The Summer Revisited #2

Another recap of things the Wishes have been up to whilst absent from blogland...

In the first week of the holiday it was my birthday - Yay! This was always one of the best things about the summer holiday when I was at school. We ALWAYS broke up the friday before my birthday. I never had to work on my birthday (a tradition I have continued into adulthood! :D) I had some lovely new clothes and the small people bought me some heated rollers.

On the Wednesday, I took the little Wishes to The Lunt Roman Fort in our village. They were running an archaeology event. This is where Alexandra enetered the competition she won. She also dressed up and made a roman man and woman which she has now stuck into her holiday book.

Alexandra the Celt.

Zachary the lion warrior (so tough, he can eat his own armour).

Alexandra's competition entry (she won a £5 book voucher).

The same day, as it was my birthday week, we went to Stoneleigh Abbey. A place I have never been to before. Strange as it is so close. We took the Jane Austen tour, perfect for my little treat :) It was very interesting and the rooms were lovely, but the lady who was leading the tour, did seem to go off track a couple of times and miss something out, then have to return to it later, so it didnt flow quite as well as you would expect. It wasn't really the sort of thing to take a small person and a smaller person too because I think they got quite bored, but they were very well behaved (until the very very end bit). I really enjoyed it though, and it's a place many grown up type people would enjoy seeing.



Stoneleigh Abbey




Bored small person

 I really would love to go back to see more of the grounds - we ran out of time, which was a shame because they looked lovely.

We also took our first trip of the school holiday to The Herbert Art Gallery. This week we went to the walking with beasts exhibition (like the TV series). Alexandra thought it was brilliant because she got to see Manny from Ice Age! We also made a woolly mamoth using paper folding and some fluffy fibres.



Mammoth making.




Walking with Beast Exhibition.

 We visited 'Wild Worlds' for the first time. This week was 'Ice World' (it's enough to make you want to revert to your child hood and go explore things in your own imagination). Zack was very unsure. It was kind of like "Really? I'm allowed to just go? You're not going to tell me off? Are you sure...?" but he soon got used to his new freedom.

The small people enjoying the wonders of 'Wild Worlds'.

After that gallery, we took the 'Precious Trails' treasure hunt challenge. We had to follow clues all around the museum and gallery until we found the final treasure which turned out to be a key (a printed one). Once you had solved all of the clues using your treasure map, you returned to the craft studio with your key. In the craft studio we made a treasure chest in which to keep the key. This was another free activity for the summer holidays. (I cannot reccommend the gallery enough for families!).
 



Treasure chest craft.

 The Friday, we went returned to town, this time to visit Coventry Transport Museum. I haven't visited here since it was all refurbished, and never with the children. We followed their transport trail finding pictures alongside the motors, bikes and other exhibits. We did old road sign rubbings, colouring in, and decorating a kaleidoscope.



Road sign rubbings.



Transport trail.



Kaleidoscope decorating.

 We also walked through their Blitz streets. I wasn't sure what Alexandra would think of it, but we had been talking about the Cathedral (as we had to walk past it going to the art gallery) so she was already starting to grasp the concept of what took place during WW2. She was fascinated and asked lots of questions. What the bomb shelters were for, why the windows had tape crosses on them, what the loud sirens were for, why did this happen, that sort of thing. I think she has quite a good understanding for her age. The Blitz and war was something that we discussed again later in the holiday.

Blitz streets.

To finish a lovely day, we bought retro sweets from the gift shop. We took Daddy a Dip Dab home (he's been going on about those since I met him in 1999!). Sweets are a lovely way to end a fun trip, but they're even better if they're old school!
 
And that, my dear readers, was then end of a packed first week of summer. Did you have any fun day trips over the summer?