Travelling on a train for treasure and doing some science

At the weekend we went to Wales on the bridge. We rode the train and did the treasure hunt at Perrygrove railway and then visited the dramatic Tintern Abbey with Granny Ilene. 

The daffodils are coming out in the garden this week, and we have had tulips in the house.

We went swimming on Monday after dropping Granny at the station. We had had a brilliant time with Granny, particularly in the sand pit making pies and doing paintings together. At the pool, Isla practised some of her skills and Evie enjoyed being in the water for the first time in ages. She is now ready for arm bands but also enjoys sitting on the side and falling into my arms.

Isla and Evie had grown beards and moustaches later on:

We got the play dough out after dinner:

Evie walked a lot on the way to pick up Isla from pre-school. She spotted two ladybirds, a spider, a cat, a stone and a stick. She also pointed out the buses, cars and vans on the way. Isla had been learning about the best letter of all ('s') and had made bunny ears, done dancing and played with her friends. We had all seen a huge hail storm earlier in the day but luckily we just got rained on a little while walking home. 

Today we did drawings with some chalk pastels. We were drawing the flowers that we used in a special colour experiment. Isla poured and mixed some different coloured water and cut white flowers to put in the different water glasses. She thought that the flowers might change colour. We used a control treatment of colourless water so it was a proper scientific experiment and everything. Our results are due to appear in Nature next week.

Artiness and watching the eclipse

We have been having a brilliant week. On Monday it was rainy (again) and so we did lots of things indoors with only a brief walk/bike ride round the block. We made some chocolate dinosaur biscuits:

And then we did some painting and chalk drawing. It was nice to use the easel as well as trying some salad spinner art. Last week on another rainy Monday, we did a 'drip art' raincloud painting which Isla though was amazing.

Tuesday turned into a warm, sunny day. We went to Dyrham Park for a toddler session. Evie and I took the bus and then looked at the crocuses and primroses. We saw many bees. Evie made a straw hedgehog picture. She mainly enjoyed playing with stones on the path and the bus ride. Then we all played in the garden in the afternoon.

Wednesday was an exciting day. Isla got through her swimming lesson, then we went out for lunch. We met granny Ilene at the station and went home for an afternoon in the garden.

On Thursday, we went to the Holburne Art Gallery in Bath. We went to an exhibition called 'Gwen John to Lucian Freud' with many different paintings from modern artists. They included Graham Sutherland, Ben Nicholson and Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf's sister). There were also paintings by Walter Sickert, a sketch by Lucian Freud and a painting by Gwen John and one by her brother. There was a collage by Richard Hamilton which Isla liked. There was a large painting which Evie kept pointing at and saying 'baa baa' so it was apparently of a sheep.

There was a family trail to look out for different animals in the rest of the museum. We used large magnifying glasses to look at different artefacts including coins, trinkets from different cultures and miniatures. These were housed in drawers in one of the galleries and the children loved looking at the things down low and in detail. We tried out an activity pack for children which included a kind of treasure hunt that almost outwitted us.

This morning we went out to the park first thing with a colander and two paper plates. It was a bit cloudy but gradually felt like it was getting even darker. It got quite gloomy and cold around 9.20 and so we went back home after playing on the slide and attempting to use our colander and pinhole camera paper plates to watch the eclipse. After we got home and had some snacks, the clouds went away and there was a blue sky. We used the paper plates as a pinhole camera through the window and could see the eclipse taking place - the sun had a big bite out of it. Isla saw the image on the plates. I think Isla and Evie will remember the eclipse for going to the park with a colander and for it getting spookily cold and dark.

A walk by the canal and pizza pinwheels

The end of the week has been quiet for us as Evie and I have been ill again! Today we went for a walk by the canal and saw lots of boats and a few ducks and dogs too.

Isla made pizza pinwheels with puff pastry. She could do most of it herself. She cut up the mozzarella and also helped grate the cheese as well as break the egg to brush on at the end. We used a recipe from the BBC goodfood website.

Isla had fun at preschool with her friends. They were learning about the letter 'y' and she drew a yak and yoghurt. She is very excited about 'z' next week. Isla has been a superhero at home and putting out fires too. She had swimming and learnt about floating on her front and what to do if she gets water in her ears. We had an exciting trip out for lunch with Granny Margaret and Grandad David, although we did spend quite a lot of time looking for things underneath the table! We went to a place called 'The Old House at Home' and it was very nice indeed.

For Isla's birthday last week, we gave her a tiny robot called a Hexbug nano. We spent some time making mazes for her Hexbug (named 'Greenie') however Greenie disappeared on Friday afternoon. After a huge search and several accusations aimed at 'the baby' we decided we would have to purchase a new Hexbug the following day. As is the way with these things, after we had bought a replacement Greenie turned up. He had been for a wash in the washing machine after being put for safe keeping in Evie's pocket! Amazingly he still worked. Isla has spent most of the weekend playing with her Hexbugs.

So today is Mother's Day and I received some beautiful cards and daffodils. I hope you have all had nice Mother's Days too. Here are my splendid cards: