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OK, so maybe the second week is the most challenging. All the excitement of not being at school is waning and children have relentless energy. So it was definitely time to wear them out with a day at Orbital Trampoline Park Luton’s summer camp. For just £5 more than the usual entry fee the children can bounce for SIX hours which sounded like an absolute bargain. I took along the 11 & 8 year olds who had a jumptastic day. After warming up on the freestyle trampolines they were let loose to explore the rest of the park including the ninja warrior, gladiator beams, the climbing wall and the foam pits (unfortunately Meltdown wasn’t working but kids don’t hold a grudge!). They were especially excited to be given access to the performance trampolines and taught some basic moves like ‘swivel hips’ (yep, I’m not sure either…!?) “Super-friendly, kind staff” (according to my sensitive 8 yr old) and exhausted happy children gave Orbital the Big Thumbs Up from the MGTH Kids this week.
Whilst all that was happening the 4 year-old and I had a very special trip to The Odyssey Cinema, St Albans to see Toy Story 4. Sitting downstairs in the comfy armchairs with a cup of tea, a fruit shoot and a bag of yummy chocolate buttons we were both in heaven. (The parking during the day is a bit of a nightmare and with Mr Little Legs accompanying me we ended up in an expensive car park but I’d forgotten parking apps like Just Park which has lots of reservable driveways for a fraction of the price.) With all the tears wiped away (mine), we went home to play with all the abandoned toys at the back of the cupboard…oh Happy Days!
Tuesday saw us heading to the excellent Interactive Science exhibition at Stockwood Discovery Centre. Breathing a sigh of relief as I had remembered to book the tickets the night before and all the sessions had since sold out, we worked our way around the science stations. There were about 14 different stations and with the limited number of tickets sold for each session you could explore each one without a long queue and move around easily, returning to stations as many times as you wished. The children did everything in about 5 minutes before realising that if they read the accompanying instructions they would understand what on earth they were looking at! We ended up spending an hour in the exhibition being fascinated by weird facts of science and nature and a little freaked out by how our brains process the world we live in. The clear favourite for the children was the earthquake experience!
We tried out the new library in Wheathampstead on Wednesday for the boys to start their Summer Reading Challenge. Our No.2 needed a little persuading to join up as it’s far from his favourite activity but as soon as the 4 yr old announced he was going to learn to read this week he thought he should be a good role model (or was worried the ‘baby’ would read War & Peace before him!). Everyone chose a couple of books, got their Space Chase reading records and went home to READ! Meanwhile, No.1 was having a great time in London at the Imperial War Museum London. It was such a good experience I didn’t even have to bribe him to write this review:
“When we arrived we went into the WW1 section; this had posters, uniforms and many other items from the war. What I enjoyed were the interactive parts where you were quizzed, shown and could even “Help the War efforts”!
The Holocaust section was quite sad, but very well laid out with a mix of writing, photos and videos, all of which were put on two levels of the museum. But, personally I liked the VC and GC museum as it had hundreds of VC/GCs on display and videos you could choose yourself to watch. This was by far the most modern and my favourite.”
Our final activities of the week were a trip to the wonderful Southdown Play Areas Oakley Park – our favourite playground in Harpenden – and No.1 attending Seniors @ FizzBug which included hanging out with his best mate in a teepee (what can be cooler than that?!), jamming in a band like a rock star and enjoying a bbq for lunch.
We didn’t quite manage to squeeze in many (any!) superhero themed antics but to be honest with all the boys enhancing their science, reading and muscular powers they were definitely in superhero training! And whilst they wait for the call from S.H.I.E.L.D they can continue to work on their caring, nurturing skills with the latest additions in our house – the Kittens!
Next week…
• Nomansland / Heartwood Forest
• Henlow Bridge Lakes (if we can actually get a tent up in the forecast storms...!)
