We have our first sunflower of the summer – it opened whilst we were away this weekend. Looks impressive in the photo … until you see it to scale, next to Callum!!
At least it is a couple of inches taller than Callum. We’re four more sunflowers that are still growing taller and we’re hopefully it may break through the seven feet barrier (weather permitting). One is already taller than the pagoda but if we get a heavy shower of rain, chances are it will snap before it flowers.
The weather wasn’t the best, but we decided brave the rain and head down to the Ferrari Day at Newbury Showground. It was all in aid of a very worthy cause - raising some much needed funds for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance.
Callum loved watching all the cars go ‘round the circuit, especially the really noisy ones :).
There was a fair bit for the kids to do – Callum loved the inflatable slide and also had a go on the ladybirds and the Hook a Duck. 
Thankfully he didn’t win one of the large cuddly toys.
We had one downpour of rain, but not heavy enough for the Ferraris’ to switch to their wet weather tyres. The support this event gets from the Ferrari owners is incredible. There must have been 125+ Ferraris there, all brought there at the owners expensive. Several of them also offer to give people rides around the circuit to raise even more money. 
They were up to the six-hundred rides when we left and hopeful of breaking the 800-rides mark.
Luckily there wasn’t an emergency on the day so the Air ambulance was on hand for people to look at and the kids could sit in the pilots seat and pretend they were flying the helicopter. From the outside, the helicopter looks pretty compact but when you look inside, it’s incredible that they can fit the injured party on a stretcher, the pilot, a paramedic or doctor plus two more passengers if needed.
There were also some classic cars there – Ray spotted his dream car from years gone by – an Alfa Romeo GTV.
Star of the show though, undoubtedly the Ferrari Enzo, worth about $1,000,000. Everyone was crowding round and taking photos. Just hope the field didn’t get too muddy and it could be driven home OK!!
Postscript: After we’d left for the day, one of the Ferrari’s taking passengers around the circuit had a bit of an accident … it hit a tree and burst into flames. Thankfully, the driver and passenger both escaped unhurt, although sadly the same couldn’t be said about the Ferrari itself. We left about fifteen minutes before all this happened … as we were leaving two fire engines arrived to join the “emergency service vehicle” display for people to look at. They couldn’t have timed their arrival better!
Well, I took in this year’s Race for Life at Newbury Showground and thanks to the generosity of friends and family, £677 has been raised for Cancer Research (Gordon Brown will also be adding over £130 in Gift Aid Contributions too). 
Mum continues to amaze me (and others!) and is coping really well with everything the chemotherapy is throwing at her. The hardest part so far was losing her hair, but she now sports a fantastic wig and is getting lots of compliments about her new hair do.
Four sessions of chemo down, two to go and fingers crossed the last two sessions go a well as the first four.
On Friday we spent the day at Chessington World of Adventure with my friend Sarah and her daughter. 
Thankfully the weather wasn’t too hot and the rain stayed away which was a huge bonus. The park was pretty quiet even though there were a fair few school trips on and we were really surprised that there were no queues at most of the rides we went on … the one we had to queue for was only a 15 minute wait.
As well as the rides, there’s also a Zoo and a Sealife Centre which we had a wander around. The lions were really playful, the tigers enjoyed posing for photos and the gorillas, well they were just fab.
One was lying down in front of the window, picking his nose! He then sat up like a sulky teenage, stood up, walking in front of everyone taking photos then sat down again with his back to everyone. Fab!!
Inside the Sealife Centre, there was a huge tank filled with sting rays, spider crabs and other fish. 
Callum hadn’t really seen anything like them before and was fascinated by them. Further around there is an enormous tank complete with a tunnel you can walk through. Callum knew what a shark was. In another aquarium, there were clown fish – NEMO – Callum squealed!! So we had to bring one home to add to his ever growing soft toy collection.
Highlight of the day had to be watching Rameses Revenge. Fab way to while away some time. Seeing people being tossed over and over, getting soaked by the water jets with absolutely no escape. There were a few pale faces at the end of the ride – not one to do after you’ve had lunch :).
Safe to say that kids and mums all had a great time!
Real treat for the kids (and us!) this week … the Pre-School Summer trip to Marwell Zoo! We love Marwell and normally managed one trip a year since Callum came along and have always had a really good day out. The zoo has been working hard improving conditions for the animals over recent years as well as the viewing facilities for the visitors, especially for the little people.
Weather forecast wasn’t the best, but thankfully it wasn’t too hot and the rain held off until 4pm when we were about to leave.
The penguin enclosure is one of the first viewing areas you come to and it’s really sad that they’ve lost a lot of penguins (not sure whether from disease or from a fox).
Marwell has had plenty of new arrivals in the last couple of months, including a baby giraffe. The big cats were all in sleepy mood again today (story of my week!) so not an awful lot to see from the tigers, snow leopards and leopards which was a shame.
The Australia Zone is always a big hit with the Wallaby and Kookabura walk through areas. Wallabies were all having a rest and just two Kookaburas were out today. These were pretty tame compared to previous encounters when one took a fancy to Callum’s toes!! They did play ball for the photos though.
Had a real treat last weekend – an afternoon photographing some big cats (and I don’t mean the neighbours cats!!).
The shoot took place at a private estate (secret location) and was home to a puma, a snow leopard, an ocelet and various leopards. It was fab being close up to them (although not as close as my encounter at Paradise Wildlife Park 10+ years ago). As the weather was hot, several were too busy sleeping to pose for photos … and I don’t blame them really!!
Here’s a couple of my favourite shots from the day.
