Trip to Knowsley Safari Park

On Saturday we decided that we would take a trip to Knowsley Safari Park. We had not been on a trip together for a while, and it was such a glorious day. The weather was sunny, if a little cold.

When Gemma arrived home from work, Ellie and I gave her enough time to get changed and grab a quick bite to eat before we headed off. In the 30 minutes or so it took us to drive to Knowsley, Ellie managed to fall asleep in her car seat. She was well away and was still fast asleep as we were about to enter the enclosure.

A little encouragement was needed to wake Ellie up, and she stirred not really knowing where she was. Once she came round properly and realised that we were going to see the animals she got very excited.

“Animals” she shouted. “Go see, animals.”

With Ellie now fully awake and eager to see the animals we headed through the gates of the enclosure.

The first animals to be seen was the herd of Fallow Deer, who thought it would be a good idea to congregate across the road, whilst they ate what looked like a tonne of carrots. This did give the opportunity to see the Deer up close.

There was a little drive to see the next animals as it is winter so the deer are not grazing. The next animals to see were the Tigers. Unfortunately for Ellie they were hidden in the grass so that she wasn’t able to see them. It was a shame as she was excited at seeing them.

Next up were the Lions. The lions were very popular, with a large number of cars queueing to get a good look at them. All of the lions were lying next to the road so everyone was able to get a close up view of them. With the large number of people trying to get a view of them, it was difficult to get a really good view. That was until the lions decided it was time to get up and have a walk.

The lions made their way around and in between all of the cars. The photo on the right shows how close we got to them. I was a bit gutted how it turned out. Just as I was tracking the lioness and pressed the button the windscreen wiper came into shot. Aaaaagh! Can’t win them all, I suppose. From the lions we headed amongst the emus, buffalo, more deer, wallabies.

As we came out of the lions enclosure we had a very easy decision to make.

Do we go into the Baboon enclosure and have our car pulled apart? Or, go on the car-friendly route along the edge of the enclosure?

Tough one that!

We took the car-friendly route. And it was a good decision looking at the cars already travelling through the enclosure. The most common items to disappear were the windscreen wipers. It was quite amusing following a car trying to clean the rear window without a wiper blade.

The baboons are always good to watch, climbing over everyone else’s car, and chasing each other. There was a big free for all when the keeper brought them some more food. All of the larger males chasing off the smaller ones who would dare to try and get their food first. No respect for their elders!

From the baboons we then went through to the camels, ostriches and the rhinos. I was surprised by the sight of the baby rhino who was so much bigger than the last time we had seen him (or her – not too sure). I didn’t think that it was that long ago that we’d last seen it. Obviously it must have been. The rhinos were the last stop in the enclosure and we headed out of the gate.

The elephants were our next stop, who have their own separate enclosure. This was only a quick stop, as there was only one of the elephants wandering about, and shortly after getting Ellie out of the car, she wanted to get back in. I couldn’t blame her as it was pretty cold.

We then parked the car and went for a little walk. Ellie wanted to go and see the giraffes, so we walked the short distance to the giraffe house, passing the meerkats and otters on the way.

We then walked back up to the Children’s Farm. Ellie really likes this and you can stroke the animals. She was a little wary of stroking the animals at first, but once she got over her initial nervousness she had a good time. At one point she put her head through the bars on the pen for the pig to get a better look. Luckily she didn’t get stuck!

Ellie really enjoyed seeing all the animals, and also enjoyed her freedom wandering around on her own, giving her that little bit of independence. She looked so cute, trotting about with her little backpack on.

After a good walk around it was time to head home as a certain little girl was getting very tired, and I’m sure that Gemma’s legs were getting tired having to carry her bump around.

We all had a really good afternoon out, sunny weather if a little cold.

An Afternoon at the Park

Ellie and I had a great time yesterday afternoon. We ventured out into the cold and went to the park to have a play.

We set off, both of us wrapped up against the cold and walked to the park. Although Ellie didn’t walk too far as she insisted on having a carry! We got to the park and Ellie ran off towards the play area. She soon turned around as the local ducks and geese headed towards us, as they were expecting to be fed. Ellie ran towards me shouting, “Daddy!”

She practically jumped into my arms as the army of birds began to surround us. One goose in particular was a bit braver than the other, and stretched his neck up to have a good sniff.

After a few sniffs Ellie got bored of the goose’s company and headed to the swings. I lifted her on to the swing and set Ellie on her way. Ellie was having a really good time. She looked so cute wrapped up in her hat and scarf squealing on the swing, “Woo!”

The next place Ellie wanted to go was the climbing frame, so we headed over to it, where Ellie bounded up the steps so that she could go down the slide. She spent a good time on the climbing frame going up the steps, down the slide, all the time shouting “Again!”

On the climbing frame was a fireman’s pole, which she spotted and shouted to me “Sam!”, as in Fireman Sam. With a bit of help from me, Ellie had a few go’s at sliding down the pole. “Wee!” was the cry.

After a time, a group of other children arrived from one of the local nurseries. I was impressed with how Ellie handles herself with all the other children. Not once did she get all possessive over the play area. She always waited her turn to climb the steps and go down the slide. She had a really great time, following some of the other children around.

Ellie went back and to between the swings and the climbing frame. At one point on the swing she said to me, “This is fun!”

I’ve never heard her say anything like that before.

After a good hour of being out in the cold I suggested to Ellie that we go home. But she was having none of it, she wanted to stay out and play. Can’t blame her really, even if it was freezing cold. After a little persuasion, and the promise of a drink of juice and a biscuit when we got home, Ellie reluctantly agreed to head home.

As we left the park, Ellie didn’t seem to keen on walking, so I gave her a lift on my shoulders. She really enjoyed this, bouncing along on my shoulders.

By the time we got home, Ellie was absolutely knackered. We both had a great time, in spite of the freezing cold.

Honeymoon

I’ve added some pages about our honeymoon in Portugal.

These can be found here.

Blackpool Illuminations

On Thursday night we took Ellie to see the Illuminations at Blackpool.

As it was Gemma’s night off from work we thought we’d take the opportunity to go to Blackpool to show Ellie the Illuminations.

Once we got there it was still quite light, so we got ourselves some fish and chips and waited for the light to disappear. Once the darkness began to descend we took a walk along the promenade towards the North Pier where we were got on the tram to take us some of the way down the promenade to see the Illuminations.

It seemed to take an absolute age for the tram to appear. So when it finally appeared we got on and paid our money to the conductor. We were sat on the top deck, which gave us all a good view of the lights. Ellie was pretty excited about it all, calling the tram “Toby” after the tram from Thomas the Tank Engine.

After a few stops we got off the tram and went for a walk along the Central Pier. It was getting quite cold now and Ellie was all wrapped up warm in her winter coat. She enjoyed see all the lights and noises on the pier, but did seem a little unfussed by some of the rides.

After walking around the pier it was starting to get quite late so we decided to head home. It had been a lovely evening.

Thomas the Tank Engine

Yesterday we took Ellie to see Thomas the Tank Engine at Llangollen Railway Station. She had been so excited about seeing him all week. Asking her who she’d be seeing, Ellie would shout “THOMAS!!!”, in her characteristic high pitched shout .

We headed down to Wrexham pretty early to meet up with Nana Mandy and Taido, along with Uncles Craig and Ricky, who were tagging along with us.

Heading into Llangollen, it seemed to be pretty busy, and this was highlighted by the lack of parking spaces in the main car parks, so we had to find somewhere else to park. We ended up parking in the local secondary school, which was only a short walk to the railway station.

As we walked around the corner of the railway station, Ellie’s eyes lit up and with her usual excitement, she shouted “Percy!” as she clamped her eyes on Percy. We got the tickets for the trains quickly so that Ellie could get on to the platform in order to see Percy and then Thomas. Luckily the queue was not that big.

We were led onto the platform by Ellie who was eager to see Thomas and his friends. Ellie had her photo taken with both Percy, and The Fat Controller.

We also went for a short ride in the Troublesome Trucks, pulled by Thomas. Ellie was very keen to look out of the carriage to see where we were going. She was very excited to be taken on a journey by Thomas.

After the train ride, we all went for lunch. This caused a minor “disagreement” as Nana Mandy insisted on paying, but Gemma and I wouldn’t let her as she had already paid for the train tickets. So, with a bit of quick thinking on my part, I picked up her purse which was lying on the table and hid it from her so that she couldn’t pay.

We also had some ice-creams, even Ellie, who has never been keen on them before. She has always not liked things that are too cold, but yesterday was different. Just shows that tastes can change quickly. She really enjoyed eating until I licked around the edge of her ice-cream, which caused her to drop it. Oops! Sorry Ellie . Taido then saved the day by donating his ice-cream, which Ellie then wolfed down.

We then all went for a trip on the canal boats. These were old canal boats, pulled along by horses. The trip lasted about 40 minutes, and it was a really good relaxing time. Ellie enjoyed seeing all the scenery and loved the horse that was pulling the boat.

We all had a really enjoyable day, and it was great seeing Ellie’s face when she saw Thomas and Percy. They are the moments that you cherish forever.