New Chicks

We've got five new baby chicks!

Herman the German friendship cake

We were given a small pot of goo from our friends. The goo was cake mixture with a list of instructions and a name 'Herman'. Herman needed daily stirring, feeding every 5 days and then after 10 days dividing and baking part of him.

Well, we went away for a weekend and the first Herman died. Our friends who gave us Herman, excitedly asked how he was when we saw them, we had to confess we'd killed Herman. I think they were happy to get rid of another Herman!

Healthy Herman, Bubbling nicely.

We had a second near miss with Herman, I'd set the oven to warm at gas mark 9,

and had not turned it down, the girls thought it was set and popped Herman in!

Delicious Herman!

The cake tastes amazing. We cooked it with apples, raisins and cinnamon, but other friends cooked it with raspberries and apple and another with toffee and chocolate!
So if you try the recipe you can substitute the apple, raisin and cinnamon too.

If you want to start a Herman cake mixture, which is a basic sour dough mixture, this website has details.

Sunshine at last

Wow, we've just had two consecutive days of sunshine!

And I think we made the most of it...

Playing out in Locke Park 'til late

An energetic start to Sunday with a table tennis tournament.

Then off to Wigfield farm

I wish I was as perky as this on a Sunday morning!

And the real reason for the visit was bacon butties in the cafe!

After lunch we went to Brodsworth Hall to listen to the brass band

and roll

and dance

and cuddle

and more cuddles

and eat cake.

And so we managed to do one of our wishes on the Summer wall.
Maybe Summer is here at last.

And then we got on a boat and sailed off into the sunset!
(In our dreams!)

Lie Detector

We got the electronic kit out on Tuesday. We haven't used it for a few years, so after a quick recap, and making a few circuits in parallel and series, the girls made a lie detector.
The circuit is left open and completed by the test person. The theory is that if the person tells a lie, their hands will be become clammy and damp and so increase conductivity into the skin and complete the circuit and so light will light up.

We had lots of fun teasing each other with funny questions, and then closely looking to see if the light was even slightly glowing. Not sure if this would have been accepted as evidence in court! Are you brave enough to take the lie detector challenge?

Car Lotto BINGO!

I bought a car lotto game from Marks & Spencer in the January sales and put it away . Luckily I was sorting out the cupboards just before our holiday and found it!

It's such a great game, even on the motorway there's things to spot in the sky, and everyone got competitive even looking for pushchairs in the boots of passing cars!
You could easily make this game yourself with clipart. It's made even more exciting with the addition of prizes.

It kept everyone entertained, from Rosanna up to Nanan!

But I think Jemima loved it best!!

Holiday Homes -Royal, Ordinary and Special.

The playmobil escape to their bolt hole.

The sylvanians choose to chill on the Rose of Sylvania


And we love to head to Granny's beach house at Snettisham.
We've just had a lovely 12 day holiday there.
It's so relaxing , 12 volt electricity, so no TV, washing machine or computer.

It's so nice to get away from Life in the town,

and for 12 days we lived by Norfolk time!

Queen Alexandra had a beach house at Snettisham,
but sadly it fell in to disrepair and got demolished.
I can't really imagine the royal family living off the grid with 12 volt batteries!

And this is our present Queen's holiday home, Sandringham House, yes a house not a palace!
We visited the house. You are not allowed to take photos, and there is a sign at the door saying 'please wipe your feet'. In my house people take their shoes off!!
We had been learning about the Royal family as part of our jubilee celebrations, so visiting Sandringham House finished off the topic nicely.

Next we went into the museum, where there is loads to see, including:

Gifts the Queen has received on various occasions.

royal cars from bygone days

stables and carriages

Then the formal gardens, there are acres of parkland which you can explore for free, but there is a charge for the house, museum and formal gardens.

York Cottage

a security point

maze in front of Sandringham house

A golden buddha, coins had been left on his lap, so we added some too.

Following on with the royal theme, we drove down to Wolferton station, it was the train station to where the royal train arrived. There is no longer a train track here, and the station is a house. The man who owns it is very friendly and allows you to walk around his gardens, turns out he's originally from Barnsley too!

A long wait for the next train!

And carrying on with the royal theme, here we are in Princess Diana sister's garden, Lady Jane Fellows. She has an annual garden party to raise money for the local church.

Ideas of grandeur!

Whatever you do, wherever you stay this Summer,
I hope you have a fantastic holiday.
x x x x

Summer Wall

After our lovely holiday in Norfolk, we were all feeling slightly depressed to return home and rain to return.

I saw this brilliant idea on another blog, a Summer wall.

So on Saturday, while it rained we all sat and drew pictures and wrote about the places and things we wanted to do this Summer.

Here are some of our wishes!

And this is Reuben's idea, 'Go in the playground'.

The boat playground at Robin hood's bay.

The Sun is no where to be seen this Summer, so we've painted one!