Blue Peter badges.

Following a FB conversation with a HE mum friend (thank you L!), in which she told me about how these days Blue Peter badges are not quite such the rare and coveted commodity they were in my day (at uni I lived with a girl who had one having been on Blue Peter because her dad had trained all the Blue Peter dogs from Goldie onwards and I was rather envious even then!), and also that being in possession of one allows free entry into over 200 attractions (including Shakespeare's Birthplace!) I suggested that K & M might like to see if they could do something in order to procure one of these for themselves. 

Although they were aware of the cultural icon that is Blue Peter from conversations about children's television, it's not actually something that they watch, so we thought perhaps we should do something about this.  To this end we watched the two programmes that are currently available on BBC iplayer, which happened to be the programme about the first ever selection of a new presenter that included a public vote and a compilation programme about various World Record attempts that Blue Peter has been involved with.  They enjoyed both of them and really liked the new presenter, although were sad that Helen Skelton is leaving and have decided that they would quite like to start watching it.  As a result I think it is perfectly reasonable (although given the money saving aspect I would have thought it reasonable anyway!), for them to try to earn themselves a Blue Peter badge.

As I said things have changed somewhat since I were a lass.  Now there are a variety of different coloured badges awarded for different things and it seems that as long as a reasonable effort is made, when you apply for a badge, which means telling them what you have done to earn one in at least 50 words, you will be awarded one.  K & M agreed that it would be a good thing to have one of these badges and both of the decided they'd like a blue one.  M already had something that she thought would be a good thing to send in, since poems are specifically mentioned as something that can earn you a blue badge, which was the poem she had written about her favourite cuddly toy Christopher.  So she wrote them an email with the poem and then (as it wasn't entirely clear at first glance that you could apply for the badge by email too) wrote a letter to apply for the badge.


The letter ready to send with the subject of the poem

M originally wrote the poem for a Puffin Post competition, but Puffin Post sadly closed between the advertising of the competition and the closing date and we never found out whether the competition continued despite a couple of phone calls and an email to try to find out, so I think it's good that something that she is rightly proud of can be used for this.  K is also planning to send something, but it has yet to be decided what.

This afternoon we had friends come round to play and almost as soon as they'd walked through the door the girls had decided that they wanted to continue the dressing up game that they had started shortly before we left their house at our last meet up a couple of weeks ago.  This necessitated dressing up clothes from their house, which fortunately is literally just across the road, so after suggestions to play something else for a while, J agreed to go and get them after she'd had a cuppa.  They do have some great costumes from when J did dance and gymnastics shows, which her mum had kept and the four girls all had a lovely afternoon dressing up and role playing.

In other news, that I forgot to mention, K & M have both decided that they want to learn the recorder, so yesterday I gave each of them their first lesson.  They can both read music already, from their piano lessons, so it was mostly about holding the recorder properly, how to blow it and the note B.  Given the book we happen to have, since they can read the music they could probably teach themselves if they wanted to, particularly now we've talked about and practised the blowing technique and how to make a good sound rather than a screechy one, so we'll see how it goes.

Geography - sorted!

Today, on the suggestion of a friend, E, who has also signed up, we signed up for Postcrossing.  I have finally been allowed to remove the alphabet freize that has been up on the wall in the hall for years, along with some pictures and certificates, and I have put up the new world map that arrived recently from the Book People along with a lovely big Geography book.

We have got 5 postcards ready to pop in the post tomorrow, heading for France, Germany, the USA, Russia and Belarus, all of which we have located on the map.  The plan is to stick the postcards we receive up around the map with thread linking them to where they came from.  In our profile we've asked for postcards about the countries, either the geography or the culture, cuisine, wildlife etc. and asked for the senders to tell us something about their country.

The geography book has sections on everything from Planet Earth with physical geography, to Rocks and Minerals, Water, Climate and Weather, Life on Earth with ecosystems and habitats, The Human World covering population, industry, farming and pollution among other things, Mapping the World with the atlas part of the book and finishing with Country Factfile.

In other news K made these today out of those cornstarch packing things and tissue paper.  The thing on the left is a person sitting in a chair on wheels and the thing on the right is a cross between an giraffe and I think she said a cat.

Feminism and a fun day out.

I was woken up this morning by K, who had brought something to show me that she'd done.

You've got to admit, she's got a point!

Just in case it's not clear, she put stickers over the word 'Girls' and wrote 'for anyone who likes cooking'.  When I posted the picture on The Everyday Sexism Project group on Facebook, it got some lovely comments including one that said 'Girls like her will change the world', which I shared with her and M.  They were very taken with this idea and it has lead to a discussion about sexism and feminism generally, from things like this to women not being allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.  We talked about how we can change things, bit by bit, by not allowing sexist comments without challenging them.  K & M like this idea and K told me about a conversation she had today with a boy, who had said that he felt sorry for a boy because he was the only boy in a particular class and K had said that it shouldn't matter because boys can be friends with girls too.  They also decided to enrole A in their mission to change the world, which lead to more talk about how it's just as, if not more important for men to challenge sexism when they encounter it, as due to that very sexism, some people will listen to men but not women when confronted, which he happily agreed to.  We finished off with the ideas that something that could be perceived as sexist, for example our very traditional family set up, with Daddy working and Mummy staying at home to look after the children, is because it was a choice that we made together and not something that we did because it had to be that way or because Daddy decided; and also that people can be sexist without realising it, because of the way society is set up in a certain way because it was done so at a time when it served men to be that way and it can disadvantage women and this needs to be challenged too.

Today we met up with friends we hadn't managed to get together with all summer.  It was 'one of those days' in trying to get there, satnav wouldn't work, I was reasonably confident I could get us there without, took one wrong turning, wasn't far out but a road closure meant retracing steps rather a long way, but eventually we arrived at Belton House and met up in the adventure playground.  After the children played and the mums chatted and we'd all had our picnic lunches, we moved on and there was more chatting and more playing in the indoor play area for a while before we had ice creams and a wander round the garden and the orangerie.  We all spent quite a while looking at the variety and huge number of bees in particular on the flowers.

Honey bee?

Huge bumble bee!

Sharing with a butterfly.

A little pause.

After a quick game of hide and seek, we, both families, had to get back for swimming lessons, but we have arranged another trip there when it'll be much quieter after schools have gone back in a couple of weeks on a day with no swimming lessons.

Finally finished and some slightly strange conversations.

This evening we finally finished our major tidy and clear out of the playroom.  Hurrah!  It's certainly taken long enough, but K & M have agreed to part with quite a lot of 'stuff', which is something of a relief.  We have an agreement that they can sell it at a home ed group annual table top sale, but that if it doesn't sell, it goes to a charity shop or is recycled or thrown away.

The pile of 'stuff'.

Now the only issue is that we need to store all of this until the next Fun Club sale, which used to be every November, but the last one was changed to February.  I'm really hoping that it'll be November again this time!

We also finished reading Boy and K & M were very interested to hear that a HE mum friend, was related to one of the people portrayed in it.  Prepare to be quizzed when we next see you C!  The very last couple of pages of the book recount the voyage that Roald Dahl took when he left England for his first overseas job with Shell in East Africa.  So K & I got the globe out and followed his journey from London to Mombasa, via the Bay of Biscay, Gibraltar, the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and Aden.  We also found Newfoundland, where he went on a expedition between school and starting work, and Norway, where both his parents were from and where he went on holiday every year as a child.  If Boy has opened up some discussion about what was in effect child abuse, perpetrated by adults and other children, encouraged by those adults, then Going Solo is certainly going to continue in this, and we started reading it this evening.

This morning the girls had their piano lessons, which they are both very much still enjoying and they are both doing practice, particularly in M's case when I have asked her to do something she doesn't really want to do, such as help with tidying up!  K had her lesson first as usual and M & I went to the park, then K & I went for a walk along the canal while M had hers.  During our walk we talked about various things, such as growing up (K would really rather not just yet), death (she thinks that she wouldn't be so bothered by it if she knew what it was like) and the universe (neither of us can get our heads around the idea that the universe is expanding but there isn't anything beyond the limits of it for it to expand into and K is clear that she doesn't want to study theoretical physics at university).  On the subject of conversations A told that recently he was talking to K and, in response to something he'd said, but he can't remember what, K told him that she could murder someone if she wanted to, but she doesn't want to murder anybody, so she won't!  I'm really curious as to how that subject came up!

Finally, M has been very busy today, making things.  She is, apparently, going to Hogwarts on the 1st September and is preparing things ready to go.  Today she made a telescope, by painting a kitchen roll tube and she made a cage for her owl, Pig, which she is 'very proud of'.

Inside there is a bowl, with half for water and the other half for food and a perch for Pig to sit on.  It is much bigger than the cage that K made for her owl, Wom, but that is apparently because Pig flies around madly a lot, so need more space.

Lovely day out.

Yesterday, A went into work as though it were a normal working day, in order to get on top on the mountains of work he seems to have, so that we could spent today, Bank Holiday Monday, together as a family.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that's it's a family tradition, but most years since we found out about it (probably 2006/7), we have gone along to the Wood Fair, which is about half an hour's drive from us.  Part of the reason that A spent Sunday, rather than Monday, in the office, was that this was on today, the other part was that the weather forecast was better for today, although in the end both days were pretty good!  So we headed there and had a great time.  As soon as we arrived, we asked if there was anything in particular that K & M really didn't want to miss out on and the only thing that they came up with, well M in particular, was the climbing wall, so we went there first and queued for about half an hour, during which time we talked about how it's much more important to have a really good go and to feel that you've done your best, than it is to succeed in reaching the top.  They each had a go and got about 2/3 of the way up before deciding to come back down, which they were both happy with.

K on the climbing wall

And M's turn

By the time we'd queued and they'd each had a turn, it was time to find some lunch and then we headed into the main marquee.  There was lots to see, including some beautiful wood carving, this chain caught our eye, for example.

Very clever!

After a look around, we decided an ice-cream would be a good idea, but since the queue was very long, A waited there while the girls and I returned to the marquee and queued elsewhere.  K & M have both had a go at pyrography before, both here in previous years and at Fun Club, so they decided to spend some of their money on having a go again.  They each chose to do a coaster this year, having done plaques for their bedroom doors previously.

M at work

And the finished article

And K concentrating

And the result

After this, we had a wander around the rather large site and among other things saw demonstrations of....

....horse logging

and chainsaw wood carving.

Something that K & M hadn't done here before, was having a go in the corricle.  It looked very trickly to control, but really good fun!

K went first,

then M had a go.

Finally, before heading home, we also watched a demonstration of bushcraft, match-less firelighting.

 

Flames appeared shortly after this photo.

Once home, at K & M's request, I continued reading Boy, finishing off the section about his time at prep school, which included another gruesome medical incident, although this time it was one that Dahl witnessed rather than underwent.

Then M & I continued with The Cavern of Clues, a Maths Quest book, on the topic of calculations, that we had started to read together this morning.  We had tried earlier this week, but M really wasn't in the right frame of mind at the time, not being willing to listen when she went wrong to explanations or suggestions of ways to try to solve the puzzles.  Today, she was happy to listen, and we talked about carrying when adding and multiplying, borrowing when subtracting and what to do when multiplying by 10 and its multiples.  She still got a few things wrong, but we have now addressed the ideas of writing down sums (she's pretty good at working things out in her head, so was a bit resistent to the idea of putting pen to paper) and how to set things out.

K had been listening in while M & I were looking at the Maths Quest book, as she was waiting to re-read it herself, but M really didn't want to try things with K around, so I suggested that K might like to do a bit of piano practice, which she did and obviously quite enjoyed, as she then returned to play a bit more a while later, after tea.

Boy and medical progress!

K & M are really enjoying Boy, despite rather a lot of gruesome incidents that Roald Dahl recounts in the book.  There are also three deaths touched on in the first few chapters, which I had completely forgotten about, having read the book a long time ago, it hasn't been a problem though, as I would imagine it would have done when we had our Roald Dahl obsession a few years back (before I started blogging).  So far we have encountered an adenoidectomy (performed with no warning for the child and no anaesthetic!), an appendectomy (performed with anaesthetic - chloroform and ether - but in the home with the patient on a table covered with a sterile cloth) and the sewing back on of a nose that was almost entirely severed (as above).  This has led to a discussion of changes of norms regarding the removal of adenoids and tonsils, both in terms of how frequently and where it might take place, and indeed looking up where the adenoids are (they're not mentioned in our body books, so we had to look them up online).

K has dug out a book about Roald Dahl, D is for Dahl and, by looking at the quiz in it, is finding out what is coming up from the chapter titles.  So far she's predicted the adenoid removal (although not the circumstances) and that he was going to get his nose almost severed from his face in a car accident.

In other news, we are nearly done with clearing and tidying the playroom.  It's a relief that they are finally feeling that it's okay to get rid of things and I'm really hoping that this will mean that we all find it easier to keep a bit tidier as we go along now.

Picnic, Potter and bits and pieces.

Today was our annual LLL group's Summer Picnic, so we met up with folks in our local park.  K & M had a lovely time playing hide & seek among other things with some of the other older children there while the mums chatted.  K, M and a couple of the others found the most enormous caterpillar I have ever seen while we were there, with a startingly blue horn like protruberance on it's head.

It was identified as a Hawk Moth caterpillar by one of the mums.

Once home, K & M chose to watch a Harry Potter dvd, The Goblet of Fire, which we've also got out of the library on cd at the moment.  I forgot to mention that yesterday in the car on the way home, listening to Harry Potter sparked a conversation about adrenalin and the 'fight or flight' response, which K & I followed up today, having a look at what it said about it in one of our non-fiction books.

We're making slow but steady progress with the playroom and, having finished the Charlie Bone series, this evening I started reading Roald Dahl's Boy.

In other news, M seems to be rather interested in spiders at the moment.  She called me into the garden this morning, before we headed off to the picnic to show me the spider and its web that was preventing her (because she didn't want to disturb it) going down the slide.

And finally, here's M's needle book that she made yesterday.

A brief trip away.

Tuesday brought piano lessons, as usual, and M in particular has been playing quite a lot in between.  She seems to be really enjoying it, although at the moment speed seems as important as accuracy in her playing!

Wednesday we continued with tidying/sorting/clearing out the playroom, with the focus being on Playmobil, of which K & M have rather a lot.  While they don't play with it as frequently as they used to, they definitely haven't grown out of it yet and occasionally it can provide hours of play.  They have both decided to get rid of some of it, mostly the parts that they now consider 'too girly', namely the fairytale/fairy themed things, but the dinosaur, camper vans and everyday type things are staying.

Swimming lesson was cancelled on Wednesday, I had a phone call to let me know, so we headed off to Granny and Big Grandad's a bit earlier than planned.  The reason for our, very brief, trip was because I had booked K & M on a sewing workshop, in the upstairs room of a haberdasher's shop (love that word!) on Thursday morning.  They spent just over 2 hours there, in a group of 8 children (aged about 7 - early teens I would guess) with 3 ladies helping them hand and machine sew a needlebook.  The results were very impressive.

K & her needlebook.

While K & M were busy sewing I went to visit my Grandma and had a lovely hour or so chatting.  Among other things she told me some of her life story, including the beginning of her nursing career, which started when she was 14 or 15, in a workhouse turned hospital, but at a time when there were still 'inmates' of the workhouse there.  She is 91, but it's quite incredible to think that something like a workhouse was still going within living memory!

In the afternoon we went to Mary Arden's Farm, but unfortunately I discovered that our family ticket, which is valid for a year and I bought only just over a month ago, wasn't in my bag where it lives.  I asked at the information desk if there was anything I could do, but sadly there isn't.  The lady on the desk very kindly let us in today though, but we're going to have to buy another one next time we want to go there or Shakespeare's Birthplace, both of which the girls love.  After spending some time at Mary Arden's Farm, including the three of us having a go at the archery, when K got two out of her four arrows in the centre of the target and M and I did pretty well too, watching the blacksmith at work and a while in the playground, where M very determinedly did the obstacle course with me timing her and getting steadily quicker, we popped into Stratford.  It was a long shot, but since we'd been to the Birthplace the day after I had bought the ticket at Mary Arden's Farm, there was the slight chance that they'd found it and hung on to it there, but sadly not.  Ho hum.

Finally, we have finally finished the last book in the Charlie Bone series.  None of the three of us had seen the ending (although I must admit I'm not got at spotting twists!), but it was a very satisfying conclusion all round.

Bikes and other stuff.

Sunday morning we had planned to go along to a Cycling For All event as a family.  However, given that I'm not exactly very mobile after my korfball injury, A took the girls and I hobbled about getting a few jobs done very slowly.  Unfortunately they didn't take the camera, so no pics, but they did have fun trying out different sorts of bikes, including a (scaled down) Penny-Farthing (K), a tandem (A & M) and a 'bumpy' bike (K & M), which had the axle on the back wheel off-centre and both girls compared to riding a horse.

While there, they had the girls' bikes checked over by Dr Bike and also confirmed our suspiscions that K really had grown out of her bike, as had M.  As a result, M has now been given K's old one and K will be getting a bigger one for her birthday.  There was some discussion about the 'fairness' of this, as M doesn't usually get new things, but hand-me-downs from K, but K while getting new things, tends to be given them for her birthday or Christmas, whereas M gets them when K grows out of them and thus has other things for presents.  K was very cheerful with her lot, having already told me when we talked about it last week and the bike idea hadn't cropped up, there isn't really much she would like for her birthday, so she didn't want anything really, but now she'll be getting the bike a bit early.  M wasn't so happy and moaned that she doesn't get to choose what she would like.  When looking at the two colour options for the bike we had decided on, K said she preferred the blue, but when I suggested that she let M have a look and see if she preferred the red or blue so she could possibly have a bit of a say (I did think she would also go for the blue), she not only did so, but when M said she liked the red better, decided that she would go for that colour.

In the afternoon we did some more sorting, tidying and clearing out of drawers from the playroom, although there's still lots of do.  I also read eight chapters of the final Charlie Bone book.  Only eight more chapters and we'll have to decide what to go for next.  Front runners are The Railway Children (as I found a dvd of the film in a charity shop) and Roald Dahl's Boy.

As far as telly is concerned, K & M are both very into Tom & Jerry at the moment, which means that they are bombarded with adverts in between the cartoons.  We've been looking at the adverts lately, mostly for toys, given that it's a children's channel, and noticing how the vast majority of them are very obviously aimed at either boys or girls and most of the few that are trying to sell something that's just for children, rather than girls or boys, such as scooters, have pink ones with girls on and bright primary colours with boys on.  We also talked about the gender stereotyping in the occasional advert aimed at adults, particularly the one for cleaning products that was obviously suggesting that 'mum' would be needing them.

K & M had been looking forward to today for quite a while.  They had been very keen on the idea of having their friend A & J for a sleepover, who, after initial enthusiasm, had decided that they weren't ready for one after all, so instead they came here for the whole day, much longer than the usual after school term time meet ups we have.  Their dad dropped them off before 10 o'clock, S, their mum joined us after work and appointment about 4pm and they left at gone half past seven.  In that time the four of them played The Game of Life Adventures Edition, played a game in which three of them were cats and the fourth was human, and set up a cafe in the garden with food made from soil, sand and mud etc and served S & me.  We also measured A & J and talked a bit about statistics and bell curves, played Pit and K, A, S & I played The Game of Life Adventures card game while M & J played hide and seek.

Korfball tournament.

This year is the 20th anniversary of Nottingham Korfball Club.  I started playing korfball at university and when I moved to Nottingham in 1999 for my first job, I knew nobody, so when I discovered that there was a korfball club that played just down the road, I was delighted.  One of the great things about korfball is that it is, as far as I know, the only genuinely mixed sport.  There are others than can be played with men and women, but korfball has to be.  As a result it does provide a ready-made, nicely gender balanced social group.  To celebrate the anniversary there was a 'do' on Friday evening and lots of former players who've moved away or who, like me, haven't but no longer play.  It was lovely to see folks who I haven't seen for years in some cases and A and I enjoyed a rare night out.  Like many other people there, we met through korfball and there are now quite a few of the next generation who are playing, like K & M.

Today was the annual Nottingham Korfball Tournament, which had, during the lunch break a celebratory match with two teams of Nottingham players, past and present.  It was really good fun and, not really surprisingly given who was playing, very competitive.  I was extremely chuffed to score against an old friend who used to play for our 1st team in the national league when I was in the second team in the local league when we played.  When getting ready this morning, M in particular was really rather grumpy to be going along to a korfball tournament where she wasn't going to play.  It was only when I suggested that there was a small possibility that she *might* be able to play for a little while for part of the celebration match that she quickly cheered up, changed and got ready to leave in a very short time.  When we asked about it when we arrived, it wasn't clear if it would happen, but in the end, after another of the juniors (another next generation korfer) thinking she might join in so she and M could mark each other opting out, it was 15 adults and one 8 year old playing.  The plan had been for her to play for a few minutes and then be subbed off again, but all the other women disappeared, so she stayed on for much of the second half.  E, who she was marking was absolutely fantastic, and with some coaching from the sidelines, M did really well and the play went on around her quickly, while including her whenever possible, to the point that she didn't realise that they'd been compensating for her being there at all.  So to any of you who were involved, who might be reading this a big Thank You! :-)  She was eventually subbed off when we changed ends, because the posts juniors of her age group use are considerably shorter than the full-sized ones and she really wouldn't have stood a chance.

Unfortunately not long after she was subbed off, I was helped off the pitch, having felt as though I'd been hit really hard in the calf by a hockey ball, when according to the handy A&E doctor (there seem to be rather a lot of doctors who play korf), I've probably torn the muscle a bit - ouch.  Thanks, also, to D, for driving the girls and me home, as I really don't think it would have been wise for me to have done so.  Anyway apart from my ignominious end to the match, I really enjoyed it and in some ways it put me in mind of the Blow the Dust Off Your Instrument orchestral day that I did a couple of months ago.

Summer Scientists.

Today A had taken the day off work, so that he could come along to the Summer Scientist event at Nottingham University School of Psychology.  The girls and I went last year and really enjoyed it and we were all keen to go again.  Downstairs in the atrium there are various activities to choose from, which each cost a token.  You are given a token to start off with when you arrive and then you earn more tokens, by going upstairs to do a different activity (which contributes to the research they are doing there), then you come back down until someone else invites you to go and do another activity upstairs.  Last year one of the girls, M, always wanted me with her for the upstairs activities and the other, K, didn't, which worked out rather nicely.  This year neither of the girls wanted accompanying, so A and I had a look at the posters which explain the activities that they are doing upstairs and what they are trying to find out.

Downstairs, K & M made a beeline for a particular activity, which does look very cool!  By activating a fan at the base of a tube, using the power of the brain, you can make a ping pong ball hover in the air.

I love the look of concentration!

K's turn.

 K & M did tell us a bit about what they got up to upstairs, so mostly we were able to work out from the posters what they had been doing related to.  Some of the research seemed to be trying to determine at what point particular skills or ways of thinking were acquired, other was about how these things develop.  K, for example, did one activity about recognising emotion from different facial expressions.  M did one which was concerned with the difference between children and adults in understanding distorted or incomplete speech with and without the visual help of someone's face (apparently children are better at understanding without visual help than adults).  Both girls did something that involved questions about their perception of themselves as regards their emotions and personalities, which was to be compared to a similar questionnaire that I filled in.  There was one to do with recognising landmarks when finding your way and comparing that to a map, when the landmarks were in useful places such as junctions or otherwise.

Downstairs M found that her balance when standing on a wobbly disc with her eyes closed was remarkably good, managing about 25 seconds, which was the longest of any of the 7-11 year olds.  K seemed to spend a bit more time upstairs (it just happens to depend when people are free and needing another volunteer) and although she also had a go on the wobbly disc and a second go with the floating ping pong ball activity, she ended up with 5 tokens that she hadn't had a chance to 'spend' downstairs.  M decided that it wasn't fair that the adults didn't get tokens, so she shared hers with A and me and we all had a go at throwing bean bags into pockets with different points, first normally and then with special goggles on that shift everything a foot or so to the right in your vision.  Even when you know you need to compensate for this, it's really rather tricky!



A's turn.

All in all a really good afternoon and we will look forward to a third visit there next summer.

A couple of contrasting days.

As well as the (increasingly gradual) clearing out of the playroom, we've been out and about both of the last two days.  Although before we get to that, I wanted to mention that the night before last K & M were having trouble settling down at bedtime, so remembering something I'd seen on Facebook, I suggested they lie on M's bed with the curtain open and see if they could spot any of the Perseid 'shooting stars'.  They did each spot one or two, although we haven't followed it up yet, having been rather busy, but must do so!

Yesterday we went to Nottingham Contemporary, we have been before, soon after it opened about 4 years ago, but not since.  I must admit that modern art really isn't my thing, but seeing as it is on our doorstep and free entry we really should go a bit more often.  We had a particular reason for going this time, as we were undercover judges for the Kids In Museums Family Friendly Museum Award.  We had prepared by looking through their manifesto and bearing it in mind as we spend a few hours there.  It started well, we were greeted when we went in and asked if we knew about the activities that were happening for children in the Space downstairs, which we did having had a look at their website the previous evening.  K & M both drew or coloured in and cut out something to go in the fishing net display on the wall (well M's went on it while we did other stuff, K decided she wanted to keep hers from the off) although their initial reaction was concern for the creatures that had been caught.  Fortunately the notice did say that all creatures would be put back in the water unharmed at the end.  They also enjoyed the digital pool, a large mat with sea creatures swimming around in it, which reacted when you walked or jumped on it.  Having removed their shoes for this, neither K nor M wanted to put them back on to go back upstairs to have a look around at the Aquatopia exhibition, which wasn't a problem either nobody noticed, or if they did they didn't comment.  K & M were very keen to pick up an explorer bag and although the very friendly lady on the reception desk said that one between them would be more than enough, she was quite happy to let them have one each, only asking that we return them before we went back downstairs to the children's activity area in case other people wanted them, which was fair enough.  We had a look through the bags, which were pretty good, they had a variety of activities and props for doing them.  Unfortunately we didn't end up doing any of them though, we went into Gallery 1, and the first paintings we saw were 19 Century seascapes of shipwrecks and disasters, which neither of them were very keen on.  After a quick look around they decided that they wanted to move on, so we had a look in the small room, just off the reading room, which cabinets that you can open the drawers to have a look at the contents.  Gallery 2 was too much for K, who really doesn't like images that portray people or animals in distress or being hurt, there was one picture in particular which from a distance looks like a woman vomiting copious amounts of blood (M on looking a bit closer thought it was bracelets), which she really didn't like and M wasn't keen either, so we quickly left.  I suggested that I could have a look in the final two galleries to see if I though there were things in there that they wouldn't like, but they weren't up for that, so we returned the kit bags to reception and I did mention to the lady there why we were returning so quickly.  She did say that the staff in the galleries were briefed to speak to families about what may not be appropriate for younger children although neither of the staff members in the two galleries had acknowledged us, let alone said anything unfortunately.  K & M did want to return to the activities downstairs, where we happened to bump into friends from our HE gymnastics group, a mum with girl of about 4 or 5 and a sleeping baby in a sling.  She said that there had been a video with in appropriate sexual content that her daughter had sat down and put the headphones on before she was approached by a member of staff who suggested that it wasn't really appropriate, she said that although the sexual aspect went competely over her daughter's head, she didn't want her watching it and it was a bit tricky to 'drag' her daughter away from it.  They joined us, after the children's area shut at 3 o'clock, for a treat in the rather nice cafe.  Just as we were leaving we realised that we'd left a clipboard, that we'd taken in case K & M wanted to do any drawing while there, in the by then shut up space and they were very helpful in retrieving it.  So they'll be getting a rather mixed review from us when we talk to the lady from Kids In Museums next week.

Today we went to Wollaton Hall and met up with friends, Z & R there.  It's a great place to go and spend time, with the most fantastic climbing tree, which is a big favourite of K & M and me too!

M upside down in the climbing tree.

One of the really good things about the place, is that as well as the Hall, which is great for when the weather is bad, there's so much outside space with wonderful variety to explore.  There are the gardens, an orangerie, big open spaces and a lake, surrounded by wooded area.  There are two varieties of deer, as well as smaller animals to spot.

One of today's spots.

R is similar to M in that she likes to have freedom to roam, but being younger and an only child can't do so around where they live yet, so Wollaton Hall is fantastic for her and the three girls were very keen when Z & I suggested that they could go off on their own around the lake if they wanted to for a while.  Z & I sat on a bench at the end of the lake and could actually see them for most of the time, as they played at the edge of the lake and came back to us a good while later, rather grubby, somewhat damp and hungry for the packed lunches we'd brought with us. 

Before we went to find Z & R, we had a rather interesting experience in the car park.  K went to get the pay & display ticket and when we put the money in and pressed the button, instead of producing a ticket it spewed out my £2 along with another £15!  On the second attempt, we did get a ticket but still had £15 in change.  We talked about what we should do and agreed to take the money up to the Hall and hand it in.  It was rather tempting to keep it, but it's free to go to and such a fantastic place for families, K & M took it up to the Hall and gave it in there.

After we left Z & R, we headed up the M1 to go and pick up a microscope that we had arranged to buy from another HE family who mentioned on a Facebook page they were looking to sell.  We had a look at it and checked all was working (a concern that K expressed on the way!) before bringing it home, it looks good and I'm looking forward, in particular, to having a look at some blood.

Continuing the clear out.

Yesterday I woke up rather late, to the sound of M practising the piano and when I got downstairs, M & K were on the computer doing games on the WWF Go Wild website.  M in particular tried to persuade me to go back to bed, but I had lots of post holiday washing to catch up on among other things, so that didn't happen.

We, well mostly me, got stuck in to the playroom, although both K & M did help with sorting out what could go.  I was quite surprised at how much they were willing to get rid of, although we will now have to store it until the next Fun Club table top sale.

To go!

M had asked for the musical instrument box down from the top shelf a few times since we got home on Sunday, so I got that down for her and she decided to sort the instruments into types; percussion, string (my guitar and viola, which don't live in the box) wind and keyboard.  She then played a bit before, at my suggestion, deciding with K that there were some things in there that could go too.

In between bouts of clearing out and tidying, I read lots more Charlie Bone, while the girls played with Lego some of the time and K did some of a My First Sewing kit that was M's but she had decided she didn't want to do any more of.

This morning was piano lessons, followed by a trip to the library on the way home, where M finished the Summer Reading Challenge, reporting on the final two books of the six.  We then came home, via the park and some tree climbing, and I continued to read Charlie Bone (only about a book and a quarter of the series left to go now!). 

This afternoon we continued sorting, clearing out and tidying.  Today was more of a recycle, throw out sort of a day, as K & M each tidied out their own 'doodle drawer', while I sorted, cleared out and tidied lots of others.  I was rather proud of myself that I only squeaked slightly when I came across a not-particularly-small spider in one of them, something I have had to really work on and I'm very pleased that K & M really aren't bothered by them at all.

Earlier this year, A bought and planted an apple sapling and we were quite surprised that it has produced a handful of apples in its first year.  At his suggestion, K & M picked the two ripest looking apples this evening and thereby (sort of) completed another of the 50 Things, eat an apple straight from the tree.

M picking...

...and eating.

And K picking...

...and eating.

Unfortunately they weren't anything like as ripe as they looked and really rather sour and the pips were still white when I cut them open.  Ho hum.

A lovely week away - Part Two

On the Wednesday we stayed the night near Preston, because Thursday we had plans to meet up with my friend S and her four children, J, T, B and G.  At her suggestion we met at Rufford Old Hall, a National Trust property that they'd been to a couple of times before.  We had a lovely time, playing giant Jenga and giant Connect Four to start with, then we moved round the side of the house and found the croquet set, which was really good fun.

Croquet at Rufford Old Hall.

After a very good picnic lunch, provided by S, we had a walk around the grounds, looked at some bugs that we caught in the bug viewer that we'd given them as a present, watching some teens play a game of giant chess and climbing trees.  After a quick look inside the house, as J wanted to show K & M the armour, in particular the helmet for a horse, it was time for S and company to head off, as they needed to get themselves sorted for S's brother's wedding the following day.  We stayed a bit longer and had another, very close, game of croquet and a go at swing ball, as well as a drink in the cafe.

We stopped for a meal, over which we discussed things ranging from Shakespeare quotes (we'd been listening to the cd of Shakespeare Without the Boring Bits, including, for the first time ever, Romeo and Juliet), to life from conception through birth to death and beyond.  Then we arrived at the very nice guest house that we had splashed out for a night in, to which the girls would very much like to return for a bit longer in the not too distant future and it has occurred to me that it would be the ideal location for a bit of star gazing (one of the 50 Things that we have yet to do), being really rather out in the middle of nowhere.  Friday we headed for another National Trust place, Fountains Abbey, which A remembered visiting as a child and wanted to return.  It was a good plan and we had a lovely day.  We started off with a brief visit to the playground.

Swinging Daddy!

Then we explored the Abbey and talked briefly about the Reformation, but mostly about how the ruins would make be a really good place to play the 'ruin game' (as played in the first, I think, Charlie Bone book).  In the book the children have to go into the ruins of a castle at night, and compete to find a medal hidden there and get out again within an hour, the winner being exempt from detention for the whole year.

Fountains Abbey

More of the Abbey

Exploring the Abbey

As well as exploring the Abbey, we had a walk around the water gardens, had lunch and a very good ice cream and explored more of the very extensive grounds.  Since K & M were very keen to play the Ruin game, we returned to the Abbey and played our own version of it.  As there were quite a lot of other people around and we didn't have a medal anyway, we used A as the medal.  He had an extremely good hiding place and it took about half an hour before M finally found him!

A's hiding place

M found him - eventually

We didn't have much time left after our game, just enough to have a look at the mill, where A & M made some flour.  And M found the final clue for the activity that she had decided to do (it was supposedly one of the 50 Things - 'use a map & compass' to find clues, but frankly if the compass is drawn onto the map I really don't think that counts!).

Making flour.

From Fountains Abbey, we headed to Durham where we were staying with R, a college friend of A's, and his wife, also R and their boys B, who's coming up to 5 and H, 18 months.  R and B were still at the cricket when we arrived, but got home soon after we got there.  The girls got on really well with B and they played really well together (well mostly anyway!), mostly football with the dads but also on the trampoline (always a favourite with my girls). 

On the Saturday A & R were going to the cricket (the second day of the fourth Ashes match for those who are interested in such things), so I had arranged to meet up with one of my 'computer mummy friends', Me, and her family.  (I had asked R if she and the boys would like to join us, but they had things to do).  We had met Me, S, E & B last time we'd been up in Durham rather briefly, so it was good spend a bit more time together.  Me's suggestion to go to the Sedgefield Country Show sounded like a good one, so we met there.  Initially, at least in M's opinion it was not such a good idea, but she warmed up after a while.  There were rides to go on, all four girls liked the bouncy slides, lots of different animals to see and plenty going on in the big arena to watch.

We all learned something about goats.  We saw the goat below, with an enormous belly that we were absolutely convinced much be pregnant and not far off giving birth.  It looked for all the world as though there was a baby in there moving around, and we heard several other people saying the same.  However, on talking to a lady in there, we learned that none of the goats in the tent were pregnant and the movement we could see was the rumen, part of the stomach, where the food goes after being swallowed for the first time, before it is regurgitated as cud, which is the chewed before being swallowed a second time. (I found some more info here).

An interesting goat.

We didn't see any sheepdogs, we did however see goose- and duckdogs!  When working the ducks, children were invited to go and stand in groups for the dogs to weave the ducks in and out of and M and B with S, joined in.

Herding ducks

The duckdog again.

We also watched the police dog demonstration, which was pretty impressive.

Agility.

Apprehending.

After another very pleasant evening back in Durham, the next day it was time to head home.