Got work. Now off on holiday.

Helen is employed again. Yes it's been nearly 6 months since I said that I wasn't worried about her not being able to find a job... Oh well, we made it, just.

Being that she's got a job now, it's meant that the last two weeks, or at least the time in which we've not been scrambling to get her a new car, have suddenly become holiday time.

So off we went for a cheap week long stay at a camping site in Somerset.

It was an action packed week. Filled with soft play, theme parks, shopping, visiting old friends and lots of wind and rain.

One of the first things we did was go to a farm. One of low budget theme parks centered around a working farm, we go to lots of these. Jack held a ferret, pet a rabbit and a guinea pig.

He also got pecked by a chicken, burped at by a ram and bucked by a sheep. It was a rich full day. Luckily the angry sheep only managed to get Jack's forearm. I think Jack felt more betrayed than physically hurt. He was just trying to feed the one at the back.

We went to Wookey Hole as well. Unfortunately there were no actual Wookies there... but The Hulk was there... and King Kong. I'd say that these things make more sense if you're there... but I'd be wrong. Very little about Wookey Hole makes any sense at all but the cave is good.

Standing right across from the circus history exhibit... Nothing else Marvel, comic, or otherwise related in any way anywhere near it.

"Jack do you want a picture of you any the big monkey?"
 "No"
"Oh. Ok then."
"It's not a monkey."
"What?"
"It's not a monkey... It's a gorilla."

Jack also sat inside a tree for a while.

 We went to a regular low budget theme park a couple days later.

Jack's first solo ride on a rollercoaster

 

These are the duck family at the camp site. Helen caught one and the mother duck immediately
came raging toward her but urns out the mother duck was after the bread in Helen's hand

Since we were in the area we went Meghan hunting and actually found a Meghan and a Ewan as well. We managed to lure them with a Subway lunch. Jack loved seeing Meghan again and wants to visit her again soon.

So that's it, the end of our first summer holiday. It came on us all a bit sudden but we managed a good one. Starting Tuesday Helen is back at work.

Ted the grouch

Ted lives primarily at Nanny's house. He's a teddy bear with a rainbow scarf, sure he looks cuddly and soft but there's trouble in them there stitches.

Ted just can't seem to get along with the other teddies. Particularly Lula the dog. Every time Jack brings Ted home for the night all we hear about is the trouble he causes. From the moment we get into the car it's...
Stop it. Hey! Be nice... I'll make you sit outside. Hey you stop it right now. Mommy!
What? 
Ted just punched Lula.
Tell him to behave.
Now Lula is crying.

Doing time at the bottom of the stairs.

On one visit Ted was behaving particularly aggressively all day long. Jack had threatened Ted a number of times saying that he wouldn't be allowed to go to bed with everyone at bed time. The hitting and biting continued. At bed time we asked Jack if Ted was going to bed with him and were not hugely surprised when we got a yes.
We tucked them all in and said goodnight.
As we sat downstairs we could hear Ted getting up to his usual tricks. There was hitting and crying and a couple of scoldings for about ten minutes before he called us in.
Come and get Ted please he's not being nice.
Not wanting to go back upstairs just at that moment we suggested that he just put Ted outside the door so we could collect him later.
No he made Lula cry. He punched her right in the eye.
Apparently being set outside the door just wasn't punishment enough for Ted. Jack insisted that we take him downstairs where he would be all alone for the whole night.

A couple days later as we went to bed we noticed Jack had shut his door, which is uncommon. Just outside the door Ted sat slumped on the floor.

I guess some teddies just ain't no good.

Directional Snoring

Helen was out for the night leaving just Jack and myself at bed time. We went through the routine, read the story and everything when Jack suggested that we have a mini-sleepover. It's been quite a while since we had one so I agreed.

We lay side by side for a couple minutes set to our usual game of extreme snoring. I eventually rolled onto my side facing Jack, which apparently displeased him.
*huff* Now there's not enough room.
There's plenty of room. There really was.
No. No there's not. I've got to be on the other side.
Jack climbed out of bed and walked all the way around the bed to climb back in on the other side. This is quite a journey, there's not a lot of room and this particular night there were several hurdles of laundry. He struggled through it and climbed back into the bed on the other side, where there was significantly less room.
After Jack was comfortable the extreme snoring resumed until I roll over again to face him.
*sigh* I don't believe this. Out he climbed to make the perilous journey again. He climbed back in and I immediately rolled over to face him. He huffed again.
What's wrong with you?
You keep snoring at me. You're too loud.
But you're snoring too.
I'm not snoring like you, like this. He make some snoring sounds, presumably as loud as he could manage. Like that. Snore the other way. Snore over there.
Fine I will...  

Here, take mine.

I recently had to create and film a diorama for my Games Design class.

I was discussing some of the aspects of the filming with Helen at the dinner table. Earlier that day I'd acquired some additional legos that I hoped at the time would give me a sufficient number of lego men.

Jack was quite during the conversation. Normally he's quite chatty. This time however he sat contently and ate his dinner until Helen went to the kitchen to get his pudding.

Daddy, have you got enough legos for your school?
Yes, I think so.
If you haven't. You can use some of mine and you can keep them if you need to.

Jack has no idea that I'd already made very specific plans to raid his collection for what I needed. But the sentiment is very sweet.

Curly hair

Jack generally doesn't eat the crusts of his bread. He insists that he doesn't like the crusts, but it seems to depend mostly on what kind of mood he's in, or how hungry he is.

Today he left the crusts of his bread and some pieces of cheese.

I don't want to eat my cheese today.
Eat the rest of your bread then.
I don't want curly hair so I'm not going to eat my crusts.

Jack is very protective about his hair. He likes it dry and blonde. He's not happy about it having darkened quite a lot over the last year. He also likes it flat, no hair gel or any other types of manipulation. Not to short either, he doesn't like the possibility that the barber might leave him bald. And apparently he likes his wavy curls just the way they are.

It would seem that somewhere along the way he's heard that crusts make your hair curly... Nanny comes to mind... We learned a long time ago that you've got to be pretty careful about what of these 'wives tales' you tell Jack. He's got a tenancy to take them a little seriously. I'd be interested to know exactly how long ago he heard this one, I bet I could match it to the day he stopped liking crusts.