Ilona outside

Ilona has begun to enjoy herself whenever she is put down on the ground. This is doubly so when outside as she then has a choice of 2 activities, viz: crawling or eating grass. Aparently she thinks she is a cow. Both of these things make her equally happy

Meanwhile here is Bluet riding "The Mrs Horse" (That should be read as a title). I hope this doesn't mean she will want a pony in the future.

Gran Helen in Zurich

And then it was time to return home. To continue our holiday we brought Gran Helen back with us to enjoy the sun and rain of Zurich, and experience first hand the playgrounds she had read all about on this very blog

From York

To Cambridge......

To Zurich (not pictured, Luton Airport as it is the worst place on earth)

Having a visitor gave us an opportunity to see what Zurich has to offer the tourist (aside from playgrounds)

This house by Le Corbusier is opposite the playground pictured above

If they do classes in English, I might study here

At the world famous Zurich pond

Bluet was fascinated by this window display in our local model train retailer. I therefore thought that this photo would be of interest to some friends and relations out there in the Aberdeen area

York (sun)

While we were in York, Bluet and Della spent a lot of time together and although there were a couple of incidents when both kids wanted to play with the same toy, it mainly went swimmingly. They slept in the same room together, held hands at the railway museum, watched Frozen, and bonded over their shared loves of Peppa Pig and swings. There are more pictures here and here

Even Owly and Gordon Lambsy are friends now

Swinging, still in pajamas

Bouncing together

Sleeping beside Della

Sharing peppa pig

Meanwhile, Uncle Nick would prove to be a big hit with Ilona

York (rain)

The first morning in York it was raining. Bravely we went to Rowntree Park and after lunch, it had cleared up enough to do some playing. Bluet helpfully used her dress to dry the slide for future users. (later on Friday the sun came out, but that is for another post)

Saturday morning it rained again, so off to the railway museum we went, as you do. Bluet was delighted to be allowed to carry an umbrella. At the museum the most fun thing to do seemed to be to go and sit in the seats on a train not dissimilar to the ones you can ride around Britain any day at any time.

After that, Della and Bluet then proceeded to run around holding hands, too fast to be captured in a non-blurry fashion on my camera.

As we waited for the bus home, the rain had stopped

And back home, a tired Bluet and a tired Della crashed on the sofa and watched Frozen.

York by rail

It's a week now since we got on the train and headed up to York. Let's see if a few photos jog the memory of what we got up to.

Well, obviously we started at Cambridge Station

Then we got on the train

And of course Bluet fell asleep literally 2 minutes before we arrived in York.

Then we took the bus to Simon, Angela and Della's house

Cambridge (sun)

It has been hot and sunny here now for several days, blue skies everywhere. This is ideal for Bluet to play outside - Tuesday morning we headed to the paddling pool in Newnham where I used to play as a kid - it has been renovated slightly, but the pool and roundabout in the playground bought back happy childhood memories of playing there back in the day. I remember the paddling pool being very big, and it still is

Meanwhile we have also been several times to an orchard right next to Gran Helen's house, which was not there when I was a kid, so consequently evoked no memories - it is nice, though. Good for ball games (but watch out for the nettles Bluet).

And then, after a hard day of play, back home.

Oh, and Bluet got a haircut, after which we went and ate sandwiches/a sausage roll at a trendy cafe nearby with plants growing in jeans. A great idea for any plant and/or trousers lovers out there