The making of Harry Potter

We had a magical day on Wednesday. We travelled to Leavesden where the Warner Bros Studios are situated and went on the 'Making of Harry Potter' tour. It was brilliant. Despite Isla and Evie not knowing the story of Harry Potter, we told them a bit about the school of magic, goblins and wands. They both liked the day as there was lots to see.

Evie reading up on death eaters before the tour:

Entering Hogwart's school of magic:

In the Great Hall:

Isla was good at spotting the golden snitches flying around the tour:

A chocolate banquet:

Ron's dress robes and the drinks from the Yule Ball:

Isla looking at chocolate banquet, unfortunately it wasn't real:

Isla and Evie looking into Dumbledore's office:

Some interesting things including the Philosopher's stone and the time-turner:

Slughorn's potions classroom with self-mixing cauldron's that Isla thought were very magical:

Evie examining some potion ingredients:

Running away from the Chamber of Secrets, there must be a basilisk coming:

Checking out the broomsticks:

Gringott's bank vault door:

Another magical room. The Weasley's kitchen where Isla made a pot wash itself and a knife chop a carrot. She's going to use her magic skills to help at home:

Looking in the Mirror of Erised:

We tried some bubbling butter beer. It tasted of vanilla and butterscotch:

Trying out the Weasley's flying car:

And Hagrid's motorbike:

On the knight bus (or the squeezey bus as Isla calls it):

Outside Number 4 Privet Drive where Harry lived under the stairs:

The Potter house in Godric's Hollow. Kept expecting either Voldemort or Nagini the snake to appear:

Taking a stroll along the bridge at Hogwart's:

A petrified Mrs Norris:

Some of the creature props and prosthetics:

Fawkes the phoenix:

The Monster Book of Monsters:

Dobby:

Isla's a bit smaller than Grawp:

Watching a mandrake wiggle:

Aaahh! A moving monster book of monsters:

Isla looking up to Hagrid:

Aragog:

One of our favourite characters, Buckbeak. He moved about and bowed to us, so we bowed back several times. It was very lifelike:

Daigon Alley:

Isla was a bit disappointed that we didn't see any goblins at Gringott's bank:

Looking through Ollivander's window at the wands:

Concept art and models:

An amazing huge model of Hogwart's that was used for filming the outside views:

Isla riding a broomstick:

Trying out the sorting hat...... Gryffindor apparently!

Picking blackberries and collecting conkers

Over the last few weeks we have had some nice hot days. We have been for some great walks. We picked lots of blackberries on one walk and made an apple and blackberry pie with them.

Isla loves pushing Evie fast on the fire engine and Evie loves going fast!

Isla's cocoon which we have had since it was a hungry caterpillar on our nasturtium plant, turned into a butterfly! It was amazing.

Isla has been doing a lot of crafts each day. Here is her robot:

Isla and Evie went to a friend's birthday party so wore their party dresses:

We had a walk by a river:

Back in our garden:

We made a rainbow sun catcher by mixing glue and paint. Isla painted onto a baking tray. We left it to dry and then put loads more glue on before peeling it off when it was dry.

At the last outdoor playgroup, the theme was strawberries. Isla potted up a baby strawberry plant and decorated a label for it. We ate strawberries and had a strawberry themed story. Then both Evie and Isla had fun playing with red coloured rice with the other children. They also bought home some marigold seeds to plant, looked for woodlice and found some round courgettes. Here is Isla's strawberry plant:

At the start of this week, we met up with friends. We have also been collecting conkers a lot!