Sunday 27 July 2014

Guinea Pigs and Whirligigs

Sprout introduced his male baby guinea pig to his potential new grown up boar housemate this week. They've been together all week and seem so far to be just ignoring each other, so the jury's still out. He's been giving his three girlies lots of love too :)


Gruff found a couple of butterflies in Sprout's room while we were acting as removal men for the guineas, and Moppet was really excited to see them so close.


At the start of the week on a lovely day that looked like this, we headed to Blist's Hill. Sprout wasn't entirely convinced but decided to come along for the sweet shop and the old fairground :)


First stop was the old bank, where Sprout wrote his name with an old pen and ink, and they each changed some modern money for a total of sixpence each. The banker told them if they'd brought seashells they could have exchanged them too.



Next stop, candle dipping...



...wall building (Sprout and Squidge were keen to use the different builds shown in the diagrams, such as a stretched bond and a Flemish bond, and Sorout wanted to then take some pieces out and make a design with different colours. Moppet aimed to build towers and knock them down laughing :) )...


...then the bakery for a traditional bloomer and a couple of cobs, and the sweet shop to buy an ounce of sweets with some of their old money.


We had a look at the really big fish in the canal...


...Sprout was fascinated by some leadwork and at how bendy the lead is, and chatted to his grandpa about how soft gold is too.



They had a go on a real coconut shy...


...the boys went on an old swingboat (Moppet was too small, elfunsafety had clearly made it's way all the way back to Victorian times!)...


...and we all went on the carousel. Moppet loved the part in the middle that made the music, and Sprout watched the mechanism in the roof that moved the horses.




A break for lunch...


...then onto the swing ride...


...and the roll downs, which Sprout actually won on...


...then on a little train down the mine, which they all did so well with with a little preparation about the dark.




On our way back up we saw a shire horse, which Sprout was interested in as he'd been talking about the strength of different kinda of horses when we were in Melton Mowbray a few weeks ago.
We also saw a most definitely male pig and an anatomy discussion ensued :)


Moppet chose a hat in the draper's store...


...and Sprout returned to wall building.


Back at home Squidge had a new Hello Fresh box of recipes to cook with Gruff, and made some burgers with roasted veg, boiled potatoes and a carrot salad, and a paella which tasted amazing.



Off to the park the next day for a home ed meet up...



...and Stafford Castle the day after, also with a home ed group but my three were whizzing between things so fast we didn't see much of anyone else!













A day at home saw Squidge and Moppet playing Skylanders and watching Slylander Boy and Girl videos...


...and we found a YouTube rattle snake video to watch once we realised one of Squidge's Skylanders is actually a rattle snake.


Between them over the week, they've watched the Natural History Museum Alive, the Lego Movie, X Men, How it's Made, quite a bit of Pewdiepie, and some more Oni videos (specifically by Sprout!) Sprout has also read some of his Minecraft books some more, and the National Geographic Kids magazine which is very whale orientated this issue, while Squidge has been looking at and playing the games in his Skylanders Annual.
Moppet had frequent picnics on the drive with the cat and her Peppa Pig Weebles...


...and played with/stomped in/sat in a tub of water :)


While Sprout had a first-in-a-long-time afternoon at a friend's house on his own the next day, I took Squidge and Moppet to the soft play area round the corner, which was blissfully air conditioned :)



Squidge thought the convex mirror was hilarious :)


Moppet won this duck in the grabber machine and they were protecting its ears from the wind on the way home :)


Early morning snuggles for the three of them the next morning...


...then Portal 2 for Sprout and Gruff...


...a spot of Lego for Squidge...


...some magnetic letter play...


...followed by some general magnet play once he realised the tops of his Swap Force characters also stick to the board :)


Some (very smelly) potion making for the boys and their friend...



...then some seed planting in this growth medium gel which I'm really hoping works as it would be very cool to see!


*Lots* more water play, as it isn't cooking down at all...


...and an entire day where neither Gruff nor I were going to do any work, or any jobs round the house, and just play lots and lots, so Skylanders, Call of Duty, Tap Tap, 3DS games (it's so awesome to listen to Sprout reading out the in-game text to us, including what would be considered complicated words, little hesitation, no qualms about reading at all) ice cream floats and general snuggles :)




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