More MadLab Events

I'm booking up for:

• Raspberry PI Jam -- 8 September
• Robot Hack Day -- 27 October

We've just done the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch 2012. Here's what we found:

Bird	Max Number
Blackbird	2
Magpie	2
Carrion crow	1
Woodpigeon	3
Coal tit	1
Blue tit	3
Nuthatch	2
Jackdaw	1
Song thrush	1
Robin	1
Chaffinch	1
Great tit	2
Wren	1

Make Vibrobot

#2 son and I have just finshing making the Make Magazine Vibrobot. We used a metal shoe polish tin as we couldn't find a metal sweets tin. The shoe polish tin was circular so the cable ties wouldn't hold the motor in place. #2 son solved the problem "use duct tape". I have taught him well!

Favourite Kids' Polar Explorers Book

I had trouble finding this on Amazon the other day.  For the record, my current favourite book on polar explorers aimed at children is 'Polar Adventures' by Paul Dowswell.

Pee-Day and Penguins

Today boy #3 has been in 'special big-boy pants' for the first time.  He did quite well for a first day with only the odd accident.  Over to the wife for coping with day #2.

In unrelated news, I've been trying to get boys 1 and 2 interested in working out the economics of Club Penguin. We've got a stopwatch, and we've been timing how long it takes to earn a certain number of coins on different games.  It is a work in progress so far.  I emailed CP customer support to ask if they would let me have some stats for the overall games, but they said that was a trade secret.  Fair enough, if a little boring, I suppose.

Towersey 2010

I'm late posting about our trip to the the 2010 Towersey Village Festival.  Here's the things for the memory banks:

• The children's story teller Tony Wilson was great
• Met Pete Coe who said that he was trying to get a CD out for Christmas with all the kids songs that he did in the 2009 Towersey kids-club.  Must keep an eye out for that for presents
• I've been inspired to try to play the guitar in open C tuning of C-G-C-G-C-D

Camping in Wales

Last weekend we had a great time camping at the Llyn Gwynant campsite.  It had nice fields roped off from cars, we could hire canoes to go on the lake, and best of all they allow open fires.  The wife and kids had a great time doing experimental cooking.

On the second day we had a very nice, and kid friendly walk up to Llyn Idwal.  Finally on the way back we stopped off at Penrhyn Castle.

#1 Son at the Opera House

Waiting nervously for #1 son to appear in a show at the Manchester Opera House. He's doing a medley of songs from the Lion King after a week of drama school.

Second Email Post Test - With Photo

By way of a second test of the Blogger email feature I'm sending this one in with a photo attached. This is the boys with small animals at the highly recommended Reddish Vale Farm.

Art of Star Wars Review: Disappointing

The boys and I looked in on the Art of Star Wars exhibition in Manchester and unfortunately I was really underwhelmed. It was clearly set up to sell rather safe Star Wars Art (I thought it dull, kids thought it ace!) to people with £600 to spare per picture. It is a small gallery with about 15 acrylic on canvass prints. There was nothing by way of a narrative and the uber-cool member of staff gave us a look of "make sure they don't touch anything" then went back to his MacBook.

I wouldn't make a special effort to go along.

Review of Land of Play

Our younger two kids and I, aged four and nearly two, had a very nice Monday morning at the Land of Play in Manchester's Trafford Park. The place is very new, as of October 2009, and all the equipment is practically pristine. The unique selling point of Land of Play is the electric go-karts. Both kids loved them. The four-year-old was off on his own one and I could sit on the tail fin of the two-year-old's correcting the steering as subtly as possible. There was the standard climbing activity area, of medium size compared with the others of our acquaintance. The climbing was fine for the two and four-year-old, but would have been too easy for our seven-year-old.

The entrance fee was very reasonable. It was about £4.50 each after a 10% discount coupon that the Google Maps entry for the company offered me. The kart rides cost another £1 each, but you got a reasonable length go for the money. It has a cafe serving reasonably priced, if basic grub.

The main disappointment for me was that the environment didn't manage to shake off the feeling of industrial park. Sure it was clean, but there was only a passing attempt made at child-friendly decoration. That said I think we liked it enough to make another visit.