giant caterpillars and other tales

• the girls spotted this giant caterpillar resting on a branch in the garden ... I have never seen anything this large in our part of the world ... any idea what it might transform into ?




• a new bike has babe riding her little red flag through the woods




• this beautiful artichoke is simply too pretty to pick ... but look at these




• yum




• moments to ponder


... milliande

• hiking to Shalford Mill

A sunny day and new hiking boots ... so we set off on a 6 mile hike that led us past Shalford Mill ...




• one a working watermill producing wheatflour, today the big wheel lays silent while the water rushes by


• many of the original parts of Shalford Mill are still intact and we got to have a go at many wheels, pulleys and trapdoors the miller would have used in it's daily walkabouts


• a painting of how the water mill would have looked in it's heyday



.• a replica small grindstone and some wheat were accessible to try out ... turning the stones produced a grinding action that would grind the flour


• a full hessian sack of ground flour ready to be returned by the miller to the farmer


• a game of rope rings to finish off an enjoyable visit ...

• hiking fun at Box Hill

• rosy cheeks from a whole day testing out our new walking boots



• enjoyed 3 geocaching finds today as we hiked across Box Hill

• our first edible wild mushroom finds of the season .... yummy with scrambled egg for Lunch Tomorrow

• an invitation arrived by owl

An invitation arrived via owl and my little witch is off to a party






• ready to depart








• platform 9 and three quarters here we come







• there is Magic afoot, muggles beware


....milliande

• mama how big was I when I was born ?

Mama how big was I when I was born .. ehmmm ... and off she goes sprinting to go get her plaque she saves in a special place .....



• 49 whole cm it says ... and how tall am I now ...?



• how to convert cm into inches



• measuring the foot all the way to the big toe :)



• now I wonder how big that baby doll is compared to how big I was as a baby .... 44cm ... so I could trace around it, make the feet a bit longer and compare ...




• voilà .... me and baby me ... giggle

• mama I feel like drawing •

• we love hanging out outside in the summer, baskets full of drawing ones, stacks of papers lying on our tummies with curious cats tails tickling our noses as they wonder by ..

• mama , I feel like drawing she said... and off we scatter to be kissed by the muse ...





• we like playing " Hide Away Creature Drawing " ... taking a piece of paper folding it into 4 equal parts and the one person starts to draw the head / heads of the creature ... when finished folds it over so the next person can't see only leaving 2 little lead in lines for the person to continue drawing from ... next comes upper body ... then swap again ... lower body ... swap again for the last feet drawing

...some funny creatures evolve with these collaborative drawings , the crazier the better















It's fun to use lots of bold colors or try restricting the drawing to the same 4 Colors only for a unified look :)


m&M
xxx