Kids in Heaven

Following Ella's birthday party we all headed off to a local theme park - not Disneyland but Gilroy Gardens. For young kids this was a perfect choice - lots of rides tailored to their age amidst a beautiful garden setting. This first post shows the kinds of rides available for them as well as some of the prominent themes.

The entrance walk was imposing.

And we were greeted at the end by garlic. Gilroy prides itself as the garlic capital of the US, and, of course, there were rides in little cars shaped like garlic.

Ella and Flynn gave that a miss and headed straight to the automobiles. Here's Ella driving an ancient Chevrolet and Flynn at the wheel of another antique vehicle.

Then we were gently propelled downstream on a plastic raft like the one in the background here

 
And this passed pedalos dressed up as swans and ducks.

There was, to Flynn's delight a period piece locomotive hauling passengers around the outside of the gardens and we all went for a ride.

Then Ella rotated around a rotten apple core aboard a worm, While Emily and I enjoyed a wild ride on an extremely fast kind of roundabout.

Getting near lunch-time, Ella fancied a ride in an artichoke, another prominent local crop. That was before she found a genuine old Wurlitzer merry-go-round and here you see her poised elegantly on a nice horse.

The train once again with a lovely background of waterfalls, and here we are riding it.

Then we took off for the water park, for which the weather was perfect.

Then it was ice-cream time and back to the car for the journey home.

AS

Ella's Fourth

The last Sunday in May saw Ella's fourth birthday extravaganza, beautifully set up by Emily. She ordered balloons, made crepe decorations over the kitchen hatch, and sorted out the numerous presents to put in a large pile - before of course party guests added to the total.

Early in the morning we saw the arrival of further party equipment in the form of a jumping castle, which was a huge hit with kids, especially as they could turn the power on and off and expand or deflate the contraption. They also supplied a large folding table and 12 micro-chairs suitable for 4 year olds

The party theme this year was butterflies. Ella produced some her own to festoon the wall. I thought that the third one here was terrific and could have been painted by Picasso. The cake itself took the form of a brightly coloured butterfly and Ella loved it.

The balloons incidentally have lasted a long time and 3 days on are still proudly flying in front of me. And so to the main actions of the day. Opening the presents, all of which went down well;

Entertaining her group of friends.

Jumping in the castle.

And, finally, blowing out the candles on the cake - made difficult by a blustery wind intent on doing that first!

It was a very successful day.

AS

First Week in Mountain View - all go

We've completed our first week in Mountain View (Silicon Valley) visiting Emily, Greg, Ella and Flynn. It was all go as we visited an endless number of parks and other entertainment venues for the grand-kids who were having a ball. It was also fun trying to squeeze five of us into a Toyota sedan as we waltzed between venues, especially as it was my job to sit between Ella and Flynn in the back where their capacious child-seats left little room for me to sit. Anyway, here are a 'few' pictures of where we went and what we did. In the 15 months since I last saw Flynn for his second birthday party, he has grown a lot more active and assertive - a human dynamo. So, here goes:

 

Building a Leggo sky-scraper, which Flynn promptly demolished and Flynn digging in a sand-pit. He is an avid reader of books about machinery and construction.

Steering a ship, and taking off on their scooters for a park.

 Contemplating a rapid descent. Flynn now has little fear of sharp drops.

Wrangling over who should sit on top.

Reading time. They're both avid readers / listeners of our renditions of books - sometimes five in succession.

Playing trains - Flynn has an extensive set of wooden track with little engines of the Thomas the Tank Engine variety.

Circulating in the Mountain View farmers' market where we bought lots of fruit and veges.

Which way to go? Finally, a ride down the slippery dip.

Ella using equipment in ways possibly unanticipated by the designer.

Racing along the equipment under light supervision.

Using equipment in innovative ways, as one would expect in Silicon Valley!

Practising base-ball, while Ella prepares for her first ballet lesson. She looked sweet in her pink outfit.

Flynn climbing at their gym class, followed by more baseball practice, walking across a metal bridge, and climbing through a tunnel.

Ella's swimming lesson

And she's very proficient on the monkey-bars.

Art and music combined. They played with star-fish (not real ones), more trains, sang a long together, added colour and glitter to paper fish covered in glue, and crashed cymbals in the noisy conclusion to the music segment.

They're so lucky to have caring parents who offer them a continual wealth of experiences. A day later, Ella turned 4 and her extravaganza of a party features in the next post.

AS