Boy Racer

Here's a holiday tribute to all the boy-racers who drive up and down the sea-front once it gets dark.

Nutty Noah and a few animals

The title of this post has nothing to do with the Bible story recorded in Genesis about a large boat and lots of rain. Yesterday we had a great day at Pennywell Farm, getting up close with lots of animals and enjoying an hour of music, magic and mayhem with children's entertainer Nutty Noah. Here are a few photos.

Stroking a hedgehog is ok as long as you only stroke from head to tail. Stroking tail to head is a mistake you only make once.

Even a light shower during lunch would not deter us from our picnic.

Three times round a track with a steering wheel and an accelerator and already insisting she's ready to drive my car now!

Pond dipping. Fortunately no one got wet.

The only really heavy shower we had all day coincided with a one hour indoor music and magic show by Nutty Noah. I could say that we didn't take any photos because of the poor lighting - but in reality we were enjoying ourselves too much to think about taking any pictures. But to give you a quick flavour here is a clip from Youtube of Nutty Noah on his Hornophone - a musical instrument made up of lots of bike horns strapped to a large metal frame. I did think maybe we should get one of these for church instead of the organ.

Plans for a Rainy Day

Yesterday, we looked at the weather forecast and thought we'd better plan for the first rainy day of our holiday so far. But by mid-morning the sun was shining once again. But we had fun doing our rainy day activities anyway. This morning we went to the swimming pool and this afternoon we painted penguins.

Later this week the two penguins, 'Joanna' and 'Penguin' will be fired in a kiln and will be ready for collection next Thursday, by which time we'll be back in London.

Cricket

Today there was time for cricket practice. With the decisive Fifth Test starting tomorrow which England's men must win if they are to regain the Ashes it is maybe worth remembering that England's Women's Cricket Team are champions of everything this year. And here are future stars in the making!
A great pull shot to the boundary.

Working on direction with the top hand.

Bowling practice.

Wicket keeper.

More time at the beach

Bicton Gardens

Yesterday we enjoyed the day at Bicton Gardens - which involved yet another train ride. And lots of running around in gardens that are kept almost as well as mine!

Today we're off to the beach again.

Steam Power

Today we visited a few attractions around Buckfastleigh, starting with the Abbey.

And then onto the steam train for the half hour trip to Totnes...

...which the girls were excited about and really enjoyed.

Once we reached Totnes, we stayed on the train and came right back. All this travelling is exhausting!

Next it was the Butterfly Farm, which was hot and humid but not as hot as the Rainforest Biome at Eden.

And then before we got any hotter, we went on to see the otters.

And to complete a train themed day we played two versions of Ticket to Ride - both of which I won - finally, after a week of holiday making it onto the winners board!

The Eden Project

Yesterday we spent the whole day at the Eden Project in Cornwall. This incredible visitor attraction was nothing more than a disused clay pit little over ten years ago. If you've never been I recommend it - it was well worth our 100 minute car journey - and this is the fourth time we've been. The four domes in the background make up the Rainforest Biome - the world's largest conservatory - allowing the visitor to trek through the rainforests of Malaysia, West Africa and South America - it's very hot and very humid. The three domes to the right are part of the Mediterranean Biome and includes plants from South Africa and California. The white tent to the left of the picture is a large indoor arena.

This is currently home to a whole variety of family activities. The first we tried was building a shelter. The girls set about collecting bits of material to tie our bamboo poles together.

With Auntie Carol's help our super structure began to take shape.

The girls put the finishing touches to the inside.

I'm fairly sure this would survive any major storm!

For those of you who are wondering what has happened to my Garden Updates - I'm sad to report that it doesn't look like this. This is the vegetable garden that surrounds the outside restaurant.

After lunch and a very hot walk through the Rainforest it was time to build and test our rafts.

If it's there to climb it will be climbed.

By 8pm we were all very tyred and ready to head home!

The Zoo

Today the sun continued to shine and we went to the zoo. In between morning coffee and cake, lunch and ice cream we even managed to see some animals.


And to round off our animal themed day we went to the Hungry Horse on the way home!

It took 6 of us to finish off this dessert.

Summer Holidays

I'm on holiday for the next two weeks so any posts will be coming to you from the beach or the zoo! Today the sun shone and we made the most of it. Unfortunately the girls didn't agree that only I should use the metal spade, nor did they agree with my instructions on the best way to build a giant sand castle.

Instead they decided to cover each other in sand.

The Good Samaritan

Jesus tells a parable in Luke 10:25-37, which we know today as the parable of the good Samaritan. Of course this is not the title Jesus used. For Jesus' original audience there was no such thing as a good Samaritan. Anyone who was a Samaritan was the enemy. But that's the whole point. The one who does the right thing is the hated outsider rather than the religious insider. If you've never heard the story before click on the video below (please excuse the old fashioned language).



We all live with prejudice, with some we see as insiders and others we prefer to keep as outsiders. The law here is summed up in two commands - to love God and to love my neighbour. There is a sense in which the first is easier than the second because many of us see this as being less concrete, it is somehow something that goes on inside me when I read the Bible or pray. Yet we can't afford to think this way. We can't truly love God without loving others - including our enemies. To try and argue that we can is evidence that we have not really started to understand God's love for us. For the first century Jew the phrase 'good Samaritan' was an oxymoron - a contradiction in terms. Who are the 'good Samaritans' in my life? I don't mean the people who help out when I'm in a crisis. I mean the people I've never got a good or kind word for. What am I going to do about it?

Chocolate Digestives - Best Dunked

Polls show that the best biscuit for dunking in a cup of tea or coffee is a Chocolate Digestive. Apparently it is something to do with the fact that the chocolate starts to melt on top and the biscuit base begins to soften - which all goes to enhance that biscuit eating experience.

If I was looking for corporate sponsorship of church services as a means of raising funds I think I might well approach McVities to become the official sponsor of Baptism services; maybe alongside Nike. And the service strap line: 'Christians - best when dunked: Just do it!'

Last Sunday we had a baptism service which was great, following the command, expectation and example of Jesus.

To listen to the message 'Christians: best when dunked - Just do it' click here.