Motion Sickness??

I have been feeling a little stiff these last couple of days, and the pic on the left is the reason why!

Who knew trampolining could be so strenuous?
Oh, and it also gives me motion-sickness!

So, I won't be doing it again any time soon, but it was fun!

Katie made a card for her little friend Rhia.      
It's the first time we have done anything "crafty" in a while but we had great fun!

Katie's tennis practice is coming on well. She got off to a rocky start, "but practice makes perfect"!

Wheelin 'n dealin!

Just had to post this....

Recently, we've been talking about persuasive writing and the way retailers use advertising, words and language to sell their goods.
Now Katie loves her DS, and she'd spotted a game she would like to buy on the Internet.
Dave thought it was quite expensive and suggested she wait until her birthday?
However, I seized the moment and  suggested she make a poster/advert to show us/ persuade us why we should buy the game. She jumped at the chance!
This is what she came up with.We were so impressed that we had to give in. Said game should be on it's way already!

Wild Dogs!

Finished our Wild Dog LapBook today!

We Love Lapbooking!

Knebworth

Today we spent the day at Knebworth and what a fabulous time we had! It was the Summer Show, and it had a distinct Medieval theme. Perfect! A history lesson while having fun!There were folk dressed in Medieval clothes, even babies! There were knights in armour and other battle regalia. We watched re-enactments including battles with swords and we got to see how the people lived in medieval times. We saw how they cooked and the foods they ate, got to see and smell the herbs and watch the women in costume cooking the meal in iron pots over  an open fire. We watched traditional wood carving.
There were birds of prey and beautiful working horses. Katie placed a bet on the ferret racing, all for a good cause since the monies raised goes towards the ferret charity. However, the best the best part for Katie were the dogs! There were dogs everywhere! So many different breeds, many Katie recognised, and a few new breeds we hadn't come across before. Katie was in her element, what with her being a dog-lover! We watched dog-scurries, dog-shows, duck-herding and basset-hound racing.
We spent a lovely six hours at the show and were truly exhausted by the time we got home. We took some great photos, particularly of the folk in medieval dress!  Hmmm, I feel a LapBook coming on.

Scary swords!

Today we headed off to Cherry Hinton Hall with our lovely friends to take part in a Myths and Ledgends Day. I think it's fair to say we all had a great day, children and parents alike! The children made saxon swords and daggers and magic wands. They tried spinning tops, juggling and plate spinning, Dave being very good at the latter! Who knew?!!


Scary Swords!

House-warming and flying kites in the rain...

Our lovely new friends invited us to their house-warming party yesterday. We were made so welcome and ended up staying far later than we intended. The evening started with a tour of their back garden (tour being the operative word!) It is huge and wild and magical and full of fruit trees_apples, raspberries, grapes, strawberries and plums. The garden had so many secret secluded areas, perfect for hide and seek! The children quickly disappeared, exploring and laughing all the way.

We had delicious food, a lovely bowl of Sangria (made with the fruits from the garden) and we talked and laughed and debated the hours away. And in spite of some of our differences, religion, education etc we had the most amazing discussions and still stayed best friends by the end of the evening. Can't wait to do it again.

Today we headed towards Royston for their annual kite festival. Great fun! We bought Katie a kite, and the heavens opened! So we made a dash for the car. On the way home we spotted MORRISONS!! my favourite store! Of course, we just had to stop off for a quick shop. Sad I know!
Tomorrow we are off to Woodgreen Animal Shelter for a picnic with our friends Shelly, Rhia and Zac...wonder if I should take a brolly??!!

Arctic expeditions and amazing dinosaurs!

The weather today has been glorious. I could almost believe we were back in Cyprus!

We took a trip into Cambridge, using the Park and Ride and spent the whole afternoon wandering around the Scott Polar Research Institute and then the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Totally fascinating! Who knew there were so many things I never knew, I never knew?



Scott Polar Research Institute

Katie had a great time dressing up for an Arctic expedition!

Phwoar! It's hot in here!!

Katie designed some traditional North Canadian clothes and we got to touch all the different types of furs and animal skins used for clothing by the arctic people. The wolf coat was her favourite. No surprises there!



A child's suit made from seal-skin.

Heading towards the Sedgwick we found a lovely cafe that served delicious food at very reasonable prices and a perfect cup of coffee! Dave ordered his all-time favourite, All Day Breakfast! Then we headed towards Sedgwick, tummies full and thirst quenched!

         The dinosaur at Sedgwick was HUGE and Scary!

Aaaarrgghhhh!!!

The museum was filled with relics and fossils and every type of rock you could imagine (perfect as we have been reading about the types of rocks in our new science book.)

There was a kids' reading area with lots of lovely books. Of course, Katie headed straight for it and settled herself down in a comfy chair. She found a Dinosaur book and poured over it for ages while Dave and I wandered around looking at the exhibits. I particularly liked the precious stones. Dropped a few hints to Dave about diamonds, but that fell on deaf ears!We were all so engrossed we didn't realize the museum was shutting until one of the attendants came to find us. Last out, as usual!

Popped into John Lewis on the way back to the Bus Stop. Well, I couldn't go into Cambridge and not shop! We bought Play-Doh for Katie!

We arrived home tired but happy. Who thought educational trips could be so fun? Of course, if you ask Katie what was the best part of her day, she'd reply "The bus ride!"

Oh, and in spite of being exhausted when we got home at almost 7pm, the lids were off the Play- Doh, out came the rolling pin and cookie-cutters and Katie created some lovely exhibits of her own!

The world is our classroom.

This week we met our new and very lovely friends, Shelly, her daughter Rhia and baby Zac at Milton Park.The weather was perfect and we spent the most amazing 5 hours walking, talking and playing. We were entertained by a family of rather vocal and protective swans and their hungry signets. The children picked fruit, apples and plums and blackberries. They collected treasures they found on our walk, shiny stones, coloured pebbles, nibbled leaves and birds' feathers! Somehow, we managed to get ourselves lost, but that was part of the adventure as far as the girls were concerned! We would most likely still be wandering around the orchards if it hadn't been for the help of a kindly man walking a pair of gorgeous Highland Terriers.

But most of all.... we talked and talked and talked! And that's when we do our best learning.

The world is our Classroom!




The treasures the children collected!

Catch up!

We have found some really lovely friends on our HE networking "expedition" this last couple of weeks. So as far as socialising is concerned, well, we have it covered!
Also we have signed up to Gymnastics, French, Art and maybe Drama next September. There are so many HE groups and organised events in between that is is almost impossible to choose!
Last week we visited Fitzewilliam Museum in Cambridge, Milton Park Family Day and Woodgreen Animal Sanctuary (twice!) We have visited our friends' houses and they have come to us for lunch and the children play so happily together. Us adults seem to be getting on very well to!

We have Katie's name down for a swimming class, we have just bought her a new bike and Dave and Katie will be joining the Tennis Club in Hemingford Grey...so I guess that's PE covered!

Milton Park

I am thinking of turning a little more structured on the HE front so I have bought some lovely workbooks from Amazon from  Galorepark Now they may turn out to be a waste of money as I can see that Katie learns so musc more when she isn't being taught. Still, the books are colorful and engaging and I am hoping she picks them up of her own accord. If she shows no interest, than we have lost nothing, just a few pounds from Dave's bank balance! Let's wait and see how we get on.

We are home at last!

Ok, it's taken an age to find a house we can call home. We have lived on a golf-course for over two months, travelled East Anglia far and wide, but finally we are home. "Home" is Cambridgeshire...for the next year at least. The house is perfect (I won't want to leave!) The village is idyllic, and the HE community is positively over-flowing! There is so much happening we literally can't fit it all in! But I am not complaining, oh no. It was so isolating and lonely being the only HE-er in Paphos. I was afraid to admit it while we were there, but looking back, I don't know how we did it!


Already we have made lovely friends and our diary is full with gym classes, french, drama, and HE meets, to name but a few of all the things on offer to an HE family here in Cambridgeshire.
 So, gone are the lazy, hazy days of Cyprus. Now I need to get myself organised, get the diary in order, make sure we don't double book (that's happened already!!) and, this is the hardest part, get ourselves out of bed earlier than we have in the last 3 years in Cyprus!lol


Expect to see this blog bursting into life. Just hope I find time to post between all our "socialising"!!

Homeless....but happy!

We have been back in England now for 5 weeks and we still haven't found ourselves a home. I shouldn't really complain though as the holiday chalet where we are staying in Norfolk is lovely, has all the comforts of home and it sits beautifully on the edge of a golf course (the 18th tee, I am told by Katie). We have beautiful views and we have seen some wonderful wildlife including birds, squirrels and deer in our garden. We brought the Paphos sunshine with us and we have had no need for the winter woollies I packed in our suitcases.

Our place in Norfolk

Katie has relaxed into our new life beautifully. She has been so patient while we have searched 3 or 4 counties in our search for the perfect home. Once again, I think we must be too choosy, because the search is proving far more difficult than we thought and it's taking so much longer than we thought! In our defense, it has been reported in the press that there is a serious lack of rental properties available, especially in East Anglia...that's us then.  And we did actually find a lovely house quite early on and we thought we could finally settle down in our own home. However, the obnoxious. money-grabbing landlady soon put a stop to that. In hindsight we probably had a lucky escape (and her property is still up for rent weeks later!!)


In between house hunting we have visited some lovely places including Redwings Horse Sanctuary, Banham Zoo, Africa Alive and Dinosaur Adventure. We have done a lot of walking and talking and learning along the way! Katie has had a great time. She is passionate about animals, especially the wild kind, and is taking a keen interest in habitats and conservation. She is also very interested in the many species of birds who visit our garden. She has taken charge of feeding the birds and our landlord kindly gave her a beautiful Bird Book which she has poured over. He has also given her a brand new, still in the box, Bird Feeding Station to take to our new house. 


Aaarrgghhhh!!

Dinosaur World!

We have have visited Jaime and Tony in Clacton and had a lovely family meal with the in-laws. Katie has loved seeing her family and has even had a sleepover at Jaime's house. Dave and I had an evening to ourselves, first one in 7 years!lol


Poor Jaime has suffered with really bad sickness these first few months of her pregnancy. Thankfully she seems to be feeling a lot better this last week, and yesterday she found out she is having a little boy! A grandson! WoooHoooo!
Just need to find a house, not too far from the hospital in Colchester, as Jaime has asked me to be with them for the birth. How amazing will that be? Baby Davis isn't due until October_we will surely have found a house by then! (nervously crosses fingers behind back).





Cyprus Memories

Let the preparations begin!



Pineapple and Strawberry Upside-down Pud.

It's less than 4 weeks until we move back to the Uk and we still havent found a house!
We have been packing and sorting and selling. Katie has made 50 Euro from her unwanted toys and games and books. I use the term unwanted loosely, because if she'd had her way everything would be coming back to England with us, but there simply isn't the room.
In spite of being so busy we have still had time for lots of lovely baking, cupcakes, cheese scones and pineapple pudding.


We have even found a buyer for our car. Katie and daddy gave it a swift clean before it's viewing...

We have tidied the gardens, pruned and weeded and dissected a flower to see just exactly what was inside.
We managed to name all the parts and label them in our science book.
Katie thought she'd take a photo. This was taken after we'd just squashed a gang of tiny black beetles that had emerged from the middle of the bloom to scatter accross my kitchen table!

Petal, Sepal and Carpal and Stamens

Washday!

We have been busy making plans for our Big Move back to the UK. Less than 6 weeks!!
Katie is excited about returning to England. She thinks it's a big adventure and I guess it really is!
We have decided to take only personal belongings, clothes etc back with us and sell the furniture we have here in Cyprus. It is cheaper to sell here and buy new in England rather than ship home. So, we has been sorting through Katie's toys and books, deciding what she will take with her and what we can sell or leave to the charity shops.  She would like to have a "yard sale" like in ToyStory but in reality we will hire a table at one of the local markets in Paphos. Any money she makes she can spend on new toys later. Of course, if Katie had her way, she would be taking every single toy and book and game and jig-saw with her . Unfortunately, we would need a full shipping crate just for her things alone!

So, we sorted through the mountain of toys  and "classified"  the items and negotiated a while over what could stay and what should go (this took a good while!!) and then we washed the soft toys so they would be clean and fresh for the sale.


Here they are drying off indoors. Katie is checking them out, wondering if there night be room in her case_ for just one more??

Valentine's at Latchi Bay.

Today we headed off to Latchi Beach in Polis. The weather was warm and bright although a little overcast.
The harbour was very quiet apart from a handful of fisherman tending to their nets and boats. The beach was deserted, such a contrast to the summer months when the tourists and holiday makers crowd the streets and harbour cafes.


Katie was in seventh heaven playing on the sand with Dave. They searched for "special" pebbles, skimmed stones into the sea and made a Stone-Henge village out of pebbles on the beach.
Herbie wasn't allowed on the beach so we watched from the side-lines. He was none too happy! What he would have given to be let of the leash and chase the skimming stones into the water.


The coastline at Latchi  Bay is beautiful, despite the rather neglected buildings and restaurants skimming the beach.
As I sat watching Katie and Dave playing in the sand I looked out accross the perfect turqoise sea and I wondered, not for the first time, what we are thinking of_ going back to England. Will we miss all this? Probably. But I am hoping we will find new pleasures and new places where we can enjoy just being together. Just like today.

Katie and Dave discussing pebble skimming tactics!



Stone-Henge Village

And a Valentine's Heart from Dave to me!

Our new project...

Alpha and Omega

So far we have covered Grey Wolves, their characteristics, habitat and diet.


We have  read about wolves in Katie's books and researched on the internet. Katie has printed off pictures of real wolves, Carabou, Maps of Canada and N.America and Jasper National Park, where the film is set. Discussions have led us in a hundred directions. Topics include mammals, holidaying in Canada or even re-locating there in the future. I wish!

Strawberry Snowflakes and not so wild wolves!

More baking. Daddy's favourite cakes. Katie has named them Strawberry Snowflakes!

Not so wild Wolves!

Katie has  a keen interest in animals, especially the wild canine kind! She also loves Animation Movies, so this latest film "Alpha and Omega" has grabbed her attention.

The film is about two wolves who fall in love against the social rules of their pack. Humphrey is the Omega, fun-loving and fancy-free. Kate is the Alpha daughter of the pack's leader, hard working  and raised to be loyal and true to her pack. There's also a golf-playing-goose and his duck-caddy, amongst a host of other colourful characters!

 The film is due for release on DVD next week. Katie has pre-ordered it, for delivery to Cyprus, from Amazon and is she is so excited!  She's counting down the days until it arrives. Katie is getting quite adept at ordering from the internet, but bless her, she always insists on paying from her own pocket money.(This is where her mental calculations manifest themselves!) However her pocket money has increased healthily  these last few weeks mainly due to a succession of visits from the "Tooth Fairy" and Katie whizzing through her Carol Vorderman MathsFactor (completion of each level incurs a 20 Euro reward!) So....I guess she can afford it!

She has been eagerly looking at trailers of the film and researching real wolves on the internet and in her wildlife books at home. She has been so enthusiastic that we have decided to make a Lap-Book around the film and it's characters.

Katie has been working away virtually all day! It's amazing how much she can accomplish  when she is self-motivated and having fun.

Lap Books are a great! Previous lap books we have made include Sponge-Bob Square Pants and The Ginger-Bread Baby by Jan Brett, one of our favourite authors. It was amazing how much we covered and learned from doing our Lap-Books and it was so much fun!

Will post pictures tomorow of Katie's efforts so far.

Cupcakes

Cracking the eggs for our Cupcakes.

Mmmmm...tastes yummy!

Oh, and Katie just loves washing the dishes.....
Long may it last!