Half Term Jaunt

We decided to do a sneaky long weekend jaunt during half term.  Our destination was Warwickshire and we stayed in a caravan in Riverside Camping on the banks of the River Avon.  The main reason is because I wanted the boys do a bit of fishing, but fishing was out of the question because of 'the storm'.  We felt a bit like hurricane bait in our caravan but thankfully it was quite mild by the time it reached the Midlands.  Most of the chaos happened while we slept and funnily enough the days were sunny and mild.  We were joined by some friends which was a nice surprise.  We don't know them all that well but it was nice to have company (Alex is in Danny's music class so we see him and his lovely mum once per week).  You'll also see Kuri, Nick's class pet, in some of the photos.  All in all it was a lovely fun-filled get away!

The caravan

 

Walking along the River Avon

The calm after the storm

We had to visit some of The Shakespeare Properties since we were so close.  The first thing that struck us was that almost every building in Stratford is built in the Tudor style.  The tourism industry puts a big effort into promoting everything to do with Shakespeare.  The boys got a bit of archaeology experience at one of the houses - hands on - some excellent activities and props. We also got roped into taking part in a Midsummer Night's Dream skit with some actors outside another house. So it was fun excursion!

Stratford-Upon-Avon

We also went to a science activity centre which was awesome.  The boys got to choose 4 activities which they had to do without parents and then 1 activity for the whole family together.  They chose tower construction (spaghetti and marshmallow towers), space (portable planetarium), Roald Dahl (bit of acting and arts and crafts) and I-Spy (codes, invisible ink and finger prints) and then we all went to the lab for molecular experiments together.  It was loads of fun and sure did spike their curiosity!

We stumbled across a random mill on the way back to the camp site.  The boys thought it was amazing how the river flowed underneath the building and the road.  It was all visible.  The old building was rather spooky.  And that night everyone slept well while the storm raged outside!

Warwick Castle

The main reason why we picked the location for our half term break was its close proximity to Warwick Castle.  In my opinion it is definitely one of the best castles in England especially for children.  It transports you back in time with all the actors and activities that are continuously on the go.  We watched the birds of prey display, saw the trebuchet in action, learnt about the ghostly past of the castle, enjoyed an interactive show in the witches tower, watched a fencing duel, saw a headless horseman - the list of exciting things is endless - you really need an entire day there to make the most of it.  Since it was almost Halloween we also went on a Spooky Trail in one of the many gardens - it was so well done - the boys were intrigued and terrified at the same time.

Warwick Castle

The view from the top

Watching the trebuchet in action

Headless horseman!?

The Fencing Duel


A bit of sword fighting (inspired by the professionals)

Birds of Prey

Lots of interesting things inside too

The witches' tower

Pumpkins everywhere

The spooky trail

The view from a bridge over the River Avon

Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars

The boys are back at school today after a lovely half term break for a week.  It's always nice to relax out of the regular routine and do things out of the ordinary.  Nicholas had some interesting 'homework' to do this time.  He got Kuri, the class' wild dog, to entertain for the week.  We had to take him with us whereever we went, take photos of him doing different things and then do a write up about his experiences.  Nicholas' teacher is full of creative ideas like this that make the children work in a fun fashion.  The write up will also give you a sneak preview of our half term break!

 

Last term ended off on a high note with both my boys getting 'Star of the Week' certificates.  Each boy basically gets a turn to get one of these so they are quite common.  What I really like about these is what they are for (Nick: For your wonderful attitude towards learning / Danny: Lovely neat sentence writing).  So proud!

Nicholas also got two Semper Magis Certificates last term.  These are really difficult to get and they are quite rare so it was really impressive that he got two of them already.  The first one was For Outstanding Work in Geography (speaks for itself because he does have an extraordinary knowledge about the world for his age) and the second one was For Outstanding Work on 'How to Brush Your Teeth' (sounds a bit arb - would have been better if it said 'For Outstanding Work in ICT - as they had to do a write up in ICT using a wordprocessor about something they learnt on the Life Bus).  An excellent start to year 2!

September and October

Life was busy in September and October.  I have already done a few posts about some of the nice things we did and here are a few more.  Catching up slowly but surely ....

Baker Man

Danny loves helping in the kitchen especially if it involves baking.  So the other day when his friend, Jake, was visiting I decided to be brave and do a baking play date.  It went down really well and the two boys had loads of fun especially licking out the bowl.  While they each decorated their own mini cake I decorated some cupcakes for a cake sale at school.  I thought the spider webs came out really nicely!

Danny's friend's mum always whips up some rock cakes for the kids after school.  So I got the recipe and we tried it out too.  Apparently rock cakes are a traditional English treat and one of Harry Potter's favourite tea time treats.  They are really quick and easy to make so perfect to get the kids involved. You can make them 'healthy' by adding any kind of dried fruit or even fresh fruit like apple works well.  Eat just like that on the run for a little energy boost or serve them warm with a little butter as a tea time treat.  Can't believe I've never come across them before!

Rock Cakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
• 225g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 110g soft butter or margarine
• 55g granulated sugar
• 110g mixed dried fruit / currants / apricots / raisons / apple
• 1 medium egg
• 1 - 3 tbsp milk
• Demerara sugar for sprinkling
• Oil for greasing

Preparation:
• Heat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large baking bowl
• Add the softened butter or margarine
• Lightly rub together with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
• Add the sugar and the dried fruit and mix so all ingredients are well incorporated
• Add the egg and 1 tbsp of the milk and mix to create a stiff dough
• If the mixture is still dry add milk a tbsp at a time until required consistency
• Lightly grease two baking sheets
• Using a tablespoon divide the mixture into 12 mounds evenly spaced on the 2 baking sheets
• Sprinkle with the demerara sugar
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 mins or until golden brown and well risen