I’m finally getting around to documenting our adventures from last weekend. I’ve been busy finishing a children’s book called “Freddie the Flamboyant Flamingo” this week that I made with my artist friend. It is now available on Kindle if anyone is interested 🙂 Paperback will hopefully be up soon too 🙂 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freddie-Flamboyant-Flamingo-Keelan-LaForge-ebook/dp/B09XBJFBB4/ref=sr_1_2?crid=JTRNRNK43RIR&keywords=keelan+laforge&qid=1649335938&sprefix=keelan+laforge%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-2
Last weekend, we went to the tropical ravine. I think it’s one of my daughter’s favourite places to go to. We went around it twice and she asked to do a third trip 🙂 The tropical warmth of the place was a relief after the cold outside 🙂 There were lots of fish swimming in the pond and my boyfriend and the girls were so excited to see them 🙂 There were some lovely flowers there and exotic plants. There’s something really mindful about walking through it and it makes it feel like you get to be abroad for a moment 🙂 We found some more fish downstairs. They were from South America and they were interesting to watch 🙂
Afterwards, we walked around Botanic Gardens and looked at the beautiful flowers. The place had completely transformed since the last time we were there and it wasn’t very long ago 🙂 The colours were so cheerful and we spent a long time looking at the different vibrant flowers and taking pictures of them. The girls found a tree with fallen flowers, so they insisted on collecting every single one 🙂
After the park, we went into the museum. We started in the art room and did some still life drawing/imaginative drawing. My daughter got dressed up and played with the toy food. Then, she found a box of blocks and did some building. I love how well laid out it is for kids 🙂 After playing there for a while, the girls were happy to wander around the galleries with us. There were new installations and displays up. We walked through the nature section after that and looked at all the animals, the gemstones and the sea life sections.
The girls spent their pocket money on durable plastic toys (obviously!) and I found a book I wanted to get that encourages you to draw a picture every day for a year with prompts. I found it more cheaply online though 🙂 I love the museum gift shop as a treat and for gifts, or for ideas otherwise 🙂 It’s inspiring just window shopping and looking at the displays.
We followed our museum visit with a picnic on the grass. We found a quiet spot near the bandstand and had some wraps, far too many crisps, tea and chocolate 🙂 The girls and my boyfriend ran around on the grass and played. There was a belly dancing class being held on the band stand and it was nice to feel like there was some life about the place and that Spring had well and truly arrived 🙂
On Saturday evening, my friend kindly invited us to her house for dinner. We got to try some delicious Chinese buns that she got from a Chinese bakery I didn’t know about and she gave us lots to take home 🙂 It was so nice, sitting in the sun in the garden together and having tea, food and catching up 🙂
Apart from that, I’ve been working on editing another book that I hope to publish soon and I’ve been baking far too many cakes 🙂 I made a lemon one and banana, walnut and chocolate one. I feel like my favourite things about life at the moment are drinking coffee and tea, eating cake and enjoying the sunshine when it makes an appearance 🙂
The Funky Thrifter 