You can never start too early

The daddy-daughter trip in pictures!

As mentioned in my previous post, Mark and Ada went on their first daddy-daughter overnight trip to the south coast around Plymouth. They had a fantastic time, primarily at Woodlands Family Theme Park, the beach nearby and the big aquarium in Plymouth itself.

Mark has pulled together some pictures and captions from their trip below.

It all went really well until the trip back. There was an accident that closed the entire road that they were taking home and it took them about six or seven hours to do a trip that should have taken two. Very stressful! But it was all OK in the end as they got back for bedtime and Mark mostly recovered the next day (as much as you can with a new baby in the house as well...). There are already plans for another trip - this time to Wales - in October for Mark's birthday.

The Wild Wild South-West of England...

 Ada's first grown-up water slide. Very wet pants!

Pedal boats

 Trying on her new bucket for size

Watching the sea tractor crossing to Bigbury Island

Squishing the sand castle - the best bit

Speed paddling

Ice cream at the seaside - how British!

Milk at the pub

Early rising the next day. One pint of milk too many last night?

Plymouth Harbor

Don't look behind you!

Lunch with a view

Meanwhile...

...back at home, Arthur practices smiling!

The daddy-daughter trip begins

One of the things Ada talks about all the time, and which forms part of her pretend play a lot is "going on holiday. " So as part of our plans to let Ada know she's still important even with a new baby in the house, we decided she and Mark should go on an overnight trip.

Mark planned a trip to the south coast, about two hours away. There is a family "adventure" park and a big aquarium.

They set off this morning - here are a couple of photos; we'll get the full report when they return!

Daily Ada: 30 August 2014

No job too small. Reasonable rates apply.

(Still working on the plumber's crack, though)

Arthur's first bath

Finally got Arthur into the tummy tub. He seemed to like it.

Ada was a great helper, laying out the towels and trying to fill up the tub, and then attempting to give him a rinse after.

Mimi took care of the post-bath cuddles.

Arthur's first three weeks.

Thankfully, Pa has been sharing some pictures of Arthur over at his blog, so you all haven't been completely in the dark. But here are a few more pictures of the newest Vallentine's first weeks in the world.

Spoiler alert - the photos are mostly of him sleeping and being held.

(I have to say, we have already fallen foul of the second child effect, and there are far far fewer pictures of Arthur than of Ada over this time period: a difference of 812 pictures of Ada to 338 of Arthur. This is a trend that no doubt will continue. Fortunately, this fact will probably not surface for Arthur himself until he's a sensitive teenager and already disliking us for a multitude of other reasons, so it will give him great satisfaction, no doubt, to add this charge to our long rap sheet of parental neglect and ineptitude. Though, to be fair, the full count of Ada pictures does include both ours and Dad's, while the Arthur count does not, so we'll see what the final tally is going to be.)

The ride home

The first meeting

 

Mimi is delighted that he's found his thumb

This is the view we get a lot when Ada is around the baby. Food in hand, ready to share with her brother.

The thinking person's baby

Ada has been practicing her 'camera smile'; here she seems to be experimenting with a wink

Mimi and Pa getting a foot outline

The first of the size comparison photos

A comparison of Ada and Arthur - this is when they were each about two weeks' old