Saturday 21 June 2014

Grey Seals, Sand Eels and Fishing Reels

We had a quiet few days before going away. Squidge drew people on the window (love those Crayola window crayons!!)...


...and when we had another thunderstorm he asked me to write the words thunder and lightning in there too, and when the sun came out again we played with writing his name upside down so the shadow fell onto the settee the right way up :)


We played a lot more Brain Box...


...and they bounced lots too.


Sprout played Attack of the B Team for a few days, breeding dinosaurs...


...and asking questions about his charges.


Squidge made it his mission to conquer lots of the Skylanders Swapforce levels...


...and they all played in shaving foam on a hot day.


They played hide and seek with friends, with Moppet's favourite hiding spot being inside the kitchen cupboards...


...and I used this idea http://www.blogmemom.com/sensory-activities-for-kids-1-ingredient-edible-slime-recipe/ to make non-sticky orange slime using fybogel, it was fab!


Squidge and his friend made and decorated some cupcakes.


And I gave them some new water beads, giant ones this time (careful around little ones if you're going to do this as they're dangerous if swallowed) and they delighted in checking them every couple of hours to see how they were growing. 



They were all pleased to see the first ripe strawberries and took a picture to prove it!


And they and their friends made rainbow pancakes (terrible picture of the last one but they ate the others before I could get a pic!), and zombie pancakes and some kind of space octopus pancake :) Even the older ones (who are older than Sprout) were completely engrossed in mixing their coloured batter and planning their pancake artistry!


We headed to Norfolk with family for a few days, where we took the opportunity to chill out and play some games...



...Squidge almost got the hang of riding his bike without stabilisers...


...we ate breakfast down by the water...



...and Squidge and Moppet made a trifle to follow the Jamie Oliver summer frittatas that Squidge made for the whole family.


They were most excited to have a boat to go on...


...and when they weren't captaining it they were spotting waterfowl out of the back.


The boys stopped off with Gruff and their grandparents at a wild bird reserve while I looked after a sleeping Moppet...




...then we continued on our voyage...


...with Sprout being photographer...



...and amusement at the 'LOLboat' :)


The boys thought it funny when I pointed out that duck beaks are actually small dog heads :)


And we generally had a really lovely day.



When we got back to the house I cut the bottoms off their fruit shoot bottles, and used a rubber band to hold a sock over the end of each. They then dipped them in bubble solution and made bubble snakes :)


Moppet found the picnic blanket we'd brought with us and made a carpet picnic for watching cBeebies.


Gruff and the boys did a bit of fishing...



...and caught this one, which they returned straight back to the water.


They waited for their auntie and uncle to get back from taking the boat out.


And we went on another cruise down the broad to look for the ice cream boat.


Squidge picked me this flower :)


Sprout made muffin pizzas.


We went to the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum, which was a little bit dry and wordy for these three...



...but they did sell little parachute guys in the gift shop so we left and went and threw them out of a window :) Sprout told me a bit about gravity and the force of air, and he asked me about something that turned into a conversation about terminal velocity.


Then spent a day in Great Yarmouth where we hit the Pleasure Beach...




...Moppet ate Haribo ice cream...



...Sprout and Squidge went on rides they wouldn't have dared to a year ago...



...we braved the cold wind to make sandcastles and even paddle a bit...





...and we went bowling where Moppet wiped the floor with all three of us.


The next day we got up uncharacteristically early to drive to Blakeney Point and catch a boat to see the seals!  Excitement all round!




They were all interested in this little guy who seemed to be playing with the birds, but in fact he'd settled himself right beside a nest and the birds were fighting him away, with eventual success.


We saw some Little Terns and found out they're endangered, and saw lots of terns flying with sand eels in their beaks to feed their babies. Sprout wondered if they were endangered because eels were electric, which led to a brief chat about different sorts of eels and population levels of terns, jays, pigeons, bluetits and seagulls.

On the way back we passed a sign for a magic museum which we thought sounded like it might be fun, and it totally was! It's here http://davenportsmagickingdom.co.uk The staff were completely lovely and so much fun with the kids, and we now have magic tricks to do at home :)



This is Sprout preparing to tie a very magical knot with the proprietor of the 1920s magic shop.


Sprout found a new tv programme that he was really enthusiastic about, called Nature's Weirdest Events, then spent a couple of hours telling me all about interspecies adoption, tree sap, walking catfish and pyrosomes. We ended up talking about xylem and phloem, natural selection, evolution, and deep sea exploration, and the we watched some clips of other episodes that have been on before, including tumbleweeds and fainting goats. Not the early night we'd planned, but so much fun!



On the way home the next day I saw a sign for Rutland Water, where I used to play when I holidayed with my grandparents as a kid, and my three were up for checking it out so we did :) The woman in the visitor centre said it was the same playground as back then but updated.



They played a bit of mini golf...



...and investigated what we think are shaggy ink caps. I then tried to find the road that's named after the kids' late great grandpa, but my sat nav let me down so that one will have to wait til another time.


This face sums up the journey home quite nicely ;) It was hot and long and trafficky.


We got there eventually and Sprout's guineas were squeakingly happy to see him...


...and he was pleased to see that his peas had flourished in the week we'd not been there.


He played a bit with his anatomy cube and told me some things about various organ systems, and them watched some Elder Scrolls gameplay videos, told me about some riddles and what he thought they meant, and told me how he thought the Elder Scrolls graphics had evolved through the series.