Defying Gravity

Michael playing with a anti gravity magnetic levitation set he got for Christmas from Jamie and Roz.

Why?

This, unfortunately, is an increasingly common problem in our house....

The Doors

You can learn a lot about the contrasting personalities of my children by looking at their bedroom doors.

Halloween Disco

Michael and Emma both had their Halloween discos last night.

Both got dressed up, Michael as a ninja and Emma as an 80s zombie.

Michael's First Scratch Game

Michael made a game using Scratch.

See how long you can use the donut to keep the cat away from the fire-breathing dragon!

Scratch

Emma and I were messing around using the programming language Scratch earlier.

This was her first project. She added her own voiceover.

Headteacher's Award

Emma got a headteacher's award today. 

Med Cruise 2016 - Malta

We stopped in Malta next. It was a really lovely place. We opted to have a quick bus tour of the place, and I got told off after we'd bought tickets (at considerable discount), by a woman working for a rival company telling us we had chosen the wrong service. She perhaps wasn't wrong, as the queue was pretty long, but eventually we got on a bus and got to have a quick tour of the place. 

It was really hot, which was noticeable once the bus stopped moving. Emma sat downstairs next to a girl she'd met at the kids club from Stonehaven.

We braved the queue once we got back onto the boat, and got onto the Skyride, which was like a monorail bicycle around the ship. We had to wait about 30 minutes, and weren't 100% sure that they'd let Emma on, but she was just tall enough and could reach the pedals. Michael was great on it, but I was behind Emma. I'd asked to go on the rail behind her, but wisely the ladies who were running it made me go on the other rail. Emma got stuck, and they asked her on the walkie talkie if she was doing ok. It was funny to hear her wee voice saying "Not really!" over the walkie talkie. One of the ladies got onto the vehicle on Emma's rail and gave her a bit of a shunt, at which point she was fine. I shot round as quick as I could to get to her, but she was safely in place but had lost momentum.

I wish the same could have been said for the high rope walk thing. Sarah had open toed sandals, so wasn't allowed to go on it, so I had to go on with Emma. It was quite adventurous for me to try something like that, as it's way out of my comfort range, but about three quarters of the way around, Emma got really upset and started crying saying that she wanted to go back. She was distraught, and I had to coax and carry her over the most difficult few obstacles at the end. I was proud of her at the end, but it was a terrible time getting her there, and I was a write off for a couple of hours.

Michael went on the high rope thing several times, on the harder track, and was no problem. He went on the Skyride with David again later that day.

Med Cruise 2016 - Dr Seuss

There was a Dr Seuss theme to part of the kids' club on the boat, and there was a special Dr Seuss breakfast, which we went to. Unfortunately, others booked their table at a different time, so we weren't able to sit beside Sophia, Neil, Maggie, David and Grandma.

It was pretty surreal actually eating green eggs and ham, but the kids seemed to enjoy their meals. There were various characters that popped in from time to time, who looked really cool. Following that there was a special story time, where a couple of poor parents got dragged up to walk through the Cat in the Hat on stage. 

Med Cruise 2016 - Rhodes

Rhodes was our first stop on the cruise. We had a quick saunter around the island. We'd planned on getting on a little tour bus thing, but it was full, so we just walked around a bit, then up to the fortress then back to the boat for a late lunch. That pattern seemed to serve us well, as it was so hot that the kids got quickly worn out, and I got my usual prickly heat, but instead of just on my arms and hands it was all over my torso.

Rhodes was fascinating. The structures looked ancient, and it was interesting to go into the Palace of the Grand Master and to see all the peoples who have occupied Rhodes over the centuries, and the influence they've had on the place.

Michael and Emma had some great fans with water that Grandma had got for them, which helped to keep them cool, but unfortunately their brains didn't seem to be able to operate them and walk at a decent pace at the same time. They had a great game of hide and seek with Uncle David, who also got Michael to photograph him imitating the poses of the statues.

I got cornered by a group of African woman who were very friendly, and seemed to know a lot about Scotland, and before I knew it they had a bracelet on my wrist and were trying to convince me to buy their talisman. I quickly exited the situation.