Book Review: Underland Chronicles

Hi! 

I love reading, and am always looking for new books to feast on. Right now I'm reading a series of five books called The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins. I'm on the fourth book and so far and all of them have been really good. The main character in the book, Gregor, and his baby sister accidently discover an entire land under their apartment block and they befriend some people and creatures there and get involved with helping protect the land from danger. 

I would say the Underland Chronicles are a series that is good for children aged 8 and over. My sister has already read them all- twice. I've recommended them to my mum who will also be reading them as she also likes both adventure and mystery stories. From what I've experienced, the books give you clues for the mystery, and the adventure starts when the characters go on the journey. There's always danger lurking somewhere once the adventure starts which will keep you in suspense. 

Nuha

Grooming Horses and Picking Hooves

                                        

Although we have been taking horse riding lessons for several weeks now, we have only recently started horse care lessons. We love them, love them, love them! We have learnt how to use all of the brushes for grooming the horses and how to pick horse's hooves.

I was really surprised with the different brushes there were  and the different uses: 

                                       

   Plastic/ Rubber Curry Comb

    Plastic and rubber curry combs have the same function. They are the first brushes you use on a horse, to get mud off its coat. Don't use on the legs.

Plastic Curry Comb

                                                         

Rubber Curry Comb

Dandy Brush

Dandy brushes are also used for getting dirt and mud off. They are a relatively harsh brush so don't use one on a thin skinned horse. 

Dandy Brush

Body Brush

Use body brushes all over the body (except the face) including mane and tail. The brushes vary in thickness so use a softer one on a summer coat than a winter coat.

Body Brush

                                                Face Brush                                                

As the name implies, use this brush for the horses face but not on the nose, eyes, or mouth.

Face Brush

Metal Mane Comb

Used to untangle mane. 

Metal Mane Comb

                                                                    Water Brush

Used to lay a horses mane and tail to keep it neat and tidy.

Water Brush

Sponges

There are two sponges, one for the eyes, nose, and mouth, and one for the dock area under the tail. Make sure the sponges are clean before they are used.

Sponges

Hoof Pick

A hoof pick is one of the most essential parts off a grooming kit. You pick out a horses feet at least twice a day. There is a sensitive part in the hoof called the frog where all the blood flow is connected to and you only use the brush side of the hoof pick for that.

Hoof Pick

Last week I rode Molly and Nuha rode Bobby.

"Come on Molly, move it!"

Molly and I

"Time for your grooming Billy!"

Nuha and Bobby

Aisha

Parts of a Flower

For science  I'm learning about flower parts and pollination. There's loads of bees in our garden (as well as wasps) because we have a lot of yellow flowers, so we are getting to see some close-up action of pollination. 

We also dissected a couple of roses from our garden to see if we could identify all of the different parts we have learnt about.  

My Work

My sister's work

Nuha

DIY BBQ

We have had unseasonably great weather these past few days and when my dad surprised us by taking an afternoon off work we decided to have a barbecue which we cobbled together with some bricks that were lying spare in our garden. Setting it up was fun and simple. We all took a splint and lit the fire and within minutes the was a roaring blaze.

The smoke must have made the wasps and bees in our garden crazy, because they soon all started to swarm all around us. One actually stung Nuha which made her scream, and because we didn't see what happened and she wasn't saying anything that we could make sense of, we thought she'd hurt herself on the flames. Once the smoke had lessened a bit, most of them drifted away. We invited our cousin's and played and had a delicious barbecue dinner together. The fire kept going for ages after-it was best when it started getting dark. I hope we do this again soon!

Aisha

Introducing Us

We have started this blog to share all of the activities we get up to. There will be plenty to do with horses, books, art, and experimenting in the kitchen!!  

Aisha and Nuha