Charlotte's first visit to Jubilee Park in Southampton

Whew, mommy was right! Charlotte slept until around 8 am, as usual. Charlotte’s cousins were eager to get across the street to play with her. Nana, Papa, Auntie Dale, Uncle Pete, Kaitlyn, Gregory, and Kristen ventured over to our cottage one at a time to join us for a traditional “weekend at the cottage” pancake breakfast. As usual, once breakfast was done, the men and children started to leave the table and left the three women to discuss plans for the weekend and to catch up on the week’s events since we last saw one another. After much discussion and measuring, papa fixed the new TV cabinet, securing the TV so that it wouldn’t fall out. Charlotte was quite taken with papa’s tools in his tool bag and what daddy and papa were doing. She was chattering and pointing as they worked, getting right in on the action.

Charlotte awoke from her nap and was ready for lunch before we had a chance to get the breakfast dishes done. We enjoyed a light lunch and then took the children to Jubilee Park and Sensory Garden, a brand new park in Southampton—-it was wonderful. There are lots of safe activities for children that appeal to a wide range of ages. I especially liked the squishy ground—-it felt like walking on floam painted different colours. This park is also friendly for physically challenged children. Charlotte enjoyed going down the small slide while holding daddy’s hand; mommy was at the bottom to catch Charlotte while trying to capture these moments on video and film. Sheesh! Mommy always seems to be behind a camera—-but she enjoys it and knows how valuable these photos will be years down the road. Kristen and Kaitlyn took turns taking Charlotte down the big slide.
Charlotte and Kaitlyn sitting on a toy frog

Charlotte sitting in a swing adapted for physically-challenged children

Nana pushing Kristen and Charlotte on the saucer swing

Kaitlyn and Charlotte looking out the window of a toy house

Kaitlyn, Charlotte, and daddy at the small slide

We had to pry the children off the equipment to go home for dinner—-they had such a wonderful time; we promised to return tomorrow for a longer time.

After dinner and playing for a short while, Charlotte went to bed, exhausted from a full day of fun with her cousins. Kristen slept over, without her siblings, so that she could have more one-on-one time with Charlotte when she gets up in the morning.