We received our matchbox

The matchbox swap we did worked out really nicely. We got our matchbox in the post today. It is very interesting. The game is called Jack Straws and originated in 1935. There is information about the game plus some lovely instructions all written out by our matchbox partner Gillian. Her writing is lovely and the little tools she has created for the boys to play with are so sweet. They can't wait to play the game. We are camping for a week from today so it will have to wait until we get back but it looks very playable for them both.

Here are some photos of them playing with the things in the box.

Interestingly we have learned that the items may not need to fit inside a small matchbox and while we did make our little hopscotch game fit inside it, we will consider a larger matchbox if we need to next time. I think we will do another swap but after the Summer is over when we have a bit more time.

Tourists in London (in the Summer Holidays!)

One of the massive benefits of home educating is that you don't need to take the kids on holiday in School holiday time. You don't have to visit tourist attractions when there are hoards of people there and you don't have to pay inflated prices. With that in mind we decided to visit London for a day trip. Great Yarmouth had been so quiet. Probably because everyone was in London. I won't do this again, it was very stressful, dirty and busy... not to mention expensive. I took money out of savings to pay for this day out so we could do a touristy day of London. 

We went on the London Eye. I won't complain about the way we were mis-sold a ticket which was meant to have no queue but still ended up queueing in the heat with two small boys, Miles was very upset in the queue. Sigh. We have all been there I am sure. The London Eye was really spectacular though. Miles and Caden enjoyed seeing the sights. 

I took them to Madame Tussauds as well. Here I am with my mate Sean! He is very tall!

Caden with the Queen Mum. He liked seeing the Queen. 

We went on a ride at the end which they both enjoyed but truth be told, it was too busy for them. They both found it stressful as well and they didn't really know who the people were so it wasn't a great choice for them. Caden knew who Hitler was and the Prime Minister so it had some educational value. Plus he saw Einstein which was nice for him. We were all very glad to get out of there and go to Hyde Park on the open top bus. In retrospect, the open top bus would actually have been the best thing to do with them, rather than the London Eye (OK) and Tussauds (awful). Next time we go, I hope we can do that. BUT NOT IN THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS.... ARGH!

We visited the Princess of Diana Memorial Playground again. Their third visit in as many months. They love it SO much. I hardly saw them for two hours, which was a welcome rest after the day we'd had. 

Miles in the palm. 

Milesy made friends, as usual. He always makes friends, Caden is getting better at it too. They are such different little bods. Here Miles is helping a boy to 'dump' sand. 

Caden made a smiley face for me to take a picture of. 

When it closed we went for our picnic supper on the grass. They loved it because they had cherry pie and hot cross buns to eat. 

Such a gorgeous photo of them. 

We walked slowly through the park and stopped at the fountain and ponds to look in the water and play with the duck ramps. 

We found another playground, name unknown. They had a good play here too. 

Then we waited for the open top bus again but it didn't arrive. So we gave up and got the train back. It was very late and they were shattered. They had a good day overall I think but we won't be visiting London again in the holiday again. No thanks! 

Great Yarmouth and the Sea Life Centre

We took a day trip to the Sea Life centre in Great Yarmouth. It was surprisingly quiet for the Summer Hols, a nice surprise I hasten to add. No queues and plenty to keep us interested. 

We had dicounted tickets to the Sea Life centre because we home educate. The first thing Caden said when he woke up next to me that morning was 'we are going to the Sea Life Centre today'. I love how excited he is about these things. 

We were lucky enough to arrive just as the Shark Talk was beginning. It was a bit too hot in the room so the kids didn't enjoy it as much as they might have but the guy was dramatic and kept them interested. We learned lots of shark facts and the boys are interested in conservation now. We are going to look at different UK charities for cetacean and shark conservation and have a think about maybe doing a project for charity to help some animals. 

This is the giant tank with loads of sharks and sea turtles. We watched the feeding take place. 

This is a small crocodile, one of two sisters in a large tank. 

Black tip reef shark. 

We talked about how the male seahorses are the one that lay eggs and looked at different species of seahorse. 

There are some tanks now where they can go inside and you can photograph them as if they are underwater. This is a funny one of Caden with the clown fish. 

There was an awesome starfish display. So many different kinds to look at. 

They both pressed the buttons to speed up a film of starfish moving about on the seabed. They laughed at this, they did look quite funny, queue the Benny Hill music....

The penguin talk and feeding was ace. There was a  half sphere window that they sat in and viewed the penguins eating and swimming about. They both really liked watching them. 

It was quite overcast but we briefly visited the beach on the way to the swimming pool. 

We went swimming but unfortunately the water slides and the wave machine were both out of order so we didn't stay too long. We got fish and chips and dumped our bags in the car then went to the pleasure beach. Very exciting!!!!

We had a decent budget for this so that we could really enjoy ourselves. There were loads of things for them both to ride on. 

Cup and Saucer ride. 

Miles and me on the roller coaster. Caden was sat in front. It was easily the best roller coaster so far that he has been on. It was a wooden framed one as well, quite impressive. 

Miles driving his little car. 

There were so many rides that we went on together. The kids had a wonderful time and we stayed until it closed at 9pm. This is us walking back to the car past the model village. Going to the UK seaside is great fun! 

More IF festival....

We visited more of the IF festival as we attended it over a series of four days in a row. 

We passed a giant snail with a female acrobat on the top. It stopped and let the kids stroke its feelers. 

Here is Luisa, our foster dog, enjoying the sun after a nice walkies. 

We came across the Jaipur brass band and a female Indian dancer who was really amazing with eye-watering contortions built into her dance. The music was catchy and the kids had a little dance to it. There were lots of  bright colours, it was very entertaining. We noticed their costumes and the shoes with curled points on the toes. 

The dancer is dressed in gorgeous fabrics with reflective mirrors and bells. 

I took them to see 'Clunk, a funny play for the under 5s'. It was very, very well done. Funny, engaging for the kids and educational. They used words like Rhythm, Beat, Verse, Chorus and explained to the children what the words meant and then demonstrated it. They tried to include all the children. They improvised and the kids were asked questions to inspire the musicians. Caden was asked what his favourite food was, he said cake and they sang a song about being at Willen Lake, eating cake. Each of the children's stools had a foam instrument stuck to it with velcro. Miles is here playing his guitar. 

Caden had a violin and used his dagger as a bow, even holding it to his chin. Harlow has a guitar too. 

They were very talented and funny. 

At home later we had a green juice. Miles loves them. Here he is complete with moustache. 

At another playground Miles made his own fun by turning a chair into a slide. 

We visited a play called Compost Mentis. I had no charge on the phone to take a photo but it was very funny and the kids got right up to the front so they saw all the unusual goings on in the garden and the part where the compost heap ate the gardener too. 

We visited the Imaginarium too. It was a small tent with different stations including a chair with headphones attached to an iPad mini. Each iPad had a short film, inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. There was a clue at the end of each short clip with a task or a game to complete before you moved onto the next step. Caden completed it and really enjoyed the fishing for cockles game. Here they are, listening intently. 

Here are the kids and their friends all fast asleep one night. They all wanted to sleep together in the top bunk (though I moved them all out later). They were SO shattered after two massively full days of fun. Caden and Miles loved having their friends over to stay.