School trips

Last week Noah went on a school trip to pets at home….a nearby pet shop!!  Although I am laughing at a school trip to a pet shop apparently it was great!!  Noah now wants every animal under the sun…not a chance!!!!!!!

Today I went with Caitlin’s class to the Legoland Discovery Centre.  They all had a great time.  One of the reasons I volunteered was that there is a new ride where you get to drive a lego car around and I really wanted to try it.  When I got there I discovered adults aren’t allowed on it!!!!!  Caitlin loved it though….  I did take a photo of Caitlin on the car ride but I deleted it by accident!  I had 5 kids in my group and they were all great, we got lots done.  We built sky scrapers and tested them in earthquake conditions, went on all of the rides and went to the 4D cinema.

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This weekends parties

I will be glad when they are a bit older and they don’t invite so many to their parties (and so won’t get invited to quite so many!!)  With 3 of them now getting invites it is a rare weekend when we don’t have at least one party to go to…this weekend it was two!

Before the first party me, Caitlin and Austin went shopping while Noah went to football.  They all needed a few summery bits for our holidays which are coming up.  I let Caitlin pick her own things, and then we went to the changing room to try them on.  She’s never really had a proper shopping trip like that before, I usually just pick bits up as I’m out and about.  She loved trying things on and picked herself 2 bikinis, a dress, some jeans, a pair of party shoes and a beach coverall.  So she is now all set for going to Malaga and Majorca!!

In the afternoon Caitlin had been invited to a cinema party and I went along to help out.  We went to see pirates which was great and then they had a pizza hut tea.  There was a bit of a wait at pizza hut because they won’t let you reserve a table, but they were all happy enough playing on all the statues….

On Sunday Noah had a party.  It was fancy dress and Noah wanted to go as a princess!!!!!!!!  I should have let him, he would have looked hilarious!  His 2nd choice was to go as a fireman….

…complete with shades!!  They played the funny faces game….

…and sleeping lions.  We were all convinced Noah had actually fallen asleep….he didn’t move at all, and he won!!

He then pinched a girls hat and to clown around in!!!!

More funny things they say!

At school they are learning all about having a growth mindset and believing in themselves.  They quite often watch things on their white boards about people who have trained or worked really hard to achieve something.  With the Olympics going on at the moment they’ve watched a few stories of athletes lives and how they have come to be competing in the Olympics.  They’ve even had a visit from some local swimmers who have won medals.  While we were walking along today Caitlin was telling me all about a man in the paralympics.  It went like this……in a fairly dramatic tone….

“There was a man on our white board, and he lost BOTH of his legs…”

…Me – Oh that’s not good…

“Yes but that is NO EXCUSE for giving up!!!”

…Me – no I suppose it isn’t….

“Yes, it’s no excuse and so he didn’t give up….and now he’s in the Olympics!!!”

 

I love how they are making them so determined!!  Later in the day I was telling someone about what she’d said and they jokingly said…what if someone had no head….that would surely mean they couldn’t be in the Olympics…and Caitlin had a think and said….

“they could be in the backward walking race”!!!!!!!!!!!

Party time for Caitlin

Caitlin had a party invite from a boy in her class, he was having a football party like Noah’s.  When Noah found out that’s what the party was he ran off and came back with a football kit for Caitlin to wear and got her to put it on!  So off she went to the party, dressed by Noah!

She had a good time and really looked the part with Noah’s kit on.

Sea Odyssey – The Giants!!

We were supposed to be going away in Alfie…but he’s in bits so we had to cancel.  As a back up we went over to Liverpool to see the Sea Odyssey.  Back in 2007 me, Caitlin and Noah saw a giant mechanical spider, and this was a similar thing.  We eventually made it into town after forcing our way on to a very very full train…they really should have put on extra carriages!!  We went straight to see the little girl giant and had to chase her along her route!  We cut down a side road and eventually made it ahead of her…

Noah was ahead with Grandad!  We found a windowsill to climb up on which gave us a fantastic view…

We saw the dog who was just ahead of the girl….

…and then…my battery ran out in my camera!!!!!!!!!!!  I was completely and utterly gutted!!!!!!!!!!!!  So I took a picture of the girl with my phone (and put my camera battery in my armpit to try to get a bit more life)….

She walked so fast..before we knew it she had walked past the little side road we were in, so we ran down towards the Pier Head where she was headed next, and we got to see her doing her exercises.  After that we went to see the hole in the pavement they had created.  My battery had gained some life so I could take some more photos!!

There was a big hole in the pavement with a big explosion of water every 10 minutes or so….  The first time it exploded we were on the right side and we didn’t get wet….

Once he’d seen where the water landed Noah decided he wanted to go over to where he’d get wet…fool!!!!!!!!!!!  So over they went and got wet!!  Even Caitlin went over which surprised me..I thought she had more sense!!!  After the fountain we went down to the water front where the girl was sitting, but it was really busy so we headed back into town for our dinner.

On the way I managed to get a picture of them by the Liver Buildings, a photo I’m amazed I don’t already have!!!

My battery then ran out again so I stopped off at Jessops and bought a new/spare battery which was partly charged so I could capture the rest of the day.  After dinner we went to see the Uncle Giant arrive, but he was a bit early so we saw him asleep and then decided to do a bit of shopping and wait to see him set off again.  We went to check out vinyl for Alfie’s bed/seats and were done really quickly so we had another look at the giant asleep…..

…with St John’s Beacon in the background…we really must go up to the top of that another day!!   Because we were early we decided to just line up to watch and have an ice-cream, that meant we were right at the front.

I’m so glad we waited to see him walk….  The uncle giant woke up and put his diving helmet on and started walking towards us….  It was fantastic…..we had a fantastic view!!!  He was massive..you can see how big the people were on the picture above!!  Then he started to walk toward us….

It was amazing…his legs were powered by teams of people who basically threw themselves from about waist height on the giant while hanging onto a rope….

That group of people crashed into me and then ran around to the back of the giant to take their place to jump again!!  It was brilliant!!!  Once the Uncle was gone we battled our way back to Nanny’s on the train.  The whole day was fantastic, I am so glad we went.  The kids loved it……and we can go camping in Alfie any time….

The funny things they say…

Today I was doing a picture book with Austin and there was a picture of a house…so I asked him a few questions….

Me….What’s this (pointing at the door)

Austin…door

Me….What’s this (pointing at the window)

Austin…window

Me…What’s this (pointing at the roof)

Austin….roof

Me…What’s this (pointing at the chimney)

Austin…spoiler!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to know we have brainwashed him on the car parts so much that he thinks houses have spoilers!!!!!!

Later on today we were eating tea and Noah was as usual talking non-stop about any random thing!  He was discussing driving to France and said he was taking Elvis and Caitlin could drive Jap Taxi.  Austin then decided he wanted to take Alfie but Noah said he wasn’t big enough and so to go in Elvis with him.  They then decided to leave us with Jap Taxi and just take Elvis but Noah would drive!!  Noah then announced he would bring me back a t-shirt and some chocolate as a present and he’d bring Richard some bolts and some chocolate!!!!!!!  No idea how his mind works!!!!!!

Finally the end of the rain…

Finally….after an Easter holidays filled with rain and gale force winds…we got a bit of sunshine, it had started yesterday at the farm and seemed to be continuing.  Caitlin even put her shorts on!!!  They got their water pistols that Nan had sent them for Easter and played in the garden.  They must have re-filled them a million times, the kitchen was covered in water, but they had a great time….

The weather was so good that we went out and bought food for a BBQ tea, but as the day went on it started to get colder and colder and just around tea time it rained so we had BBQ food but cooked and eaten inside!!!  But at least we saw some sun!!

Red House Farm

A few of the boys from Noah’s class were going to Red House Farm today so we joined them.  The weather wasn’t looking like it was going to be too great so we put loads of layers on and got ready for rain!  When we got there the others were on the barrel ride so they wanted to wait for the next one and go on that too….

It’s ages since we’ve been here and I’m not sure Austin has ever been on the barrel ride.  He was a bit unsure to begin with but loved it once we got going.  After the barrels we went to try out the climbing wall….

Surprisingly Noah was really scared….I couldn’t believe it..he’s normally completely fearless, especially of things that are a bit dangerous!!!!!!  But he refused to even try to climb up….whereas Caitlin tried really hard and got some of the way up.

Austin was too small to go on the climbing wall so he went on the inflatable next to it….

After climbing and our picnic we went over to the other barn to dig for treasure!!

…you were supposed to sieve the muddy water to find the little coloured stones like Caitlin is, but Austin sieved it and picked out all the filler rocks and Noah just scooped the muddy water straight into his bag!!!

They had a few more goes on the barrel ride and also managed to find a tractor with some left over charge in it!!!!!!!!

…so typical of Noah to get the one with left over money in it!!   They had a brilliant day, and the sun even came out for us!  We were just about to go home when it came out and stayed out making it quite warm, so we all stayed for a few more barrel rides and more goes on the tractors, were Noah again managed to get a working one!!!!!  We then went and claimed our prizes for completing the Easter quiz and did a bit of shopping for tea in the farm shop before home!!

 

A trip to Liverpool

Today we went to Liverpool to see Nanny and Grandad….  They all went to the museum while I went to some fabric shops looking for fabric for Alfie’s seats.  They did the Egyptian passport thing at the museum and had to find out all kinds of things about mummy’s etc.  They did all of the tasks and got some stickers and a poster.  After dinner they had some money to spend which they had got for Easter and so we did a bit of shopping.  Noah decided to get a Liverpool scarf…..

…which will please Peggy who gave him the money as she’s a big Liverpool supporter.  We then had a few goes on the rides near to the Liverpool shop…

Then Caitlin and Austin went to a toy shop to spend their money.  Caitlin got a zu zu hamster BBQ set and Austin…surprise surprise…picked hot wheels cars!!!!!!!

When we got back to Nanny’s she did a little Easter hunt for them….

…they all had 5 little eggs to find, which they found really quickly….

I think this basket Caitlin has is mine from when I was little!!!

After tea we headed home armed with a tonne of chocolate!!!!

Illumin-arte

A friend spotted a deal for a session at Illumin-arte   I’d already seen the deal and was about to mention it to her so we were both really keen to go.  It was for 4 people to do a mosaic session.  I have got all the things to make a mosaic for the garden so I really wanted to see how it should be done rather than just read about it.  The place was brilliant, quite small so we had the place to ourselves and there were 2 girls helping us.  They were brilliant with Austin and Noah, helping them to get enough glue on and persuading them to put the tiles the right way up and not overhanging the edges too much.  I made the turtle you can see next to Noah….

Everyone had a great time Noah and Austin both made trains which were a bit gappy really, but neither of them could be persuaded to add any more tiles!  Caitlin’s was brilliant and so she is saving hers for a Christmas present!  They then all made a smaller mosaic which are all going to be Christmas presents!

I was a bit gutted I didn’t get to make a second mosaic too…but neither of the adults did!!  Hopefully if the sun comes back at some point I can make a start on my own mosaic for the garden.  Illumin-arte also does stained glass workshops which look fantastic…might give that a try along with all my other wild plans I have for when Austin goes to nursery!!!