England - week 15

I have to admit to writing this 4 weeks away, and being not at all certain of the week! certainly the usual things will have happened - ballet, swimming, judo, cubs/guides and the girls clarinet and oboe lesson. I know roller skating was an option on the monday pm, but all the girls were still too tired from our fortnight away and had a stay at home day. I am fairly certain there was either botany or chemistry on the tuesday afternoon. Prob botany, as they had some plants that they were to hide patches on the leaves to see what the difference was and then do chromatography the next time to look at chlorophil components.

Weds was a home ed weds meet up, always good to have everyone! We did crayon art - sticking crayons to card and melting them with hairdryers on a slope. then we put silhouettes over the top. they were remarkably effective even if they were quite messy! For science I did some more of the kitchen science mooc. we were working out how we could measure the amount of vit c in a litre of apple juice. quite cleverly done, using the power of redox! there was some musicality too - always good :)

Thursday the big girls had their clarinet and oboe lessons and BB had young engineers. They made compasses and learned about pivots and force. She had a great time and has been really absorbed by young engineers and it has really suited her


However, on Friday we went down to my parents for a visit. Nice straight run there and no hold ups on the M25 - always nice :) and we got there late evening for tea and bed. the next day we went to the nearest town so the girls could enjoy bowling with grandad, and then had an early fathers day meal at Frankie and Bennies - which we all really enjoyed. Rather amazingly BB won the bowling! it was a close run thing, and DH thinks he will have the rails up next time he plays :) . Mum and I did some sneaky shopping in M and S and then cheered them on :)
After lunch we went to West Wycombe caves and the Hellfyre club. It is quite different to places we have visited, and BB and SB interested, but forgot that FrB is ultra sensitive to creepy. It really isn't that creepy, but she was quite quick to come out and have an icecream :) Told them all the history tho, and it is pretty cheap visit and quite interesting for a short hop!
SUnday we went to Waddesdon manor, home of the de rothschilds. it was fantabulous! luckilly National trust - we have really made use of our national trust cards this year! It is sort of designed to be a pseudo french chateau, and having visited lots of mediaeval castles, i thought we were due a more modern look! The house was really interesting, and the guides informative. We loved nosing in the rooms. FrB has really got the hang of talking to all the guides and experts. She had visited a rotshchild residence in the south of france and was comparing and contrasting. After the house we had a picnic in the gardens before going onto the play area, where the girls spent quite some time having fun :) . We finished in the stableyard looking at a roman mosaic imported from Israel. [oh and the had an icecream as it was a really hot day!]

 
We had a lovely weekend at mum and dad's :) thankyou