spring with grandma

 Visited Hampton Court Palace with grandma. All the tulips are out.

 Keeping a beady eye on the swan.

Me and my bro.

 Enjoying grandma's noodles. We're well fed and nourished.

 Taking  a walk in Isabella plantations in Richmond Park.

 The azaleas and rhododendrons are in full bloom.

 

Lots of mandarin ducks in the garden.

An introduction to horticulture

Welcome to our garden. This is a picture of it just as we were moving in. The two big trees are fig trees.

It used to be a well cared for allotment type plot, with lots of different types of vegetables. A warning to the kids: It's a jungle out there.

Then it became strewn with weeds and random plantations. We are still in the midst of finding out what's growing where and when.

Josh found some grapes growing from the vine, quite sour though.

 Taking a trim of the overgrown fig trees. There were gates and fences surrounding the vegetable plot.



 There was an old glass house which many of our friends still insist we should have kept. Being naive gardeners, we were more atune to the aesthetic than practical.
Once spring arrived, our spirits were slightly lifted. Peonies of assorted colours started popping out of the ground, all by themselves, much to our delight.





The little white splashes of a flower are known as pinks, although they are really white. They have a strong pleasant aroma.

After a few months' of hard work, the grounds begin to take a slightly more appeasing form. A better,  under control growth was in check.

 The white peonies smell really fragrant, with a tinge of pink in the middle.



Flowers indeed last but a day, indeed beauty is fleeting.

To blossom to its fullness for a while. 



The poppy above was the first to open today, after months of anticipation, and Josh plucked it eagerly to show it to me. Elation or desperation, I swung between the two.

Giving dad a helping hand with taking down the shed, pronounced as "hh-eee-dd" by him. Amazing what kids learn through observation.

Gong Xi Gong Xi

In his traditional outfit, Josh poses seriously for Dad.

Having a laugh.

Leanne being a happy big sister, can be quite protective over the little one at time as well. As Josh still doesn't do much talking, she seems to understand what he wants to say better than we do.

Joshua's 2nd birthday party

After more than a year's break, we finally revived the blog. So much has happened, where do I start? This is Josh's 2nd birthday cake. He loves helicopters and aeroplanes, anything that flies really. Perhaps this explained the fact that he slept only 2 hours on a 13 hr flight.

Some of Josh's friends came along as well.







They get on really well together. Looking forward to being able to play together again.

 Josh and his godparents, he simply adores them.

The adults in the sitting room, whilst the kids were in the play room.

 Looking very wistfully at the cake, perhaps even making a wish. Or just wondering what's mom doing, putting my helicopter on a brown cake. As we finished singing Happy Birthday, he paused before taking a big puff and blew the candles out.


Dad seems to be more excited about Josh's birthday pressies.