Fun morning but where was David????

This morning we met up with other home ed families in leicester for an activity session at the David Attenborough Arboretum. When I told sam where we were going he was so excited as the thought the great man himself would be there. Sadly this was not the case but we had tons of fun inspite of this. We went with V & I and the boys nattered in the back as they usually do. V admirably navigated being a leicester native she knows the city like the back of her hand. The first half of the morning was spent bug hunting and pond dipping. We split into groups and Sam and I immediately gravitated toward another boy named J. We hadn't met him before but the three of them got along so well you had thought we had known them for years. Turns out he is 6 and likes dinos, cars and bugs, not unlike someother young man I know!! Our bug hunting was sucessful but we didn't find anything exotic, just the usual, ants, spiders, wood lice, slugs and snails. Sam was hugely disapointed with the pond dipping as children weren't allowed to participate due to the depth of the water and the large drop between the pier and the pond. Sam disolved into tears and announced that he was going to write to david attenborough and tell him how unfair it was!! He soon cheered up when one of the guides produced a newt and caddis fly larvae. The second half was tree identification which we didn't stay for as Sam and I were both beginning to sag. We spent the afternoon in the garden with the dogs and discovered that trying to play bowls with two dogs running around is not a good idea!! Rogue and Miko kept running off with all the balls!!!


I have a knitting quandry I hope that someone out there can help me with. I am doing a baby blanket for a friend and am doing pink and white squares. When I did a blanket like this in the past I sewed the squares together but I have heard that crocheting is better and easier. Any advice on which is best??? I haven't crocheted since I was about 10 and then all I did was make a really long string, I had a huge ball in the end but never knew what to do with it. Plan to put a fabric backing on the blanket provided I can find something to match the pink. I am almost done with the square which is a good thing as the baby is due in early june and it still has to be mailed to california.