Our First Holiday

Ok so at the start of the Summer Holidays we had our first ever family holiday and we did a staycation in which we visited the South Coast of England heading for the epic journey to Deal just along the coast from Dover, to say we had nice weather would not be a lie as you can see. 

We were also treated to a few tall ships sailing past as well 

One of the things we discovered where we were staying was the stairs with Jasper thought were great, we however didn't think so as he is a chair climbing monster and we had to watch him like a hawk to prevent him from getting to high without us being there to catch him. 

And he spent the week being a very cheeky monster 

and found a new favourite toy in the camera bag 

As you can see he had plenty of space to run around and play in. 

This view is from the end of the Pier that was right outside of the house we were staying in, a pleasant walk down and a great view back, Jasper enjoyed riding down in the sling and walking back, especially examining every little thing that he stood on.  

We could see France almost every day we were there, it would have been nice to visit but Jasper's Passport hadn't arrived before we'd left so no trip across the channel for us.

Jasper has also become a bit of a camera tart when ever we pull it out he comes for it with a manic grin on his face. 

We spent most of our days exploring the area, so Jasper spent a fair amount of time riding on our backs 

Here we are exploring Canterbury 

The Abbey Gate House 

And another Gate to the Abbey 

Jasper's Cafe just cause

Walking towards the City Walls 

And the City Walls themselves 

Canterbury Cathedral Gates 

We would have gone in but at £9 per person it was just too much. 

So this is how close we manage to get to the Cathedral itself. 

We instead spent the Cathedral entry money on funky ice creams instead this is Jaspers Mexican Ice Cream, with a banana wearing a pineapple ring as a hat. 

We discovered that Jasper doesn't really like ice cream as it's too cold for him so Mummy got to eat the Ice Cream all to herself, but on the way home we pulled over and got Jasper a peach which he demolished in the back of the car. 

Jasper also managed to visit the Beach for the first time too, unfortunately there was not a lot of sand but he love playing with the stones 

and tasting them. 

Daddy and Jasper at the Beach. 

We had a great holiday and it got us prepared for our big Holiday to New York 

It's BIRTHDAY Time

So on the 17th of June Jasper turned 1

The first thing both Helen and me asked was where has all the time gone? It's surprising just how quickly the 1st year of Jasper has gone by. 

Second thing was oh crap! we still need to finish making all the things  for his party so despite the fact that it was his birthday Jasper was put to work helping mummy make some ginger bread biscuits, here below you can see Jasper adding the all so important secret ingredient to the mix. 

After the secret ingredient was fully mixed in Jasper felt the need to sample his wares (Just to make sure that they still tasted nice.) 

And as proof they are still good look he's licked his fingers clean.

One thing that I felt was really important was that Jasper had a special cake made by one of us, so I chose to make him a fittingly suitable cake, I blame ACE OF CAKE's Duff Goldman for my ambitious attempt at a space ship and as you can see it turned out quite well despite the lean on it, the cake was made from 4 (Yes 4!)  individual cakes 2 vanilla and 2 chocolate stacked on top of one another an carved, a slight accident in removing the cakes from the tray contributed to the lean (and the collective weight and mummy's sticking together.) The cakes were made on the  Friday before Jasper's day and after I spent a day dressed in Armour and standing around in torrential rain I spent Saturday night decorating it.  

Next year it's mummy's turn!

As you can see in the picture above Jasper enjoyed the food at his party and the special party hat Mummy made for him. 

Something that we didn't consider was how do we get our little boy to blow out a candle without setting himself or our house on fire, the solution was for mummy to help, here you can see Jasper's reaction to the cake seemed to be a positive one. 

After food and Cake we all gathered in our living room to play and have fun you can see Jasper surrounded by his stuff with Auntie Annette helping Jasper to read.  

And I just got spotted taking photo's 

Our present to Jasper was a paddling pool and balls to make him a ball pit here you can Mummy and Auntie Zoe bouncing the balls with Jasper sat in the pool I really like these pictures because the it looks like the balls are floating around him. 

Once Jasper had become bored of bouncing balls he learnt something else that he could do, he learnt that he could throw balls here is is lining up his shot 

and making sure he'd got a ready supply in his hands. 

And with some help from Mummy and Auntie Zoe, Uncle Richard bore the brunt of the bombardment 

Oh look Daddy's taking pictures again!

Strike a pose

And while Jasper was striking a pose Uncle Richard returned the favour of the bombardment targeting Mummy, who proved to be quite good at catching. 

And one of the best photo's of the day, little Jasper full of joy and all smiles in his new ball pool!

And after a hard days play Jasper went out like a light 

On the Sunday after his birthday we took Jasper out to test one of his other birthday presents, we've been wanting to be able to take him out on a bike, we considered getting a pull along trailer but after exploring the local area we discovered that getting one onto canal paths and some parks would be next to impossible. So after looking around we opted for a seat and in favour of a rear seat we chose to get a front seat and as you can see we look quite good together don't we? 

We went for a few circuits at the local park to test if I would actually be able to ride my bike and to see if Jasper would enjoy the experience.

As you can see below 

HE DID!

Until next time

T