October 2012

I'm catching up slowly but surely.  I can't believe that is already the middle of November and that in one week my eldest will turn 6 and that in one month we'll be on our way to sunny South Africa.  October was a busy but fun month for us.  I've already done a post about all the nice things we did during half term.  Following this are four posts about some of the other things we did in October. Enjoy!

Chessington

We took our last chance to visit Chessington before the theme park section closes for the winter.  There are a few reasons why I like Chessington: it has a lot that caters for the younger audience, there are shows scattered around the grounds, it has a zoo and an aquarium.  We managed to watch Raa Raa the Noisy Lion and Madagascar.  Danny just hit 100cm which means we can do a lot of the rides together and Nicholas is 125cm now so one of us can try out the more risky rides with him.  Our boys are naturally cautious though, so we have not braved the really scary ones yet.  You can see how terrified Nicholas was on the Dragon Falls ride.  All in all it's a fun family day out!

Jelly Fish in the Aquarium

A tiger having lunch in the zoo

Braving up to go into the Hocus Pocus House of Horrors

The Big Draw

The Big Draw is such a great initiative to get families drawing.  We were lucky to stumble across one of the events at the Windmill on Wimbledon Common.  As an extra bonus the windmill was open to the public and the boys really enjoyed exploring all the displays, especially the one where they showed how wheat is ground to make flour.  Both of them used the photos and their specimens for their Show and Tell for the Harvest theme.  But back to the big draw, they had a lovely setup on the common, with gazebos and music and all sorts of art equipment.  You could choose what materials you wanted and what props you were interested in - for us it was the windmill - and sit down to draw.  I was surprised by how absorbed the boys were and how they concentrated on trying to draw what they saw.  I must say us adults enjoyed it too.  It linked in nicely to our visit to the National Gallery the following weekend and it sparked a bit of an interest in drawing and painting in our household.  Inspired by some of the still life paintings we saw we decided to do our own fruit still life at home one day.  I'm really impressed with the end results, and I love it that they paint at school too!

The windmill

The big draw

Nicholas

Daniel

Dad

Mom

The Still Life

Nicholas

Daniel

A pumpkin for Halloween

A lily that Nicholas brought back from art class at school

I love it!

Daniel did an amazing sunflower at school but it is on display in the classroom and I haven't managed to take a photo yet but I am going to put it here when I do!

Beethoven and The Wombles

A few weekends ago we went to on one of our usual outings to London, for a Beethoven concert at St Martins in the Field, as part of their mini maestro series.  Before the concert we went on a trail in the National gallery which is always fun, and the boys enjoyed charging and cartwheeling around on Trafalgar Square afterwards.  As usual they loved the concert and the interaction with the musicians afterwards!

They always having a drawing competition during the concert, just in case it music isn't absorbing enough.  This time Nicholas decided to do a stained glass window and Danny followed his example!

On the Sunday we went to see the Wombles at the Wimbledon Bookfest.  It was a fun reading and singalong especially since we are reading one of the Womble chapter books to Nicholas at the moment.  Funny that these odd little creatures had hit singles in the seventies!

Trolls and Folk Music

FUNharmonics only happens 3 times a year and it is one of the events we book in advance.  It's one of the best shows on the classical music calendar for children, in our opinion.  This time the theme was unusual - Folk Music - but it had enough familiar pieces thrown in the mix.  Seeing a whole orchestra in action is spectacular enough.  After the show the children can choose instruments and meet the musicians to have a go.  This time they choose the timpani and the double bass.

Horrible Histories

Last weekend (before the vomiting bug struck our household) we enjoyed an adventurous day out in London.  We started off with waffles and ice cream for breakfast before we went to the Garrick Theatre to see Horrible Histories.  For those of you not familiar with this, it is a fun and interesting way of teaching children and adults alike about history, and it is easy to get hooked.  You can find some of their skits on You Tube and this is one of our favourites.  Nicholas is getting an overview of British History at school this term covering the Vikings, the Romans, the Tudors and the Victorians so I thought it would be fun for him but also good for us to brush up on our facts.  In this version of the theatre production we learnt about the famous Brits like Henry VIII, Guy Fawkes, Florence Nightingale and Ruth Ellis.  After a wander around Leicester Square we headed south of the river to Borough to find Sir Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hinde, where we got a taste of life on board a pirate ship from the Tudor era.  The boys really enjoyed it as you can imagine.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon meandering along The Thames towards Tower Bridge where our day came to a spectacular end.  It was fun seeing London from a different angle for a change!

Horrible Histories at the Garrick

Fun on Leicester Square

The Golden Hinde   

The South Bank around Borough

Tower Bridge

A nice start to a nice day