A bit too busy.

Last week continued to be very hectic, rather too much so really, although it was all fun and interesting stuff!

On Wednesday, after M's French horn lesson, we headed over to see our friends, C, G & L in Derby and went climbing to a HE group at the place they are members again, before heading back to their house for a very late lunch, more playing and a quick trip to the park.  Then it was back home in time for the girls' swimming lesson, after which M had something of a meltdown due to overtiredness!

Thursday was a very early start, as we went to Thinktank for one of their days specially for home edders.  We've been a few times now and always enjoyed it, although K & M do have a tendency to want to redo sessions that they done previously.  The sessions are never exactly the same so they do still get plenty out of it.  This was the first time that K & M weren't in all of the same sessions (you get to book three per child), since K is now 12 and the sessions are divided up to be suitable for all ages, under 8, 8 and over, and 12 and over.  K's session on her own (for the 12+ sessions the children don't need an accompanying adult), was called Launch It and was a double session (a single one lasts around 50 minutes).  I asked K if she'd learnt anything and she said 'Not really,' and informed me that there wasn't much that she hadn't learnt about when we visited East Midlands airport three years ago for a visit with a HE dad who worked in the maintenance hanger there.  I would imagine it was a pretty good reminder though!  They also made aeroplanes with plastic propellers powered by elastic bands, made out of balsa wood and paper using hot glue guns.  They had a go at flying them with varying success.  Unfortunately K's got soggy walking back to the station later that day and fell apart, but she wasn't too upset and had enjoyed the process.

K with her plane.

M and I meanwhile had spent a very enjoyable couple of hours with friends who we'd met at the station in Birmingham, having been on the same train.  In the KidsCity area, C & I were served food in the café by M & L, we bought fruit and veg from them in the market, I was told I had a problem with the tendent (tendon) in my knee and C had a check up at the dentist.  After a while we were joined by B with Z, S & L too.  M enjoyed trying to challenge herself to manage to pick up various things with the digger there too.

She managed to pick up the brick and just one colour of ball!

M went along to her Cauldron Chemistry session in the theatre with C & L (thank you!), while I had some time with just K. We'd been to Cauldron Chemistry on a previous occasion, when K & M had been most indignant because the premise was that you could cheat in your magic exams using science, and they disapproved of this most strongly.  This time it was apparently okay, because there weren't exams involved.  K wanted to spend most of our time together before the next session, in the outdoor science garden, which admittedly is pretty fantastic and fun, despite the less than lovely weather.

A big lever!

We managed to miss M coming out of the theatre, but fortunately for the next session we were with B, Z, S & L and they had taken her along with them (thank you!).  This was another session that K & M had done previously (twice!), this time called Jewellery Heist and was about forensic science.  It was a bit rushed, but they took their own finger prints, looked at a suspect's finger prints, fibre samples under a microscope, shoe imprints, CCTV video evidence and more before deducing who was the most likely suspect, based on the evidence, to have committed the crime.

K taking her finger print, using magnetic powder.

Our final session was a new (hurrah!) and interesting one, called Rocks Around Us.  First we talked about what is and isn't a rock, not as easy to define as you might think, before sorting out a number of things into 'rock or not'.  The things to sort included some very obvious things, like a shell, a feather and a marble, some sandstone and marble as well as slightly less obvious like brick, cement and a piece of a pure mineral (none of which are rocks).

Rock (at the bottom) and not (at the top).

Then we used an identification tree to find out what ten different minerals were, using appearance of the shape of crystals, whether they left a streak when scratched on a tile and even smell.

We got them all right!

Finally, we looked at the three different types of rock, sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic, how they are made and how there isn't really a cycle, but each different type can turn into another sort (or indeed the same sort) depending what happens to it.  So erosion makes sedimentary rock, melting and cooling makes igneous rock and heat and pressure make metamorphic rock.

We had to dash off after that to get the train home, and having missed the earlier train (it was rather ambitious!) got one which involved a change at Derby.  We found B, Z, S & L on the second train (which was busy but less ridiculously crowded than the first one and managed to sit with them, which was good.  Once home, it was a quick tea before Scouts for K & M!

Friday, was less busy but we still had to get up, out and into town to be at the cinema by 10 o'clock for the first of the two Into Film festival films that we've got booked.  It was the absolutely bonkers Penguins of Madagascar, which we really enjoyed!  We then stayed in town and had pizza for lunch before doing some shopping.  K bought a lego creator set house with some of her birthday money, which she is really pleased with.  Both girls spent some money in Hotel Chocolat on some halloween things that had been significantly reduced and we also bought M a couple of pair of tracksuit bottoms as she lives in them at the moment and has grown out of some of hers and some boots, which happily were on sale.  After coming home for tea, the girls were off out yet again for gymnastics in the evening.

On Saturday, M went swimming with H & L from across the road, but K decided that she wasn't feeling up to it so stayed at home.  She perked up after a shower though and joined the others for lunch at their house and the girls helped L clean out her fish tank.  After a very long week without him, A arrived home from China, getting off the bus just as I was coming out of the Co-op.  He travels a lot with work, but rarely more than a night or two at a time and I nearly always speak to him in the evening when he is away, so I don't really have the chance to miss; this time he was away five nights and we didn't speak at all and I really did!

In the evening A took K & M to the fireworks do at his cricket club, which they enjoyed.  Sunday the girls went on parade at the Remembrance Service at our local war memorial with Scouts.  Then they cleaned out the rat cage with A before we all went out and managed to find walking boots for both of them.

That's got things nearly up to date, but will do for now!  I think we've just about recovered now.