Madhouse diaries : Even a trip to the garden centre can be an adventure !

When the sky is blue and the sun is blazing down, there's no way we're going to be staying indoors, so I decided to head off on foot to a local garden centre with the kids. There's a huge sports shop next door and as Juliette needed a new tracksuit and Sophie a new swimsuit for school, I decided we'd head in there too to play on their big outdoor play area and try out the scooters and skateboards in their indoor test area. Anything can be an adventure if you set your mind to it !

The first thing that the kids were fascinated by were the cactii.

"Can I touch it, Mum", Pierre asked. When I said no, he said "can I touch THIS one then ?" After repeating the conversation five times, I decided it was time to head off to look at the animals instead !

These cute little fellows (gerbils I think ?) had decided to use their feeding bowl to sleep in - that's one way to diet, I suppose !

The baby mice just piled on top of each other to sleep. I wouldn't want to be the one on the bottom !

The bald rats looked a bit creepy.

Hmmm nope, they still give me the creeps, on to the next cage !

Ahh that's better - a trio of cute Easter bunnies !

Not sure how they managed to get up on the roof but they looked like they had no intentions of budging any time soon !

This one washing his face got our vote as the cutest animal in the whole place.

But then we walked around the corner and Pierre was delighted to come face to face with some fluffy chicks.

After a long walk home and a well deserved ice cream, Sophie went on to the patio and yelled "Mum, there's a parrot on the roof". "Yeah yeah, of course there is", I replied, thinking she was on a wind up - but she wasn't !

It's not exactly a parrot but it's some kind of exotic bird - I would guess it was somebody's pet and it had escaped from somewhere. Just goes to show that you can find adventures everywhere ... even in your own house !