Taps (by sarah)

Yesturday Alaric went to get Jean from pre-school on his own - I was too tired from the weekedn and was flate out in bed. They were an age but it turns out they had lots of fun - first off they went to the playground by the preschool and then on to B&Q to look at taps.

Yes Taps - Jean started asking questions about taps about two weeks ago and Al turn round and said that he would take her on a rainy day to look at a tap shop.

She came home with a 'tap' a.k.a an applience fitting for a washing machine. I put her to bed last night and when I went to check on her later on - there was the little tap gripped in her little paw 🙂

This morning she demonstrated how it could be turned into a wind instrament and what happens if she opens or closses the valve!

This morning on the way to pre-school she announced that B&Q is the tap shop. We also had lots of discuession with her about how vans and road signs are made and why!

Geek in the making - me thinks!

Cheltenham Science Festival 09 (by sarah)

Last year I missed the Science Festival which was a shame as aparently there was a scientific poetry event which would have been right up my street - they didn't appear to be doing that this year (probably due to entry by a graphic gay poet who enjoyed the topic of taboo and writes to shock! It was actually him who told me about the science festival and I am very embarrassed not to recall his name when he has been at several poetry event with me and I think chips in the pub may have occured at some point).

We got into cheltenham and parked close to one of the most bueatiful cars ever - a Ford Mustang!

We then discovered that Aliens had taken over the Town Hall again - these inflatable waving around tubes really excites Jean and we had trouble getting her into the hall past them!

It turned out that we were just in time to catch a circus skills workshop - under 8's had to be accompanied! She loved this and was indignent everytime we wanted to look at something else! She went back three times I think! She wouldn't go on the stilts initially and then I realised that she had bought me over a purple plate to spin and given Daddy all the blue things she could find so I found a pink pair of stilts for her which she loved!

Eventually I remembered how to spin a plate though I couldn't get the diablo to do much nor the devil stick! I realised the last time I had done circus skills properlly I was actually pregnant with Jean! Though very early on 🙂

We bumped into on of our cubs - Holly who was getting wobbly on the monocycle!

Inside there was a large hall full of fun interactive stuff like drum machines and steroscopic viewing of landscapes and many other things! A nice man with piercing spoke to me lots as Jean played with beads and various glasses that cuased optical illusions or made you see as bugs do! Though I think I might have offended him by asking if Gloucester Uni did Science as I'd heard it was only Softy science (then spotted the Gloucester Uni t-shirt!).

For some reason you weren't allowed to take photos in there - I took a sneaky one anyway!

We got icecreams and Jean was very concerned, 'They don't have purple ones I'm afraid mummy, no icecream for mummy! I'm having pink icecream mummy, you pink too?' She didn't quiet get why I wanted green icecream when my favourite colours purple and the concern was quiet touching!

Between goes on the circus skills we found UCL chemists doing some fun things with test tubes, washing powder and zeolite! And hydrophobic sand. Jean wanted to do the test tube stuff but there were too many people there and so we did the sand instead - she didn't want it in her hands but wanted to watch my do the experiment so out went my cupped hands for some sand and then water was added to each hand. One lot of sand was hydrophobic - which as I mentioned it I had to explain what it ment - ie water hating, to the group of kids and perants. Basically one lot of sand mixed with the water and one lot the water just ran off of!

They told me at the end that the sand is basically coated in Scotch guard!

Then to cap the day off we found an ecological arts cornor just beyound the Environment Agency Cafe where the artist and scientist Dr Lizzie Burns was getting people to paint on a large white column with a clay/water mix. It had to be something enviroment/ecology based so Jean painted her tadpoles and I added the pond and then she added her ducks and then the apple tree and then the nesting blue tits and would have carried on forever I think. The Lady running the event was a biologist and makes really cool [molecular earringsand other jewellery}(http://www.molecular-designs.com/), and said she even embroiders ties and things which is so cool! Of course that does mean that another one of mine and Ella's bright ideas has been done whilst we were thinking about it!

There was a guy called Matt with her who was explaining to the children about seeds and trees and how they grow up into trees and stuff - Jean having already grown her own plants from seeds looked at him like he was being a bit silly but then he asked her if she wanted to make seeds out of clay to go in the collection - she earally agreed and chose brown instead of white clay! She was very sad to leave so we had to explain thats why its not a good idea to spend all your time doing one event! ie circus skills!

We got soaked in the rain on the way back to the van and were starving so went on a hunt for chips which resulted in Jean's first ever photography!

Jean’s Photography (by sarah)

Today we had a great time at the Sciences Festival in Cheltenham taking Jean to the free events but more on that later - it tipped it down at the end and we got a bit soggy so decided we'd go and get some chips to it - but being Sunday all the chippy's round here were closed so we went to the Aviator at Staverton for some of their cheesey chips which as we were quiet chilled were most welcome!

I got the camera out to take a pic of Jean and she asked if she could take photos!

Of course I said yes, with trepidation we gave her the camera - there was a little bit of panic over her fingers and the lens! But I think she showed a drastic improovement just from the few she took! They are in Chronological order!

Jean's Self portraite

Mummy: I have to say I wanted to delete two of these but felt I didn't have the right as they are Jean's first photographs!

Portraite of Daddy

Cranham Country Fayer (by sarah)

Today we went to the Cranham Country Show which is basically the school fete but in a truelly grand and exciting country village way!

No I'm serious!

On top of that Alaric arrived home with Seth and Hamlesh! Seth was getting his motobike MOTed to take away with him as he has finailly gotten his liscense!

So we headed up early as there was the Scout recruiting stall to set up and Barbara had to get Mag (her MG convertable in sunshine yellow) into the classic car show. So we headed up on mass. Dad parking the orange van in the car park which was a bumpy lumpy field with me stating we'd probably get stuck (I shall say no more about this other than when it came time to leave - guess who had to sit over the rear axil? Thats right all of us).

Seth took one look at the classic car show and brought his bike in to join in the fun!

BBC Gloucestershire radio was there much to our amazement and they had this car with a humungous aerial on the top of it! I just had to take a photo of it!

Painswick Fire department turned out again though they didn't appear to be giving out free smoke detectors like last year (ie the origin of our smoke alarm - I wanted to pick one up for Barbara).

At some point we were pounced to enter into raffles and a pound pot thing. We only had £10 on us and hadn't had lunch so we had to be a bit sparing! Seth and Hamlesh where horrified to be told they had sold out of veggi burgers at the BBQ about 5 minutes in - someone miss calculated but this was also a little fib - there was one left but the BBQ people were saving it for Alaric!

Anyway there was lots of fun things there like dogs for a dog show where they ran round a course with jumps and things - I managed to somehow not get any photos of them but did get this photo of a dog driving a car with canine passangers!

The first thing we actually did when we arrived was go to the cheek/face painting - 50p a design! There was a board of designs and I was expecting her to go for the hearts or pink at least but she has been abit obsessed lately with 'canoes and so she picked the volcano and was quiet adamant about it! I am a proud geology mum 😉

Barbara was ecstastic as there were horses/pony rides and she got Jean on a horse - Jean hesitently picked the brown one but was unsure - they went round came back. She got off had her helmet taken off and asked to go on the other horse now! Barbara hastily paid another pound and off she went again :/

I was most impressed with the Think Bike Dudes who were doing some cool tricks - some of which I was never brave enough to even attempt on my BMX! I wish I'd had time to get some better pics of them and the dogs.

Jean followed Barbara around everywhere - this is a photo of them waiting for the dog show to begin - shortly after this I found Barbara giving Jean a skiff of cider which I confiscated :/ For some reason round here some of the older generations think of cider as non-alcoholic :/

This photo looks very similar to the last but there was actually quiet alot of time between them! Instead of waiting for the dog show they are eating Jean's hot dog! Though Barbara had filled JEan up with sweets at this point.

Jean's day was completed by her being the youngest climber on the climbing wall - She actaully managed to climb a bit herself though she had alot of help! She loved being swung around in the harness and went on all the different climbing faces! Proud ex-instructor mum 🙂

At the end of the day there was the dismantling of the marquees and the like which Jean wanted to help with - I on the other hand had managed to start shaking and had to sit down and have my cup of coffee brought over - I was not happy and felt a bit stupid about this but then Jeany was having such a great time I was glad I stayed the extra - I had been going to go home earlier on!

And off course there was the slight thing of we had run out of money and then - we won £72! Which is very fortunate as there was a slight incident of me forgetting to pay our water bill and getting two at once and one of those scary red telegram things :/

It was a fantastic day which ended with us all going for a meal as well which was great 🙂

Alaric Summer of ’82 (by sarah)

Lionel, Roderick and Barbara have been turning out the old family 'junk' and they found a few photo's of Alaric as a small child!

They gave me this one - I took it with flash as well as that one shows the colours more truelly than the one with out!