I don’t know about you, but I always seem to get a little melancholy and reflective around the boys birthdays. I adore my children (most of the time) and love being a parent and am super proud of both of my boys, however, birthdays seems to grab me and give me a shake.
Maxi and I have just returned from a wonderful weekend at Lakefest thanks to Bassetts Vitamins. What is Lakefest I hear you ask, well it is a family friendly festival held at Eastnor Castle Deer park in Herefordshire.
Do you have mini thrill seekers? I certainly do and my boys were delighted to be invited by Frubes to Thorpe Park for the Frubes Angry Birds Sleepover 2016.
My boys are mini thrill seekers and now both of them are over 140cm and can go on every ride at Thorpe Park, so we decided to arrive early for our #FrubesSleepover.
Do you love or dread the long summer holidays? I always find them challenging, but do love spending time with my boys and this summer I am teaming up with Calypso to bring you some fabulous simple fun ideas for the holidays. #HolidayHacks for kids of all ages.
This Summer Scavenger Hunt with Free Printable is brought to you in conjunction with fab® Ice Lollies Sprinkles of Summer Fun campaign. However, Don’t worry if it is winter as this Winter Scavenger hunt is amazing and we also have this Autumn One.
My boys are big Blackpool fans. We went back this summer for second year running and had a great time. There is so much to do and enjoy and this summer for the first time since I was a child we visited the Blackpool Tower Circus and each year they have a panto which runs from 22nd November 2015 to 17th January 2016.
Both the minimads are sporty boys and love playing and watching sport. I am one of those odd women that loves Cricket. I remember going to watch the local team play with my Grandad (the cricket club was at the end of our road) and I loved sitting next to him and watching and learning.
I have mini thrill seekers for children as you may know if you are a regular reader. They are pretty active and love a challenge, so when Vimto Squeezy suggested they give Go Ape Junior a try at Dalby Forest they were up for the challenge.
We have been talking a lot this week about our favorite way to spend the day together as a family. This is Mini’s (aged 7) and is also an entry to the MAD Blog Awards Kid Blog of the Year, in collaboration with Vita Coco Kids naturally fruit-flavoured coconut water. My favorite way to spend a sunny day outside is with my friends. I am lucky to be best friends with three brothers who live on the same road as us and we play together a lot. We all like to go to Theme Park’s together. They are much more fun of you have a group of friends with you to laugh and stop more »
This week is half term in the UK and typically this has meant rain, rain and more rain. Which to start with wasn’t too bad. We have been spending our week at Sand Le Mere Holiday Village, but eventually even the rain got to us, well more specifically me and Mini and I developed a chest infection and Mini tonsillitis. You could tell that Mini wasnt well as he didnt even want to go swimming in the fantastic swimming pool.
We adore the Sunderland International Airshow and it is something we have visited every year with the boys since returning to the North East. However, this year MadDad and MIni had the opportunity to view the airshow from a different perspective. They took the DFDS Sunderland Airshow Sailout, which costs £15 for children and £30 for adults and includes a three course lunch too.
The sailout is such a popular event that it often sells out early and we were lucky enough to receive our tickets via the press office.
The trip at a glance
10:30-11:00 Check-in and board the ship. Boarding will take place at 11am
11:30 Ferry leaves port for Sunderland. You have a three course buffet lunch.
12:20 Ferry arrives at viewing point off Seaburn and Roker
14:00 Ferry leaves Sunderland for voyage back to port
15:00 Ferry arrives back into port. All passengers disembark
MadDad’s Review
You are guided to a free car park as you enter the Port of Tyne and then are shown where to exchange your ticket for boarding pases and board the ship. Once onboard you have the freedom of the ship and we decided to go for our lunch, which was a three course buffet style meal. Both Mini and I enjoyed the food, although we did find the drinks rather expensive (which are the only extras you have to pay for).
The boat dropped anchor off shore at 12.20 and we found a place on the deck to watch the Red Arrows who were opening this years airshow. It was hot on deck and I was glad that we had took sunscreen and hats. Although there was 500 people onboard the ship didn’t feel crowded and there was plenty of room to find a vantage point.
Watching from the sea gave a whole new perspective on the airshow. The planes were closer and we had super views and really enjoyed our day. There was people of all ages on board the ship from families with small children and older couples. You avoid all the traffic and queues getting out of Sunderland.
The only negatives were that the day was far too short and we didn’t get to see all the days flights and also the drinks were more expensive than I anticipated. Saying that we will be looking at booking tickets for next year for the whole family.
Mini’s Review
I was really excited to be going on a special trip with just Daddy. I love planes and have lots of models at home and the airshow is one of my favorite things to go and see. I have never been on a ferry as big as the one I went on, which was called the King Seaways. The food was gorgeous and the carrots were my favorite part of the meal.
After the meal we went to get a drink of slush as it was very hot on the deck. I was excited to see the red arrows and they surprised me by being so close and it felt like they nearly skimmed the funnel of the ship. We also saw Misdemeanor (a Hawker Hunter), which I have seen before and could tell it was her by the colours she is painted.
We also watched two helicopters that did lots of tricks and they were absolutely class. I was a little upset to have to set off back before we saw the Typhoon. I wish the trip had been longer and I would love to go next year with all the family.
I love York. I want to live there. I take every and any opportunity to visit York and this find us choosing York as a shopping venue over lots of more local towns. The boys love York too, however, shoppping not so much! So we have developed ways to break up the day without spending all day shopping or all day playing! However if you want a city break in York, why not take a look at hotels in York . It is a great place to spend a long weekend. Our favorite places for a short visit whilst in York are:
The Jorvic Viking Centre
You get an annual pass for The Jorvic Viking Centre for just £27 for a family of four and the centre is really central so perfect to spend an hour inside. The boys adore it. It isn’t large, but it is packed full of viking life, including a ride and the smell!
We find something new every time we visit and it is a firm family favorite to break up the day.
he fact that there is all this history there and accessibly for the boys, made it a joy to visit. The boys were filled with loads of questions and there were plenty of staff (all dressed up in period style costume) on hand to answer them We made a run for the tea room from the park area once the rain started and it was great to see that most of Beamish is accessibly to buggy and wheelchair users.
You do not have to walk round the 300 acre grounds, as there is plenty of other modes of transport available to you including trams and an accessible bus. We took the tram to our next destination, the Pockerly Wagon Way for a ride, which all the children loved. We then had
Recently we were invited as a family by Shell to an event at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester to discuss ways to save money (yes save money) whilst driving. As a family Fuel is one of our largest monthly outgoings and one that living rurally as we do, we have to spend, so finding a way to say without cutting down our mileage was really interesting.
We visited the National Space Centre for the first time this weekend, thanks to Lego City. This summer Lego City have launched their new Space range and to celebrate have teamed up with the National Space Centre over the summer holidays.
We have been making the most of a week off school and have been busy here in The Mad House, far too busy to even blog about it until now. So I thought I would do a roundup of what we have been upto.
We were lucky enough to tag along as guests of the wonderful Rosie Scribble and Sally to Drayton Manors firework spectacular on 30 October. Now I have to say it wasn’t just a Fireworks Spectacular, but an amazing laser, light and sound show too, which had the boys and I mesmerised. It was simply the best fireworks I have ever seen in the world ever, but don’t take my world for it. I have popped two small videos of the day below.
The highlight of the afternoon of our day at Emma Bridgewater was that we all got to have a go at decorating some mugs. It was so much fun, they have a large selection of pre cut sponges and a great choice of paint. The boys really enjoyed expressing themselves. MadDad had a go too, in fact his mug looked fantastic, he did tractors. Maxi really concentrated hard whilst painting his mug. Mini had some expert help at hand. We can not wait until the glazed finished mugs are posted to us. It was so much fun and it as fantastic watching everyone get really stuck in.
Part OneWe had a fantastic day out at The Emma Bridgewater Factory on Tuesday to celebrate their 25th Birthday. We started the day in the newly refubished cafe area of the factory for a tea and coffee and to meet my fellow bloggers. Josie at Sleep is for the Weak, Becky at English Mum with her two boys (who were a real pleasure), Racheal from Tales from the Village and we also made a new friend in Kate from Kitchen Critic. There was this fantastic Aga, I was salivating! It is such a lovely relaxing area to meet and have a good old chat with everyone. We were then taken on more »
