Beep beep yeah!

We were up and out early today to make our way over to Notts ahead of Dad's birthday 'do on Sunday. We were a little later than hoped as we stopped off at Ariana's to lend her our drill, then we hit the M1. Robin had to start work from midday and we made it with a few minutes to spare.

When we got to Nottingham (after driving over the new Mill hill roundabout, oooh!) the house was empty, so we fed Charlie. Halfway through his Hipps Organic pouch, Mum and dad came back from shops with a new outfit for the dude from Next. Bless!

They couldn't get over how much more mobile he is. He is crawling everywhere now. There's no stopping him. Thankfully, whilst they kept him distracted, I enjoyed Bacon sarnies. Yum!

Laura soon arrived and the usual chaos when Charlie, Ollie and Boo the dog get together ensued :) The boys played in the garden and Mum tried Charlie in the Coupe Car they got years ago for Lewis. Ollie's going through a 'Mine' phase but was very good about sharing 'his' car with his younger cousin. Charlie looks like a London cabby in the quick snap I took. I need to get him that flat cap!

Mum and Dad were off back out and Robin was still working so I took Laura and the boys out. We went to pick up a surprise birthday cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory (Dads fave!) and seeing as it was only 4pm headed over to a local soft play for the last 90 minutes of the day, called Run Riot.

Lewis and Ollie loved it and so did Charlie, Now he crawls so much it was great for me to have somewhere to put him down and know he can't hurt himself. There are no cables to grab and chew (!), nothing to bash his head on and everything is covered in padding. There were no other babies in the Baby Zone so we got a nice sized space to ourselves. The sides were covered in netting and he was soon up and standing holding on to it. He hasn't quite worked out how to get down yet but I think he would've happily stood there all day!

We headed home via the supermarket so Laura could pick up a card for Dad. She bumped into her friend and stood talking for 10 minutes, then when I headed over to the cash point I saw an old school friend and stood chatting to her for a while. It's weird seeing people I knew before I had Charlie, especially when he's not with me. It sounds strange but until she mentioned how lovely he looked based on my (many) Facebook pictures, I'd almost forg0t to mention him! That sounds terrible, I know.

All the soft play fun had worn the little man out. After his dinner and bath, I fed Charlie and put him down in the travel cot wide awake. I lay back on the bed and could hear him rolling around and talking to himself. I looked over the top and he gave me a big smile, then he rolled over and went to sleep! I wish I could get to sleep that quickly!

Dad had offered to babysit so Robin and I could have another date night and we were ready and out the door by 8pm :) We drove into town for a meal, where Robin had a burger the size of Charlie's head, and I had a wrap and mojito and then we played Mini Golf. Rock 'n Roll!

It wasn't quite the 4D experience we had in York but was a decent way to spend a sober Saturday night! We went in at 10pm and played 18 holes in the Inca-themed course.

We were on even scores. I then took the lead and kept it right up to the 17th hole when I lost it by 1 point. Boo! The final hole was a silly one that's made just to keep your ball so there was no chance of making it back. Not that I'm competitive ;)

We were home by 11:30pm. It was a really nice night. I really appreciate the time with just the two of us, especially as we don't have any potential babysitters closer to home to allow us to pop out for an hour etc