Episode 32 - The New Zealand tea room

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Well folks, here we are, beside the hot springs of New Zealand.

The tea room (with the customary distressed chintz sofa) overlooks the steaming, bubbling lake. For the bold and sporty, hiking, biking and sky-diving are on offer. Personally, I'm not planning to leave the spa.

Please come and join us for a celebratory drink and conversation ranging from the profound to the profoundly silly. The cardinal rule remains: no fisticuffs.

boy is quite liking "dick n dom go wild" and that programme of bits n bobs of odd stuff all over the UK ( with the mini) on CBBC, but also assorted cebeebies stuff on i-player and games on cebeebies web site.

Mucho mucho lego for his birthday. he's a happy boy - except when DH insisted that boy could not have all teh maltesers on the cake on his one slice.

Can I share some cake with you? vanilla with purple iceing. or maybe you would prefer a cinnamon roll.

Anything purple for me
Tiddler still tearful. So today he was ill, rabbit went to be castrated, ds had to go to dentist too, and dh's knee was so bad he actually went to the gp for painkillers. Amazing.

We went to "The Toddler Pub" with TS's friend (and her little brother) today. Ahhhh, to be two and to be so excited to see your friend and to play chase through soft play climbing equipment....

sorry Tiddler ailing - hope you got right people / animals to right appointment - if the rabbit came home with pain killers you might need to step carefully round your DH

Oxboy is fine - bouncing off walls. Still mostly CBeebies and cartoons - loves tom & jerry very scared of scooby doo!

We don't have good tent-making furniture but today TS and I made his first blanket & furniture tent. He thought it was fun and spent ages under it with his Bunny and books. We've had a much-needed at home quiet day. I wish those molars would hurry up through!

Hope all of the poorly tea room DCs are feeling perkier today.

Tiddler is fine (though still a bit emotional) now. Apparently this bug is going round school like wildfire.

You should get a pop up tent Scout - we bought a real (as opposed to play) tent, and ds and his friend have spent ages in there, outside when sunny, inside when not.

Does anyone have any inspired wedding anniversary ideas ? We will have been married 15 years this August and I was going to take dh away to the hotel we got married in, but the Olympics have interfered with that plan. Don't just want to go out to dinner, but don't know what else to do

CMOT, are you looking for a gift idea or an event/outting?

An event - he is impossible to buy for !

Hmmm....

Well, 15 is crystal (traditional) and watches (modern). Wonder if there's anything you can tie in with one of those....?

Glad to hear that Tiddler is feeling better. Would you and DH enjoy a night at the theatre/concert etc? Weekend in Scotland (away from the Olympics)? Just a grown-up day at a museum/gallery/posh lunch/afternoon tea/spa thingy? English vineyard and winetasting?

Or how about here as a different option - cue lots of jokes about marriage/prison sentences

for anyone? I am in hotel alone tonight so happy to share my room service cheeseboard!

Oi - you should have come in for a cuppa ! We are only 10 minutes off the motorway. Next time eh ?

The weekend would have been in Cardiff (its the Olympic football causing problems), and somehow going away anywhere else doesn't seem the same. And as the only person who will have ds is his friends parents, it has to be special to ask them.

Is it a good cheeseboard ? They are often such a disappointment, but good room service food is hard to find anyway

I promise I will next time - I am in the Midlands quite a lot at the moment.

Cheeseboard surprisingly good . With fruitcake !

In your place I would 'postpone' w/a night out until you can go where you really want to go and hold out for crystal or a watch in the meantime!

Hi all, have not read back, sorry. We're back from Canifornila (California according to JB), had a lovely time. Wonderful beach. Wonderful weather, Back to crap weather and a four-year-old who is making me tear my hair out. Any insight would be appreciated. Sorry about the wearing.

JM!!!!!

JM - just sent you a PM after reading your other post.

Thanks bean, just saw it.

Urgh. If there's no-one in the Priest Hole, I think I'll retreat for a while. Send down a parenting psychologist if one happens to come along wishful thinking.

(he did rather enjoy it last Friday night - particularly teaching one of them how to eat pizza 'properly' (ie with your fingers instead of knife and fork )

JM, what's the issue - some of us might have been there before?

CMot - we went to a Landmark property for our honeymoon - they've got some very special locations, and do do long weekends.

MC is indeed a star - I am still mortified at Small Bean caught dipping not even his own chips into melted chocolate icecream .

But it was MC that instigated that Bean - although he had eaten much more of his icecream so that there was a lot less to dip into

You won't believe that we got home and he asked if he could have a snack?
(answer was 'certainly not!')

15th wedding anniversary- I gave DH a bottle of maple syrup and a card with a picture of frost.... crystals....
well that and slight desperation as I'd forgotten until the day before.

Evening!
Just popping in to get this back into my Threads I'm On as i lost you some time ago.

Sorry to hear about various ailing DC; and also about JM's stepdad - that's rough, hope he's feeling a bit better now.

It was lovely meeting up with MT, Bean and Donki and their offspring - we had a fab evening, with our 4 boys socialising beautifully, all dressed in a different primary colour

Happy Birthday (late) to UniS' Boy - sounds like he had a grand birthday. :)

One day we will come and try your ice cream too - but not this visit, I can't believe how quickly we are running out of time already :(

I was hoping to go and visit Amber tomorrow but a funeral has got in the way of that (a family friend of my family, not hers, for a change) - but maybe next week if there's time.

Hope you're all relatively well - RL is seriously taking over here at the mo!

Mistle, did the link not work? MN idiot, can't do links emoticon

I'll try again.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/parenting/1428427-If-its-been-done-before-Im-sorry-but-please-could-I-start-a-support-thread-for-dealing-with-my-4-year-old