days out | Mum In The Madhouse

days out

Chester Zoo – #Dinosbiteback

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We are great lovers of Dinosaurs and this year Chester Zoo have a new exhibition featuring 19 amazing life-like robotic replicas of the creatures that roamed the earth 200 million years ago, including the giant Brachiosaurus, the iconic Stegosaurus and the infamous Tyrannosaurus Rex.

You get to roam round the fantastic exhibition at your own pace and there are superb Presenter-saurus (staff) who make the experience even better. Even better is that entry is included in your zoo admission price.

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Wizzarding Week at The National Railway Museum York

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What could be better for my train loving boys than a Harry potter themed half term at The National Railway Museum in York. We are regular visitors to both the York site and the Locomotion site at Shildon and love the specials that they put on over the holidays.

This half term is especially fun, as Mini loves Harry Potter and is a big fan and they have the Outon Hall, the steam train which was used in the Harry Potter filmns running for rides and we even cat in one of the carriages used in the film too.

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Half term at the National Railway Museum York

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We are no strangers to the National Railway Museum in York, in fact I visited the NRM this time last year with Sandy and her boys from Baby Baby.

This half term the museum is celebrating Big fun with little trains and we were given the opportunity to have a look round and experience some of the attractions with the boys. Entry to the Museum is free and parking is around £10 for the day and you really do not need to spend anymore than that if you take a picnic with you. There are places both indoors and outdoors for you to eat any picnic you might take, which is what we usually do.

However, this time we were treated to a free meal in the restaurant, which was a little hit and miss. We made sure we got the restaurant early as the queues can be terrible, so were served pretty quickly, however, MadDad’s cobbler wasn’t all that nice and had quite a bit of gristle in it. The boys and I had fishcakes and they were really nice, but I would expect no less when paying £7.99 for an adults meal and £5.99 for a children s meal, plus drinks. The boys also had a chocolate muffin each, which I paid for at just under £5 for the two. The tea in the restaurant is great, as it is made with real leaves and teapots, so right up my street.

There is something for every age this half term at the museum. If you have younger children there is a hands on Chuggington area, where they can play with the range of toys and have loads of fun. even my boys at 5 and 6 enjoyed it.

There are loads of model railways dotted around the Great Hall and the volunteers and demonstrators are really knowledgeable and really talk to the children a

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An Easter Sunday at Narnia Newby Hall

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We are lucky to have Newby Hall just a short drive away and when we were invited to an Easter event there courtesy of Narnia The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we thought it would be a great way to spend Easter Sunday. Especially as it is the first one without mum and she would help me organise the Easter egg hunts, plus mum loved Newby Hall and we had taken the boys there together.

We were also lucky enough to receive a cop of the movie on Blue Ray and DVD and have to say the boys have watched it 3 times since receiving it and we have watched it as a family too. It is a great movie with fantastical special effects and we loved the previous movies.

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Let’s go hero, the new Ben 10 Ultimate Mission at Drayton Manor

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The boys were super impressed with the Ben 10 Chaos Coaster. What is it with children, especially small ones, they always seem to want to go on rides that are far too scary or just safe for them to go on. My boys have no understanding of fear. I am not sure they have yet learned that emotions. So were delighted to find out that you can go on the ride as long as you are over 90 centimeters and can go on independently sans adult once you are 1.1 meters

It is a really super ride and Pippa has an explanation of the techical name for the ride on her blog A mothers Ramblings and she has a great video of the children and their verdicts. We also managed to get a phot of Sally and Flea from Who’s the mummy? on the coaster.

My boys verdict? Well the fact that they have asked everyday since if they can go back again, I would say it is a big huge thumbs up.

Disclosure: we received free entry to Drayton Manor Park and access to the Ben10 Ultimate Alien Mission ride for the purposes of this post. The boys also received a great goody bag including a Ben10 jacket . MadDad and I recei

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