On Safari (In Denmark)

We spent four days in Denmark – two in Legoland, one at an indoor adventure swimming pool, and one on safari. Yes – safari in Denmark…..and excellent it was too…

This was a great opportunity for the kids to experience these animals close up, without cages – and especially exciting for Alfie and Ted, who have only read about some of these animals in story books, but never seen them in real life. 🙂
Of course, we also took advantage of the fun play park…

….and I treated them to their first ever ‘slush puppy’…

🙂

Finally – Legoland!

Legoland was everything you could hope for! We all had a fantastic time! 🙂

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There was so much to see and do – impossible to capture it all! Not many pictures of the older kids – they’re now old enough to go off on rides together without us! I think Richard spent much of his time with Ted, and I with Alfie – hence rather more pictures of little A! 😉

The Drive To Denmark…

We have just come back from Denmark, after a long awaited trip to Legoland!

We drove 11 hours across Sweden…

…before crossing the sea to Denmark on the 20 minute ferry…

On the way we stopped at ‘Brahehus’, castle ruins from a dower house, built in the mid 17th Century….

…where we had lunch, Ted and Alfie amused themselves in a car, and we treated the kids to a ‘polka gris’ each…

…before arriving at our ‘hutt’ (chalet), just half an hours drive from Legoland…

Legoland awaits.. 🙂

Midsummer’s Morning Breakfast

On the fabulous blog of ‘Twig and Toadstool’ I was inspired to make a midsummer’s cake…

(For which, of course, someone had to lick the bowl…!)

Two sponge cakes were needed (the deep yellow comes from our chicken’s eggs!)…

One cake was cut in to triangles to make the sun’s rays, and I used yellow coloured, lemon flavoured, icing sugar for the middle, and yellow coloured sugar for the rays…

…fresh strawberries for decoration…

…and fresh flowers too…

All ready for a midsummer’s morning breakfast…

Midsummer 2014

Midsummer this year was spent in nearby Norrby Holme – an extremely nice local midsummer celebration.

The weather was against us (around 12 degrees C !) but fortunately it didn’t rain…

Maya and I collected lots of wild flowers for the ‘maj stång’ (midsummer pole), and then the preparation for the pole got started…

I can honestly say, it was the most beautiful pole I’ve ever seen..

Of course there was lots of dancing round the pole (this was the only picture I could take, being in the middle of the inside ring, and totally committed to the dance!)…

…and afterwards there were lots of games to play, such as sack races, darts, the chocolate wheel, rifle target shooting, the fishing pool, and the pancake eating contest….

….and popcorn to eat..

…and time to play…

….before heading over to dinner at our friends who live by the lake…

Happy Midsummer everyone! The kids are going to be tired tomorrow – we weren’t home until 11pm – and the sun still hadn’t got down! 😉

The Butterfly House In Haga Park

Yesterday we went on a wonderful trip to the butterfly house, in Haga park (the Royal family’s ‘garden’).

It was so very nice!

Alfie took his bike to practise..

He and I observed the beautiful lupins…

…before we entered the house…

There were other creatures there among the butterflies, such as fish, tortoise, frogs, bugs, and birds..

Set in a gorgeous ‘rainforest’ type environment, it wasn’t long before we spotted some huge cocoons..

…and some slightly smaller ones lined up on sticks….

This was amazing – you could literally see the butterflies coming out of the cocoons before your eyes – even Ted was able to grasp this concept, after many hours of reading the ‘Hungry Caterpillar’!
And of course, many many butterflies, flying all around us…

Afterwards we had a long look at the amazing new shark tank, where Leon and I listened to a talk, while the others got lunch ready…

..and after lunch, a long walk in Haga park, past the copper tents…

..and on our way…

Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery around this time – but not before I could take a photo of each and every one of my gorgeous brood… ! 😉
Leon…

Maya…

Alfie…

..and Ted…

A wonderful day ! 🙂

‘Shy Shampoo’ !

It’s always nice to wake up to laughter from two small boys – and today they invited us to a little early morning music – a song called “Shy Shampoo” … (I’ve no idea…)…. 😉

🙂

Rescuing The Animals From The ‘Sea’ ! ;)

Ted is certainly one who likes to move around – and move THINGS around – a lot. So it’s nice, on the odd occasion, to find something with a little ‘staying power’…..;)
And that’s water of course!

An assortment of tools, and a big paddling pool…

However, it was the wild sea animals that kept him amused…

Throwing them in to the pool..

…and fishing them out with a net…

…before leaving them out to dry…

Ted saw this as a serious mission – rescuing the sea animals, and then setting them all out in the sun – seeing the water drops slowly disappear was a simple science observation, while fishing them out was a gross motor skill being practised… 😉

An Invitation To Play And Explore, With Seeds…

I had a small box of assorted seeds in packets, years old and out of date, which I had been saving. I thought it was time to use them….so (a few weeks a go), I set out an invitation to play and explore, for Ted…

He showed immediate interest…

Experimentation with a magnifying glass…

….exploring seeds…

…so many seeds…

..time to plant them…

…and water them…

I wonder if any of them will grow? 😉

The First Day Of Summer 2014

Unfortunately the weather is not on our side – but it doesn’t spoil the fun – there’s always a laugh in baking…

..and for the little boys?
Science experiment ‘mixtures’..

…and finger-painting…..

And what was my big boy doing during this time? Why, cleaning the bathroom of course! Bless him! 😉