New Forest 2010 vs 2011

I love looking back at photos of Sam from a year ago - it is so much fun to see his little faces from back them and also see how much he has grown since.  Here is a photo of Sam from New Forest last summer (mid-July really) and then mid-August of this year :)

New Forest

On Wednesday we went to New Forest for the day.  We had visited last summer, but only stopped in quickly, so we wanted to go back to check out a few more places in the Forest. Sam loved it there - he could run around and there were sticks galore!

Kew Gardens

We visited Kew Gardens on the Tuesday of vacation - we had been there last year with Sam and it is a really great place with so many pretty things to look at and plenty of space for Sam to run around.  They have a huge playground area as well and added in a new "creepers and crawlers" exhibit this summer.

Sam meets Peacock

In the Creepers and Crawlers space

Throwing a very large pine cone

Loving chocolate

When we were on vacation we stayed with Andy & Lesley and their daughter's Anna and Rachel.  They were so incredibly sweet and took such good care of us.  The girls played with Sam and Rachel took Sam out to their little orchard to pick his first apples with her.  Lesley also took him out to their garden to pick onions and he said "pull" for the first time.  They were such generous hosts and bought Sam a bunch of toddler food and treats - here are some photos of Sam trying out (and loving) his first packet of chocolate petit filous.

What? Do I have something on my face?

UK Trip - Beale Park

We were on vacation last week and went to the UK for Geoff's cousin's wedding.  The wedding was on Sunday afternoon at a really lovely place and so on Monday we set about finding some fun places for Sam to visit.  Geoff's Aunt Lesley recommended that we visit Beale Park and it was a fun afternoon trip. 

They had a small train that looped around the grounds and allowed Sam to say "choo choo" many times  :)

They also had a "Little Tykes" area with lots of plastic play structures.  Sam loved all the slides and said "slide" for the first time there :)

(Just before) First haircut at Barber

Lauren just sent me this photo of Sam - she took it while he was waiting for his first haircut at a barbers.