We haven't joined in with Country Kids for a few weeks, as we have been out in the sunshine with a drink in hand rather than the camera but this week we took the girls to the amazing Skytrail and I couldn't resist snapping these shots. Skytrail is right on our doorstep and I didn't know it was there!

The little one enjoyed the mini beach ....

While the big one showed me that she is suddenly a fearless 9 year old by not only going on the Skytrail ....

..... but going to the top level of the Skytrail. She was harnessed in and totally safe and in the end we had to convince her to fall off because she was so good! (she took great pleasure in this!)

Unfortunately for me, she has now turned into an adrenalin junkie and wants to do it for her next birthday party! I love that she wants to be outside, rather than in front of a TV screen .... I just need to remember that I need to wear suncream as well as the children as I *may* have got a little sunburnt whilst staring at her in the sky!

Do you know what is funny?

I *almost* forgot to post the Wot So Funee linky this week.

I absolutely didn't need a nudge from Actually Mummy and of course my post was ready and waiting to be published. 

So without further ado, it may be short and sweet but here goes .......

It has been more than a little warm lately and when picking the little one up from her first full day at nursery, we popped to our high street and celebrated what a "big girl" she was with an ice lolly. 

All she could talk about was her new lunch bag and eating salad at nursery. She looked like a big girl and my heart ached just a little bit.

We got back into the car to come home and despite the air con, the ice lolly started to melt. Now at home she always has a bowel with an ice lolly (to stop the drips obviously) but then when it eventually falls off the stick, she has great fun smashing it up in the bowl with said stick.

So imagine my panic when a little voice from the back of the car says "mommy, I need a bowl" ...... I clearly had thought through the ice lolly in the car process.

So improvisation mommy flew into action and whilst I don't usually keep a bowl in the car, I remember the lunch box and flipped the remenants of her lunch into the bag (lovely job for me later to clean) and handed her the box.

She just looked at me and replied "oh mommy, you are such a clever sausage".

I think that may be the best compliment I have ever received!

Have your little ones said anything funee this week?

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There has been much talk recently on the Lilypad about getting a new pet (!!), now those that know me will know that we have a cat. A somewhat crazy cat that loves to bring us presents and I am not entirely sure that I can cope with the delivery of any more mice, frogs or birds at the moment, so we decided to look at what else might suit our family.

There are definitely two tupes of people, those that love animals and those that don't and although different nations have different attitudes to them we all favour some pets over others. Here are the four most popular pets worldwide which are dogs, cats, birds and fish and with vetinary costs spiralling, it pays to choose someone like More Th>n who can offer insurance for your pets.

Cats and Dogs

The most popular pets worldwide are dogs and cats, however there is some confusion about which are the most popular. While it used to be thought that there were many more cats than dogs, in fact pet dogs outnumber pet cats by a factor of two. A report published by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) estimates that there are 432 million pet dogs and 272 million pet cats.

People keep pets for a variety of reasons, and this varies from country to country, but overall 49% of pets are kept for companionship; 43% for guard; 5% for hunting; 2% for religious reasons, and 1% for herding. It is also interesting to look at how this varies across various continents. In Europe the order of importance for keeping pets is companionship, guarding, hunting, and working (mainly herding) while in Africa it is guarding, hunting, herding, companionship.

Birds

Birds are the third most popular pets and again there are a number of reasons why we keep them. One of these is that compared to cats and dogs they make inexpensive pets. All they need is a little food and water.

Although we think of dogs as intelligent, so too are birds; they have much more intelligence than they are usually credited with. They are even clever enough to use tools, which is more than dogs can do. They don’t need walking, house training or even a litter box; cleaning out a bird cage is very simple. We keep them because of their beauty, their companionship, and also sometimes for guard duties which include warning of intruders and chasing them away.

Fish

In terms of the numbers that are kept as pets fish far outnumber all other kids of pets, but the reason is that people who keep fish tend to keep large numbers of them.

Keeping fish has been popular for hundreds if not thousands of years. Originally kept for food, in Japan it was traditional to keep brightly coloured koi and goldfish as pets 2,000 years ago. In Ancient Samaria fish were kept in ponds for aesthetic reasons, and in Ancient Egypt they were kept in temples. In Europe carp were kept both for aesthetic reasons and for food.

There is something particularly calming about watching fish swim in an aquarium tank or in an outdoor pool, and keeping fish can be inexpensive, but fish can also make expensive pets. For instance some koi can cost many thousands of pounds for a single specimen which is light years away from the goldfish I won as a child at the fair! I am not even sure that they do this anymore.

So in the end, I think a fish may end up being the new pet on the Lilypad, I just hope the cat doesn't choose to go fishing!

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This post is in collaboration with More Than.

My sweet tooth is well documented, so when I was asked if we would like to review Edible Sweet Art, resistance was futile.

We were told that the small Edible Sweet Art kits come in a range of gorgeous designs to inspire children to get creative. Inside each box are easy to follow instructions, coloured blocks of Sweet Art sugar dough and where necessary shaped moulds or icing to complete the designs.

Given that we have two creative monkeys in this house, I was thankful that we were sent a set which was able to make two shapes. It does say that the kits are suitable for 6+ and the 9 year old definately wanted to get straight into the pack as soon as she saw it. We had to hold her back and make sure that we were reading the instructions properly and working out how much we had to seperate and lay out.

The pack contains:

120 grams sugar dough

10 grams cornflour, rolling pin, brush and instructions.

Now the pack very clearly says that the kit is not suitable for children under 36 months but the "almost" 3 year old didn't want to be left out. So she had to get involved but needed a considerable amount of help and supervision from Daddy (who is the most creative one of the family, I usually give up when he starts his creation). She loves panda's so this was hers (aka Daddy's) first attempt.

The kit comes with cornflour to help prevent the dough sticking to the surfaces but we found that we didn't need it ..... except from when the 2 year old got the dough extremely wet trying to stick different pieces together. I reiterate that it does say it is suitable for children over 6 but we were supervising, so all was well.

The 9 year old managed to actually make two animals out of her half of the mixture and thankfully (for her teeth) she doesn't actually want to eat them. The same can't be said for the 2 year old.

We had to prop them up with cocktail sticks while they were still soft but within a couple of hours, the sweet dough had hardened and the animals able to sit up alone. We followed the instructions closely but you could make whatever you wanted, given a little imagination.

It was a great activity for the children on a Sunday morning and would be lovely for them to make decorations for their own birthday cakes. You can always nibble on them afterwards but my eldest daughter thinks that they are just too cute to eat!

These affordable small Edible Sweet Art kits make perfect gifts, cake toppers, party activities or holiday fun. Designs available include bears, elephants, caterpillar, snails, frogs, penguins, cookies, lollipops and candy box.  RRP 7.00 and available from www.tobar.co.uk 

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