family days out | TheBoyandMe

The Pumpkin Patch

September 30, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 12 Comments

We intended to spend a quiet day in the house, pottering around and baking, but the weather had different ideas. Unlike yesterday which was grey and dreary, the sky was azure and the temperature balmy for late September, and I really didn't want to waste the day inside. I'd also seen one or two photos recently of pumpkins being harvested, and so we headed down to Hendrewennol, our local pick-your-own farm.

Fortune was on our side, as today was the last day for pumpkin picking; the inclement weather meant that the chap in charge was harvesting them all today to prevent them going manky. We were handed a pair of secateurs (with instructions not to hurt ourselves!) and trotted off through the field exploring with our trusty trug.

Hendrewennol PYO

It was great fun examining all the different sized pumpkins, and finding the right coloured ones too. Orange are perfect for eating now, but green with a slight hint of orange will keep for several weeks until the end of October, especially if kept in a dark space and brought out a fortnight before Hallowe'en. We also picked a load of lovely 'munchkin' pumpkins, which I have great plans for!

Hendrewennol PYO

After we'd unloaded the trug into the car, we went off in search of acorns en route to the maize maze, which was empty of people but full to bursting of sweetcorn cobs. The Boy was fascinated by them and I did take the liberty of stripping a few down (on the plant) to show him that under the silks and leaves were wonderfully, juicy golden cobs.

Hendrewennol PYO

This was the second time we'd been to Hendrewennol this season, the first was in July to pick strawberries. Within a few weeks they will be closed until May as there will be no crops to harvest; that really brought home to me how seasonal fruit and vegetables should be. We spent a wonderful Autumn afternoon here, learning about the food we eat, finding 'loose parts', navigating the maize maze, and then exploring the fabulous sandpit in the play area.

Hendrewennol play area

I also really enjoyed getting to grips with manual on my camera a little bit more, it's starting to make a little more sense to me, and where better to work out the best settings than in this beautiful location?

Hendrewennol PYO

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Linking this up to Country Kids and The Outdoor Play Party for outdoor fun, and The Sunday Prop Shop to show off my wonderful trug and how gorgeous it looks with miniature pumpkins in it being carried by The Boy.

country kids Outdoor play party

LolliBop 2013: Tips For A Children's Festival (Review)

August 21, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 15 Comments

We were very lucky on the weekend to have been invited to attend the LolliBop Children's Festival, in London as an ambassador family. I am not so naive that I'm not aware that as an ambassador family, our experience might have been slightly different from families who paid to go, and didn't have access to the press tent as we did, however I did go with my ever discerning eye. My eye that assesses whether things are worth the value of the ticket, worth the queues and the travel, and whether the event has been fun for my child or not. Yes 'free' is good, but I've been to some rubbish complementary events and been more than happy to 'critique objectively'.

The LolliBop festival has had a mixed reaction from parent bloggers this year, and I think that the response is very much based on what visitors are looking for from the festival. Personally, I went with a few 'must-sees' and the aim to 'go with the flow'. Our aim was to see Alex Winters and give him some Welsh cakes (admittedly, this wouldn't have happened without our little hospitality wristbands), and watch Justin Fletcher and Katy Ashworth. That's all I had planned. Anything else was a bonus.

To start at the beginning, LolliBop is an annual children's festival based in London which is now in its third year. Using the philosophy of a 'big bash for little people', it bills itself as Glastonbury for children. I think that paints the wrong impression, it's far more entertaining and comfortable with far less mud! There is a central stage for the main acts, and plenty of other smaller tents with shows running alongside the main stage throughout the day. Combined with some of the best toy companies around sponsoring play areas (Little Tikes, WOW Toys, etc.) and the variety of activities available (design a River Island t-shirt, create a Sand Art picture, etc.), along with areas to picnic, relax and play, then the whole event lends itself to some great family time enjoying a Summer's day.

The main attraction for us though was how many prominant CBeebies personalities were there, almost like an unofficial CBeebies event; Alex, Sid, Andy, Katy and Justin all were present and made it a child's dream! Combined with Dick and Dom, Rastamouse, Hello Kitty, Skylanders, Peppa Pig, Postman Pat, Mr. Men, Cloudbabies, Tickety Toc, Poppy Cat, and Titan the Robot, there was a character there to please every child.

LolliBop 2013

As far as were concerned, Katy Ashworth stole the show with her antics on the Lolli Kitchen stage. A complete natural, she interacted with both parents and children, bringing squeals of laughter during a fairly rubbish rainstorm. Ever the professional, she persevered with a wet stage and a seven month pregnant baby-bump to really show the children a good time and enthrall them. Alex Winters and his partner in crime Jem Frazer, were excellent comperes for the main stage and kept the atmosphere buzzing the entire time.

I will however admit to being a little disappointed with the Justin Fletcher segment. We'd seen him only a few months ago in Cardiff on his tour and he was excellent then, albeit aided by wonderful sets and an excellent cast. This weekend, some of the sparkle had gone from his act although I'm not sure if that was more to do with him being Justin and not dressing up as any of his characters (note to Justin: choosing to do their voices when not dressed as them is a bad move for infants; it confuses and distressed them!). We actually left his show after ten minutes due to poor visibility at the back of the very large crowd, and a daddy with a sore back from The Boy sitting on his shoulders.

Tips for LolliBop

LolliBop 2013 was sold out on Saturday and Sunday; that means 15,000 tickets were sold for each day. 15,000 people attending mean that visitors will have to queue for some things; toilets, activity sessions and food. However, most of those queues were fairly fast moving, and if comfort breaks and food stops are timed carefully, then the waiting time is reduced.
There is a huge bank of portaloos along the edge of the park, meaning queues were never very long. They are portaloos so there isn't running water for hand-washing; take wet wipes and antibacterial handgel. Toilet paper was plentiful, but I'm old fashioned and take enough to keep an Andrex factory on its toes.
There is a huge selection of food stands available around the entire park, there is no need to take a picnic but I would suggest packing grazing snacks so that blood sugar levels (and happiness levels!) are kept even throughout the day. There are also several stands providing free samples of their food, Barny sponge cakes and Chobani yoghurts were two.
Buy a lanyard programme at the main entrance and identify no more than three or four shows your children would like to see, evenly spaced throughout the day. We found ourselves having to cut off the Sid & Andy show in order to get to see Katy. Likewise we arrived too late for Justin's show and had to stand right at the back with poor visibility. Allow plenty of time beforehand to obtain prime viewing position.
If doing one of the very popular activities like designing a t-shirt with River Island is a must, then time it carefully and either do it straight away or at the end of the day. Lunchtime and early afternoon will see gargantuan queues.
Take time out to play under the trees in the Lollipromenade or The Meadows, it will help refresh and calm your nerves!
Do explore the discovery tents, but do it during one of the larger shows that you won't mind missing as there is more space. We missed out on the National Science Museum tent completely, much to my annoyance and by the time we walked past at 5.50 they were beginning to pack up.
Take plenty of water and drink a lot. Last year I didn't and ended up dehydrated with near heatstroke.
Avoid taking a pushchair around the site! We did take one, but only because I was able to dump it in the hospitality tent and I knew that The Boy would be tired walking back to the station afterwards. There were three pushchair parks and I recommend using them, as the main pathway which flowed through the venue was overrun with fraught pushchair parents and even more fraught people trying to guard their ankles. Use a baby carrier or sling if your child is young enough.

LolliBop 2013 1

Yes, there were queues. Of course there are going to be with 15,000 people on site. I think if a family goes with a strict timetable in mind, and tries to fit in too much or too many organised activities, then that is where discontent (and parental stress!) will set in.

I went last year when the event was held in Regent's Park, and while it was superficially prettier than this year's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, I found it less organised with fewer things to do, and I didn't particularly enjoy it. This year's venue was in the heart of the East End which made travelling to it a little more fraught, but it was in a fairly decent location and much larger with more exciting things to do.

Criticism has been made in other reviews of the lack of trees, quality of the grass and the industrial style building nearby, all of which are unfair on the LolliBop organisers; they are not in control of the wonderful Summer we've had which has blanched the grass, nor were they able to prevent another event happening weeks before which deadened the grass (LolliBop was supposed to have been the only event there this Summer). Likewise they can't control the demolition rate of the building alongside. And trees take a while to grow…

Super Earlybird Tickets for LolliBop were £16.00 each or £62.00 for a family of four. That is incredible value for money, and I would thoroughly recommend buying that price if you're looking to go next year. They then rose in price to £20.00/£78.00 (Earlybird), £23.50/£92.00 (Pre-advanced) and £28.00/£110.00 (Standard Advanced).

Would I have paid £84.00 for the three of us to attend? Yes I would. I paid £75.00 (& booking fee) to see Justin Fletcher in Cardiff for an hour and a half, so I would consider an additional £9.00 to see all of the above stars, shows and activities well worth the money. The Boy had a wonderful time, as did we.

I received free entry into the event and hospitality tent wristbands for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Going MAD at Legoland

August 1, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 9 Comments

There are some things that happen through the world of blogging that really mean I am the world's best mummy. Taking my son to Legoland for a birthday treat a few days after his 4th birthday is one of them.

Well he doesn't understand what blog awards are, let alone the MADs.

To be honest, he doesn't even know what a blog is.

And if you called him The Boy he'd just be confused.

Basically, he thinks the postman is a really kind man to keep giving us presents for him to play with.

I've digressed. A lot.

The very kind and lovely Sally from the MAD Blog Awards team is the person who should be getting the praise and smiles for us being able to visit Legoland back in June, which just happened to coincide with his birthday. She had arranged for all the finalists to have a special day out there together, and although we were a little bit late and missed the first part of the day with the official meet and greet, we had an amazing day in gorgeous weather enjoying the newly opened Duplo Valley and desperately trying to fit everything else in.

This was made significantly easier due to the fact that we were given VIP wristbands, which we thought acted like the Q-Bots, allowing us to go through the fast track path on most rides. On the last ride, we discovered that the gold VIP wristband actually meant we got to queue jump every ride. Did I say that I love Sally yet?

Highlights from the day included:

Duplo Valley: newly opened a few weeks before, the two different water parks and adventure play area were a welcome break from the structure of going on rides. The Boy was quite comfortable in the younger water park area, but when he tried to venture up to one of the water slides in Drench Towers, a huge gush of freezing water from the tipping Lego block drenched him and knocked him over. One of the many fabulous attendants on duty brought him down to us, where we then retreated to the safety of the Duplo Valley adventure play area and he learned how to swing along monkey bars.
Atlantis Submarine Voyage: We'd missed this ride when we went to Legoland back in March, and I was very eager to have a go on it. The part submerged 'submarines' move slowly through the water with windows in the bottom half of the walls which allow passengers to see the many forms of sealife swimming around. Clever additions are Atlantis ruins, fish and divers made out of Lego blocks. The sealife area afterwards is also excellent as children are able to pop their heads up into a tank via a dome to see fish swimming all around them. It gets very crowded though so timing is key here.
Driving School: He loved being able to drive a little car around, albeit proving that he is distracted way too easily because watching the children in the other cars was far more interesting than looking where he was going. There may have been a four car pile-up. This was also where I managed to accost the altogether charming Lucy from Capture By Lucy and have a thirty minute chat with her and her lovely family. The Boy likes her because he said she sounds like Candi from the Skyline Gang at Butlin's. This is a compliment as he loves Candi.

Legoland Windsor

After the many hours traipsing around, we still didn't managed to make it around the whole park, missing out on Kingdom of the Pharaohs, Pirates Landing, Land of the Vikings and Knights' Kingdom.

Nothing for it, we'll just have to go again!

Sally, can we have some more gold wristbands please?

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We were invited to visit Legoland as finalists in the MAD Blog Awards, and we received free entry and VIP wristbands for this. I wasn't asked to blog about it, I have chosen to do so. Thank you to Sally and the MADs team for making this happen, and to all those fabulous people who voted for me to be a finalist.

Days 181-187 of Project 365

July 6, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 30 Comments

181-187 of 365

181. Mr. Bloom (We'd discovered some cheap sunflowers in Aldi (99p each) and as our sunflower seedlings were destroyed accidentally by daddy a week ago, we bought these to replace what should have been. The Boy has taken over watering them until I get the time to plant them!)

182. Happiness Is… (This is the start of me using the FatMumSlim PhotoADay Instagram prompts for my 365 photos. I took a cracking profile photo of The Boy which you can see on my Instagram feed, but I chose this photo as these two, and my garden in the Summer, are what makes me happy.)

183. Shoes (A very busy day with gymnastics, feeding the swans at the nature reserve, shopping and then we popped into Parc Play in Cardiff for 45 minutes run around. We'd bought a season pass on Sunday; £40 until November and at £5 a visit otherwise, I decided we'd definitely come more than eight times over the Summer.)

184. Cold (A really rubbish day in work where I did nothing more than babysit classes all day. A rosé spritzer was definitely needed!)

185. Red, White or Blue (We'd seen Mister Maker doing this activity the other day, and decided to have a go. Really good fun and minimal mess.)

186. Love (I love all of the things in this picture (and some that aren't!): my son, pizza and chips from the local takeaway, Pimm's, my husband (especially for getting the pizza) and a setting sun over my green haven.)

187. Fave Smell (Contrived? No! My favourite smell is the beach in Summer: scorching hot sand, crashing waves, ketchup-laden chips, salty air.)

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The London Eye (Review)

July 3, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 5 Comments

Before our recent weekend trip to London, we spent a long time weighing up where we would go on the Sunday for our family sightseeing day. The problem with London is that while there's a whole host of places to go to and plenty to amuse a four year old child, it's difficult to find one suitable in unpredictable weather.

In the end the one place which had been prodding me in the arm the whole time, poked a little harder and I finally sat up and took notice.

I'd forgotten how peaceful it is 443 feet above the streets of London.

London attractions

We first took The Boy on the London Eye last year and he was besotted even at the tender age of three. This year his spatial awareness and general understanding of the world he lives in has developed, along with his general knowledge, and so spending half an hour spotting the places he'd visited the previous day with his daddy was far easier and more meaningful.

"Mummy, I'm trying to spot the soldier at Buckingham Palace. That's where the Queen lives, you know. The flag is flying today which means she's home."

Visiting the London Eye is easy, especially when it's booked in advance over the Internet via a site like Superbreak, and tickets are picked up in the central ticket office. This runs alongside the main courtyard leading up to the Eye, lined peacefully with trees and provides a large area to queue on one of the busiest days over the Summer season. Luckily, we went on a Sunday morning when most of London is still thinking about breakfast, and the half an hour queue was relatively short and moved steadily, one of the benefits of the Eye never actually stopping.

The vista from the Eye is amazing, and it has to be experienced to understand just how impressive it is. Buildings which are miles away can be seen easily from 135 metres up in the air, people look like ants, the sealed pods hide the noise and chaos of the streets below and allow the beauty of London to be seen as it should be.

Included in the price of the ticket is entry into the 4D film 'experience' and it is a must. It's described as a pre-flight show, presumably once tickets have been picked up from the office, however I think it's actually better after the flight on the Eye as it provides context for children. The effects are brilliant and I wasn't sure whether the bubbles we were trying to catch were real or if the snow falling was; it shows off the wonders of 3D films brilliantly and is the best use of a fourth aspect in 4D films.

Tips:

pushchairs must be folded down due to space restrictions, do this in the queue as the attendants won't let you on with it up;
take water because although the pods are air conditioned, it does get warm in there;
buy one of the £1 360° maps which help you find the various sites around London with the Eye as the centre;
bags will be checked, a metal detector will be waved around your body. All very discreet and unthreatening;
make sure you look at the views on all sides of the pod, the Shard and Waterloo Station train tracks are particularly impressive;
do visit the 4D film experience which is included in the price of the ticket, but don't be conned into posing for the green-screen photo before entering the cinema, they're not free.

Tickets to the London Eye are available directly from the website, however there are a variety of packages available that include entrance into the attraction and a hotel stay as well. Since the cost of hotels in London alone is extortionate, it is well worth investigating London breaks available with someone like Superbreak.

I received free admission tickets onto the London Eye for two adults and one child. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Days 146-152 of Project 365

June 1, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 28 Comments

Project 365

146. Manipulation (We took The Boy over to Techniquest in Cardiff Bay as we'd recently bought a yearly pass, there's so much to explore there and he loves it. Transferring the cargo from the quayside to the ship proved quite tricky, but he managed it!)

147. Pondlife (It was Nana's birthday today and so we took her over to Dyffryn Gardens as she hasn't been there in a decade or two. I surprised her by meeting my sister there with my niece and nephew, and the three children had great fun racing around the grounds, much to mum's delight. The ponds have wonderful examples of pond-skaters, water boatmen and newts there so we got to cross off another of our 50 Things!)

148. Splosh! (A tiresome day today with many things which needed doing before packing to come away on holiday, a tired little boy and a crotchety mummy. By the time Mr. TBaM came in, I handed The Boy over to him for half an hour's splashing fun/peace and quiet.)

149. Fountains (On the way down to Bridport on holiday, we called into Montacute House, a National Trust place in Dorset. Beautiful venue and stately grounds were in abundance, unfortunately there wasn't a huge amount there for children, despite the advertised adventure playground. It gave us a chance to stretch our legs though.)

150. Engine Driver (We returned to Pecorama, a place we'd first been two years ago, to explore the gardens, play areas and most importantly the miniature steam railway. The Boy was very intrigued with how it all worked.)

151. Snappy Dresser! (A morning walk down to West Bay beach at 10am and a straw hat was already a necessity with the blazing sunlight, long may it continue. Maybe The Boy is actually surveying the cliffs at Broadchurch?)

152. From Where We Stand (Or should that be sit? A rare photo of the three of us, even if it is only my feet. No trip to Dorset is complete without a few hours on the imported sandy beach at Lyme Regis! We built sandcastles and ate fish and chips on the beach, followed by an ice-cream on the promenade. The perfect end to our holiday.)

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Why I Love Pinterest (Pin It Forward)

May 30, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 7 Comments

I'm a visual learner (technically a visual-kinaesthetic learner), which basically means that I learn and remember things better once I see them, especially if it involves pictures. As a result, the 'bookmarks' function on most browsers doesn't do it for me as I forget that I've put something there.

That's why I love Pinterest.

Pinterest is a web-based facility which allows users to create virtual 'boards' with items or ideas on it that they like (grouped into categories if they are that organised). For example I am busy browsing the web at the moment for ideas for The Boy's pirate birthday party, I've got a 'pin it' button on my browser and I click that when I see something I like. It saves on the 'Pirate' board I have and allows me to browse the ideas quickly, and then (because it saves the original site's URL in the picture) I can revisit it easily for more details. Far easier to use than 'Bookmarks'!

The other great thing about Pinterest is that other people can 'repin' your ideas onto their own boards, and as a blogger who often writes about craft or play ideas, then it's a great way to share my ideas around the 'Pin-o-sphere'.

Finally, I really enjoy the collaborative boards that can be created on Pinterest. I'm a member of several craft boards, but also run a few boards myself which help promote fun food for children, family days out or outdoor play. My favourite board at the moment is my 'Natural Childhood' board which has over twenty bloggers sharing ideas and prompts for outdoor play.

This month sees the Pinterest campaign 'Pin It Forward' kick off, involving 300 bloggers from a cross-section of interests. The campaign is designed to be the official launch of Pinterest in the UK, although I've been using it for around eighteen months now and have fifty-six boards as a result. As a part of the campaign, I have the honour of introducing another 'Pinner' to my readers, and it really is a pleasure to introduce Christine from Thinly Spread, and her Family Gardening collaborative board.

Thinly Spread was one of the first blogs that I started reading back in 2010, and Chris is a little bit of a blog-crush of mine, especially with her idyllic life with her Ransome-esque family in Somerset. Nip over and check out her wonderful boards full of country goodness for that wonderful feel-good inner glow.

Nip over to Pinterest now, and see what all the fuss is about!

Exploring Tredegar House & Gardens (Country Kids)

May 10, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 27 Comments

Growing up in south Wales means that I have a heads-up on the types of places and activities that are good to take The Boy on weekends; there's now't as good as personal experiences and happy memories as a reference bank to fun!

One of the places that I didn't really experience much as a child was Tredegar House in Newport, probably due to a mixture of cost, subject matter (my mum doesn't like history as she doesn't like to dwell in the past) and distance. I do remember going there once when I was about eight years old, and have a photo to prove it, but haven't been since. And that was a long time ago.

Having a media pass to the National Trust for the year, and being a NT blogger, means that we are now visiting places that we wouldn't have thought of going to before; Tredegar House is one of those. It was taken over by the National Trust last year and since then there have been changes to make it more interactive and interesting to children, something I've noticed in every National Trust property we've been too.

And so we decided to visit Tredegar House last Saturday when they were running a special event to promote the 50 Things campaign. The irony is that we spent so long playing on the lawn with the old fashioned games, having a picnic and exploring the house, that we didn't have much time to try and tick off some of our 50 Things. It's just as well we're making good progress anyway.

Spring had definitely sprung; the brilliant sunlight was glistening through the freshly budding leaves, casting dappled shadows on the lush lawn and providing a veritable paradise to play on. From the huge conifer, spreading its arms over the lawn protectively, hung tyre-horses swinging back and fore with the giggles of The Boy and other delighted children. The huge open space provded him with the ideal opportunity to fly his kite with just enough breeze to lift it.

And after we'd enjoyed our picnic lunch and explored the partly restored manor house, we managed to find a cracking tree to explore inside. The only problem was… how to get up to it? Well, that's what daddies are for, isn't it?

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Days 83-89 of Project 365

March 30, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 38 Comments

83-89 of 365

30th march 2013

83. Look Mummy! (We left for our Butlin's Ambassadors' holidays a day early to break up the journey, and called into Westonbirt Arboretum on the way – more on that in another post. It's an amazing Forestry Commission site, but dear God it was cold. We braved -3°C to explore the play area and some of the old arboretum, and The Boy really showed his growing ability and confidence at tree climbing!)

84. View (Checking into our hotel room in The Ocean Hotel, we discovered that we had a gorgeous view from the fourth floor over the resort. The Boy has been out on the balcony at any and every opportunity this week to catch a glimpse of his beloved helter-skelter.)

85. Plopping (A day trip to Brighton, which was an opportunity that I couldn't let pass when down this way. I've wanted to visit the West Pier for a long time and I find the condition of it so very sad. How it's been allowed to lapse into such a terrible state of disrepair over the past thirty years, is beyond me. Our seaside heritage is one of the things that makes Britain special, to see such a beautiful example of Victorian architecture destroyed is shocking. The remaining pier was a let-down, and so we spent a good amount of time 'plopping' on the beach, having already enjoyed the wonders of the Royal Pavilion.)

86. Round and round (We had passed a walled park several times this week, peeking over the top was a zip-wire and wooden climbing frame. A quick Google showed it to be Hotham Park, which we visited on Wednesday afternoon. The park was amazing, and for most of the hour or so we were there, we had it to ourselves. I even had a go on the zip-wire myself; a first! The Boy found a very different swing to those we are used to, and really enjoyed spinning around watching the sky swirling.)

87. I Can Cook! (This is one of the shows that we've been looking forward to all week. The Boy is completely captivated by Katy's antics on CBeebies and, even though this show wasn't presented by her, he couldn't wait to see today's show. I had to sit him at the front with all the other children, and then join the adults at the back. That was until I heard a frantic 'mummy!' being screamed from the front when the character 'Naughty Salt' was being chased by 'Lucy' around the audience. The Boy hates naughtiness of any description, and it really upset him. Another frantic 'MUMMY!!!' and I'd managed to scoop up his little sobbing body. Apologies to the three parents whose fingers I stood on en route.)

88. By the seaside (Today's photo had to be one that summed up our Butlins Ambassadors break in Bognor Regis; sunshine, deckchairs, cheerful smiles but biting winds. Hats and gloves, long johns and rosy cheeks were the order of the week, but dear God we had fun!)

89. Which ride first? (I won a competition for us to visit Legoland for the launch of the Lego Hero Factory, Build and Test Area. We've never been there with The Boy before, the only other time was actually ten years ago, well before children were thought of, and we commented on the time that it was a pointless place without them. Today we got to try many of the rides that we'd seen then, and how they had expanded the park. Freezing conditions meant that we lasted from 9.30-4.00 but gave up early to head home after a tiring week. The Boy adored the park and the rides were a good length for him to enjoy them, he loved looking over the park map to see where he'd been or which he was going on.)

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Christmas Wonder

December 23, 2012 by TheBoyAndMe 6 Comments

Today we've been to Cardiff Castle to see Father Christmas ahead of his visit on Monday night. We went last year for the first time with my sister and her children, this year she went shopping with her daughter (for whom the big man hold no interest) and we took The Boy and my sister's son, with my mum, brother and his boy. Last year it was a really special trip, so magical for the boys, and we wanted to recreate that.

In preparation for our visit, we 'wrote' our letter asking for a robot and The Boy made a beautiful card.

The Boy was completely captivated by the experience and loved meeting Santa in such a beautiful and magical setting. He gave him his card which went down really well, and I helped to open the letter and then they had a very serious discussion about the requested toy, as you can see above. The elder cousins enjoyed it as well, but there was a small amount of scepticism upon their meeting. You see, there was a gap in the 'hair' of the Santa's moustache which showed the elastic holding it in place; a real shame.

Following this, we went and had a meal in Pizza Express which was great to spend time as siblings with the younger and older generation around us.

Originally the plan was to go over to the Winter Wonderland where the Coca-Cola trucks were visiting, along with a few of the mighty reindeers due to pull the sleigh on Monday night. It would have been brilliant, unfortunately the weather had other plans; it poured down and Cardiff was foul with surface water and dawdling shoppers. We came home instead.

However, we had managed to visit the Winter Wonderland a few weeks ago where old fashioned fairground rides proved a great source of entertainment for the three of us all as squeals of delight filled the air.

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