Owl, Monkey and Rabbit have been on a Dramabuds summer camp every morning this week and they have really enjoyed it. Tiddler has been very jealous, but he had one Dramabuds lesson on Tuesday afternoon with Rabbit so that cheered him up a bit. The big three finished the week with a fantastic performance in their show. Rabbit was a very beautiful princess, Monkey a rather cool prince and Owl a dragon, with his own solo written for him because he sang so well in the rehearsals. Very proud mummy moment!
On Monday afternoon we all went to see the Olympic Torch pass by the ponds, which was frankly as stressful as it sounded like it was going to be, but thankfully once the fleeting moment was over, the rest of the afternoon was much more fun. There were some good local stalls in the gardens nearby, and Owl managed to join in a drumming lesson which he loved. Then we escaped to the cool of our little local museum, and the children had fun doing Olympic-themed arts and crafts, playing and exploring. Some good friends joined us and we ended the afternoon drinking tea in the garden while the children played which was lovely.
On Tuesday after all the Dramabuds sessions were finished, Owl, Monkey and I had a Chinese lesson. On Wednesday afternoon we went back to the museum for more craft activities, before heading over to the lavender fields to meet our home education group.
On Thursday we met some friends at – I don’t quite now how to describe this unique local attraction – it started as a shop selling tropical fish, it also has reptiles, guinea pigs, ducks and chickens; over time they have added a cafe with a lovely garden, a miniature railway, some large model dinosaurs… who knows what they’ll think of next! The children had a good time in the garden, playing in the sandpit for hours, and then looked at the fish and other animals, before taking a late afternoon stroll through the surrounding smallholdings to look at the horses (and eat our own snacks which you are not allowed to eat on the premises – we had already had an expensive lunch and a round of ice creams.)
Owl had his violin lesson before Dramabuds this morning, and this afternoon we went to visit some friends to deliver a belated birthday present. The little children played in the garden (swings, trampoline and table tennis) while the big ones played with Lego inside. It was very peaceful. Later on at Granny’s house the children did some colouring for their Olympic project and the big ones looked at some newspaper articles, then they all played in the garden and Owl performed an impromptu violin concert for me and the little ones which was very good. This evening we are watching the Olympic Opening Ceremony. Tiddler has slept through it all, Rabbit and Monkey managed about an hour of it, but Owl is just about keeping his eyes open and it is after midnight. I have told him he can stay up as late as he wants because I think he will remember this for the rest of his life!
