The eldest son has reached the age where young boys briefly become kleptomaniacs and feel the urge to collect weird and wonderful things.

On a recent camping trip was loading hundreds of pebbles into the car so we suggested that he pick the best specimen and use it to start a rock collection.
As can be seen I the attached picture this suggestion partly had the desired outcome. He has chosen different types of rock to collect, but still collects multiples of each type, although he insists that they are all unique.

He now requests rock books whenever we go to the shops and tells everyone that he wants to be a rock scientist when he grows up. Dad and his brothers all had rock collections back in the day and Granny is going to help with the classifications.

For now, each trip sees us returning with a heavier car and a mini collection similar to the one attached.