A Perfect End to My Holiday

Today I took the boys to Crealy to make up for our midweek trip which got postponed.  They had a fabulous time!

We queued for a short time to go on these

I went on the 'easy' one, by the steps, which was terrific fun and I didn't bump my head on the top of the tube as the boat leapt about even though it felt as if I would at any given moment.  If the queues had been shorter I'd have been up again like a shot but as it is can console myself that once all the holiday makers have gone home the slide will still be there and the queues much shorter.

Jack and Max both went on the fearsome one, totally black inside, loop the loop and has some sort of dry ice or something inside as well - which of course means I cannot go in it :(

Immediately afterwards we went on the log flume.  I don't know what they've done to change this but it was sooooo much better!  We got totally drenched!  For once the photo that they take was brill too so we bought that, can't show it on here because we had to made into a keyring...

The boys had fun in the indoor play area after lunch, easily making friends with all aged people from little kids right through to much older teens.  I love the way they can just slot in anywhere and be accepted.  I'm sure that HE has got a lot to do with that.   We had some lunch (I ate Crealy's wonderful top beef burger - never again - yeuck!!) before moving on to other rides.

PHOTO TO FOLLOW

I managed to read a fair bit of my current book 'Twilight' whilst the boys were in the play area.  For some strange reason it has the effect of making me feel very sleepy!  Perhaps because it's my bedtime read, lol!!

We were having such a fab time that I actually forgot to check the bus timetable to see what time we had to leave!  OOPS! We'd managed to spectacularly miss the 'through' bus!   Fortunately there are buses which went half way to our town so we rushed out to catch one of those and then spent a delightful couple of hours  at the beach before we had a fish and chip supper in one of the town's seafront restaurants - delicious!

The boys had a friendly competition to see who could throw pebbles into the sea the furthest, and then played 'dunk the crisp packet' which some reckless person had left laying around and had gotten swept up in the sea.

Finally the time came to catch the connecting bus home.  I have to say that although I often wish I could drive, it was bliss to be able to just fall onto the bus exhausted at the end of the day and wait to be magically transported home.

Absolute bliss until... 6 miles from home the bus broke down!

We managed to while away the time playing 'Who wants to be a millionaire' on Max's phone (whatever did we do before mobile phones?) before Stagecoach sent a mini bus out from the city to take us the rest of the way.  I was going to just call a friend to come and pick us up but the driver had already arranged for the bus to be sent out so I thought it better to wait.

It was hilarious being raced around the country lanes in a tiny city minibus.  As we were the only passengers it felt like out own private limo!  Well a girl can dream can't she? ;)

Look what I made Yesterday!

Ok so I know it's not brilliant but I really like it and it's the first  piece of 'jewellery' that I've ever tried to make.  I'm not a lover of 'off the peg' stuff, preferring to have something a little bit more original, but then there almost always seems to be something that I don't quite like about it.  Luckily I'm not the same with clothes!!

Very Hungry Caterpillar

Several childminding friends of mine tried out the Insect Lore Butterfly Garden and highly recommended it so I thought we'd give it a go too.  I really did it for the minded children, thinking that Jack and Max would be too old to be interested,  but to be perfectly honest I think my own children got far more out of it than the little ones did, possibly because they were old enough to understand the incredible changes that go on during the short life of a butterfly.

When the caterpillars first arrived they were about the size of ants!  I've never seen caterpillars so tiny before - quite a shock to know that we look around us all the time but perhaps never really see what is right in front of our faces!  I foolishly didn't take any photos of them on the first day, the picture below was taken on the Monday, 2 days after arrival, and they'd doubled in size!

They are encased in a small plastic tub with a fudge-like substance in the bottom.  The 'fudge' is their food and for a while they graze gently on it.

Eventually they get quite big and if you took a look at the state of the fudge you'd think they were almost almost frenzied about their eating!  The 'fudge' ended up smeared everywhere.  I have to admit I was quite glad our cute little caterpillars were encased at this stage as they weren't quite so cute and looked more like slugs than would-be butterflies

After about a week of eating they cocooned at the top of the jar, and after leaving them for 24 hours to ensure they'd hardened off, I moved them to their new home (completely forgetting that they should only be 4cm off the ground - oops!)

A week or so after they cocooned they emerged as beautiful butterflies which we kept and watched for 2 days, during which time our beautiful but rather stupid cat decided to jump up on top of their (folding) home and flattened it - luckily the butterflies all seemed to be ok!

Letting them go was bitter-sweet.  I found I'd got quite attached to the little things and had this whole 'proud mum' thing going on.  It felt wonderful to have them come out and sit on fingers before they finally flew off.

One even sat on the emerging 'butterfly tree' we had bough especially for them in the hope they may stick around for a while - which of course they didn't.  The last little one to come out fluttered to the ground rather than up in the air.  Turned out she had something wrong with her wing and couldn't fly so I scooped her off, put plenty of fresh flowers and sugar water on tissue paper in the netting 'cage' and kept her for almost a week until she died, presumably of old age - I'm sad that she didn't get to go free but hope that the life she did have was a happy one.

Mona, the Painted Lady

My minded children worked hard and made a fabulous display to go with our theme.  I'm very very proud of them.  Some of the children who contributed to this are as young as two, the oldest was 4.  I 'drew' the outline for the caterpillars in PVA and the LOs popped the red lentils on to make their caterpillars.  They were so careful not to smudge the glue and worked very carefully and quietly until they were satisfied with the outcome.  The butterflies flutter in the breeze when the door is open which brings their display 'to life'.

Wonder what we'll do next...

Holiday time

Hmm, not too good at this bloggin lark am I..

This week we've been on holiday, it has been fantastic to be able to spend some real quality time with the boys without having to put other children first.  I really do love my job, but as with all jobs it's nice to take a break.

We've been to the cinema a lot this week.  On Saturday we went to see Inception, courtesy of some free tickets kindly donated by a friend, Sunday we went and took the dog for a walk by the river in Sidmouth but I ended up getting shouted at by some bizarre woman and it kind of took the 'nice' edge off the day.  Monday we went to see Eclipse - wow what a great film!  No idea what everybody sees in 'Edward Cullen', 'Jacob' would have been my choice!  lol!  Tuesday we went down to Sidmouth for the folk festival but it was very busy and I hated it.  On Wednesday we were supposed to be going to Crealy but pouring rain made it necessary to change plans and we ended up at the cinema again to see the new Karate Kid film (one free ticket courtesy of Orange 241), another fantastic film which had the effect of making both Jack and Max talk animatedly about it all the way home!.  Thursday was a day spent catching up with family, long overdue, and getting our pup a new (and huge) crate.   Friday I actually stopped procrastinating and made myself get on with sorting out our front garden!  It looks so much nicer now and was well worth the energy it took to do (we wont mention my aching muscles, lol!).

It turned out to be a very full week and whilst our trip to try out the new rides at Crealy had to be moved to another day it all actually fell together quite nicely in the end.  With regard to the cinema, if you're ever at The Vue and they ask if you want to upgrade to VIP seating I can categorically state that it's well worth the extra £1.40 a ticket to have the comfy chairs!  (But stay well away from the bags of sweets, they also have a £1.40 or more mark up!)

Today Jack is off to River Cottage HQ for the day and Max and I, well I'm not quite sure what we'll be doing yet.  I think it will be a go with the flow kind of day...

Chatting Like We Used to Do

Okay, so yesterdays post was a bit of a bummer but I'm leaving it there because it's how I truly felt right at that moment.  I am scared.  I am a lone parent so the buck stops with me.  If I get wrong footed that's it, that's my kids' futures messed up and it's all down to me.  In 2 years time Jack is at school leaving age and it scares me silly that if I get this next two years wrong I've wrecked things for him. I can understand why so many people choose school, there is such a huge responsibility when you choose to educate your child yourself and I think it's only just dawned on me quite how huge. 

Add into the equation two teenage boys who quite frankly don't give a monkeys and we're in a bit of a bad place...

Anyway, out of yesterdays bit of free speaking on my part came good.  Both boys read my heartfelt words and I think it made them think a bit.  It also made me think a bit.  Jack and I had a really good chat this morning whilst sitting on a gorgeously sandy beach in the sunshine (like you do).  We talked like we used to do and it was really good.  I'm hoping we've sorted stuff out a little bit but can only wait and see...

Playing catch up

I cannot believe that I haven't been blogging again for five minutes and I'm already paying catch up!

I never seem to have enough time to do everything - and then find myself taking something more on...

Last week, we had a couple of fabulous days out, Thursday we went to Crealy and the boys ran wild with one of their friends whilst I entertained the little ones.  Apparently the new water rides are fun but I didn't get to go on them (or anything else) because I was working.  We'll go back another day and I'll give them a try...  On Friday Max and I took the LOs to Lyme beach and had a truly lovely day without spending a fortune (once I'd gotten over the fact that he'd come out in filthy clothes and bought a new T shirt and new flip flops for him!)  There were some serious digging competitions going on with holes dug as far down as children could actually reach and absolutely no fuss when for safety's sake they had to be filled in again...

Jack and Max spent the weekend days at River Cottage HQ.  Jack really idolises HFW and can often be found glancing through one of his cook books looking for something to make.  Sometimes he even goes as far as to actually make something. If only I could get him to clean up the kitchen after himself...

Today and yesterday both boys have apparently been poorly, too poorly to get on with any work,  They had the whole of half term off after I said they couldn't because they were behind with their work, had most of the week before half term off cos they just skived and now seem to be just totally ignoring me when I tell them they have to get on with their school work.  In fact if I'm honest they've skived most of the bloody year.  They have nearly pushed me far enough and I'm seriously reconsidering school as an option.  The way they are going they will have no futures and I really don't want that for them.  It's all very well saying that can catch up with college as adults but the reality is they probably wont bother, just like their older brothers didn't bother.  I know I shouldn't let it worry me if their lot in life is serving up burgers, after all it's their own choice to slack off, but it does.  I know that everybody will blame me, including the boys themselves, they won't stop to think the kids had a choice, they won't think of all the hard work I've put in and all the money I've spent getting them lessons and courses for this and that which they've just thrown back in my face and not bothered to practice or do any of the work, people will just say it's my fault cos I chose to take them out of school.  Maybe it is...

Bicton With the Pink Ladies

We had a pretty good day today.  It could have been better but I'm trying very hard not to dwell on that...

As it's half term I have big mindees in as well as little ones so we decided to go somewhere that suits all ages: Bicton Gardens near Exmouth.  It's a bit of a hike for us to be honest but usually well worth it.  Today the mindees were all girls and nicknamed 'The Pink Ladies' simply because they like pink, *really* like pink, not because they resemble in any way the Pink Ladies from Grease! ;)

Getting 5 children up and out of the door on time to catch a bus can be hard work, when none of them are used to deadlines, but we work together pretty well and were out of the door on time despite a certain young man not tumbling out of bed until 15 minutes before we were due to leave!  No hassles with catching buses, none missed or run for and we were lucky enough not to have to dismantle the pram which had all the day's junk in whilst the tiniest pink lady snoozed away in the sling.

The children had a fabulous time playing in the indoor play area after we had a good look around the museum.  Max and Jack delighted in showing the bigger PLs around the museum giving them information about this or that exhibit and bringing the whole display to life for them.  Meanwhile the tiniest PL snoozed in the pram having gotten rather too warm in the sling ;)  Max very kindly pretended he was under 12 and raced around the indoor play area with the bigger PLs, can just imagine him doing that if he was a schoolkid - not!

Jack was getting bored in the indoor play area and I have to admit I wanted to be out in the sun too so we wandered off to the outdoor play area.  Tiniest PL enjoyed some sling time and 'helped' the bigger ones play there for a while.  Have to say I totally love this sling and wish they had them when mine were small.  It's so comfy and no danger of baby falling out when you bend over. No idea how you're supposed to get them in when it's on your back, but tiniest PL is only a few weeks old so no need to worry about that for a good long while yet.  Perhaps any fellow sling wearer out there could advise?

On the way home we called into Sidmouth for an hour to get some fruit and veg etc.  I bought a huge amount of strawberries which got mushed into pulp on the way home :(

We managed to get in the door a few minutes before parents came to pick up so it really was a 'day' out for them, hope they sleep well tonight!  Jack, Max and I relaxed, "Bertie the 'bot", hoovered up for me whilst I chilled.  Already loving having him!