Leslie to Nele + Gross motor activity - Diggerland.

Happy card and envelope from Leslie to Nele. I wonder how that name is pronounced. 

I have not been able to find any more of the succulent plant stamps. Now that I am in Chicago for a few weeks, maybe I should try some of the Chicago post offices. My past visits to stations in this city have been less than warm and cozy. Des Moines is soooo dull - but the upside is that there is a little less urban *edge.* I just saw a bit of humor said that if Duh Moines was a color it would be beige and if it were a spice it would be flour. 

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This is a what I would have planned for a birthday party for the BigHelpfulBrother. A trip to Diggerland. 99% of the time, my blog is about fine motor activities. I can' think of a single gross motor activity that has ever appealed to me - except building the occasional snowman. I could have just sent this link to the BHB directly, but, I decided to share it, in case anyone has a yearning to move some earth. Or perhaps you need an idea for a birthday gift for someone who is an earth-mover type.

Link to Diggerland in Kent, UK

It is an amusement park with all kinds of vehicles and earth moving equipment. If you don't want to travel to Kent, UK, you can Google Diggerland - and there are some locations in the US. I found Diggerland because I was delving into the author Jacqueline Winspear. I downloaded her book (a memoir), This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing. She is a couple years younger than I am - so there are a number of things that parallel with my memories of growing up in the 50s, 60s, and beyond. But, -wow- rural England was still a very challenging place to live while many of us were enjoying the mid-century life here in the US. Her description of working on the farms in Kent County sounded more like unpleasant (abusive) child labor that compared with our turn of the century life. Pulling the stems off the imperfect strawberries that were headed to the jam makers - until her finger tips bled. I am tempted to email the author and ask about leaving blood mixed in with the strawberries - but, I have too much to do.

The title of the book was something her dad would say whenever the family was faced with a challenge. We've all been muttering - for the past year - that we'll be looking forward to things being better *next year.* Here we are - not sure we are laughing yet, but there are a couple bright spots here and there.

I was curious to see what was going on in Kent County currently and there are tons of historical sites to visit. Also Diggerland. Kent is the southeast corner of England and includes the white cliffs of Dover. 

As luck would have it, I have some lovely mail from exchanger Rebecca who lives in Berkshire, UK. I used Google maps to determine that she is 1.5 hrs from Diggerland. We will be very interested to find out if Rebecca has been to Diggerland.

This is just one of 20 different activities pictures on the link. Some are scaled down for very young kids.