Finding Freedom...

Our butterflies have gone.

I feel really sad seeing that in text.  Funny how such simple things can become part of daily routine and life.  We had got so used to checking progress numerous times a day, the net is now standing empty, and it all feels a bit strange. The good news is that all 5 butterflies emerged safely from their chrysalids and flew away happily.  It wasn't at all like last years experience though.  Last year we spent ages in the garden with the butterflies as we released them.  They sat on our fingers, flew to land on us, and generally hung around in our company until they saw fit to fly to pastures new.  This year I was hoping for more good photo opportunities of the release, but instead they were off and gone as soon as the net lid was opened.  Never mind, I'm just glad all survived, leaving our 100% success rate intact.   I'm going to order another batch of caterpillars so the process can start all over again soon, we all get such a lot out of the experience :)

In other news, many of our Ladybirds have now started to form into a more recognisable state.  We will release those that have fully formed tomorrow, so will hopefully have pictures of that experience tomorrow.

So what else have we been up to?

Well, the sun has been shining and we have had plenty of relaxing like this...

and family time like this...

We've admired the beauty all around us...

and got excited at the new life on our apple tree...

We have drawn pictures (yes we do have a table...)

and played games...

Had story time for smaller ones...

and experienced baking by ourselves...

We have also been dinosaur hunting! We found just what we were looking for in the shape of these beasts...

and discovered amazing things!









We made new friends...



We even managed to tame one long enough to have a ride...

Everyone was fascinated by all that they saw...

Tyrannosaurus Teeth.

Kelsey, the Triceratops Skull.

and we all had visions of what it would be like to see spiders of this size wandering around...

And we thought this Dinosaur Poo was pretty impressive *grin*

All in all, Torquay's Dinosaur World was very impressive and we loved our visit. I've written a full review which will be posted on the new positive parenting website that will be up and running soon.

Project-wise, Tiegan (aged 8) and Callum (aged 4) have suddenly become massively interested in Mountains and Volcanoes.  Today they have been touching up their googling skills.  They have found photos, locations, heights, history, all by themselves with just gentle facilitation from me.  They have used our map and globe to cement the geographic locations, and Callum has created stories based around the mountains he discovered today.  They have worked really well together and it really was perfect child-led learning.  Tiegan has become number one question asker recently.  Today she has asked all about marriage, maiden names, traditions etc, she has also been talking about why we have long days and short days etc.  Her mind is a little sponge right now and I'm loving seeing her develop and her curiosity for life fulfilled.

Tomorrow we have Home-Ed group here, so it will be cleaning in the morning and fun with friends for the rest of the day :)