More variety and death.

We've had another week with plenty of variety.  After the sleepover and Gruffalo production, Tuesday morning was spent mostly sleeping!  M surfaced about 10.30am and K was asleep when I poked my head round the door half an hour later, but I think that I must have woken her then, as she got up very shortly afterwards.  We had piano lessons, quite a lot of discussion about politics and a pretty quiet afternoon, with more Ruby Redfort and then korfball in the evening.  My lovely friend S, who we usually lift share with, as A & J both play korf too, stepped into the breach and did both runs, as it was pointed out to me by the builder that we had a flat tyre.

Wednesday started considerably earlier than Tuesday, as M had her French horn lesson at half past eight!  It started earlier, but much grumpier too, as M really didn't want to get up.  She did eventually get going though.  When we got home, we made our packed lunch and headed to Wollaton Hall to meet up with our friends C, G & F, and two extras who C was looking after for the day.  C and I have been saying we must get together again for well over six months, so it was about time!

M & K posing at Wollaton Hall.

After introducing the others to the climbing tree, we went (rather reluctantly to start with at least in the case of K & M) into the Hall.  It's been ages since we went inside and there have been a few changes and we all really enjoyed it.  After fetching our picnics from the car, and meeting a friend in the courtyard, we headed to the 'beach' and ate it there and the kids all paddled, while C & I crotched and chatted.  We were joined a bit later by some folks from Fun Club, who we discovered have signed up for the 1st Aid course that C is organising in September (K & M are signed up too).

Tiny frog that M spotted at the 'beach'.

 We returned to the climbing tree for a while, where another mum and daughter turned up and after a while she asked if we were home educators too!  After a while we headed down to the fairly newly opened playground for a play there, before heading home, but not before agreeing to meet up again soon!  K & M had their swimming lesson as usual and we had a look to see if we could find any more cherries, but sadly we only found a small handful and they were really sour.

Today has been really hot!  We've also had the kitchen fitter back, now that the replacement worktop has finally arrived, so hopefully by tomorrow evening it really will be done (although there are still a few bits for the builder to finish off), only just over a month late!

Today we read more Ruby Redfort, both girls have been reading their library books and have done music practice, as well as playing, K also did some more of her maths workbook.  We also watched the final episode of The Human Body, which is about death.  Both girls were a bit apprehensive about watching it but decided that they would.  One of the main things it focused on was a man, Herbie, who had an inoperable tumour and had chosen to die at home and showed him over the last months and eventually final minutes of his life and his death.  K in particular got rather emotional, but not distressed and when I asked said that she was glad that she'd watched it.  Another thing that was shown was open-heart surgery (K shut her eyes for this part), which is quite timely, as my Dad is waiting for just such an operation.  The episode sparked a conversation about euthanasia, as it is brought up by Herbie at one point, although not using the word.  I made a point of asking K in particular if she wanted to talk about any of it, but she didn't.  I thought that it did a very good job of demystifying death and making the idea of it a lot less frightening.  Sad as it can be to think about, with two great grandparents in their nineties, it is something that K & M are going to have to deal with at some point probably in the not too distant future.

We finished the day with a much more cheerful dvd, How To Train Your Dragon, borrowed from C, at her insistence, which both girls enjoyed.