Isle of Man, Week One: At Granny's

August was dominated by trips to the Isle of Man, so much so that it's probably sensible to have a couple of IOM-only posts, and the monthly update can follow after. This also means that there's room for more photos here, which is good, since we took 1,445 pictures there - a lot, by any standards! The sheer volume of pictures means that I'm going to split the IOM updates into two; one for each week we were there.

So, to get the ball rolling, here's a picture of Manx Viking Finn fresh into the Isle of Man (in the T-shirt newly made by Cori only days earlier):

Finn and I (James) went to the Isle of Man for two weeks, during the annual summer closure of Finn's nursery. Cori could only make the second week, since she needed to be in work for the Summer Holiday rush at the Museum. But Finn didn't mind, because he got a week staying at granny's which was very exciting for him. It was also very nice for me, to wake up in the bed next to him as he woke me slowly by his quiet chattering or singing to himself. I would lie perfectly still listening to him, knowing that as soon as I moved or opened an eye he would shout "Dee-Dah! Awake! Let's play!" It's nice, as a part of the holiday side of things, to be reminded how lovely our Finn is. This is what I woke to every morning during the first week at "Granny's"

We got thrown straight into the swing of things, joining in with what granny or the cousins were up to. This meant even going to church, albeit briefly, after the session of "Treasure Seekers" (Maughold's new-fangled word for what we all know as Sunday School) where we roamed around the graveyard finding the WWI graves to put crosses on (and also, in Finn's case, to run around shouting "My cousins!"):

In the back you'll see the last remaining members of the congregation who are finishing off their tea & cake after the service. Finn was introduced briefly to some set of old ladies as the grandson from London. "What's your name?" asks an kindly old lady. "Little Turtle" replies Finn without even a pause for consideration. The old lady looks rather baffled, understandably.

One of the big problems normally when on the Isle of Man is the heights of misery and emotional trauma that Finn will go through upon having to leave Granny or his cousins at the end of the day. But being at Granny's meant that we didn't need to go through that even once, which was wonderful. Even when the cousins left, he was still with Granny, which is still ace! It was great to be staying at Granny's, whether with or without cousins:

Note Finn's excellent driving skills here, very precisely driving through the drying and around the pole!

Feeding the ducks in the garden is fun, but not as fun as doing it from in a car:

And, while we're on the subject of Granny's house, here she is working away at (probably) one of the apple pies that Finn so adored:

It seems strange not to build up to it more, but the first trip we did was to the Laxey Wheel. To me it was just a pretty cool water wheel in the next town over, but I've had to rethink it since going there with Finn. For him it was the most amazing thing ever and he has not stopped speaking about it since:

No idea why Jake's being religious here!

We also got to go down the mine a little way, which should have been very exciting, although Finn was not too bothered by it, since it was neither a large wheel nor a car - it transpired to be simply a large dark hole... but at least we could come out again and go back to the wheel for one last picture!

Then we treated ourselves to a trip to the beach, where Finn was able to be distracted from not being able to clamber on the rocks with his cousins by being taken for a paddle with granny, which he enjoyed immensely:

This Laxey trip has been the thing Finn has spoken most about since coming back to London. He has now taken to asking us to draw the Laxey Wheel when we get the pens & paper out, and he even knows the song about the place as well - it's good to have a song to sing about a mechanical thing other than The (Damn) Wheels on the Bus! ...And for those who don't know the Laxey Wheel song, here's your education:

When I went back to the island last week I saw the perfect present to bring back to Finn, which was immediately elevated to his favourite T-shirt and which he was apparently telling everyone about in nursery about when he wore it there:

Next up on our Manx Tour was a trip on the tram - always a winner by Finn! - out to Ballaglass Glen, one of the most beautiful places on the island (where the camera rather frustratingly got onto the wrong setting, though it does mean you're relieved of at least some pictures!):

But we weren't just nature-enjoying - we had to  get out the bottom of the glen because were on a mission, to feed fish!

Fish Hatcheries are amazing places for children - everyone loved it! That is, except for me, since I immediately remembered the smell of the place from my childhood as soon as we went in - I hate the smell of fish-food, so everyone walking around with buckets of the stuff and digging their hands in was abominable to me. I was glad when Finn decided to pour his away in one go half-way round (see the crucial moment a couple of pictures up), only to then have him put the handle of the tub in his mouth (see the picture above). Eww!

We planned to go back on the tram again, but we waited and waited without any sign of the tram. But at least that gave Finn plenty of time to be a railwayman:

  

But eventually we had to give up waiting and walk up the path (picking Blackberries) to catch the bus. It was undoubtedly the longest Finn has ever walked - the Glen alone is just under a mile long - but he managed it, with a break for a wail half-way up the path. But once on the bus he was perfectly contented again - transport tends to have that effect on Finn.

I also used the James-&-Finn time to do some very James-like activities, such as taking Finn with me to find the gravestones/memorials of great Manx writers - which meant that Finn got another trip out the Maughold, in the car!

Whilst there Finn was thrilled to, at last, see the memorials/graves for...

Cushag...

... Kathleen Faragher...

... Hall Caine...

... and someone who had a flower-holding pot-thingy just the right size to accept the green stones from their grave - I stopped him playing that game!

To be honest, I'm not too sure that Finn was so fussed about the connection to Great Manx Writers, but at least he got to get to ride in Granny's car - another star of the holiday, alongside the Laxey Wheel.

Having heard so much about it from trips which Jake had made with his nursery, I was excited to go to Silly Moos, a farm which has turned over a couple of fields to family fun. This included the very farm-like things of being able to see cows being milked. Finn found this fascinating - so fascinating that he missed Thomase being splashed with freshly created pee-mud flung at him by the freshly-relieved stamping cow! Sadly, however, there is not a picture of that - only a rather more sedate one of us all admiring a Loaghtan Lamb shortly after Finn and I had been slightly traumatised by feeding one of the ravenous calves from a bottle of the fresh milk.

There was also a Maize Maze, which Cori reported as an Ohio-must, but which was a complete novelty for me. I don't think I was prepared for just how large and tortuous it was. It was a good thing that the cousins were there to distract Finn from my misery and growing concern about being stuck in there forever.

There also, amazingly, a Tractor Safari, on which we spotted crocodiles, monkeys and elephants. Admittedly, they were soft toys hung up in trees, but it did make for a lot of fun was we rode around the corn field sat on hay bails in the trailer hitched to the tractor.

Finn even got to impersonate the farmer in the next field over:

And a TT racer, as is probably necessary on a trip to the island:

This picture of Finn on the bike is actually him riding off the track through the long grass towards the castle, which he was very excited to play in...

Then, just before getting back in the car after hours of playing, we had a quick go on the obstacle course. This meant Finn hanging out in a tunnel as the cousins leapt over jumps and raced around him (which you can see some evidence of in the background in the second picture here):

And, of course, there was also the Great Entertainment of going to the cousins's house, where Finn could play with all their amazing toys, like Lego:

And, while we were in their room, it was a good opportunity for the cousins to show me how strong the Force was with them:

Although I think that they were very impressed with the strength of the Force that was in Finn also (and here you see the first ever pictures of Finn playing at fighting, which made me feel a little Guardian-Reading-Islington-Middle-Class uncomfortable).

And after all that fighting, it was a good thing that we were close to a bath to clean off in:

The sharing of the bath was originally just supposed to be Jake and Finn, but no one wanted to miss out, so it ended up being a heap of boys squirming about in a tub. Good for fun, less good for getting a Finn clean. But, then again, there is always another day in which to get really clean, and sadly not everyday is one to hang out with cousins in.

That is about it for IOM Week One, at Granny's house. The second week, with Cori in the mix and at the flat, can come in the next blog...