Best Damn Weekend

This past weekend has to rank amongst the best. Certainly for Anna it was, which means that is was for us too. I took Friday off work and we managed to sneak in both swimming and "soft play." Swimming was at the local pool, which includes waves (yes, a wave pool) and a water slide. We enjoyed both. Though rubber duckies (it was toddler hour) were almost as enjoyable to one of us...

"Soft Play", for those without kids, is like a giant warehouse full of padded climbing things. It's like a playground with reduced injury possibility. In addition to 10 padded levels of stairs and steps, there was also a ball pool and many slides. We had a blast but there are some possible hygiene concerns. I won't elaborate but next time I will go armed with Purell.

Saturday was "Fun Day" at the nursery that Anna attends. Summer fairs are an institution over here. It would be fair to say that we don't entirely get it, but I suspect Anna had fun. Next year, when she is able to understand the games a little better, she will have more fun. This year, it was all about the "Decorate your own biscuit" stall where for 20p, one was given a biscuit (digestive cookie) and pots of coloured, liquid sugar to pour all over the biscuit. It was very messy and very, very sweet. It was also quite popular.

We went to London on Saturday night to hang out with cousin Stella as Emily and Armando went out for dinner on Armando's birthday. It was a laugh. But not so much as Sunday, which involved another pool and then the Museum of Childhood. The Museum of Childhood was almost too much fun to comprehend for Anna. Every interactive display was a tantrum to pull her away, only to be replaced by the most glorious laugh of anticipation as a new interactive display was introduced to her. The Doll House display was stunning (and included, incredibly, a large doll house from 1673). Yep, 1673. A 334 year old doll house. I was probably more impressed than Anna, who was as pleased as punch with an interactive doll house (with dolls) on display to play with. It was not from the 17th century. In fact, it looked recent and possibly Scandinavian.

3 hours of traffic made the 45 mile trip home tiresome, but after so much fun, who was to complain? Well, okay, I complained a little. But not too much.