Exideuil and the Farm we are staying on....

We have time out of the house most afternoons, one afternoon I took the boys to a local town called Chabanais. We took a walk down the side of the River Vienne... There was a really beautiful light and it was very, very cold. 

Look at the water. It was really amazing!

The boys found a hole with tree root bits in. Of course these were fossils and they began excavating them. 

They scaled walls.... 

... and caught snowflakes on their tongues... 

Back at the farm, Caden made friends with the ponies and the donkey. 

I took them to see the newborn calf which Caden and Miles have now named Lisa. Lisa is here with her Mummy. 

This is another, older calf that is drinking milk from a bucket with a teat. She is so tame, we scratched her head and laughed at her long tongue trying to get the teat to drink more milk. 

The boys are loving all the other dogs here. They are throwing sticks for George the irrepressible, here. 

One morning we listened to the Just So stories by Rudyard Kipling. The boys both did some drawing but Caden did a comic strip to show the main events of the story. I thought his work was excellent, I am really proud of him for this. He was really happy with it. 

It says... 'he was a man of infinite resource and sagacity', 'the whale swallowed him into his warm inside cupboards' and 'stop here for Ashuelot and stations on the Fitchburg Road'. I loved how Caden made the drawings look like what he intended. The first is the Whale talking to the mariner on the raft. The second is the mariner inside the whale and the third is where the whale drops the mariner off at his 'natal shores'. Those of you who know the story will know these are very 'Kipling' words and sayings. I think this is so wonderful!

We went to visit another family in the area one afternoon who have a home educated daughter. They played beautifully all afternoon with this little girl. They made farms, ran about and played outside with the ice in the garden to sell in their shop. I stayed indoors with the mother, it was freezing but the kids didn't mind at all. 

We also had a few movie nights in our room to have quiet family time and try to get some early nights. We are missing home. The boys are missing their Dad and we miss our boat and our friends. 

Science experiments, baking and climbing trees

We did two science experiments. The first one we chose was to make a water wheel. It was very easy to put together and Miles had fun spinning it around. We simply placed it under a running tap and watched how the water turned the water cups.... we discussed how the water represents something like a waterfall, or a flowing river that turns the paddles on a water wheel which makes the shaft in the middle turn. This would be attached to cogs that might be on a generator, creating hydroelectric power or grinding flour in a flour mill. Miles did well, he remembered that coal was a fossil fuel, we also talked about finite resources and how important it was that we use more renewable energy sources so we always have power (for things like iPads). 

Caden read the instructions out for science experiment number two. He was instructing Miles who was in charge of getting the necessary equipment out. Caden read the words 'position' and 'horizontal' by himself today and was pretty chuffed about getting horizontal right on his own. 

The next experiment we did was making water spray. This was a pretty cool experiment to do. Miles and I set up the test tube rack, we found the test tube (and he learned the names of these things in so doing) we got the straws, filled it with water and followed Caden's read instructions. Then we listened to Caden explain the science behind it. When you line up the straws in a vertical and horizontal fashion, it has to be at a 90 degree angle (Caden learned what a 90 degree angle was today and that it was the same as a right angle). When you blow through the horizontal straw, you create low pressure in the vertical straw. The surface water pressure inside the test tube then pushes the water inside the vertical straw upwards and the high pressure air disperses the surface of the water in the vertical straw into the air making a water mist. We heard the science from Caden and then we did it. It was really exciting for us all to see the water coming up the straw as we were told it would. They had a lot of fun blowing water spray at a cardboard box after this. You can just see the water spray coming out of the straw in this photo. 

Miles' face was worth publishing this photo! 

The instructions that Caden read, for anyone else who wants to try this. 

Another day we went with two of the French children we are living with, to the lake again. It was really freezing cold but they gamely ran off. Here they are having a race (I suggested they run as it was so cold, to warm up). 

We went exploring and found some chickens.... they all did some chicken impressions...

We also found an abandoned outhouse.... They had a look inside. 

This was a really interesting structure that we found and talked about. It looks like something out of Tolkien's, The Two Towers film, a mini Isengard...  I digress... 

As it is a reservoir, we guessed that the water falling into the hole was probably going to a treatment plant in order to supply water to the local towns. 

The kids climbed trees together as well. Caden and Perine are getting on really well together and Marc and Miles are getting on well together. Bella wasn't with us that day but when they are all together, they all have fun and get on well. 

We did some baking altogether too. Cupcakes and cake pops.  Caden and Miles are adding their sprinkles here. 

The finished products, that were scoffed instantly by all!

Our workaway trip to France... Part Un.

We are in France for 4-6 weeks depending on circumstances, on a workaway project. The accommodation is a French dairy farm about 45 minutes from Limoges, with Petra and Jan, three children Perine, Isabella and Marc, plus 5 dogs, 1 cat, many ponies, 40 cows, a goat (which Caden now calls the Goat simulator) and some chickens that we haven't met yet.

I was personally a bit worried about the journey but we managed it OK. Caden was beyond excited, leaping about when we got out of the car on the Ferry to Calais. 

Saying goodbye to England as we set off. 

...and Bonjour to France! 

We drove for about 10 hours after our very exciting stay in an F1 hotel near Calais ( also a very relieved Mummy at arriving there safely too).  We had to take it slowly through a few sudden snowstorms on the way. 

...I was also very relieved when we finally arrived. The kids were exhausted. 

They were very nervous of the dogs barking and didn't want to get out of the car, within 24 hours they are both almost totally dog friendly. Caden loves throwing the stick for George, his favourite dog. 

Miles says Bonjour! to some of the calves outside the farmhouse. 

Both the boys are petting Blondie here..

Ummm me, walking the boys round the nearby lake. 

Caden found a tap, we also found trig points all over the place around this lake/reservoir. 

The boys made friends with a dog with two white front paws who they named 'Two socks'. The name was actually 'Tinkerbell two socks poo poo water dog' which developed throughout the walk as the dog did more things, but we shortened it to the more palatable, 'two socks'. 

Caden is smelling pine needles that we crushed from a spruce tree. 

We cracked the layer of ice off a puddle and looked at how much it seemed like glass. Miles wanted to take some home for Daddy. 

We thought this might be a foxes den. 

The next day we took the little boy Marc, who we are living with, with us. The three boys found a piece of washed up timber and decided it was a fossilised dinosaur bone. They were trying to carry it back to the car park so someone from the natural history museum could find it (Caden's suggestion) and then everyone could enjoy the discovery. 

Caden is looking at a tree seed, he has found. I couldn't identify it, it had a red exterior. 

They were also looking at lichen and moss. 

The kids are having a fantastic time. They love being around the other children a lot and we have spent time making trash bin monsters and doing other creative stuff. Now I have my laptop working, Caden will be doing some maths with me again. We have also been to the local swimming baths and Caden and Mile's confidence in swimming continues to grow. They are obviously learning lots more French words every day and I will be trying Duolingo with them soon, hopefully later today.