Wednesday 3 September 2014

Valiant Hearts and Cafe of Arts


The kids were very keen to go back to Hunt & Darton Cafe, so once the schools went back and everywhere was a bit quieter, I took them back. Sprout changed the record on the record player again, we did a jigsaw, played flip the Wagon Wheel, and Battenburg Battlements :) 


We searched briefly for the rest of the Appetite Stoke street art but couldn't find it, so stopped for ice cream and slush instead.


On the way home Moppet had her baby in his sling :)


Back at home Sprout watched Venos on YouTube, Squidge played some Rayman Legends, then they both went out to play with their friends. Moppet meanwhile did this animal sticker book.


Once Gruff was home he had new shock absorbers to fit on his van and Moppet wanted to help, so she played at driving...


...and then became the mechanic's apprentice, passing spanners as needed.


Squidge rode his bike with his friends...


...while Sprout played CoD with his :)


Gruff played Rayman with Squidge...


...while Moppet and I made Peppa Pig dough characters.


This wasn't this week but a lovely lady sent me the photos from the Florette factory tour, with Sprout holding his prize aloft :) ...


...and Moppet donning her hair net to design a salad :)


Sprout and I found out a bit about the newly discovered Dreadnoughtus, which he said sounds like it should be a creature from Hearthstone.


Squidge and Moppet and I watched Brave again.


Sprout was *extremely* excited to tell me that he'd discovered two new ways on YouTube to poach an egg, so we tried out the first where you swirl the water round before dropping the egg in. It worked brilliantly! His intention was for me to eat it but he wanted to try it and loved it so much that he ate the lot :)


A very sweet and lovely friend crocheted this gorgeous dress for Moppet and she's barely taken it off since :)




We had a trip down to London to meet my new baby nephew/the kids' baby cousin, about whom they'd all been VERY excited :)
I planned lots to do on the drive down as it's a good few hours so happy and occupied is the way to go! As well as DVD player, iPads, loom bands, wooden noughts and crosses, an I Spy tube, and window crayons, I used an idea from Pinterest where we set an alarm for every half hour and every time it went off they each had a little bag to open with a snack or activity in. Among other things we had dough-filled balloons...


...gel window clings...


...lots of plasters...


...and tongue tattoos!


Squidge made Gruff a loom band bracelet too :)


After we'd met the gorgeous wee baby we'd come down to see, we headed for the campsite. Another very lovely lady (we've been extremely blessed by the kindness of friends this week!) had given us some firewood, so Sprout set up the campfire...


...and we cooked little foil parcels each with a burger, some slices of onion and potato and a bit of butter. We also did some damper bread, and chocolate muffins inside hollowed out oranges, and then roasted marshmallows after dinner! As we were only camping for one night I pre-prepared all the food and dough etc and took it with us in a cool box, made it much easier and more fun!






On the way back to see baby again the next day we saw a couple of big empty gas towers which Sprout wondered about, so I found some pictures of full ones to explain how they work.


We had a really fun stop at services for dinner on the way home...


...and were even home in time for the kids to play with their friends before dark :)


We had a chilled day in the next day where the boys mostly played puzzle games, Sprout on The Crooked Man which included all sorts of hidden object hunts, mathematical puzzles, Roman numerals, riddles, logic puzzles and a great story among other things. Squidge mainly played Mysteries of the Mind: Coma HD, which included lots of hidden objects and working out connections.


I showed Sprout the crooked man nursery rhyme as he hadn't heard it before.


Their friend came round in the afternoon and it was a few hours of CoD, Dragon City, My Singing Monsters and loom bands for them all while Moppet watched Caillou and made her baby dolls baths out of play dough.
Sprout has had Valiant Hearts on his wish list for a few weeks, and then noticed it today in the App Store a bit cheaper so we downloaded it and he's been engrossed ever since, working his way through the puzzles, asking me about which other countries apart from Italy and the USA were in WW1, and getting me to read the pop up fact boxes to him, about urine-soaked 'gasmasks', lacing hooks made from bullet casings, goatskin flasks, conscripts' photos, gas canisters, types of explosive, and the battle of Neuve Chapelle.


Off to the first of two Not Back to School picnics today, hurray!

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