Borton on the Water

Though the forecast was for rain, this turned out to be a beautiful day - the sun even came out for us!
Jonas has his eyes on the dog. He always displayed big smiles at the sight of any dog!








Where did that dog go? I thought I was so close to catching it!





Looks like the ducks are just as exciting! Borton on the Water is known as the "little Venice of England." It was definitely one of the highlights of our mini-tours. 

This is ivy that has changed to fall colors.











Strolling along the paths, enjoying the peaceful ambience.

















Time for creme tea! We enjoyed tea with scones & clotted cream (we would call it whipped butter!) I never liked the idea of eating anything "clotted", but it was rather delicious, although not even a little bit healthy, I'm sure!

A beautiful day. 

Busy boy

Checking out the laundry cycle. Did you know they make a washer/dryer in one machine? Great idea - unfortunately, not one that works very well!
How about the stove - how does it work?

I think I might need to check out these buttons.

My fingers work very well!

More birthday celebrations

This evening turned out a little differently than planned. He we are, minus Dave, who had another committment. So, this evening it's just us and Jody and we celebrated Jody's birthday a different evening. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the actual party, so I'm showing you this lovely Italian restaurant where we dined this evening. 

Jonas in Red

Jay - remember this outfit?! Jody tried it on him while we were there & it fits him. He should be wearing it at Christmas.













Jonas has been practising his walking. So far, he loves to walk if you hold both his hands. When you try letting go of one, he is not happy!













Apparently, in the last week, Jody says he's become quite confident just holding on with one hand. 

Celebrating

Jonas will turn one on Halloween. We won't be here then, so we're celebrating early. He's a little confused as to what this is all about!


What do I do, Mom?


He's quite tentative at the start.



Mom & Dad will show him how it's done!

You can have your cake & eat it, too!

A little encouragement from Mommy & Daddy....














... let me have that fork!

... this isn't so hard! Fork, hands, whatever it takes!





















....and before you know it, it's totally demolished!

Of course, there have to be presents to open! Jonas surveys these with great intensity, but makes no move to open them!













We help him along. This is a cool toy we picked out - it was actually a gift from Poppi Haines. You push the farmer's head & he says "It's tractor time" and "we're off to the fields!" It didn't take Jonas long to get the hang of that, but the one other smaller button, which "started the engine", was a little more delicate & had to be done just right. He eventually got it, too.





We got him this hammer & peg toy, which was always a favorite with our kids.

The many faces of Jonas

It's bathtime - and Jonas loves it! I can tell his hair has grown & we think it's going to be curly, like Jody's, once it gets a little longer. 

After Jonas had his morning nap, Jody, Larry, Jonas & I took a walk downtown. It's a nice walk, only takes about 10 -15 minutes.



















Along the way, we passed this beautiful old stone church, called St. Catherine's. It looked like it had occupied this spot for a hundred years, which it likely had!














We also passed this hotel which is where we likely would have stayed if Jody & Dave hadn's invited us to stay at their apartment. It's only about 5 minutes from their place.










In the distance, you can see the spires of some more churches as well as the Gloucester cathedral.

We stopped at a little hole in the wall called Hedley's, where we ordered panini sandwiches, jacket potatoes, a bowl of tomato basil soup and, of course, the crisps that seem to accompany every meal! We call them chips in Canada. You think we have a variety of flavours! Well, you ain't see nothin'! They have them in every flavour under the sun and moms all over England think they're a staple food. They insist their kids eat them before they get their chocolate cupcakes!


After lunch we walk over to the huge Gloucester cathedral. King Edward II is buried here, along with countless other lords and nobles. It is quite an imposing structure and we came back another day to get the full tour.
 

Day 3 in Gloucester

Jonas' morning routine consisted of waking up around 7:00AM, on average, playing, having his morning bottle, playing, eating a hearty breakfast, playing, then going down for a morning nap. This was probably his best and happiest time of day, when it was fun to play with him.
Larry, Dave, Ian and Dave Keeper (the photographer), played a round of golf at the Cotswolds Country Club. Apparently, they had a pretty good time.
Here is Ian, taking a shot. Ian & his wife Ally, have a one week old baby, Thomas. He's a brother for Josh who's 4 & Isie, who's 2. Jody made lasagna for dinner & we took it over to their place for dinner that nite.