Butterfly World

We went to Butterfly World this morning near St. Albans as they were having an Open House and it was free! Frankly, we’ve never been before because when it opened last year I felt that the prices were extortionate.  In fact, I emailed them about it but sadly never received a response:

Dear sir/madam,

My family was planning on coming to Future Gardens this weekend as we were excited about the gardens and wanted to support a local project.  Sadly, we were put off by the price (£12.50 per adult), especially in the current climate.  I don’t normally contact companies about such things but felt you may appreciate the feedback. Hopefully, if you have a family or open day with reduced prices we may get a chance to come and enjoy the gardens.

When we arrived today we were greeted by a lovely, personable lady who was obviously passionate about the site.  She showed us a video and gave us some bumf about memberships etc.  I noticed a drastic drop in prices and asked her about it.  She said that since it was privately funded (£10.5 million), they used consultants to help them with the pricing.  Being new to it all they trusted them and in her words ‘last year was a disaster’.  She is now backpedalling trying to get people in.  They are now only charging £6 and under 3s are free, which I think is perfectly acceptable.

As it is winter, we had no expectation of seeing butterflies and if you could look past the barren flower beds and the construction site it’s going to be amazing and I can’t wait to go back in the spring!  They have individual gardens, Very Hungry Caterpillar feature Garden, pond dipping and a Play Zone.

We did only see one butterfly but it was rather impressive!

A Wealth of Useless Knowledge

I’m a curious soul, one of my only traits I hope my daughter inherits.  This week I’ve learned that:

Baked Beans are Haricot Beans, which are sometimes called Pea Beans, hence why some people think they are peas.  Both peas and beans are Legumes which are fruits or seeds of anything that comes in a pod.  But what I really want to know is how to pronounce Legumes. Is it lay-goom, lee-goom, lie-goom or some other way?

Paracetamol is available as a suppository???  In Spain and Lapland this is the norm, even for children.  If my daughter is ever that sick and in need of one I hope we’re in a place with medically trained staff as there is no chance that I will be doing this!  Just seems wrong to me!

Tree Nuts are nuts that grow on trees (walnuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, chestnuts).  I know that is fairly obvious but didn’t realise there was a difference.  Interestingly, some people can be allergic to one and not the other.  I was also reminded that peanuts grow underground.  Not sure if I already knew that or had just forgotten.

Now if I could only remember these things I’d be a great quiz team player!

Inappropriate Toddler Toys?????

Shortly after Christmas my 2 year old discovered a couple of our Secret Santa presents!  My first reaction was noooooooo!  However, when I thought about it I came to the conclusion that she has no idea what they are and it’s not going to cause irreparable damage.  You may disagree.

Swear Box

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml-BLx9240M&feature=player_embedded]

She actually calls it the Money Box and enjoys counting the money as she drops it in.  It doesn’t actually swear so I think we’re safe.

Karma Sutra Cooking Cutters

Besides the sharp edges I don’t think this is dangerous either.  She calls one a horse and the other a seal.   Thankfully she hasn’t noticed the two heads yet!

I’m going to carry on enjoying this innocence for as long as I can.

Boys will be boys

A very good friend of mine’s son started Secondary School this year.  I met up with her last night and asked how he was getting on.  She said for the most part really well but there had been a couple of incidents.

Firstly, his bag had broken so he was using an old lap top bag which a few of the boys had been taking the Michael out of.  He now has a new bag and the boys all want to know where he got it from.  They don’t need to know it came from Argos.

Secondly, a few of them have started saying that he has a hedgehog on his head as he is prone to slightly mad hair.  When he reported this to his mum she said ‘give it a name’…..what??????  She explained that if you do this it takes the ammunition away from them and they won’t know what to do.

I thought this was bloody brilliant advice, non-confrontational and witty.  He now calls the Hedgehog Benjy and the boys are spending their time trying to convince him that there isn’t a hedgehog on his head!

Result!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Twitter has skewed the way I look at things.  I now see humour in some of the most mundane things.

Sign at the entrance of a special school???

One of my daughters bath toys???  Supposedly it’s seaweed.

Husband put biscuits in Tupperware to keep fresh???

This post was inspired by a conversation that I had with @chickenruby