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Category Archives: Photos

Road Trip: Margate (videos and pictures)

20 Oct

We went to Margate a couple weeks back. What’s Margate, you ask, and why did we go there?

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Margate is a seaside town about 90 minutes east of London. It was once a popular spot for seaside get-aways, but like most English seaside resort towns, nobody goes there for vacation any more. So what’s left is… not much, to be frank. It is definitely a faded town, without a whole lot going for it. They’ve tried in recent years to revamp it – the town dropped some 70 million pounds on a fancy glass-clad art museum along the waterfront, a lot of the buildings have been restored, there are some nice parks, and there are the usual festivals and whatnot. All well and good, but there still isn’t a lot of there there.

We don’t mean to be unduly harsh on poor Margate. There’s nothing at all *wrong* with the place. Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on October 20, 2013 in Photos, Video

 

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Nyan Thomas Turns Two!

16 Oct

Okay and yes, we are almost three months late with this one. Hey, things fall through the cracks. Better late than never. Etc.

Nevertheless: our young man had a wonderful second birthday back in July. His Grandma and Grandpa came to visit from Iowa; his Phwa-Phwa and auntie and uncle and cousins and lots of other relatives and friends all came together for a big birthday bash in the back garden. Let’s take a look back at it all.

There were plenty of pressies and cards:

(Click any photo to make it big)

One of his favorite gifts was a big ride-on tractor, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa:

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He also loved this fire truck. (And plays with it every single day, to this day):

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The fire truck was gift from Uncle Scott and Aunt Maggie. Here he is saying thanks (and also singing “Happy birthday Nyan. Happy birthday Nyan. Happy birthday truck.”

And of course we can’t forget the party itself. We had just moved into a new house when his birthday rolled around, and still held the lease on our old place, which had a big backyard, so we had it there. Mommy whipped up a couple of things to eat, and also got Nyan a great cake:

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Here’s a bunch of photos from the party itself. (Again, click any photo to enlarge and start a slideshow)

Finally we have Nyan (sort of) saying Thank You Great Grandma, who sent over some of his favorite biscuits from the states.

 
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Posted by on October 16, 2013 in Photos, Video

 

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Road Trip: Brighton

06 Oct

We’re trying out a new modus operandi here at Nyan Thomas World Headquarters: every Sunday, we try to do a special event, usually an out-of-town trip to see a bit of the countryside, spend some family time together, try to keep the little guy from getting bored. We’ve only recently formalized this process, and here we share our first outing: a road trip, a couple weeks back, to the seaside town of Brighton.

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Brighton is about an hour-plus south of London, on the southern shore of the island. It’s a charming little place, with lots of interesting activities and architecture. It’s also a seaside resort, so there’s also a grubby element of carnival rides, cheap seaside restaurants, and lots of touristas wandering about. In that sense, it reminds your blogger of New York’s Coney Island, and not in a good way. The ‘sand’ on the beach is large pebbles, almost small rocks, and the water is a murky green. And the day we were there was densely overcast, with horrible light that made photography quite tricky.

But don’t get us wrong: we really enjoyed it. There were, as mentioned, lots of interesting things going on, it was a gorgeous drive down there, the people were friendly, the town had a nice vibe to it… and there was a giant Ferris wheel right on the shore. Here’s our hero up above it all:

And some photos as well:

Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on October 6, 2013 in Photos, Video

 

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Swimming!

24 Sep

Long-time readers will recall that, back in what passed for spring this year, Nyan Thomas took about eight weeks of swimming classes. After a summer break, it’s time for more: that’s right, more swimming lessons for our little man.

We’ve had two weeks so far, with maybe eight more. So far so good. Week One, he was not at all happy for the first 20 minutes of class – lots of crying, holding tight to Daddy, etc. Though he started to enjoy himself, a bit, at the end. Week Two, it took about 10 minutes until he warmed up. Then he was really enjoying it – to the point where, at the end, when we did the exercise where he stands on the edge of the pool and sort of falls/jumps into daddy’s arms in the pool, he was doing it with almost no prompting, and was truly enjoying it.

He’s also enjoying ‘swimming’ itself, which mostly means being held in the water and kicking his legs a bit as Daddy swooshes him around the pool. Baby steps.

As an aside, we also note that the young man is enjoying his baths again. He went through a phase, starting over the summer, where he would just REFUSE to bathe. We’d do it anyway, with a damp washcloth as he stood in the shallow water. But still, it was no fun. But we’re happy to report that over the past couple weeks, he’s getting back into it. He lets the tub fill up as much as it can, then he’ll lay down on his belly, kicking and splashing and pushing himself around the tub. “Swimming!” he says happily. Yes indeed.

In honor of Nyan’s return to the water, here are some photos from the first set of swimming lessons last spring – our hero showing off the season’s latest in toddler swimwear.

 
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Posted by on September 24, 2013 in Photos

 

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Summer Party

22 Sep

A couple weeks back, Daddy’s job threw this year’s version of the annual ‘summer’ picnic/party. Like last year (which you may have read about here), it was held at Wrotham Park, a sprawling estate that’s home to many acres of hills, trees and ponds, plus a big ol’ manor house. And like last year, the ‘summer’ picnic took place in early September. That worked out well last year, as the day was warm and sunny. This year, not so much – it was cool, cloudy and threatening rain all weekend, and a cold wind was whipping up the hills. In fact, Daddy came down with a nasty two-week cold the very next day; Nyan, we’re very happy to report, did not get sick. Whew.

Still. it was a very pleasant family outing. Here’s the star of the show, jamming to a little tune about summertime:

There was plenty of food:

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Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on September 22, 2013 in Photos, Video

 

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Road Trip: Sissinghurst Castle

10 Sep

Autumn has unfortunately arrived here in ol’ Blighty, with cool temps, overcast skies and occasional and sometimes heavy rain. So let’s take a trip back in time, about six short weeks ago, when the air was warm and filled with sunshine, the flowers were in bloom, and Nyan took Mommy, Grandma and Grandpa on a day trip to Sissinghurst Castle, about an hour outside of London. (Daddy got to stay behind and go to work, hooray!)

It’s more of a grand old house than a castle, to be honest (at least in Daddy’s opinion, having not been there), but it’s still gorgeous, with flowers and hedge mazes and old buildings everywhere you look. It’s part of the National Trust which means it’s both old and notable (and preserved).

Here then are a few photos from the day. (click on any photo to enlarge and start a slide show)

 
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Posted by on September 10, 2013 in Photos

 

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Fun Times in the Summer

20 Aug

Here’s a treat: a mass dump of lots of recent photos of the young man, having fun. Mostly from when Grandma and Grandpa were here a few weeks ago. Check him out as he does the robot, draws chalk on the sidewalk, hangs out at the playground, lazes about shirtless in the heat, and generally just enjoys life. Not a bad way to live, eh? (Click any photo to enlarge/start a slideshow)

 
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Posted by on August 20, 2013 in Photos

 

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A Visit to the Farm

17 Aug

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A couple weekends ago, Nyan took Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa to a place called Mudchute Park and Farm. It’s a pretty good sized area just south of Canary Wharf — that is to say, pretty much in the heart of London — that’s got acres and acres of forest, hills, and grazing land for a bunch of animals. Nyan had been to a farm or two in his day, but he’s getting more comfortable around the animals. Not entirely so, but getting there.

Here he is, feeding the goats with Daddy. Note that Nyan won’t hold the grass himself, but rather guides Daddy’s hand Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on August 17, 2013 in Photos, Video

 

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A Big Day for our Boy

16 Aug

It’s a big day for Nyan Thomas: it’s his last day in the “Yogi Bear” room at his nursery – the one for 1-to-2 year olds. Starting Monday, he’ll move to the “Paddington Bear” room, where the big boys and girls (the 2-to-4 year olds) spend their day.

Here’s a photo of the young man this morning, outside of the nursery: Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on August 16, 2013 in Photos

 

Today’s Photos: Train Coming!

11 Aug

One of Nyan’s favorite things to randomly say is “Train coming!” It’s often heard while he’s playing with one of his toy trains, but he’s just as likely to say it when there’s no train around. Odd kid sometimes. In any case, he does love trains – so he’s always up for a ride on the Tube (that’s the London subway, for you Yanks). Here’s just a few shots from a recent trip on the Tube.  Note that on one particular ride, he insisted on sitting in a seat all by himself.

(Click any photo to enlarge and start a slideshow.)

 
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Posted by on August 11, 2013 in Photos

 

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