Longdown Activity Farm

You know how once in a while, you put things off for SO LONG that it literally becomes embarrassing to pick up the activity again? For example, vowing to learn how to rollerSKATE (not rollerBLADE). Well, this post is almost embarrassing to post because it's so overdue. I meant to upload this in DECEMBER when we actually went to the farm, and whoops, it's April! :(

One weekend in December, we brought DN to Longdown Activity Farm, about a half hour drive from where we were staying. It was free for DN and £7 for each of us. What a fun morning! The farm had half-hourly activities like:

1. Bottle Feeding the Goat Kids
2. Duck Feeding (OMG, you should how these ducks eat! Pushing, shoving, climbing over each other... no decorum whatsoever, tut tut.)

3. Bull Shaving


JUST KIDDING! This guy was just hanging out in a pen, showing off his long locks. Check out that fringe.

4. Small Animal Handling

Oooh, this was FUN. DN got to handle fluffy little chicks and rabbits. For a while, I was so afraid he was going to CRUSH the chicks. (I dunno, I think my son is the incredible hulk or something.) But DN was really so gentle with the little critters. Do not be deceived by this innocent-looking little rabbit with floppy ears. It's a crocodile in rabbit's clothing. Really. They should put this guy behind bars.

What I thought was a little sniff of DN's trousers was well, NOT!

I really really wanted to ride on the tractor (city mouse lah) but dang, it wasn't running because of the weather. Grrr... DN would have LOVED that. So we found small ones for him to play on, haha.

They also sold organic, free-range eggs at the farm, and you could pick your own. The children kept opening the lids to check for eggs... open-shut-open-shut-open-shut-open-shut... No wonder none of the chickens wanted to lay eggs in there. "Excuse me, I'm passing something out of my bottom, can I have some privacy PLEASE!"

Fancy keeping some chickens at home?

Trainspotting

Boy, does this country love its trains. A quick google search revealed all these railways, just on the first page. It's nice to see that someone is taking care of all these retired trains.

The Midland Railway
Perrygrove Railway
Welsh Highland Heritage Railway
Mid Hants Railway
The North Norfolk Railway

We decided to check out the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway because it was only a 15 minute drive from us. DN was so excited when we told him he was going to see the trains. He kept bugging us to get out of the house to "see Thomas".

We paid 6 pounds each for 3 return rides. DN rode free. Heh heh.

Being the true Singaporean, I told PF, "If we don't ride together, DN can go on 6 rides!" And of course, being the true tropical Singaporean, I was freezing my cheapo ass off so as much as I would have liked to bleed our tickets dry, we stuck to the 3 rides. And it took us 4 hours to complete those 20-minute rides, can you believe it! It was so cold, we hid and thawed out in the cafe between rides.

The trains are mini open-topped ones, so the little guy was really cold. Here he is pushing PF's hands to his face to shield it from the wind.

Even though DN looked like this 80% of the time while we were on the train, we know he enjoyed the trains because he keeps asking us to play the videos we took. We now put them all on a playlist, AND on repeat.

The boys on the train. Yes, I know DN looks like a brown dumpling. It's for his own good!

DN will probably sell his soul for us to bring him to this and this, but too bad, we won't be around for them. :( To make up for it, we're going to try to see the big trains at Didcot Railway Centre tomorrow. It's a "Steamday", so the entrance fee includes unlimited free rides on the steam trains. (And these are covered trains, so the Singaporean can make the most of her ticket now. Woot!)

How we spent our Christmas Day

It wasn't a white Christmas (BIG phew) but it was an unexpectedly sunny one. This was a pleasant surprise because when you look up at the sky over here, you usually see something resembling an elephant's bum - grey and threatening.

So we happily headed out to the New Forest to see the ponies and deer. By the way, the New Forest is anything but new. It is in actual fact terribly old (trust the English to confuse us all... think 'Reading', the city and 'reading', the verb) because it was created in 1079 by William the Conqueror. It was the only place we could go to because it's a complete shut-down here on Christmas Day.

As I packed a light lunch for all of us, I thought of the nice little picnic we would be having in the bright sunshine. And I was so proud of myself because I didn't forget the cutlery! Nothing could dampen my spirit.

DN's lunch? Check.
Our lunch? Check.
Vegetables for all? Check.
Fruits for all? Check.
Cutlery? Check.
Assortment of beverages? Check.

Nothing could go wrong! ... Right?

Wrong. It was too blinking cold to eat outside! We ended up retreating back to the car for lunch. -_- Oh well.

DN's lunch
Main Box :: fried rice (with egg, mushrooms, yellow pepper, carrots, beans)
Sweets Box :: 1/2 granola bar, dried apricots and blueberries, almonds, multi-vits
Vege Box :: broccoli, apples

Our Lunch
The same as DN's but with more chilli and salt! (not on the apples though)

Hampshire Farmer's Market

We woke up early on Sunday to go to the Hampshire Farmer's Market. It comes to Winchester only twice a month, so we thought we'd better catch it before they "shut" for the Christmas / New Year period. I love it! The produce is all locally grown so you know it's freshfreshfresh, and you get to meet the farmer who grew the vegetables, the butcher who reared the pigs, the apiarist who harvested the honey and the baker who baked the bread. Mmm-mmm-mmm!

Of course, the entire idea appeals to us so much more than DN, who wandered off to stomp in a puddle. :(

We bought some Hampshire honey (£1) for DN's oatmeal in the mornings...

... a yummy homemade Lime Drizzle Cake (£3.50)...

... and gorgeous watercress, raisin and cheese scones (25p each for the raisin and cheese ones, and 50p each for the watercress ones).

We also bought a variety of sausages - English, Wild Boar, Chilli, Tomato and Leek. But no pictures of them here because the amount we bought is embarrassing.

We are SO going to get nitrate poisoning. But we're SO going to enjoy the process. ;)

Andover Museum

Today, we drove half an hour to Andover because I had to pick up another toy I bought on Ebay. Oops. I promise this will be the last one. Since we were there, I thought we might as well check out the Andover Museum. (It's free!) After a few wrong turns, we found it, and boy was I relieved that no one had puked.

You see, we drove to Southampton yesterday to stock up at Yau Brothers and we got lost. Halfway during the journey, DN started whining and my brother, Josh, started turning a suspicious shade of green. I was fine because I was in front shouting unhelpfully at PF to, "Turn right! (but pointing left) Reverse! Take the 1st, 2nd or 3rd turning! (he got really frustrated with this one) 4th exit at the roundabout! Wait, we're not supposed to see any more roundabouts! Er sorry, I think we were supposed to turn left just now. U-turn! U-TURN!" I think there were 3 beings that wanted to throw me out of the car yesterday. PF couldn't because he was driving. Josh couldn't because his hands were holding his lunch in. DN couldn't because his hands are just too short.

My goodness, when we finally found the elusive *spit with venom* Prince's Street, all of us literally collapsed out of the car. Josh bent over next to the car and started dry-retching. In the supermarket, DN puked. :( And I held it (the puke). :(((

At this point, I'd like to say that PF has to shoulder some blame too. My silly husband is so worried that our son will get frostbite that he turns the heater in the car up to 28 degrees, FULL POWER. Keep in mind that the temperature outside is around 5 degrees. Now, what happens when hot air meets cold air? Condensation right? And boy, did we have more than our fair share of condensation in the car. It's amazing how PF could still drive - it was fogging up so badly in our car that from the outside, we must have looked like a carful of chain-smoking hippies. The heat and stuffiness probably made them extra ill. So it's not really my fault you see! Anyway, back to the Andover Museum. And how we were so relieved to find it with our stomachs intact. :D

It's a tiny little museum that chronicles England's Iron Age. I didn't explore it that thoroughly because I was checking out all the kids' activities with DN. He really enjoyed the colouring station. Psst! Do you recognise the jumper Dawn? ;)

There was a smaller side exhibition entitled "Hair" that looked at anything related to hair - hairstyles throughout the ages, retro hairdryers, the make-up of hair etc. I like how it actually catered to all ages. DN entertained himself there for close to half an hour. There was a kids' corner and in it was this basket of playmobil toys. Look carefully - it's a hairdressing salon scene! Cool bananas.

What do you think DN is doing here?

He's combing the doll's hair with this!

After that, he tried to brush his teeth with it. -_-

The Natural History Room was really child-friendly. There were 2 low tables with all sorts of activities - wooden puzzles, board games and even a bookmark making station.

Reunited... and it feels so good!
You should play this song as you read this post. Hur hur hur!

I promised an update on our "reunion" so here it is.

As erm, predicted, the grand reunion didn't really go according to plan. The unfortunate (and unplanned) combination of me hitting the snooze button twice (sorry PF!!) and getting lost driving around the airport made me late. They were already standing outside the gate waiting for me when I ran in at 7.10am. The flight got in at 6.20am. I thought it would take at least an hour for them to clear customs and collect their luggage, so technically, I was early okay? (Trust my luck for Heathrow to be effective on this day of all days.) I even brought a book to read while waiting for them! PF saw the book and the look on his face read, "I can't believe this woman!"

DN saw me before I saw him, and according to PF, he said, "There! Mummy!" From a distance, I could see him grinning away! He looked so happy! Of course, I ran like a blinking idiot, arms flailing unglamourously, to DN. PF let him down and we ran and crashed into each other. He hugged me so tightly and couldn't stop smiling! Oh, it was a wonderful moment! I don't want to ever forget it. Finally, PF let go of me and I hugged DN next.

Haha. JUST KIDDING.

Because I was late, we got in and out of the car park in under 15 minutes so our parking was free. Ho ho. A good thing too, because parking is like 2.50 pounds per 15 minutes. Ack.

I can't begin to explain how happy I am to see DN again. He's changed so much since I last saw him 10 weeks ago. A few times, I've caught myself looking at him and thinking, "Is this the same DN?". I can't believe how talkative he is now! 10 weeks ago, he was only saying selective words, literally just WORDS. Now he's saying actual, complete SENTENCES and he keeps repeating after me like a parrot. Goodness. I'm still so tickled by it all, I can't help giggling when he talks. It's too cute, buay tahan.

Thankfully, DN switched to UK time immediately and has no jet lag at all. He went to bed at 730pm last night and got up at 7am today. Just now, he slept at 815pm. I think it helped that they took the non-stop red-eye flight. DN managed to sleep for about 10 hours (of the 14 hour flight) on the plane and when they arrived at 6.20am, it's just like he's starting a brand-new day. :) I don't think it'll be as easy going back to SG though.

After his nap at 10.30am, we ventured out and checked out the Winchester Christmas Market where PF and DN feasted on mulled wine and a gingerbread man cookie, respectively.

You can take the Singaporeans out of Singapore, but you can't take Singapore out of the Singaporeans.

Today, we went out to get a temporary carpet to lay over the horrible, grubby, thread-bare one in the flat. I don't know what kind of little creatures are living in it and what has been dropped on it before, and don't want to know actually. Well, we found this good buy at a 50%, then 20% discount - 80 pounds 40 pounds 32 pounds! And it's vinyl too! Carpets and toddlers with a tendency to drop food are not a good match at all.

Here's Mr Happy playing with Scoop, Muck, Roley, Lofty and Skip. He's a happy little bub.

And so am I. :)

Winchester City Museum

Class was cancelled today and you should have heard us cheer in the classroom. It didn't sound like a class of mature, post-graduate students, LOL. Even our lecturer called us b*stards (in good faith, of course)!

It was really a nice surprise because we've been in class from 9am-5pm, Mondays to Thursdays and 9am-12pm on Fridays. After 4 weeks of this, no wonder we sounded like a rave party when class was cancelled. Never before have I been so glad to hear of someone being stuck in really bad traffic. (My lecturer had been stuck for over an hour and couldn't get to us in time.)

Woot!

So what do you do when life suddenly presents you with a free day? :)

I decided to just amble about in town, and I stumbled into the Winchester City Museum by accident. And it was a good thing too, because I discovered how child-friendly it was.

"The museum welcomes families with children of any age. Don't worry too much about your toddler's noise; we're not the cathedral, you don't have to whisper! Try to relax about your children touching things. If objects shouldn't be touched they are safely out of harm's way."

http://www.winchester.gov.uk/Documents/Museums/Under%205s%20guide%20for%20web.pdf

And it's FREE. (So this is where some of their 40% income taxes go!)

A special exhibition on the Vikings just started. They cleverly used museum theatre and it was fun to see some ancient characters come to life. On one floor there was a soldier telling everyone about his chainmail, helmet and shield. The kids even got to try on helmets and carry shields. They couldn't wear the chainmail though, because (in the words of the soldier), "The chainmail's so heavy that after wearing it, you will have arms like a gibbon." LOL.

On another floor, there was a lady telling stories.

DN might still be a bit too young for these activities, but there were these little tables and chairs peppered all over the museum. If you look closely, you can see crayons and colouring paper for little ones to colour on.

I hope DN will like it here.