Eureka Pigs!

I've always been a bit squeamish, especially with eyes!
Yesterday at Eureka, it was all about the body. There was a scientist there who was dissecting a pig, but not just any part of a pig, the pig's eyes! It was horrible but mom made me watch! I got some really cool photos, though. We saw the sclera, and the jelly inside the eye, and even the little lense!

They also had pig lungs there. The man used a pump to push air into the lungs and watched them inflate! It was really creepy!

He's dissecting the tongue; it was really tough!



This is a model showing how air is sucked into
 the balloons(lungs) when the diaphragm moves downwards.

My friend from Pony Club, Lilliana was there and we had a lot of fun learning First Aid. We learned what to do if someone's bleeding, in shock or unconscious!

I was supposed to be unconscious but I was too ticklish!

We even practised wrapping bandages around each other's arms. We spent most of the time wrapping our arms together, though!

There was a life-size skeleton there and you had to try and name all the parts of it. I knew almost all of them. There were also loads of animal skulls that you had to try name. There was a fox, stoat, badger, cat and dog skull.

We made a solution of fake blood with red and yellow coloured water, cheerios (to represent the red blood cells), marshmallows (platelets), and little jelly gems (the white blood cells). It didn't really look like blood at the end, just a jar of murky, lumpy water. Some of the kids ate the fake blood!

We made models of DNA out of pipe-cleaners and beads and you could've made a Mother's Day card, but that didn't really have anything to do with the Human Body, so I didn't do that. 


Eureka always has great things on, it's a shame it's only on once a month!

Tack and Turnout competition!

Yesterday was awesome! It was Valentine's Day and my pony club was holding a 3 1/2 hour groom, love and show your pony day! We had 3 hours to groom our ponies and bath their legs, clean the tack and if we wanted to, we could even braid their mane or tail.
The helpers soaped our ponies' feet with some special horse shampoo until they were shiny! I would have liked to clean Dylan's feet myself, but it can be quite dangerous because most of the ponies don't like having it done and might try to step on you! Once the 3 hours were up we were judged by Sue, the owner of the pony club and then sent to walk around the riding school.
Once most of the parents had arrived back, we showed off our ponies' trot and then lined up to recieve our rosettes. There were about 8 children and I came 4th, so I was pretty proud!
Dylan looked magnificent!

I've got loads of rosettes now!

Lots of Projects!

I've been really busy lately doing loads of projects and even a lapbook! It's been ages since I've done  a  lapbook so I decided to do one about some of my favourite animals, dogs! I called it All About Dogs and put loads of things inside it like famous dogs, dog trivia and classes of dogs. It took all day to make but I think it was definitely worth it!

I also did a little project about Rainforests, specifically Tropical ones. Even though they only cover 2% of the Earth, they're home to over 50% of the Earth's plants and animals! Wow! There's a really cool type of plant called a Bromeliad. They have long leaves that curl at the bottom to collect raindrops and let them run to the middle of the plant. The middle of the plant is like a water tank and traps all the water there. The biggest type of Bromeliad can hold up to 2 gallons of water!

My hand-made Bromeliad!

Bromeliads are special for another reason;  the Poison-Arrow Frog doesn't lay its eggs in the water, it lays them on the ground! Then the male frog comes along and fertilizes the eggs and guards them untill they turn into tadpoles. Then the tiny tadpoles wriggle on to their mother's back ahd she carries them to a water-filled Bromeliad that she has chosen for her tadpoles' home. The journey can take a few days, especially if she has to climb high into the Canopy layer of the rainforest. When the frog reaches the Bromeliad, she drops each of her tadpoles into a seperate tiny pool of water. The tadpoles feed on the algae in the water, but to be sure they get enough food, their mother returns again and again and deposits a single unfertilized egg in the water for each tadpole. Mmm, a tasty snack!
After 6-8 weeks the tadpoles emerge as frogs and return to the forest floor. Amazing!



If you're feeling a bit down because it's Monday, here's a very cute guinea pig to cheer you up!

Noah AKA the master of looking cute!

Horse crazy!

For Christmas I got a very surprising gift. A Schleich Horse set! I haven't bought or played with my Schleich for ages, but this sparked my interest for them again.

I really wanted to start collecting a bunch of Schleich horses so I could have a little stable, so I ordered some off Amazon and they came today! I got an Andalusian care set and a Fjord horse.

Fjord

Fjord horses are very strong and used to be used for pulling logs and tree trunks around. They also have a calm temperament so they are good for children.

The Andalusian horses is known  the pure Spanish horse. It was used as a war-horse to carry heavily armoured knights in to battle.

Andalucian

That's not the only thing that I've been doing that's horse related, though. I've also discovered a new game! Star Stable Online.
It might look like a cheesy, little kid's game but it's actually really fun. The player has to solve quests and explore the island of Jorvik with her horses.

It's free to play up to level 5 then you have to buy a subscription and pay biannually, annually etc or you can buy a lifetime subscription.
If you buy the subscription you unlock loads of other places, horses and fun quests! If you buy the subscription, you get 100 "star coins" every Saturday that you can use to buy horses, new clothes and tack for your horse! If you don't like waiting that long you can buy star coins.

I definitely recommend you at least try the game, it's really addictive once you get into it! 


I've got ANOTHER horsey thing coming up as well! On Sunday, I'll be going to a 3 hour Pony Club day! We get to groom our ponies and tack them up and apparently we need to wear fashionable clothes because we are having our photos taken; I hope they don't get ruined!

More pictures of my horses:

Another Pony Club Rosette!

I now officially know how to groom a pony properly! I'm pleased to announce I got my Grooming Rosette at Pony Club. All of the kids had to get their own pony as clean as possible. It was a bit unfair, as I had the muddiest pony at the stables, Mickey! I think I did a good job though. The helper that was grooming him with me plaited his mane. He looked really posh, like a proper dressage pony! 

Once we had finished grooming our ponies, we all stood together with them and took a picture with our rosettes. All the ponies were pretty bored and didn't want to perk up for the picture until a helper went and got the bucket that they usually put the food in. As soon as the ponies saw the bucket they jumped up and looked very excited!

I also conquered another part of pony-ing when I was riding! I finally mastered the rising trot! It felt really fast, so I think the problem was Mickey wasn't going fast enough before. Oh well, at least I have it now. I'll be able to move on to cantering soon, and then I'll be able to jump!

Pony Club!

There's me!

Pony Club this  year is already very exciting, because we went out for a hack! (For the none-horsey people out there, that means going for a walk on the horses in the fields or on roads).
We decided to ride in a giant, 2 mile circle on the roads. It was cold and grey and damp but we weren't bothered. The horses were excited to be going out and I think they could sense my excitement too! I was riding Mickey and I was happy about that because he is one of the better behaved horses.

We headed up the lane towards the main road. There were quite a few dangers out there, like holes in the road and cars and tractors going by. We could hear them coming before we saw them so we could warn the rest of the group.  One tractor spooked my horse and he staggered backwards. I felt like I was going to fall off! I managed to calm him down though. I don't want to go through that again!
A funny thing happened when we passed some hay in black bags at the side of the road. They were clearly very scary to the horses. They just stared at them and tried to walk around them rather than beside them. They were just bags of hay! I wonder what the horses thought they actually were?

Further down the road we passed a field of sheep. There were all different kinds. Lora told us that the sheep belonged to lots of owners: that was why they were all different breeds. The farmer who owned the field was going to rest the field, so he's invited all the neighbouring sheep to come and eat the greenery down. It was a bit like an "all you can eat buffet!" The sheep were happily munching away until they caught sight of us approaching up the lane. They looked up from their tasty meal and eyed the horses suspiciously. Then they ran away! Well, actually, they kind of bounced away. It was really funny.

Peek-a-boo, Lora!

I love hacking! I can't wait until we can do it again. Maybe next time we'll go out for a bit longer and maybe the weather might be better because it was very cold!

A very late Christmas and a happy New Year!

Home made Christmas Cards

This post is very, very late! I've just been so busy with all of my new Christmas presents. I got an awesome horse model, a Horse Care book, a lovely necklace that has a foal on it, hundreds of bath things and a lot, lot more. By far my most snuggly present was some slippers with huskies on them! Thanks, Stephen!

Me with my Horse-Care Book and Fluffy Slippers

Mom and Dad cooked a delicious Christmas dinner. Juicy turkey and ham, lovely, tasty gravy, veg, yorkshire puddings and some stuffing! I've never really been that struck on the stuffing, it was still a delicious meal, though! I was so full afterwards. Thankfully there was some turkey left-over for me to have for supper.

Just like every Christmas, we sorted through the heap of presents while watching some Christmas TV. It was great!

It wasn't just Christmas for us, it was Christmas for the pets as well! I got the hamsters and the guinea pigs some delicious treats. The hamsters even had their own stocking with chocolate buttons, milk buttons and crunchy fruit flavoured treats! They went crazy for them! The guinea pigs weren't left out either, because they got a massive straw house that has loads of carrot pieces on the roof. I hear them pulling it to shreds at night!

Noisy Noah!

Once all the Christmas excitement had calmed down, it was time for New Year! There wasn't much to do except to watch the fireworks on the TV and eat some delicious, creamy chocolates! Lovely!

I wonder what'll happen now it's 2016?