Random moments.....

Me: So I am seriously thinking of going completely vegetarian again.

Boys:  NOOOOOOO

Gemma: Okay! But can we be vegetarians that eat chicken? 

Hmmmmmmmmm

Cooking up Pangea...a geography lesson

"Once upon a time (about 4.5 billion years ago), Earth was a big, red fireball. As it cooled off some, it rained for a couple of thousand years, until all of Earth was one big ocean! Slowly, some of the water evaporated and around 500 million years ago, land chunks emerged and floated around until they came together along the equator, forming one big continent that we call Pangea , which means "all lands" in Greek. One hundred million years later, the continent began to break up, fractured by shifts in the molten core of the planet. We now have seven continents, which are still shifting, due to plate tectonics, the interaction of the moving slabs of rigid rock called plates, which make up Earth's hard shell.

Here is a yummy way to travel back to the good old days when you could grow apples in Antartica and walk to Europe from North America! "  (Geography Crafts for Kids)

You need:  1 large packet of instant pudding mix

                   700 Ml milk

                   Cookie dough

First step, we measured 700 ml milk into a mixing bowl then sprinkled our instant pudding mix on top! (Shut up those of you who are sitting there saying "OMG she bought instant pudding mix?" In my own defense I have been sick this week and the instructions called for it, as much as it made me go ick, the thought of standing over the stove cooking chocolate custard and then preparing cookie dough and making a mess I would have to clean saw me taking on a new perspective for the day,  I caved and I even bought pre-made cookie dough...so there! I of course refrained from reading the ingredients list lest I change my mind! The boys were very excited and some of the cookie dough did not make it to the experiment!)

So where were we? Oh yeah measuring milk. Using Peanuts bottle as we could not find the measuring jug (or we were too lazy to look for it anyway).  Ahem, after arguing over how many times to fill the bottle (mums sick head was a bit dopey) and adding the right amounts (Zak decided to do 250ml twice plus 200ml) .......he then sprinkled the chocolate pudding on top and stuck it under the mixer for one minute or so....at which time he finds the time to gloat that his math skills are far superior to his mothers...and flashes his dimples at her...hmmmm

Next we pour all our runny pudding into a bowl and put it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes so it can set. Next up Mr 13 rolled out the cookie dough, while both of them snuck pieces into their mouths. We had to use chocolate chip cookie dough as they did not have any plain one at our supermarket. Not that we minded, the more chocolate the better!  Note, Mr 13 was not letting mum take pictures of him! No way! Cook your giant cookie for about 12 minutes and then while it is still warm trace out the outline of Pangea on the surface and cut away the excess cookie (you can eat that as you go!).

When you have the outline as best as you can get it (this part was actually quite hard as an oval cookie would have probably worked a bit better). Draw some more lines with your knife, to mark the fault lines where the continents split apart. This time don't cut right through....and place your whole cookie into the now jelly like pudding so it floats on top! You now have your Pangea floating on the ocean! And NO Zak you cannot eat it yet! We are not finished! (Token goofy shot...its always nice to have one of those for the records!)....

Its now time for a few earthquakes, lets get that land wobbling a bit! Take a knife and while the bowl shakes around a bit, help those fault lines crack apart.... Mr 13 lends a hand for this bit....

If you feel its taking too long, you can help by shaking the bowl a bit more, poking it from the side, you know anything to get those quakes happening faster.....

If you can't stand it any more you can even try eating a bit to make room....yep...there is a plan! 

And there you go! What a delightful, disgusting way to learn about Pangea and how the earth came to look the way she does today! As you can see, the devouring began right about now! And apparently as disgusting as it looks it tasted divine to fine young gentlemen. Thankfully they stopped before they ate it all as I could just imagine how sick they would have felt afterwards! 

I hope you enjoyed our little geography lesson! It was taken from the book Geography Craft for kids by Joe Rhatigan & Heather Smith. This is a library book that we have borrowed before and been meaning to buy for ages. I really must order it pronto! There are so many great ideas to try! 

Hugs and smoochies all, have a great Friday! xoxoxox

Marine Discovery Excursion....

On Thursday, we went to visit the Marine Discovery Centre which is located at Terrigal on the Central Coast.  The centre is generally open on weekends but is also open for special bookings and school excursions if you plan ahead. Although we left it a little late with me ringing just 2 days before, the lovely Jane who was our guide for the day was very accommodating and opened the centre just for us and what a fantastic tour she gave us!

The centre is basically run by volunteers and is extremely affordable to visit. I highly recommend booking a tour rather than just dropping in as we found, there is so much to learn! I will give you a bit of a rundown with pictures.

Outside..the view...could not resist..

Murray Cod - who is getting so big he needs a bigger tank!

Checking out the rock shelf pool! There were many creatures to re-discover and to discover anew!

Like sea stars!

What is everyone looking at here?

This tank held some very friendly fish and crustaceans! They knew it was feeding time and were quite keen to get on with it! 

Here we are pointing out a fish that is hiding in the sand, very hard to spot! Rory Spotted it first! 

There was even a couple of baby Port Jackson sharks! 

We took in a short film about ocean creatures! 

Checked out all sorts of sponges.....among other things....

 

And while Callum, Adem and Rory did a bit of a discovery quiz inside...Zak and Charlie went outside to collect some water from the lagoon! Zak scooped up the water....

 

And Charlie retrieved it .....

 

Once inside they tested the PH levels of the water and the salt levels too........the lagoon is frequently washed with sea water but as we had had a lot of rain, the fresh water was also vying for control.... Note...one is never too young to learn...Erin is playing close attention to all that is going on...

 Wondering what all the fuss is about...Rory joins in for the sediment testing stage.... they loved this one and had a great time trying to pour the water in a bit at a time and check the murky levels...the water was actually quite clean.....so they got to play for quite a while...

Charlie gives it the final inspection, just to make sure......

And just one more group check....yep thats it! We are done! 

Meanwhile Jane and Adem go over the quiz and make sure its all finished! He was extremely enthusiastic only as a 13 year old can be!  Jane was a great sport and had him help the younger kids afterwards! With much eye rolling, he did quite well in the end! haha! I think he may have learned the place off by heart!

Erin took some time to do some craft! She made an octopus with a little help from her mama! You know, when you are two, drawing on the table is just as much fun! 

Here the boys are checking out some interesting things under the microscope. The sea urchin spikes were particularly interesting to look at as they sparkle! 

 Oh and what is this we see? One Mr 13 checking things out on the sneaky! Of course he was not really interested, just passing the time! Sure! And for the record, he does own a hairbrush, he is just not very good at using it at the moment! 

Hidden in these boxes were different things for the kids to guess at! Zak did quite well with this one and was taking it quite seriously! You see after you finished the quiz, one received a certificate AND a poster! He did not want to miss out on that poster! 

All in all, it was a great day! The kids and the mama's all learned something new I think! I highly recommend a visit to the locals if you have not been there before. After this we headed on down to give lazer tag a try and the boys of course had the best time there! Then we stopped of at the park to visit the CChomed group for sport. It was great to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones too! 

Callum seems to have avoided my paparazzi skills on this occasion! Anna if you have a shot you would like me to add to this post, please email it to me! Thanks lovely!

Hugs and smoochies all xoxoxox

Take 3 Initiative.....

Did you know that in the middle of the Pacific ocean there is a huge gyre with enough plastic rubbish floating at the top to cover twice the size of France? Or that in fact there are FIVE such gyres in our oceans? We didn't but we learned all about it this week.

We took part in the Take 3 Initiative to raise awareness of just how much damage plastic and other rubbish can do to our marine life and oceans. Its really scary just how much junk gets tossed from ships and washed into the ocean from the shore. The horrific damage it does to animals is shocking to say the least. All because people are too lazy to dispose of their waste in a responsible manner.

The idea of Take 3 is that each time you go to the beach for a walk, a swim or a surf. Pick up at least 3 pieces of rubbish on your way off the beach and either recycle them or pop them into a proper waste disposal bin. It really does not take much effort to do this and of course if you have the time pick up a little more. Every little bit helps!

We spent a lot of time this week, learning what we can do to help and just how bad rubbish in the ocean is getting. We visited these very informative sites......

Algalita.org (where we popped into the education section on Mapping Plastic Pollution using google earth. There are grade appropriate activities you can try as well).

5 gyres (to learn all about the gyres in the ocean)

and we also found this site "Marine or Ocean Pollution" with lots of links to other informative sites.

We visited the Marine Museum at Terrigal (which I will tell you about in another post) and we watched a short dvd together to tell us all about the Take 3 Initiative. Cal, Rory and Charlie collected some rubbish off the beach and they and Zak got together and came up with ideas for a piece of art work which is going to go on display with some local schools artworks at Erina Fair to raise awareness to the public.



The boys represented the gyre full of rubblish, the coal ships that line our shores (and yes we have found foreign rubbish floating into shore from them), and the animals that suffer from the plastic rubbish in their environment when they eat it or get caught in it. When an animal swallows enough plastic it will slowly starve to death. Or perhaps it will just die from injuries caused by the rubbish. Its a pretty horrible way to die either way.


For those who do not care about animals you might like to think a little more about your own eating habits. I assume that eating a fish that has dined mostly on plastics is not going to be too good for you either!

When we initially decided to take part in this activity the childrens first reaction was to say "But the beach is clean, its winter!" You see every year when the tourists arrive in summer our beachs look a bit like rubbish dumps, nice hey? But even without the tourist season there is always a little bit of rubbish to be found. It washes in from the ocean as well as down from the streets and drains into the ocean.

If just one person picks up a little rubbish, it will begin to make a difference!

Will you consider to Take 3 pieces of rubbish with you next time you leave the beach?

We will be!

Have a great weekend all. Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Stormy Seas......

For those who have been chasing up my where about's .......I am still alive, just have not really had time for blogging at the moment. Its been a bit stormy down here, lots and lots of wind and rain. But we have faired quite well with just a little flooding at the lake. I will try very hard to catch up soon. For now, we are going out to dinner with friends! Have a great weekend everyone!

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox


Love to all xoxoxox