Aidan is four years and one month old! It's the summer holidays so all our normal groups have stopped for the time being. Aidan has been pretty busy nevertheless, and has had a fun month.

We've had lots of trips to the park (Beecraigs, Muiravonside, Parkhill or the local play area) with various friends and family and on our own, as well as several trips to Space Bugs, swimming, a trip to Edinburgh to visit Jill and Andrew, a trip to the zoo with Grandma and Gungle, a weekend stay at Grandma and Grandpa's, and a trip to Brechin to visit Stacey and Becca.

There have been playtimes with friends (at Ruth's, at Morag's and at Anna's), not to mention several picnics and barbeques in various locations, and a really fun visit to a pick-your-own fruit farm, where we picked strawberries and then came home and made our own jam (Aidan is very much enjoying the results of this on his supper-time bread-and-jam).

A summer project for Mummy and Daddy was to move the shed from the middle of the flat section at the bottom of the garden to the back corner. Aidan was very interested in this process, and had great fun "helping" us to dig and move the gravel, and then to smooth it in preparation for laying the flagstones.

One exciting trip this month was to Rheged where we met up with several of Mummy's friends from her baby website. Aidan had a wonderful time meeting all the other children, playing in the softplay and exploring the place with Daddy and the other children while Mummy and the other mummies got to relax and have a coffee! From there we went to stay with Lorna and Andrew for the night, and the next day we went to their summer baptismal service - which took place on the shores of the river. Aidan didn't really understand what was going on, but did enjoy watching as six adults were dunked in the river! The picnic on the riverbank afterwards was also lots of fun.

On Daddy's birthday we took the kids to Blair Drummond Safari Park, which they both loved. Aidan attempted (fairly successfully) to pedal in the pedallo, and loved going on the giant astraglide, playing in the wooden castle and for a ride on the mini-rollercoaster. He was mesmerised as we drove throught the safari park itself - especially by being so close to a rather large rhino! We had a barbeque dinner with Grandma, Grandpa and Gungle, and Aidan enjoyed eating some of Daddy's birthday cake, which he had assisted Mummy in making.

We made a second trip south of the border this month - the plan being to visit Aidan's godparents for lunch (this was cancelled at the last moment owing to the early arrival of their new daughter, Philippa - many congratulations Sheila and Jason!!), and then go on to visit Kathleen, Glenn, Adam and Lauren - friends from Cambridge who now live in Bradford, before going on up to Newcastle to visit Jill and Andrew in their new home. So instead of lunch with Sheila, Jason and family, we had a lovely explore in the Yorkshire Dales, including visiting Malham Tarn and a field of tame cows on the Penine Way! It was fantastic to catch up with our Cambridge friends again, and lovely to watch Aidan and Adam playing together - they haven't seen each other for almost two years! It was great to see Jill and Andrew too.

At home Aidan is really loving playing with his Thomas-the-Tank-Engine railway, his car track, wiring up his playhouse and his Connetrix and Lego (see below).

Most recently Aidan has started going to Mini-Bairns, which is a week-long football course (one hour per day) run at Falkirk Football Stadium by Falkirk in the Community. He's been to two classes now, and seems to really enjoy it, despite having very little idea about football. He's learning to dribble the ball, to stop it with his foot, and to kick it into the goal. He managed to score three goals on his first day - well done Aidan!

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Image 0071-4658 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2007:07:13 10:08:59 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Aidan's new Thomas the Tank Engine Railway set. Aidan is very pleased with this birthday addition to his toys, and loves putting together ambitious layouts like this one. (You might recognise this set - it's the same one Alex has in Wanganui!)

Aidan at Rheged with Jessica and Imani. Everyone loved this fountain, in the entrance hall.

Image 0071-4727 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2007:07:14 16:05:51 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Image 0071-4745 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2007:07:15 09:22:40 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Building a tower with Andrew (Lorna's husband).

Crashed out on the sofa after a hard day's play, too tired to eat his dinner. PWSB! (Poor Wee Small Boy!)

Image M20070717-1742 Motorola 2007:07:17 17:42 (c) Keith & Carolyn

Image 0072-4789 Canon PowerShot S45 1/319 sec., f/2.8 2007:07:22 14:35:57 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Moving the shed! Probably the most exciting activity of the month was us moving our garden shed ourselves by hand! It was surprisingly easy to push over once we'd taken everything out of it, but getting it back upright again was another story! But now we have a bit more space for playing in - and we're ready for phase 2 of the project - watch this space! Here Aidan is helping Mummy move some concrete slabs into their new position for the shed to sit on top of them.

The big slide at Blair Drummond Safari Park.

Image M20070727-1247 Motorola 2007:07:27 12:47 (c) Keith & Carolyn

Image 0072-4900 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2007:08:05 15:47:50 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

A working model lift in Connetrix. Jill and Andrew's apartment building has a (traditional, non-hydraulic) glass lift in the atrium, and Aidan and I spent some time watching how it all worked. When we got home we put together this model with his birthday Connetrix set - complete with pound-coin-weighted counterweight, cotton cable, and People-of-the-World-bus passenger.

VIDEO: A tour of the playhouse. Aidan explains how it's all wired together, and "telephones" Grandma and Grandpa. 02:29, 5.2MB, MSMPEG-4.

Image N20070630-149 Nokia N73 1/499 sec., f/2.8 2007:06:30 12:30:16 (c) Keith & Carolyn

Taking Megan for a ride... Aidan and Megan went for a walk with Daddy one afternoon, down to the park and back behind the houses. Aidan had fun pushing Megan, and she didn't mind falling off a few times. (This really belongs in last month, but we forgot to put it in.)