Fun with our Grandson

At Anzac weekend we decided to go to Hamilton. We were looking forward to seeing how Claudia had grown and could hopefully be of use when Theo went in for his tonsils, adenoids and grommets operation on Tuesday. Unfortunately Theo had the coughs and sniffles and snoring that was making the op neccessary, so it had to be delayed and he has not had it yet.

Theo is very good with Claudia.

Smiles and cuddles for the camera

Poor little Theo would wake up tired and achy and very grumpy, but once he got going he was a pleasure  to take out.

Our first outing was to take Simon to soccer in Otorohanga. What lovely countryside on the drive out, and Te Awamutu, which I had visited many times as a child was a prosperous growing town. We found a park for Theo while they warmed up, but unfortunately there were lots of wasps there. Duncan and Theo walked all around the field then we sat and watched for a bit. 

Simon injured his thigh in the warm up but still showed good skills on the field. (He's in the red) It is quite hard for a little boy to follow the action but Theo did very well.

After the game we took Theo for a jellytip (I had a magnum) while Simon went to the post match function.

Next day our outing was to the Legoland Exhibition. Obviously some children get bitten by the lego bug and it stays with the into adulthood

This village was very ornate

London Bridge (or is it Tower Bridge?) and the red doubledecker bus.

Some of the smaller displays were less over-welming for Theo as he could relate them to his own lego experience.

One displays was of a lego film made in the time honoured way of making one frame at a time and then moving the lego characters. Theo wanted to listen to the soundtrack that goes with it. He waited so patiently for his turn - even when some others pushed in. We were so proud of him.

Aliens are always popular

Of course this display led onto and area where you could buy things, but since Theo had paid for his entrance out of the money from his money box we didn't mind. He chose something for 8+  years so help was required with assembly!

On Monday we headed for the zoo which is beautifully laid out with plenty of room for the animals.

This animal is Theoarososaurus.

To start with we couldn't see the tigers so we used the model - but eventually we found them in the shady part of their large enclosure.

The giraffes were very popular - their skins were very glossy

The rhinoceros were also very impressive. There was quite a large herd of them (and the giraffes). Its quite a long walk and some parents had grizzly children, but not us. Theo made it to the end and then had a session in the playground.

Tuesday  - and the weather had taken a turn for the worse, so we didn't head off to Raglan as we had planned. We took a picnic to a small beach on the banks of the Waikato river, and then attempted some kite flying at Steele Park. Theo likes to run with it behind him rather than hold it when it is safely in the air. We were so close to Duck Island (icecream parlour) Theo and I went off for icecreams while the others went to Grey Street Gardens for coffee

Blueberry and mint! Grandma had Feta and Fig!

Starting to lose interest in eating the icecream now and playing with it.

Next day Duncan went and played golf with Barry and I lunched with Liz. So we're looking forward to more fun with grandson when we come up for field-days, and lets hope Theo is well enough for them to do the op soon.