"It's 7am on my birthday, and I'm ready for my presents, Daddy. Bring them on."
Here is the standard layout - presents by the TV accompanied by balloons (just out of picture) and cards. That big blue thing is actually a present - no prizes for guessing that it is a large bean bag.
First up, though, Gregory has gone for opening a sticker book. About animals.
Soon the present opening gains pace, with Daisy lending a hand. Books, stickers and the game Perfection are evident.
Our new young male model excellently showcases his array of presents. He looks pretty happy with his lot.
As is typical, Gregory's birthday falls in the Easter school holidays, so as is customary I have taken the day off work. This time, we headed to Dunham Massey, hoping for no incidents (see last year's fun and games). It's quite an expanse and so we took the scooters with us, to watch them disappear into the distance.
A notable feature of Dunham Massey - the watery bit and the building-y bit (I'm obviously reading from the literature here).
Oh look, a slightly camp-looking lion atop a plinth!
Some nearly arranged but knobbly trees!
After that little bit of scenic shootery, we wandered into the deer area. We were actually partly trying to find where the trail was, but we lost our bearings a little. Never mind, though, we found a deer!
The boy certainly seemed content to scoot around in his wellies.
Here is a map of Dunham Massey, which we misread slightly in trying to find the gardens. The problem was that we had a map of the gardens but without it being obvious (to us) where exactly you got into them.
It looks here like Daisy has had a bit of an incident and Gregory (the seventh emergency service) is en route to see what's up.
Finally we wandered closer to our destination, which was near the grand house.
See, this kind of sign is very helpful for those of us unable to decipher maps. We were even given instructions about what to do with our tickets.
And this is the map that we had of the gardens (of course, we had a portable one - we hadn't lugged this whole thing around with us). We maintain that it is not obvious where this sits in the bigger map. Well it probably is now since we found it.
So this apparently is one of the most popular dwarf daffodil varieties available, and nothing to do with a hunter in Greek mythology having a head-to-head with someone.
Here is a close-up of said flowers.
So the garden trail involved following a map (uh oh) to find animals with special powers. The rat's special power (ok, super sense), for example, is its smell. It apparently can smell in stereo, which means that both of their nostrils can act on their own. Madness.
There were some nice pictures of animals on the owl hanging thing, which Gregory perused with interest.
I've no idea what these are, but they looked funky, with the appearance of something in between a flower and a vegetable.
Soon we had to cross the dangerous one-sided bridge, with the intrepid Daisy leading the way, knowing no fear. We kept our distance at the back.
For some reason, the reindeer had lots of pegs attached to it. Not particularly realistic.
The grand old house from a watery angle. You get all the scenic shots on here.
Later, we found the honey bee, whose super sense is magnetism. As the sign says, they have tiny magnetic compasses in their tummies, which helps them find their way back to the hive.
Daisy seems to be marching off while Gregory seems to be saying "what can I do?".
And now: some flowers. From red mist (assuming Daisy was in some kind of mood - a fair guess but possibly inaccurate) to blue mist.
After the shuffle around the gardens, it was time for some refreshments. For Lynne, this meant an overfilled cappuccino.
For the kids, it involved sandwiches, crisps and some Easter egg that they got (I think) from completing the trail.
In the evening, we headed to Bella Italia (which I assume was Gregory's choice) at Parrs Wood, where had chicken dippers and chips, while I had some kind of herby (cheesy) gnocchi.
On the following Saturday, we headed over to Boothstown, where Nana Sue had kindly agreed to host Gregory's 4th birthday party for the family (we must have been suffering from hosting fatigue or something). There had been no expense spared on the decorations.
The Allen girls looked on as Gregory commencing a fresh bout of card and present opening.
Uncle Matt grappled with Gregory's new camera. It's probably better than his own. Probably.
Whilst we were at Nana Sue's, I prepared the food. I had gone for what is close to Gregory's heart: pizza. I bought some bases, made some sauce and provided everyone with lots and lots (and lots) of topping options. AJ helps Gregory with his pizza.
The kids had mini pizzas, and Gregory had made a slightly angry looking face. The lad has an artistic culinary future.
Everyone topped their own pizza, but there was a bit of a logjam as I could only cook, in the poor, overstretched over, a few pizzas at a time. Uncle Graham tucked in and Nic looked on as Matt surveyed the lay of the land.
Uncle Matt got the role of playing outside with the kids - they appear to be playing throw the hoop, although it's not clear whether there is actually any throwing going on.
There then followed some balloon action, which Gregory does enjoy. First, Lynne gets involved...
...before Gregory does an amazing, leaping back-header...
...finishing with Uncle Matt balancing it on the side of his head, much to AJ's and Gregory's amusement. Nic has seen it all before, however. That's all they do at their house.
And we finish with the cake and a celebration of the boy being the grand old age of four. All he had to do was blow the candles out. And eat the cake, of course. It's also amusing to see Gregory's bulging belly - there is not much of him so when he eats a meal it's very apparent.
Which brings us to a close on this particular phase of Gregory's life. For the next phase, there is a menu page now set up, to add to the one that I have set up for his first four years.
Back to the Secret Portal.