Day 9: Third day in Stratford – Butterfly Park and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage

March 5th, Friday.

This morning, Vic woke and lay on the bed whilst I quickly updated my blog. William suddenly woke and looked at the bed and that was when we discovered that our soon-to-be 5 year old princess has wet the bed eventhough she has awoken. She got a short lecture from Daddy for that.

At 840am we went across to the dining room for our english breakfast again. I forgot to mention that the previous day at the dining area, William was very restless and curious about his surroundings. He refused to sit still and wanted to touch everything on the table. But today he was better behaved and couldn’t stop staring at the other table with rather big-sized guests. Hope they didn’t think he was rude.

During breakfast, Marian informed us that more baby lambs were born. We visited the barn again, and also walked down the muddy road which is now less wet. This time, we got further and Daddy and Vic managed to check out the lake. They went ahead of me and William because we both took our time to walk, to absorb in the quiet peaceful surroundings.

As William was playing along, he fell face down and dirtied his mouth and face and palms. Poor boy cried but as usual, he wasn’t long winded. The funny part was whenever he falls or slips, he would go back to the place where he fell and hit the floor or object that made him fall.

Daddy and Vic came back reporting that there wasn’t much, it’s just a lake and hubby asked me if I wanted to spend time at the lake which I have not seen. Without much thinking I said let’s go back and proceed with our day’s plans. Vic overheard and answered, “Yea, that’s what my decision also!” So smart!

The drive to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is a short 15 minutes drive. There is no traffic in this small town, and the scenery is always beautiful. At the Cottage, only Vic and I went down and again, we didn’t want to pay to enter. We moved along to the much talked-about Butterfly Park.

The entrance fee at the Butterfly Park is by far the most expensive and not-worth the money. In total, we paid 16.50pounds for the four of us although William is free. The park is in door, and temperature kept very warm so the butterflies are happy. No flowers in the garden but the butterflies are huge and plentiful. Why hubby and I didn’t enjoy much was because we thought Malaysia’s butterfly park would have more butterflies and more enjoyable.

Vic however had a good time. She wanted to learn about cocoons, caterpillars, insects, lizards and chameleons. William had his milk in the park. I took pictures of different colored and different patterned butterflies just to make our money well spent.

Then we headed off to town where along the River Avon were many many swans swimming, with some ducks and pigeons and seagulls. The kids fed bun to the swans, which was a leftover from yesterday’s lunch. They really enjoy this, and William was running so much, and shouting happily as he do. This boy even tried to reach the swans down in the river, and sent our heart skipping a beat many times.

On our way back to the car, Vic skipped along and made funny noises along the way. I let her be while I walked along. We were on the pedestrian bridge when Vic slipped and fell. At first she laughed, then quickly she changed to a cry of pain. I helped her up and noticed her knee was shaking.

Her fall didn’t look serious and I think she was just tired or shocked. William was very concerned (just as he always is when his sister cries) and once we placed Vic in his stroller, he immediately walked over to the place where Vic fell and hit the ground with his hands. Such a caring brother! Then he insisted to push the stroller with Vic in it. After a while, he stopped and checked if Vic was ok, he even touched her head and face to tell her how much he loves her. Hubby and I watched and felt so touched.

In the car, Vic looks fine. She’s almost back to her usual self. We wanted to take away Thai dinner for the kids again, but drove past a Chinese take away and we decided to try that out. While the kids and hubby waited at a nearby parking area (here in UK we are not allowed to simply park along the road even though waiting), I walked to the take away called Exotic Wok.

As I ordered, I decided to ask the lady where she was from. Turned out, she is from Penang, and has been in UK for more than 10 years, and has two beautiful children, a boy aged 5 and a girl aged 3. We chatted about how she kept in touch with her family back home, and I shared with her about how we would like to stay and work in the UK. It was easier back then, and very much harder now with the sliding economy and high unemployment. : (

Vic had char siu rice and she was so happy because she said it was her favourite! I think she misses rice. But she didn’t eat much. William had roast duck rice. He loved it. In fact, this boy seem to be loving all the meals here I’m secretly worried he may not want to touch the saltless-seasonless home cooked food when we get back.

Kids slept early. We tried to get online but the connection had problem. We suspected the kids did something to this laptop so he couldn’t do his work now and decided to pack whatever he can first because tomorrow we are required to check out by 10am.