Growing up by the sea means that I have an affinity with beaches and they are somewhere I gravitate too. We lived in Landlocked Berkshire for 14 years and I craved the sea, so when we came back to North Yorkshire I made it my mission to explore all the local beaches and now I am going to share them with you my best North Yorkshire Beaches.
The North East, specifically North Yorkshire is an amazing part of the UK and also a large area, so today I am going to share some of the best days out in the North East for families. I am a proud northerner, having been born in Teesside and then boomeranging back when Maxi was 1 and I was pregnant with Mini. Over the years we have spent so much time exploring this beautiful part of the country, so have had some fab days out in North Yorkshire
Both of my boys love Blackpool and all the attractions, but as they are getting older so are their tastes. So what is their to enjoy in Blackpool when you are ten.
With two boys aged nine and ten unplugging can be an issue sometimes. Not the time spent unplugged but the high tech tantrums when I tell them that it is time to turn off! We call it reluctance to transition in The Mad House. We recently had an unplugged weekend at Sherwood Pines (Nottinghamshire) with Forest Holidays and it was a huge success.
Did you see that we went to Blackpool as a family over the summer holidays? We had THE BEST time. Blackpool has really changed since I went there last 20 years ago. Blackpool is certainly back! Blackpool certainly is a wonderful place for families to visit and they have just brought out their ‘The Kids Resort Guide’, an interactive guide, written by Blackpool’s biggest critics… the kids. It shows Blackpool’s top attractions through the eyes of a child.
Family days out can be expensive, but they are also fun too and one thing I have learned is that experiences bring much more fun and many more memories than things. So I try and make sure that our family days out are as well planned as possible and to make them as inexpensive as possible.
My boys march on their stomach. They are at that age where they are bottomless and food is an important part of their day. They get ratty when they are hungry (we call it hangry) and also have adverse reactions to certain foods.
We are fans of spending family time together and have come to love holidays where we can take all the family including Alvin the dog. At Half term we went to Sand le Mere on the Yorkshire coast, 2 hours away from our home on the Yorkshire coast (Hey Yorkshire is big and we live in North Yorkshire and Sand le Mere is in East Yorkshire). Now I am going to preface this post with the fact that it was WET, very wet, it rained every day bar one when we were there and then Mini got tonsillitis, but inspite of all that we had a lovely time and I can more »
My boys know no fear, they are mini thrill seekers and love visiting theme parks, but being eight and nine, means that they are not tall enough to go on a lot of the rides, but they really enjoyed Thorpe Park and could happily spend a couple of days at a time there!
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.
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 love living where we do in the NE of England and York is only an hour away from us and Leeds an hour and a half. However, if you live further afield take a look at Hotel Direct
Hopefully, we’ve seen the back of the worst of the weather, and while we are still in the middle of springtime, summer is just around the corner. Apparently, we can expect one of the best summers in a long time, with bright sunny days making regular appearances, and what better way to enjoy them than with a festival or two? Festivals aren’t just for grownups who love a good booze up and a funky pair of wellies – there are loads of fantastic festivals across the UK that appeal to families, too. Whether you wish to take your children along to a predominantly adult festival, or you’d prefer to ease them more »
The minimads took their first trip to Alton towers this Saturday. My boys are mini thrill seekers and adore rides of any sort and were a little disappointed that most of the big name rides were for children over 1.4 meters. Of the ten thrill rides the boys were not big enough for eight of them, however they still managed to go on at least 15 rides and had a great day. If you have younger children you need to bear in mind that creepiest land doesn’t open till May.
When we think of romantic cities, London rarely springs to mind. Instead, we think of the soft hues of Paris in the spring, or walking hand in hand amidst the falling leaves of New York’s Manhattan in the autumn. We might think of the earthy vibrancy of gorgeous Barcelona, the sensuality of Istanbul or perhaps even the cobbled backstreets of Edinburgh, Christmas lights twinkling in the background. However, that is selling London short. Very short indeed! If you know where to go, London can be the most romantic city there is, bar none. All you need to know is where to look. Here are a few handy ideas: Hampstead Heath One more »
Living in the Frozen North of England, trips to London for meetings or events mean that I need to find places that are great for working from, where I can connect. It is one of the reasons that MadDad has been busy researching laptops and that we are going to shop for laptops as an easy way to work on the move. Once you’ve got your equipment you need to find a comfortable and convenient place to work. I try and make all my appointments and meetings on the same day, so often have time in between them as commuting to London for me takes such a long time.
We had a fantastic time and refused to let the very angry, rude, offensive and classless man who decided to swear at Mini and threatened to “give him one” for bumping in to his child in the Angry birds park ruin our day. When I took him up on swearing at my child and asked that if he had any issues to come to me as his mother, he then threatened to hit me too and called me a fat bleep! It has come to something when a four year old turns round and feels the need to tell an adult that swearing is unacceptable!
