Just Max and me – Adventures Day 9 – Techniquest.

Max looked tired when he arrived this morning. He still had the lines of his pillows imprinted on his cheeks. He still smiled and we took a long time to gently prepare him for the day!

Max ate 3 Weetabix for breakfast! He ate slowly, enjoying it and watching the wood burner glowing in the fireplace.We had our adventure planned already – a day at Techniquest.

techniquestWe had our adventure planned already – a day at Techniquest.

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Each month this exciting Science Exhibition in Cardiff holds a Toddler Day. They call it Snowflakes and Sparkles – although I wasn’t expecting to see either.

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We also received the good news that Max’s cousin Eli was also coming down, that would be great fun.

Max got dressed and prepared for the day. We set off just before ten for the short journey down to Cardiff Bay.

Techniquest first opened on 13 November 1986 on the site of the old British Gas showroom on the corner of Duke Street and St John Street in Cardiff Town Centre. There were 48 exhibits at that time, many of them were designed and built by Techniquest. The former showroom housed the centre for around nine months. Less than seven weeks after it had opened Techniquest had welcomed its ten thousandth visitor.

In 1988 Techniquest re-opened in a pre-fabricated building opposite the now demolished Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum in Bute Street. The two buildings were removed to make way for Mermaid Quay.

They moved again in 1995 about 100 metres along Stuart Street to its present location on the site of the former Baileys engineering workshop which is now its permanent headquarters. The building, the UK’s first purpose-built science discovery centre, opened on 1 May 1995. It uses the steel framework of the original building which can be clearly seen on the photograph.

We parked up and waited for Eli to arrive.

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Kids are free on Toddler Day. I asked for one OAP ticket but was rebuffed and told that all tickets were cheaper today, so I duly paid my £5.80, put on my wrist band and in we went.

Max absolutely loved it and so did Max. Every exhibit brought new delights.

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It was an effort to drag Max from one to another, he cried when we moved on but squealed with delight when he saw what was next it was truly wonderful.

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We did stop at one place so Max could have a tattoo done. Unusually, he sat quietly while it was being done. In all fairness the young man who was doing it was really gentle and kind. Max was fascinated!

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On our way round, we met several friends. Bibby was there with Oliver and Clive and Beatty French were on Grandparenting duty with their little ones.

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We had a great chat.

We even met with old Father Christmas…

IMG_4244Max wasn’t too sure though!!

We moved on and made our way upstairs to see even greater delights….

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These two had no body to play with!!!!

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Max and Eli are such lovely friends as well as cousins….

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We even let the boys make a bauble for the Christmas Tree!!!

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It really was a day filled with wonder…. and one of the greatest wonders of all…..

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Beautiful Elsie Joy….

On the way out, Max even sat still to have a reindeer painted on his face.

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Great stuff.

 

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Just Max and me… Adventures Day 6

Max caught me out today and arrived somewhat earlier than usual. His mum wasn’t taking Alfie to school today, so it meant I saw Max’s first smile of the day at the bottom of the stairs instead of in the car. That was fine by me. The lady of the house made her way cheerily to work and Max and I just chilled. The fire was lit, and the blankets unfolded, and we just sat and enjoyed each other’s company. It was pretty cool – Max didn’t seem in a hurry to move. I wasn’t keen on doing much either – apart from cuddling Max! The events of the previous day meant I was quite tired and needed a day just chilling out and reflecting.

We watched a couple of Thomas the Tank Engine episodes, before slowly getting ready to go out. We had been invited to share a day adventuring with Max’s cousin Eli and it was agreed we would visit Coconuts again – just two short weeks after our previous visit. Max didn’t mind, he absolutely loves it there.

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We had arranged to meet Eli and Elsie at ten o’clock at the Centre and as we approached it Max went rigid with sheer excitement!  He was so happy. We met the others just inside!

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Eli – as usual- was all smiles to chatting away quite happily. Elsie looked as beautiful as ever. We paid our dues and made our way in and Eli and Max were off.

It was beautiful to see these two little cousins playing happily together, each doing their own thing, sometimes playing together and sometimes playing and exploring on their own.

They both made for the ball pit. Max was in his element throwing the balls everywhere and Eli carefully picking each one up and sometimes throwing them back and sometimes putting them gently back in.

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Max made a big step forward this week. Last time I had to scale the heights and help him through a small hole between the bouncy ladder and the big blue slide. Today he attacked it confidently and made his way to the slide all on his own. He even encouraged Eli to do it and the two little friends had so much fun.

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Elsie watched on smiling all the time and she even had a go in the ball pit herself. I think she enjoyed it – she smiled anyway – mind you she smiles constantly. Maybe she just loves everything!

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At one time the door into the main hall had been left open… Max was onto it straight away and made a bolt for the Noddy Car – his favourite thing of all, I think. No need to insert a pound, Max just loves sitting  it steering to his heart’s content!

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After a couple of hours both little lads were exhausted and so we made our way home after agreeing to make this a regular occurrence. It was so sweet to see all the cousins so happy in each other’s company.

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Max made  dash for the slot machines on the way out.

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He had very heavy eyes when we reached home and gave the biggest smile of the day when we climbed the stairs to the special room set aside in our home for the grandchildren – it is uniquely decorated half with boys’ things and half with a girls’ theme and thankfully they all love both bits. It’s their special place. The shutters were closed, the pillow was plumped up and Max snuggled down to sleep. He dreamt of climbing, sliding and rolling about and he dreamt about his little cousins who he loves so much.

After his extended nap he woke refreshed and we enjoyed a late lunch and listened to the Scallywags DVD.

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It wasn’t too long before Max’s dad arrived. Half term had begun Happy days! We had a lovely day – Just Max and me and Bes and Eli and little Elsie.

Treasured times!

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