The Lunt Roman Fort - Thursday 26th July

We took a wander down to the Lunt Fort, which luckily for us, is located in our village, so not too far to travel.

We've been here quite a few times in the past, and they always hold different events for childrn over the school holidays. Today they were looking at Roman pottery. There were pictures and books laid out on the table for inspirtion, and then the children were encouraged to make their own Roman pot.

 



The Smaller Person pottery was mostly focused on how it would fit inside a kitchen roll middle.



Mys sister joined in and made a pot for Zachary (which I think was just a good excuse to play with the clay :D)



The Small Person's clay pot with a face (like the example above).



More pottery examples.

When I say children, that obviously includes my 22 year old sister, who had tagged along for the trip.

The Small Person noted the faces on many of the pots, so used a tool to scrape a face into her pot. She gave the pots to the staff for safe keeping whilst we went outside. We've been having some absolutely lovely weather this week, and today was no exception. We found a shady spot on the grass and had a picnic. The Smaller Person, as is often the case, got bored and wandered off for an explore. Because it's enclosed and has wide open spaces, it was fine to let him explore a little while we sat and watched him from our picnic spot. He loves the idea of freedom, but is so surprised when he's actually allowed! He kept looking back as if to say "Are you sure? You know I'm going right? Now's the time to stop me...."

The Small People had a mad five minutes running around the gyrus and checking out their echoes, then we went up the steps on the reconstructed gateway. You can see right across the fields to the city from there.

We collected out Roman pots, and set out from the Fort to just across the road where the village park is. The Small People burnt of a little more energy, before we headed back home. It was still so hot, and they still had so much energy! They must have Duracell batteries or something, because there's just no stopping these two once they wake up.

We called in at my Mum's house and they Small People were given ice lollies (most of which ended up own their clothes, in their hair and on my Mum's carpet) and were entertained by my Mum and her partner's pet ferrets: Dora, Rodney, Smudge, Benjy and Charlie. Zack thought they were the funniest things ever, Alexandra was trying to give them voice commands. Yeah, didn't work. Did that stop her shouting at them? Nope, of course not.

Back home, they cooled off in the back garden with the paddling pool, and were much quieter - ah, momentary peace! We finished a really lovely day with a BBQ with Mr Bogert when he got home. All days should be like this one.

Barnaby Bear

This is Barnaby. He is the Year 1 mascot at the small person's school. This weekend, he came home with Alexandra for a visit.

He watched movies:

Had a bedtime story:

Went to dance class:

Went shopping (and nearly ended up with Toys 'R' Us as his new home), went to the Lunt Fort:

Played at the park:

And had a photoshoot with the small people:

He also had a present of a new blanket, from Alexandra, so that no matter which house he visits, he's always got something warm and familiar to snuggle.

I hope he enjoyed his weekend with The Wishes, I know the small person enjoyed having him here.

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?