Wednesday 23 July 2014

Raphael's Birthday

Raphael's Birthday





Sometimes the days go so fast that I can't even keep my feet on the ground. I think a lot of this is due to the children. Raphael has just turned three and we have had such a lovely day.
After spending a couple of hours decorating the house, Rob and I headed off to bed rather excited for the day that was going to follow. It is funny though as Raph's birthday was the first time he had slept in until nearly 7am in forever! I mean really, Etta was up before him and I was desperate for him to wake up!
Once awake our day seemed to go at 100 mph!! It started really nicely with Raph being thoroughly impressed with all the balloons and decorations. He then noticed his cake so a few smarties were picked off the top, and to his surprise, the pile of presents were all for him! He was just so cute, he kept saying "for me?"


After opening his presents and getting rid of the packaging on his new diggers he set off to watching his new Tinkerbell film (he loves these, and they are such gentle stories) and playing with his new toys.
Rob had made him an amazing racing ramp for his cars (there will be an additional blog about this) which he loved and sent new cars racing down!

Once we had had some breakfast I packed up a small picnic and gathered some swimming stuff as we were heading to Woodhall Spa to visit Jubilee Park where there is a beautiful outdoor public swimming pool.


The weather was beautiful and the pool was nice and quiet. It is probably best to attend here out of school holidays as it isn't huge but it is a decent size that even if it is busy, you still can have your own bit of space.
Jubilee park is described as Woodhall Spa's "best kept secret". It is a caravan park but it also is there for public use. It is an immaculately kept park which offers cricket, tennis, croquet, bowls, swimming, a playground and a games hut with more activities which is available to all.

The thing that I love about here is just how pretty it is. There is a large pool and a small kids pool which Etta and Raph adored. Both pools have a graduating depth but the children's one doesn't go so deep, Raph can happily stand and more through the water. I love that as an adult you can sit in it properly. It's a great way to stay cool and be with the kids. There is a lovely little food hut in the pool area serving great snacks and delicious ice cream.


We stayed in here most of the day before leaving to go into the playground.
After a good play we had quite an exhausted little boy! Luckily Etta had a good snooze in her pushchair while I sunbathed and the boys splashed. So we headed home to meet family at ours to carry on the party.

Once home, it wasn't long before the visitors started arriving for the evening celebrations. We had decided to have a fish and chip supper as I didn't want to have to rush back to start preparing tea for 17 (that is not even all of our immediate family!!) we went along to Bentley's Fish and Chips shop which is a local one to us and picked up a box packed full of golden age portions, (the perfect size in our opinion). We then had everyone sat throughout the house, some at the dining table, some on the picnic table and some on a blanket on the grass. It was really nice being together for a celebration. Raphael loves his family, so having them here was all we needed to do. He was just so happy to be able to show off his new toys and play with them with his uncles, aunts and grandparents.


Once we had done birthday cakes and had a bit more playing, we took a very tired little boy off to bed. He was so exhausted but once settled he carried on playing with his new teenage mutant ninja turtles characters and eventually went to sleep after I had threatened to take them back downstairs!!

Then the clear up began, luckily my mum had stood and washed the pots, which made my life so much easier and it didn't take long before Rob and I were sat on the sofa falling asleep ourselves!!

We are so lucky, I can't even put into words how fast these few years have gone and how much Raph has changed from a baby with so many needs to this beautiful boy. We are truly blessed.


Post by Emily
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