Marie's Web Log

I have photos of Amelia's second birthday party, but the film is still in the camera, so as compensation I have posted the photo below, taken with the web cam today.

Amelia had two birthday parties - one at day care on Friday (her actual birthday) and one on Saturday at home, with Ian's parents who are here visiting for a few days. At day care they made a simple chocolate cake with two candles that they served to the children after their sandwiches in the afternoon. I went up early to take some photos.

On Saturday, Ian and I took Amelia to Paignton Zoo, which is about a 35 minute drive from here. Very nice zoo — smaller than Toronto, but in the same environmental park style, with huge habitiats for the animals. They even had a couple of areas where the animals were allowed to roam amongst the human visitors — not the tigers or lions, just the lemurs and one small species of monkey.

In the afternoon, we had another small cake and Amelia opened her gifts. There were only five or six (from various family members), but it still seemed a bit overwhelming for her. I don't know what we're going to do about Christmas.

Today we went back to Budleigh Salterton (see earlier post) with Ian's parents. We were very lucky again with the weather — it was a beautiful sunny morning. We thought it would be cold, but when we got to the coast there was no wind, the sun was warm and the sea was calm and sparkling. We saw someone in swimming — I thought he might have had a wet suit on, but when he came out we saw he only had a swimsuit.

Amelia has settled in to day care extremely well. Sometimes I think she likes being there better than she does being at home. (Bridget, if you are reading this, I'm sure this is partly due to the pioneering work you did with her in the summer!)

Must go to bed. All for now.