Ventura Wildlife Park

We live in Hertfordshire, UK at the moment. Not too far from us is the Van Hage flagship store in Great Amwell. We moved here around 10 months ago and heard about this place fairly early on as they had a very nice and free animal garden. The children loved visiting here and they had some interesting animals to see. Over the winter it has been closed for refurbishment, their enclosures needed a fair amount of work to repair and improve them as they have been well used and in a few cases have seemed a little crowded. 

We have missed visiting the Animal Garden as it is quite a nice little trip to get Pickle and Penguin outside and they love seeing the animals. It is also a lovely free activity as nowadays finances are always on the tight side. Anyway, they haven't given a date for when it will reopen so we decided to visit the Ventura Wildlife park which is on the Van Hage site to see what it was like. We had a lovely family afternoon out.

It was a lovely little trip. It is not very big, a modest little zoo with an enthusiastic staff. Tickets are not expensive and they have a few different animals to see with plans for expansion. The enclosures are clean and well kept and as it is a new zoo it all looks rather smart. I would recommend a visit for young ones if you have some time to spare but don't want a full day out or don't have the budget for a larger zoo. 

We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a baby wallaby sticking its little head out of its' mothers pouch. 

Not the best photo I am afraid. It is always rather tricky taking photos in zoos! We met a few animals at one of the keeper talks and saw some animals I haven't seen before. It was small enough even for Penguin to walk all the way around and she enjoyed the bird enclosures very much. 

We decided to upgrade my ticket and Pickles ticket to an annual pass so we can pop in as often as we like. Perfect for an afternoon out and as Penguin is still free I can take her whilst Pickle is at preschool!

Whilst we were getting our annual pass I had a little chat with the owner of the zoo and it was lovely to hear about how enthusiastic he is about the conservation work they are doing. I am looking forward to seeing them expand and enjoying many visits over the next year!

Me xx

Painting on Foil

Penguin is not very good with the cold. She is still little and is quite slight. In this weather we can't generally stay out for very long before taking her back inside to warm up. Last week was a welcome break from the icy weather but one colder day we decided to get on with some painting. 

I am rather a Pintrest fan and have seen various Pins about painting on foil so I thought we would give it a try. I rolled a long sheet of foil out on the kitchen floor, taped the ends down and let the kids go at it with a brush each and a few colours of paint. Here we used green, blue, white and a blue glitter paint.

It was quite fun, although I am not sure how different Pickle and Penguin found it from painting on paper. Pickle later in the week asked to to painting. On paper. Penguin was a little more intrigued sticking her finger in and sliding it in the wet paint, although she ended up sticking her painty finger in her mouth (typical) and then trying to walk all over it with her socks still on (Mummy Error!!!).

I think it will be a nice activity to try again when Pickle is big enough to think about shapes and to look at some examples of Swirly Monet painting. I have seen swirly patterns work very nicely on Pintrest....here and here are just two examples.

Flapjacks

I am always looking for yummy healthy snacks for the kids. I quite like to keep sugar down, particularly for Penguin and we do enjoy a spot of cooking. 

Last week we made some tasty flapjacks. They were no added sugar, packed with fruit, seeds and oats. And Pickle and Penguin love them, they gobble them up quick as a flash. 

Perfect, tasty snacks, guilt free Mummy. 

As you can see it didn't take long before we were tucking in. They are a good balance of being clean, not too sticky and not too crumbly. The toddlers are not very good and using plates properly!

So my recipe, it has been developed over time. I usually judge by eye but I have measured and written it down for you all. 

Pickle and Penguin Flapjacks

2 apples, grated

1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/4 cup mixed seeds

1/4 cup desiccated coconut

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cut cranberries

8 dates, chopped

1 mashed banana

2 cups oats

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175 (fan) or equivalent.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. 

Press mixture into a greased and lined shallow tin. Whatever you would usually use for brownies or flapjacks should be fine. 

Place in the oven for 15-25 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Cut whilst warm and enjoy once cooled!

Do give them a go and let me know what you think!

Me xx

Sugar pops

Hello all, sorry for my absence, I have been rather under the weather. Just a little cold really but the coughing and loss of voice has made me rather run down after running after two toddlers all day! I am on the mend now and hope to be fully recovered in time for half term!

The latest of our little science experiments was to do with dissolving and solutions. We made a concentrated sugar solution and added lollypop sticks to make sugar crystal pops. 

Adding a little blue food colouring and leaving it for a week or so and we have a rather wonderful sugar pop. It is fair to say Pickle is rather excited by the result.

I think perhaps we will have another go at these another time, in a few colours. Perhaps as Christmas gifts....they are rather beautiful.

Me xx

Salty Paint

As part of our science project 2017 I decided to have a look at a series of activities that investigate what happens when you add salt to watery paint. It makes some lovely textures as the salt dissolves in the water and subsequently leaves residue behind as the water evapourates and it dries.

Image from Usbourne

Pickle and Penguin had a great time painting and sprinkling. Unfortunately I don't think I made the paint watery enough as there was little evidence of dissolving, just gaps in the paint where the salt crystals had stuck. No pretty starry patterns for us so no pictures today I am afraid.

I will definitely try this one again but I will test it first!

This week we tried making sugar crystals on a lolly stick. I am not sure if this one is going to work yet. It is pretty cold here right now and there don't seem to be any sugar crystals on the stick....I will give it a few more days. Even if it doesn't work we used a lot of great science words like 'solution'. Pickle really enjoyed mixing the 'solute' and 'solvent' together so all is not lost! I can always tip the solution into a saucer to make loose crystals if the sticks don't work. Watch this space for an update!

Rainbow Mice

Pickle started pre school at the start of January. As I am a SAHM he has never really been left, just a few times with my Mum and a few times at a church group. I must say he has been a champ. No tears, loads of happy faces. Immense relief.

One day, on the way home, he said he had been sad because he missed me. I suggested I could make him something small for his picket so if he missed me he could hold it and know I loved him and was thinking of him too. His little face lit up and he began to chatter excitedly.

I suggested a little crochet heart thinking I could whip up one nice a quickly before I went to bed, maybe in a few colours so he could choose....Pickle claimed that would be too big, it should be small like a mouse. Yes it must be a mouse. So a mouse it was. A little purple mouse.

On day two of the little purple mouse the pre school leader asked about the mice, if I had in fact made it and if she could pay me to make some for her. I whipped up 5 as a gift for the pre school, and a rather cute collection they are too. Pickles teacher was very pleased and I got to test a new pattern! Watch this space for the little mouse pattern and tutorial!

They are just the perfect size for little hands and little pockets.

I used Patons 100% cotton as found here. The colours are Delta, Candy, Apple and Jade. The Yellow one is the same type of yarn but doesn't seem to be in the current range. I have sadly lost the ball band as it has been in my stash for a while. It is a very pretty yellow, I am sad to see it is no longer on the stock list at Wool Warehouse.

I loved working in this yarn, it is so smooth and has a beautiful sheen to it. I love that it is cotton too. Will certainly be using this type of yarn again. It looks like it may be similar to the Scheepjes Catona which has a lot more colour options! Wow, Scheepjes you are winning me over from sight only. I am absolutely going to need some of this yarn in my life....on my next order for sure.

Have you seen....?

Oh My, have you seen the Scheepjes CAL? It starts in February and it is so beautiful. There are 3 original colourways, Jewel, Rainbow and Pastel. Rainbow is my personal preference, I love how the colours pop on the dark smokey background.



Mmmmmmmmm sooooo pretty!!! I am going to follow too keep an eye on the goings on. I am in awe of the beauty! I will definitely have to follow a CAL with my blog one day. Maybe I will even be able to run one sometime in the future, who knows! I will certainly have a look at the Scheepjes yarn next time I am looking to order, it looks so very pretty!

It is fair to say the crochet world is alive with CALs right now with Attic 24 midway through the moorland CAL. A blanket would have been my preference but I just love the techniques int he shawl. I wish I could justify the outlay to buy the kit! I would love to try the Scheepjes yarn. At the moment I mostly work in Stylecraft special dk because we don't have a local yarn shop and I like to know that the yarn I am buying is going to be a lovely texture as well as affordable!

I love the idea of a CAL and I hope that it encourages more people to pick up a hook and give it a go!