Sun, Sea and Surf

Hello,

The weather warning said thundery showers, so the whole family rushed out to the garden centre to get more plants and, most importantly, another water barrel. All our new plants are drinking up a lot of water so this seemed a very good oportunity to harvest it. In the end we got another two, although only one has been fitted yet. Of course, it has hardly rained a drop since installing it, so we still don't know if Neil's actually installed it correctly!

Talking of water, another quick stop to the shops and our little girl is loving our new addition to the garden...

Zafra has perfected the art of lunging on a ball from great heights...

 

The great height is because Zafra is now starting to gain confidence in standing up by herself. She first did it a couple of weeks ago and now can stand up by herself for over 15 seconds. It's amazing to watch, considering she was such a small thing once.

Zafra's Paddling Pool. The inflatable sides allow her to crawl in and out without losing much water.

Zafra and Jenny went down to the beach the other day, to meet up with two other babies from the NCT group, Violet and Alfie (along with their Mummies Debbie and Clare, of course!)

Violet and Alfie look at passersby. While they're distracted, Zafra hunts for a sandwich.

No, she didn't go surfing, if that's what you're wondering. The surf reference in the title is because Zafra's moved up a class in her swimming so now one of the activities they do in the pool is to lie on a small board while Neil pulls her all over the place singing the Hawaii 5-O music (everyone does it, not just Neil!). She seems to be over the Water Wobbles, the period that some babies have where they hate to go in the water. Earlier today, we went down to the local swimming pool and Zafra swam underwater 6 times in about 45 minutes without any grizzles.


Neil has been working very hard recently to get the front and back gardens looking nicer. Before mowing the bejeebers out of the front lawn, though, he took this photo.

Very pretty, but they're all weeds, so they must die.

This being 4th July, we usually go out for a meal at T.G.I. Friday's. Zafra was a bit grizzly when we arrived at the restaurant and no amount of tomato would calm her down (she LOVES tomato). Then Jenny had a great idea...

Just a small piece of bread, US style.

Burger bun! Gimme burger bun!

We had a first as well - Zafra's first encounter with ice cubes. Although the photo below shows her drinking with Daddy, many minutes were spent trying to pull the ice cubes out of the glass first...

Slurp!

After a while, the grizzles returned until Neil took Zafra near a balloon. She loved it but he was very nervous that she would squeeze and pop it and just go bananas with fright. Thankfully, she didn't and was happy for the rest of the evening - in fact she only let the balloon go once we got into the car...

The new face of T.G.I. Friday's.

Now, what should I order?

What can I order that will throw well across the restaurant later?

Happy mummy and baby

  In case you were wondering what Zafra was wearing, it was her special 4th July outfit...

Time to go to bed, but not without a kissy from Daddy before we get into the car...

In case you're wondering, no, Neil isn't bothered about 4th July as an Englishman, because all his ancestors were in Lithuania, Poland etc.at the time!

So, just a quick update because we're trying to get back into the habit of writing this blog more often.

Wishing you all a happy 4th July!