Tales of the unexpected with The Boy, my pride and joy.
One of the highlights of our Summers for the past two years has been going to the LolliBop children's festival in London. With the vast majority of the best quality children's television personalities appearing on one of the many stages, activities galore for every age and interest, and a wonderfully happy atmosphere, it is the pinnacle of our Summer days out.
LolliBop has announced a new home for the festival on 15th-17th August 2014; the majestic and fairy-like stately home Hatfield House.
Last year we were lucky enough to be given a media pass for the National Trust, in conjunction with my blog promotion for their 50 Things To Do Before You're 11 & ¾ campaign. When it ran out at the end of the year, we rushed to buy our family membership as it provided us with a plethora of opportunities for days out as a family, exploring nature, the nation's history, and having fun in their beautifully landscaped outdoors!
I've been having a look recently for National Trust places within an hour or so of us, and I decided that I'd create a 'wishlist' for the places I'd like us to explore this year, both National Trust, or otherwise. [Read more…]
53. Partners in Crime (This is one I had hoped to add by the time the post went live last week, but I had no chance so have added it into this week's batch. We went away to Coombe Mill for a few days with my brother and his family, and this is The Boy and Fiery Cousin – from Wild Family Fun – exploring the grounds.)
54. Simple Things (It doesn't matter what time of year it is, give children a spade and sand and they can ask for nothing more to make them happy! While the adults were making a fire and cooking hot chocolate, the children started digging to Australia.)
55. In Training (The Boy adores driving the tractor with Farmer Nick, and as we were the only people there this week he had plenty of opportunity.)
56. Natural Childhood (He couldn't be happier than one of the pigs in the muck behind him in this photo; he just needs the outdoors and freedom to explore and he is content beyond all measure.)
57. The Wonders of Nature (On the last day of our holiday we called into Boscastle for a few hours before the drive home. It's a beautiful little village, but the plaques showing the flood damage are shocking. We walked up to the point on the edge overlooking the harbour, climbed over the crest and saw one of the most amazing natural sights I've ever viewed. More in tomorrow's My Sunday Photo.)
58. Heston and Jamie (The Boy's friend from school came over to play and have tea, they decided to have fun with his play kitchen. Not sure who was more disbelieving; The Boy's friend or his mum; free play with baking powder, vinegar, shaving foam, flour, lemon juice, alka seltzer, lentils, etc.)
59. Just Chillin' (A busy day rushing around trying to find somewhere, anywhere, that we could get The Boy's holiday photos printed out for school resulted in a fraught mummy. We descended on the park for a calming ten minutes grounding and relaxation.)
60. Dough (The only time we've tried to make pizza in the past ended up in a rush and me not having enough time for it to prove, the result was a gelatinous mess which just wouldn't cook properly. Today The Boy and Mr. TBaM made the dough this morning, kneaded it good and proper, and we left it to prove for an afternoon. I don't think we're going to be buying pizzas again!)
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342. Reach For The Stars (We ventured over to Cardiff Bay to the Christmas Food Market set out in the old dock basin. There were a few small, fairground rides there and The Boy relished the opportunity to try out this jumping trampoline ride thingy. I love the silhouette against the stormy sky.)
343. Burp (Reviewing a game sent to us from Orchard Toys, The Boy found it very amusing that the gorilla burps after feeding it junk food!)
344. My Little Star (This is The Boy performing in his first Christmas concert. I took photographs of him walking up and down onto the stage that showed off his costume better, but this is the picture that I love because of the sincerity on his face, filled with the effort of getting it right. I'm so proud of him for fully taking part as he was so petrified during the Harvest service he could only cope with standing on the stage.)
345. Homemade Gifts (I've written in the past about the significance of giving teachers presents to acknowledge their hard work, I decided that we'd make some lovely ornaments for The Boy's teachers and LSAs. With four teachers to buy for, and additional Reception staff, it would never have been cheap and I don't know enough about them to buy a worthwhile present. I thought Christmas tree decorations would be a good idea as they're resuable and show care and attention on his part.)
346. RUDE! (Our weekly trip to feed the swans saw an extremely cheeky seagull swoop in to grab a stray piece of bread lying on the boardwalk. The Boy was incensed!)
347. Wriggler (A busy day Christmas shopping with my mum in Cardiff, taking The Boy to a classmate's house for tea and then me swanning off to Cardiff Bay saw me sneaking a last minute photograph of a wriggling Boy in his sleep.)
348. Family Days Out (On a day when the blogging world is remembering a special blogger and her legacy of Family Frolics, it seemed very fitting to me that we spent the day with extended family; my brother and his family. I'd bought Mr. TBaM a segway driving experience for his birthday and we finally redeemed it with my sister-in-law joining him on a device which I would be useless on. My brother, niece, The Boy and I explored the other adventure activities possible in the centre and made a vow to come back and try the zip wire out when the children are a little bit older. We finished off the day with a lovely meal in a newly-opened restaurant nearby. A wonderful family day out.)
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What would you like to be remembered for?
For me it would be as a devoted mummy, someone who treasured their family and did everything she could for her child; to make them happy and have a lifetime of happy memories.
A bit like this lady really!
I think that there is nothing more fitting for Kerry's last post than to read about her Family Frolics at Peppa Pig World; to see her beaming face, the giggles from the twins, a grin coaxed from BB via a mummy tickle, the fun and laughter that they had as a family. The wonderful memories of that family day out will be something that I'm sure her family hold dear, and I have often looked back on that post during the past year when I have wanted to remember her vibrancy, her love of life and her family.
And so I come to Kerry's legacy, what the 'Family Frolics' linky was all about and what I think she would love to be remembered for; celebrating family life.
Thank you Kerry for reminding me that family time is all that matters.
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This post has been written in remembrance of Multiple Mummy who died on 14th December 2012; deeply missed.
The 'Family Frolics' blog-hop below will remain open until Friday 27th December. It would be great if you could join in to show Kerry is not forgotten and that her love of family life had a lasting impact on others.
A few months ago (too many to be specific about, it's embarrassing), a very nice young man knocked at the front door and handed me some sparkly, brand-new keys to a sparkly, brand-new car; a seven-seater Chevrolet Orlando LTZ.
Chevrolet very kindly sent me the Orlando to review for just over a week while we went on holiday to Dorset. We took my parents with us on holiday, although they drove down in their own car, and it was a very useful car to use whilst we travelled around the area on day trips, etc.
I've never driven a seven-seater before so was apprehensive about its size in comparison to my Renault Scenic, but in all honesty it wasn't that much bigger in any dimension; a few inches longer, taller and wider at the most, which made it easy to drive.
And it was an absolute dream to drive.
There are a huge amount of features on the Chevrolet Orlando, but as I am neither Jeremy Clarkson nor James May, I am not about to launch into the technicalities of it all although I will point out the basic model has:
There are several big selling points for the Orlando, which it is indeed marketed on; flexibility, stylish interior design, safety and performance. Please view the Orlando technical specifications page for more information on safety, I'm not an expert and not happy to pass my opinion on it, and have someone rely on that. However, I'm more than happy to chat about the other areas!
The boot is a large space, the surface area is larger than that of the Renault Scenic which I currently drive and the normal 'middle' row folds down flat to give more space for transporting larger items. The boot also holds two additional seats which fold up out of the floor. Due to the third row, the parcel shelf is retractable from a metal pole which fits into brackets on the sides of the car. In theory, this is great. In practise when the third row is in use, the only place to put the bar is on the floor of the second row, hardly practical. The other issue with the parcel shelf is how high up it is positioned; ridiculously I could get more into the boot of my Scenic than I could the Orlando, purely because my boot is more square whereas this is very flat. This is one of the compromises of having a third row.
The other compromise of having a third row is leg space. The middle row seats are fixed position with very little foot space for a long journey, I actually couldn't handle sitting anywhere but in the front because I often suffer from restless legs and couldn't bear not being able to stretch them out. And the bottom right picture in the collage above shows how much foot space there was in the third row. The only person who sat in that for the week was my six-foot tall husband who was happy to stretch his legs across the row, indeed getting to the third row is incredibly tricky and involves clambering across a folded down middle row seat; there is no access from the boot.
Bearing in mind the middle row contains three seats (in a bench format) we were actually unable to fit three people across the back due to The Boy's car seat; therefore five people who should have been able to sit in two rows actually had to utilise the three rows in order to fit in. The middle seat in the middle row has a handy fold-down arm rest with two in-built cupholders which proved to be very useful on the longer car journey.
The Chevrolet Orlando has a very easy to use satellite navigation system in-built with a t.v. screen which also displays the image from the rear parking camera. I've never used a car satellite navigation system before and it was very simple to work out after a few attempts and saved our bacon a few times. The Orlando also has a rear parking sensor which is displayed on the screen and has two projection lines based on the angle of the tyres. My husband (who has perception of depth issues) loved this feature and used it all the time when reversing, I found it a little off putting at first but soon found myself using it as well.
Nestling into the driver's seat was like sitting in the captain's chair on a spaceship; every thing I could want to control was at my fingertips, and then some! I particularly liked the controls on the steering wheel. There were controls to flip the wing mirrors in, to control the brightness of the lights and display, you name it, it was there. The radio also has the option to plug in an iPhone or iPod to access the MP3s and play it through the music system.
The speedometer is analogue which is both surprising considering all the other digital gadgets and gizmos, and a bit difficult to read. I'm sure it was chosen as such to appear 'retro' but with so many cars having digital displays nowadays, it is a strange choice. There is also a petrol gauge which displays how many miles left in the tank and alerts the driver to the need to refill; I have this on my car and find it very useful although slightly disconcerting when it goes off with a range of 45 miles left.
The Chevrolet Orlando has an automatic gearbox, I've never driven an automatic before but I adapted to it very quickly and actually missed it once I handed the car back. As the Orlando LTZ is a 2 litre the power was astounding, acceleration was smooth and the ride on the motorway was wonderful; it really is a dream to drive.
The conclusion that I've come to is that the Chevrolet Orlando is a really nice car to drive, but is not such a great car to be a passenger in if you are an adult sat anywhere other than the passenger seat. It would be a great car for a family with three or four children up to the teenage years, definitely a good car for transporting hoards of children around. This review has proven to me that if we had another child, we wouldn't need to upgrade to a seven-seater, but I certainly would investigate the Chevrolet brand and other cars in their range.
I was lent the car for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.
307. Closed (We took The Boy to Legoland as a treat for the end of half-term. This sign is not indicative of the day as it was taken at 5.15 at the time and the park was shut. We had been on every single ride that we'd wanted to, and indeed I even managed to go on a rollercoaster for the first time ever. We actually went on it five times, four of them in a row without even getting off!)
308. Splosh (Jumping up and down in muddy puddles, true Peppa Pig style.)
309. Captivated (Fireworks Night! The display at the local rec was far superior than I ever thought it would be, and it made us realise that we won't be heading to Cardiff Castle again to waste a ridiculous amount of money on an over the top display.)
310. Dapper (The Boy was trying on his suit for his aunt's wedding on Saturday. He kept asking how long he'd have to wear it for! Eeeek!)
311. Sparkler (His face isn't in focus as he was too animated, but I love the delight on his face with these delayed sparklers.)
312. Wading (A trip to the local nature reserve after school to feed the swans and check out how much the lake had risen with all the rain of the week.)
313. My Pride & Joy (Here he is, my dapper little man, all dressed up for his aunt's wedding. He behaved beautifully and completely stole the show.)
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It was a brilliantly sunny day last week when Lucy and I decided to meet up in Leigh Woods on the weekend for the boys to play together, and for us to play with our cameras. And then we developed this idea further and hatched a plan.
Sunday morning dawned grey and dreary, and Mr. TBaM looked at me quizzically. I responded by handing him our wellies and macs, and pointing at the car. Unfortunately when we hit Bristol, the torrent against the windscreen meant that I had to avoid eye contact with him for a little while.
But Lucy and I had a plan, which needed adhering to.
We had fun racing around Leigh Woods, finding sticks and playing hide and seek.
And then it was time for the plan to come into fruition.
Coming together in memorial, we threw pink and purple flowers to baby Tilda, and then squealed with laughter when they fell on our heads!
We broke out the pink bubbles and sent them up to her in the sky.
And then due to the monsoon, we had a thoroughly British picnic in the car.
But most of all, we remembered a wonderful little baby girl who is no longer with us.
On Saturday 2nd November 2013, you too can join in on a Welly Walk in memory of Matilda Mae; the beautiful daughter of Jennie and David who died suddenly, and without warning, in her sleep. She was nine months old. The 2nd will be nine months since that dreadful night, and the Welly Walk at Beale Park Wildlife Park and Gardens in Reading will be a magical memorial to remember a little girl who meant so much, to so many.
Tickets cost £9.99 for 11years+ with children younger admitted free. There will be an abundance of activities available throughout the day, with the proceeds from the entire event being donated to The Lullaby Trust in memory of Tilda. It will be a wonderful day with a huge amount of activities in both the Beale Centre and the main park itself. We're very much looking forward to the steam train ride, and the sparkler farewell around the lake.
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Linking to Country Kids and Flashback Friday
279. Sunset Splash (Having taken my niece and nephew on their first conker hunting session of the season, the three of us then went down to Barry Island for a chippy tea. We of course had to paddle in the sea, although The Boy had difficulty understanding it would be too cold to take our shoes off at this time of year. He ended up splashing around in his boots instead. And when I say splashing in his boots, I do mean in; there was three inches of water in each boot.)
280. Eye-Eye (Magnifying glasses are such fun!)
281. Construction (The Boy was having a great time tonight constructing an aeroplace. He very rarely constructs anything without guidance or a picture to work from, so I was pleased to see him having a go.)
282. Greedy Guts (A quick after school trip to the local nature reserve to feed the swans, they are very greedy and reach up to grab the scraps from the boardwalk.)
283. Concentrating Mummy! (We revisited the nature reserve to film The Boy tree-climbing for a National Trust project that I'm collaborating on, and were very happy to find a new, perfect tree with low sweeping branches and thick boughs.)
284. Homework (Those who follow me on Instagram will know of my ongoing concerns about when The Boy's school was going to introduce homework, as he has been able to read since May, and I am eager to give him the opportunity to develop his interest. Tonight we had his first homework; a worksheet which he had to practise his 'S' formation on. We decided that was a little boring so got out the shaving foam in the bath!)
285. Wait For Me! (Where Fiery Cousin goes, The Boy must follow! A wonderful afternoon at Dyffryn Gardens, the local National Trust site.)
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I've now got us into the habit that we have to get out and about into 'nature' several times a week, or I begin to feel contained and imprisoned. It's so easy to settle into domesticity and confine yourself to the house, but I always feel better for getting out and exploring the wonderful world we live in.
Several weekends ago we spent the Saturday doing the 'chilling out' in the house thing, and then had to go to a new classmate's birthday party. By the time we came out of the party, I felt like climbing the nearest tree myself; I felt really trapped by all the bricks and windows etc! We headed over to Victoria Park in Cardiff to find conkers and wander amongst the trees, where we discovered the most plentiful conker tree I've ever seen at the top of which sat a squirrel systematically stripping the conkers from their shells, nibbling the casings off, and then throwing the discarded conkers down. Luckily The Boy still had his helmet on as quite a few were bouncing off our heads!
En route home, I texted my brother (not the one who's buggered off to Australia, the eldest one) and arranged to go to Cefn Onn the following day. My sister-in-law works in the great outdoors professionally, and their daughter (Fiery Cousin) is a 'wild child' just like The Boy so it's good to get together and let the children be 'feral', just as they should be, while we catch up.
As soon as we arrived at Cefn Onn (one of Cardiff's best kept secrets), The Boy and Fiery Cousin were off! Trees were no obstacle to them, and scooters were soon abandoned in favour of walking up the hillside through the stream. And yes, they both had canvas shoes on. And yes, we let them.
We'd been to Cefn Onn in the Spring when the rhododendrons were in full bloom, and I was desperate to come back and see the colours on the leaves. We were a little early this time, but we did explore up further than the lake this time, where we came across the part-built Summerhouse for the original owner's son. The whole park was originally created as a recuperation location for his son who was suffering from tuberculosis, unfortunately he died before the Summerhouse could be finished, it stands forlorn at the top of the park.
It's a wonderous area to explore, play hide and seek, and stop for a snack! I love how my niece is working the camera, The Boy is sporting his fake smile.
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I'm linking this up to Country Kids and Flashback Friday.
This post is also an entry for BritMums ‘Little Adventures Challenge’ in partnership with Barny, the bear-shaped snack providing a little discovery in every bite. Find out more about Barny here.
