monopoly so he described it to me. Within a couple of short minutes we were playing an imaginary game of Monopoly (and I was winning).

The next day, I made a Monopoly game myself with very little help from Mummy and that afternoon was playing it with a friend. We had so much fun!

And then that evening, Mummy told me that she'd bought a real Monopoly game! We all played and while Mummy and Daddy were trying to be a little tactical, I bought everything I could and then started putting houses on them. The game went on for a few hours (didn't finish it that night, had to finish it the next day) but Mum and Dad had no chance! I bankrupted them mercilessly! Now when I ask Dad what his favourite boardgame is, he doesn't say Monopoly...

Deep Living Room Diving

Been deep living room diving today. Not sure what else to tell you...

Helping spoon

Mummy's slipper was hanging off so I helped out to keep her foot warm...

Stir Crazy

It started snowing here 2 weeks ago and it's still snowing now. Thankfully it has stopped occasionally (not like Granny's - don't think we'll be seeing her before summer with all the snow she's got), but we've been stuck inside a lot. And since some of my best Christmas presents were Lego, we've managed to build almost all my Lego (only pieces left are the pieces without instructions).

Daddy wouldn't let me play with it until it was all built but he promised we can play with it now that it's all complete. He's going to be the baddies (robbers, Indiana Jones baddies, storm troopers and Power Miners) and I'll be the goodies (police, firemen, coast guard, Indiana Jones et al and rock monsters). We'll split the remaining pieces evenly (in such a way that I have the most and the best ones!). It's taken several days to build, I wonder just how long it'll take for The Great Battle to reduce it to single pieces again?!

Making wrapping paper

I made some wrapping paper for Mummy's christmas presents at Gran and Grandad's. Check it out - we're all really pleased.

My Lego Family

New Veg Plot

Mummy's extending her greenfingers and has invested in a raised vegetable plot. She let Daddy build it and he managed to break one of the posts (but blamed Mummy). She also made him fill it though! But I helped to tramp it down (making more work for Daddy!).

I also helped Mummy write the name-tags for the vegetables we planted. This is me writing Carrots.

And then I helped to plant them.

I also helped to water them and managed to get more water on Daddy than the plants but unfortunately there's no photos of that! Oh. And Mummy says please ignore the falling down fence in the background. It has now been replaced with a rather nice new one.

Fence painting again

Mummy wants to plant some climbing plants on the fence between us and our neighbours but Daddy says she'll need to paint the fence first. So she dragged us all to B&Q and bought a *lot* of paint and then made me help her. She obviously hadn't learned from Daddy's last effort. I actually had more fun this time around as you can see. I played in the paint and then painted handprints on the fence!

But then I got bored. And also Mummy decided she didn't like the colour. And Daddy suggested that maybe the fence was in a worse condition than he thought and we need to replace it all anyway. So for now, my handprints are still there! And the plants Mummy bought are still in their pots...

Ikea

We had to go to Ikea today to get new furniture for the "family room". I think Mummy and Daddy have this idea that they're going to deck it out with nice shelves to hold all my toys and games and then I'll love to go playing in there and leave them in peace for a while. But I know that Daddy also intends to put his new computer in there and this'll likely monopolise a section of the room. I also know that the telly with Disney Channel is in the living room and that's where I intend to be!

So we were in Ikea. It's not really a fun place for a wee boy. At least it would be if Mummys and Daddys didn't moan when wee boys actually have some fun in the place. They started to moan when I wouldn't move along with them at one point but then they both laughed and had some fun when they saw me pretending to eat dinner at the display. Daddy thought it was very cute!

Later on, I helped design a new kitchen - these desks at Ikea just force the creative juices to flow...

Hallowe'en 08

I haven't added an entry for over a month. The weather has made things a bit boring and mostly it's made Daddy a bit lazy. I'll try to post some of the stuff that's been happening soon. But as has become tradition, it's time to show off Mummy's latest Hallowe'en creation.

The material for this has been lying around for months and I laid claim to this costume for Hallowe'en ages ago. As the date got closer I got more excited... And then asked for something completely different! I'm very pleased with the final product though and glad Mummy decided to make my original request after all. What do you think?

Can we break it?

Yes we can!

Mum and dad have got new conservatory blinds at last. So I helped to remove the foosty old ones. I love breaking things! The new blinds are *not* green and therefore loads better. The conservatory is a much nicer place to be now. Just in time for the cold winter where it'll be too cold to be no matter what colour the blinds are!

Fence Painting

Time to paint the back fence and Mummy really needed a hand - it would take her forever to complete it on her own and I couldn't have that. Of course, I wasn't going to let the fact that the fence is over three times my height stop me getting it all done. There are ways to reach the top spars.

And I think there's more paint on the fence than there is on me - no matter what Mummy says.