A jolly good marbling day out

With the new addition to the family, the boys don't get a lot of time with either myself or Simon lately, so we've been testing out a new way for Harry and George to get special time with either mum or dad - earning MARBLES! - the rules are:- being kind to your brother, no hitting, kicking, having good manners at the dinner table, going to bed without making a fuss.

There are other toddler-sized chores they do to help around the house and we explain that this is because we are a family and work together.

To earn their choice of treat, they needed to earn five marbles. It was tough going, but they did it in the end. George chose to go to Pier 39 to see the stinky sealions with me. We had lots of fun watching them swim up and down, shout to eachother and generally whiffing out the local area. Then I took him for lunch on the pier; his choice.

Hot dog and candy floss (or cotton candy as we now know it) that is nearly the same size as him. I was a bit worried about him eating such a huge volume of sugar - no idea why, because I used to scarf that much and more when I was younger.....but he didn't eat it, I think it was more to do with having free choice than filling his tum. It ended up as a sort of play doh subsitute instead!

We enjoyed watching this guy juggle with fire sticks and then knives - while balancing on a see saw (teeter totter - see? I'm still learning new words!).
Harry also earnt his marbles and decided on special time with his dad - they went to watch the start of this year's Gumball Rally in San Francisco. David Hasselhof turned up with Kit car, all very exciting - so much so that Harry couldn't even make it into bed when he got home, but crashed out on the floor next to the bed instead!