The British summer has arrived at last. The weekend was absolutely steaming with a temperature of around 28-29C. I would have liked it a little cooler but thankfully there was a nice breeze to temper the soaring mercury. On Saturday we took Jake on an outing with Nanny Janet to the Wild Animal Park in Port Lympne (pronounced Lime). The entrance price was £13.95 which I think was a little steep. The park is set in wonderful grounds situated around an old mansion house and gardens. Unfortunately there was a function on so we couldn’t go there. The other disappointment was that most of the animals were missing. Not simply asleep in their living areas but non-existent. We came across one rather sad looking Asian Elephant who was disconsolately kicking the ground and occasionally spraying himself with water to cool off. We were told by the lady manning the refreshments stall that the other Elephants has been taken away and that this one was due to be taken to Spain to make way for an African Elephant. Is it really necessary to put such a large animal though the stress of being crated up and having to endure a journey of four days just because African Elephants are better crowd pleasers? I was disappointed because the park is operated as a charity. Maybe I got the wrong end of the stick but it did seem rather odd. The lack of animals and steep entrance fee aside (to be fair we did see some Rhinos, Ostriches, various Monkeys and Gorillas) the walk around the park was lovely and the day was gorgeous. 
Little Jakey enjoyed himself and even saw the elephant bathing(at least I think he did!!). At the end of the day my arms were an ominous red colour. Good job I put loads of sunblock on my face. I neglected my arms because they don’t usually burn during the normal British summer. I’ll remember to do it the next time the mercury starts edging past 25C.
On Sunday we met up for a picnic with the other parents from our Parentcraft lessons. In total we had myself and Ames with Jakey, Emma and Gary with Samuel, Esther and Matt with Tess and Graeme and Henrietta with Nathaniel. It was great to chat about our bairns without fear of boring everyone to death! It’s amazing how different the babies are. I would never have thought it before Jake came along. Sam was his usual robust self, standing proud with feet planted on terra firma. Then there was lovely Tess with her sweet little face and lovely smile. Little Nate was happily cuddling up to Mum or Dad and would wake every so often and give the nearest person a sleepy smile :-). I think Jake took the award for the loudest cry but overall he was very well behaved. Before packing up and leaving we took some excellent photos of all the babies lined up and wriggling and kicking away. Both Ames and myself had an excellent time. We should make it a regular occurrence.