In service day

“Come on Mary, where do you want to go?” asked mum.

“Its Monday today, don’t you have work or adult things to do?  Do I not need to go to Nursery or grannies?”  Asked a very sleepy confused Mary.

“Well its an in-service day so the schools, the bank and even the nursery are closed.  Dad still has to work but I took the day to be with you and Joe, what would you like to do?”

“Erm what does Joe want to do?”

Joe just looked up giggled and got back to staring at his teddy.

“How about we go out to the wildlife park?  Its a beautiful day and you might see some really cool things, what do you think?”

It was a beautiful day, so lovely Mary didn’t want to miss it,”yea, that sounds really good.”

Mum put lots on sun screen on everyone including herself; no-one likes to get sun burnt.  

She took a big umbrella just encase, a cool bag for some snacks and juice, and lastly just to be sure some more sun screen and everyone’s jackets and popped everything into the boot and away they went.

They were early but there was still a queue, it was a holiday and it seemed everyone had the same idea.

“Oh gosh, look how many people are here lots of new friends to make and new sights to see,” exclaimed mum.

They took out the pushchair and the visor so Joe wouldn’t get burnt, mum put a hat on Mary and herself and put even more sunscreen on before they left the car to go exploring.

“Oh WOW” gasped Mary as she spotted the monkeys in the trees.

“Oh WOW” she said again when she spotted the wolf pack in the corner keeping cool under the tree.

“Oh my goodness”, squealed mum Mary and Joe as they spotted the lion with its cub right beside the fence in the enclosure enjoying the heat of the sun.

There were lots more exclamations, so many fantastic sights and new discoveries.

They had gone in a big circle and seen almost everything. 

“Oh my gosh, how much fun was that?” asked mum.

“It was brilliant, “said Mary with an enthusiastic grin and a little yawn.  Joe was dozing.

“How about we stop at the gift shop and pick up a wee something for you to remember all the fun things you saw and learnt about today?” suggested mum.

Mary had a wee look round the entire store, and quickly settled for the first thing she saw.  It was a book telling all about the different animals, what they do, with a photograph too.

“Excellent choice Mary,” said mum.

“Well its just to be sure I remember all the animals correctly so when I draw them they will all look how they are supposed to.”

What a fantastic idea, exclaimed mum as she took it up to the till along with a teddy for Joe and some juice for the car journey home.

As soon as mum go everyone comfortable in the car and began to drive both Joe and Mary were fast asleep, remembering all the new things they had seen and dreaming of the fantastic adventure they had just had .

©joannehepburn 27/05/2016

So many shells

  

Mum and Dad took Mary and Joe on a day trip.

Mary loved to go to granny and granddads, there were always yummy things to eat and granddad told the most fantastic stories.

It was a beautiful day so granny suggested we all went out to the beach.

Granny and Granddads beach was different to the beach beside Mary’s house.

This beach didn’t have sand but grainy bits of coral and shells.

Mary spotted a gorgeous shell; it was shaped like a cone and had spots of yellow and black with a white tip.

“Wow” exclaimed Mary as she popped it in her back pack. 

Just as she was about to get up she spotted another shell sticking out, this one was the shape of a fan and went from white to blue, she took this one too, an another and another.

Mary had found so many fantastic shells.  

Once they got home and had Granny’s famous scones Mum suggested Mary take out all of her shells so they could have a good clean to ensure her bag wouldn’t get all smelly and full of sand and seaweed.

Mum covered the table with a bin bag and advised Mary to empty out her shells.

My goodness there was so many, as well as sand and some interesting stones and a few bits of colored glass too.

Mum and granny go to work helping Mary to clean all of the pretty items she had collected.

“What are you going to do with them now Mary?” asked Mum.

“I don’t know” replied Mary she didn’t know there was anything she could do.

“Oh you could make a pretty necklace, or a mobile to hang from your bedroom ceiling or simply put them all in a glass bottle to remember you day at the different beach.

“Oh I like the mobile idea, then Joe could enjoy the shells too.”

And with that Mum and Granny got to work Mum got a little drill to make a hole in each of the shells, and granny got the cord to hang them up while granddad found a good piece or drift wood to hang them all from.

Mary got to decide the order of the shells and tie the knots to stop the shells from falling off.

They were almost finished, when dad offered to find some beach rope to hang up the new mobile. 

Dad soon returned with some blue rope from the beach and handed it to mum.

Mum tied it to both the corners and held it up so Mary could see how it would look when she hung it from her bedroom ceiling.

“Oh my goodness, its lovely, thank you everyone, now I have a reminder of a lovely day at the no sand beach with you,” she said to granny, granddad mum, dad and Joe.”

Mary slept in the car with a big smile whole way home, super tired from all the beach excitement and crafting and dreaming of the next adventure.

©joannehepburn 7.5.16

Rainy day

Today was a lovely day, the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Mar had so many ideas for so many adventures to think about and choose over breakfast.

Breakfast chosen and eaten Mary got up to get ready for the day when the sky’s opened.

“Oh no what has happened to the sunshine?” asked Mary out loud mostly to herself but mum replied.

“Spring weather helping all the new seeds take root.”

“What am I going to do now?” said Mary in a grump.

“You could draw, watch a cartoon, play with all of your toys or you could help me with some baking,” suggested Mum.

“Aww I was looking forward to exploring but we can bake I suppose” huffed Mary.

“It’ll be fun”, said mum with a smile, “ lets make some scones to take to granny’s later.”

“OK, fine," grumbled Mary.

“Well you’ll need to put a pinny on, we don’t want the mix getting on your top.”  Mary put her pinny on as mum put hers on too and they got started.

First they had to look out all or the tools they would need and all of the ingredients to make sure they have everything listed in the recipe.

Excellent they had everything they needed to make the scones for granny.

They both read the recipe for the scones so they knew what was needed in what order everything needed to be added in.

Mum put the oven on to the temperature listed in the recipe, then stood in front of the scales while Mary tipped in the flour till mum said stop.

Mum added some baking powder and some salt while Mary measured out the butter carefully and put it in the bowl and helped mash it into the flour till it made little breadcrumb.  

Once that was done, Mum cracked in an egg and asked Mary to pop in some milk as the mixture was a bit too thick.  

Mary gave a good stir, then mum gave a good stir and the mix was ready to be popped out onto the kitchen surface to roll out. 

This was fun Mary liked using the rolling pin; she just had to remember to flour it up too so the dough didn’t get stuck.

Mary was having so much fun she didn’t notice the dough getting thinner and thinner until Mum said.

Mum couldn’t find the pastry cutter so she used a clean glass with flour round the edges to stop it getting stuck, and cut out the scones and put them onto a tray.

Mary was so exited she couldn’t wait till the scones came out of the oven.

PING yey Mum went to check the scones with Mary close behind to watch.

Mum put in a stick to check if it came out clean, fantastic, it meant the scones were ready.

Mum carefully popped then onto a cooling rack.

Mary didn’t like to wait but it would be worth it.

They took the scones round to grannies.

Granny was delighted, perfect timing, she had just made her famous raspberry jam to enjoy with them.

Yum, maybe a rainy day wasn’t so bad after all.

©joannehepburn 02.05.2016