Fun stuff for kids and parents

Tried and tested on willing guinea piglets

This optimistic, self-employed writer, translator, columnist and mum knows that with kids, a dash of charm and a good giggle beat fear of failure every time.

So here are some out-of-the-box ideas to keep kids and parents happy for hours...

Tuesday 5 July 2016

On safari at Bakken


OK I've been babysitting single-handedly most of the day, and now it's bedtime and Grandad's turn. So here are just a few photos from our trip to Bakken last week. More will follow at intervals.

This was the first ride we found that appealed to a range of ages.


Jake (13) and Petra (2) both clambered aboard all revved up and ready for fun. 

I climbed into the jeep behind and took photos with my flash.
This was literally a shot in the dark.

I still don't know if this was a real person stranded after
running off the tracks or part of the scenery. Jeepers creepers!


I thought this money mask had very pretty earrings.


And here's a cute lion playing with a bumble bee,


A huge spider - glad I didn't see that until I checked the photos afterwards!

And a monkey with her bra falling off...
hang on, they look a bit like targets...


And what's this gun for - Typical!

By the time I'd worked out I should have been shooting at the targets on the animals, there were no more animals left to shoot.

Just a smiley man.

Don't worry, he's still smiling.

That was one of the rides. There are plenty more and we took more photos, 
but right now it's storytime upstairs, so I'd better go for now...

Friday 1 July 2016

Old cars and much more


Græsted veteran træf moves to Grønnessegaard Gods ved Hundested next year - 3-5 June 2017

Sadly, this year I was babysitting at short notice due to illness (bad colds) and had to delegate the pleasure of visiting Græsted Veteran Rally. The lucky photographer was my brother-in-law who lives ten minutes from the showground in Northern Zealand.   
Usually he is the guy pointing the camera at weddings, birthdays and other occasions when you should be looking your best but have caught the sun, have a mouth full of salad or are otherwise pigging out with least three chinny chin chins. This time he was taking photos of cars like this amazing specimen. As you can hear, I'm not entirely sure what type of dear little old cars they are. So I'm calling this one the E-type Bond Mobile. 

This sweet old jaloppy is clearly on its way to a picnic in the gorgeous sunny weather. 

These are DEFINITELY Morris Minors because I've had two myself, Esmeralda (red convertible with a black roof) and Josephine (pretty much the light blue or smoke of the spilt-windscreen Morris in the photo), My dad was a mechanic. A really good one. And for our 17th birthday's, he gave me and my brothers Morris Minors. I actually started out with a Mini because by the time I came along, most Morris Minors had rusted away and it took him an extra year to rebuild Esmeralda. Tragically, she went to live with a collector when it became clear the Danish winters and salt on the roads had taken her beyond the point of no return within the bounds of our bank balance. Josephine, on the other hand, was a flight of fancy. I bought her about five years ago, remembering how reliable Esmeralda was during my university years. Of course I didn't factor in that I was at university decades ago and that Josephine was an old lady too. We spent more time travelling with the equivalent of the AA (emergency call-out service) than we did driving Josephine. At least she was cheap on petrol, though. She was never on the road!    
Here's a Volkswagon and caravan beside a beetle. Sweet.

And here is a very clever photo of the ladies serving 1950s style in the refreshment tent.
What's clever about the photo is that you can't really see anyone's faces.  


More nice trucks with Danish flags.

And here's an adorable little car with a picnic basket almost larger than it is itself. I remember my mum having a Heinkel car called 'The Clockwork orange'. You can guess what colour it was. There was one seat in the front, the door opened out forwards and I lay on the back shelf. One day we spent the day on the beach near our wooden chalet on the sand and when we started driving home up the big hill near Lowestoft beach, I looked out of the back window and saw our dog pounding along behind us up the road. Mum had completely fogotten him. I guess he must have fitted in somewhere beside her in the front. Goodness knows where but we all got home in one piece!