Easter escapades...

Easter this year brought welcome relief as I was more than ready for a few days off work. So we packed up our bags and headed off for some welcome respite with Tanya's parents in Banchory. The sun shone for the whole of the time we were away so we had a marvellous time. The supreme being delighted at everything that spring had to offer - every daffodil and budding tree brought out shrieks of happiness from her and it was lovely to see. It made me realise once again what a truly amazing planet we live on and how we need to take better care of it for all the future generations of supreme beings.

 The wonders of spring - part 1

 The wonders of spring - part 2

  The wonders of spring - part 3

It's great visiting Nana and Baba as amongst other things they have a wonderful garden which enabled us to spend much time running round in the sun. It also made us think we need to move house. They are wonderful babysitters as well, and Mummy and I got to spend a day munro bagging together as well as an evening trip out. This was the first climbing expedition we had had together since our honeymoon, and was made all the more special by me hitting 141 munros - exactly halfway on my quest to bag them all. Thank you very much Nana and Baba.

Emily always takes a developmental leap when she goes to Banchory - must be all the fresh air. And this time she really got to grips with playing games, having races and a special proud moment was her first climb up a slide and down all by herself. It was brilliant to watch!

We're off on holiday in a few weeks time, let's hope the weather holds as its the bonny Highlands for us, and that we have just as much fun as our Easter escapades.

 Sheer sunny delight

Celebrating halfway - let's hope it's downhill from now on

Videoclip: Spring fun 

Express yourself...

As a supreme being, one is required to be in control of one's emotions at all times. In fact you could go a bit further than that and say one is also required to be able to adopt a particular emotion at any given moment. This skill allows a supreme being to control their world and manipulate desired outcomes according to their wants.

Emily has been perfecting this skill of emotional hoodwinking under the watchful eye of her father, and has recently grasped a whole array of impressions that even the likes of De Niro or Hoffman would be proud of. Her actorial abilities will I hope one day become legion and she will become a famous actor (or at least this is my latest plan to encourage my daughter to fund her father's early retirement options). The early signs at least are promising in this respect...

 First smiles on demand for camera

Shock and horror

Videoclip: The supreme being's full emotional repertoire

More important than any of this acting ability though is the discovery of nodding and 'yes'. Some of you may have read about a father's lot in life and Emily's view of her father in the post 'Ghosts of Christmas past'. Well I am now pleased to announce that she has reconsidered this viewpoint (with clearly no persuasion from myself), and has done a complete u-turn on her views in relation to Daddy. I am now officially 'the best daddy in the world'. If you are in doubt of that then read on, there is irrefutable video evidence to support the view. And, for the record, I am now more than happily supportive of the view that it's a woman's perogative to change her mind. Vive la différence!

Videoclip: A father's lot in life - the sequel