A day at the zoo

There is an animal theme about this week, today we went to Bristol Zoo and I learned that flamingo's knees bend the other way around. They were knelt down the wrong way round (or right way around if you are a flamingo). We saw prairie dogs, rhinocerous iguana's fighting, giant tortoise (i really want one of the small variety), red panda, walked through the lemur enclosure, saw my favourite tree (monkey puzzle), saw ugly and beautiful fish, saw baby seals (I think they are call pups rather than sealets), penguins sat in the shade and watched the beauty of seals swimming. The girls seemed more interested in playing in the playground for an hour but it gave Aunty Amy and I a rest from dodging the push chairs. The zoo is a push chair magnet!

Mass nit shampoo evening

Litley and I get up early so today we went to my gym, went swimming and came back before Al and Caroline had even woke up! We picked up a bucket and spade and criket set and set off for the beach. The girls had a good idea to dig a hole so off they started and then got bored after 10 minutes. 3 hours later, Al and I were in the hole digging while the girls had wandered off! We wanted to show them how to dig a proper hole but we didn't mean to do it ourselves. We even had a passerby comment on our hole :) I wonder what people thought when they saw two adults digging a hole in the ground, surrounded by sandcastles but no children around? We played cricket in the wind which was a big advantage becuase you didn't even have to hit it and it went miles behind you.

The evening was spent inspecting each others hair with the nit comb and putting the nit shampoo on our hair. One by one, we had to sit i front of aunty amy to be shampooed up. Oh the memories.

'Have you got a big one'

I can be the queen of bad phrases cos today I asked the miner 'do you have a big one'. We picked up Aleja on the way (in Cardiff) and went to Big Pit mine. Little did I know that it was an hour closer to Bristol but hey. We donned on hard hats, gas mask and head torch and descended down the mine. We learnt about he horses kept down the pit and how children were make to work 12 hours at the age of 6 but horses only had to work for 8 hours. Children had to wait by the ventilation doors and open then when the drams came by, with only a candle and rats for company.

We had a pic-a-nic on a slag heap and then drove to St Fagan's, the Museum of Welsh Life. We visited the chapel, cottages, workmens institute, old fashioned telephone box and pre-fab. We had dinner at Nicky's with 'proper chips' as the girls called them. They were so excited about the chips but what followed was more exciting and they now want to go back to Nicky's every day this week! Nicky played the guitar for them and they wouldn't stop and now they want a guitar for christmas and want to see Nicky again and again and again :)

Kids say the funniest things

Very early start this monring with two very sleepy children. We went swimming in Bristol South which I don't think has been rennovated since I used to go to gala's there and then it was run down! One thing I did discover is that doing tumble turns as an adult makes you really dizzy! I swear it didn't used to be that bad as a kid. We met Aunty Amy and went to the ABristol for a day of science 'hands on' stuff. Over lunch Catherine came out with the great line on the difference between waffles and chips. They are the same but different. Al and I just looked at each other trying to understand how you can have the same but different. This was followed by 'I can walk over the suspension bridge, I'm not scared of heights, I'm am scared of Kiwi though'! Charming :)

We visited tehe planetariam for the umpteenth time and then to the really wet show which was what it said on the box.

Taking care of children has taught be something, I'm not having children for a very very very long time! Its shattering!

Giraffes are born bum first

We have a strange animal theme to this holiday but today's visit was to Noah's Ark. Its a mixture of religous things and animal things. I didn't overly agree with the posters describing how humans can't be evolved from apes and how god created all the animals but beyond that, we had a great day. It was interesting to see the model ark too with a layout drawing of where the animals were placed, including dinosaurs that died thousands of years earlier. I found it amazing that you can't prove the story but they can tell you which animal was in which cabin on the ark!

My fact for today is that giraffes fall 1m when born and come out bum first to cushion their landing! We saw Rhino, giraffe (are they all called Gerald?), camels, chipmunks and throughout the whole day, the girls seemed to enjoy the softplay and the adventure playground more than the rest! kids!

Why donkeys are born with long legs

You learn something new everyday. Today I learned how big shire horses are, they made me feel small! I also learned that you can tell donkeys from their long ears and that they are born with long legs so they can get up as soon as they are born, to avoid predators. Why the horse theme? Well, we took the girls to Horseworld today.

They have a weightwacthers field! They cut the grass short so that the horses can't overfeed! We went on a tractor journey to the stables and then wondered around looking at the shires, pot bellied pids, donkeys, ferrets and in the indoor play. I'm not shy when it comes to indoor play but the fact it was like being in an oven, i refused. Maybe next time :)