LolliBop 2012

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Last August the bloggosphere was filled with talk of the LolliBop Festival in London. At the time I was still quite new to the blogging world and was unaware of the wonders of the fantastic children's festival. However this year it's returning to Regent's Park with another fantastic line up and we will most definitely be there!

Completely created as 'The Big Bash for Little People', LolliBop takes place on the weekend of Friday 17th August until Sunday 19th, and while its main audience is intended to be children up to the age of 10, I suspect big kids of all ages will enjoy it with a plethora of wonderful activities.


I'm a little overawed at the huge range of acts, stageshows and activities taking place during those three days, it really will provide something for every child, no matter what the age.

Personally, we're looking forward to:

  • seeing The ZingZillas perform on the LolliBop Live stage;
  • the story of The Gruffalo in the Lollipaladium;
  • getting crafty with Mister Maker;
  • yoga sessions with Waybuloo;
  • an Alice In Wonderland tea party;
  • meeting ‘Tiny’ the 125 million years young dinosaur;
  • cooking with My Daddy Cooks in the LolliBop Kitchen;
  • the Halfords Bike City (which will include a Wacky Races obstacle course for under 5’s);
  • the Mr Men & Little Miss Party Roadshow;
  • LolliBop Animal Curiosities, which features animals including a polar bear, a dinosaur and gorillas (!);
  • the Disco Shed which will have mini boppers dancing the day away;
  • finding out what's in The Enchanted Forest;
  • the Village Green as the perfect spot to chill out and enjoy some street theatre.

Rest assured though, there are plenty of other activities for younger children with the the '3ft & Under' area (with a mini disco, tiny play, little arts, baby ballet, yoga, teddy bears picnic and sing and sign), and oodles for older children; Dick and Dom, a Moshi Monsters Mash Up Tournament (where children are challenged to put their Mash Up skills to the test with free Mash Up cards), the life-size Transformers Optimus Prime Truck, workshops by Horrible Histories and the Roald Dahl Museum, performances by 8ft Titan the Robot, the Tween Town area (with street dance, hula-hooping, magic and beat-boxing workshops, plus an older arts and crafts tent and a brand new laser room), a BMX stunt display and demo area, and the Science Museum are preparing for a triumphant return to Regent’s Park with an expanded area and dedicated Science Zone.

Reassuringly this is one festival which is completely geared towards the family ethos with two 'boob and botty boudoirs' and covered buggy parks and lollishade areas. There will also be a good selection of food and drink options available.

I'm really looking forward to experiencing the fun and games at LolliBop and as all activities inside the event are free, then I think that the £22 a person ticket is excellent value for money.

LolliBop takes place in Regent’s Park, London on August 17-19. Tickets are priced at £22 per person (adults and children pay the same price) but babies under 12 months old are free. 

Frankie & Benny's (A Review)

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I've never been to Frankie & Benny's before, for various reasons one of which was that there wasn't a local branch near us in Cardiff Bay. Just a couple of years ago, one was opened about ten minutes from my house and yet I still hadn't been. I'm not sure why, I think it's because as a vegetarian I wasn't convinced that there would be anything on the menu for me.

However, when we were invited to review their new menus, I jumped at the chance to disspell my uneasiness about the American-Italian restaurant chain and decided to give it a go. Before we went, I checked the menu to ascertain if there are any vegetarian dishes (as I hate sitting at the table and discovering my choice is lasagne or salad) and was reassured to find a range of dishes, including penne, pizza, a burger and a wrap. Not a massive choice but enough for me to feel that I had a choice.

Before I go any further, I will declare now that this is a mixed-bag for a review: most of the actual food itself was ok, the service and hygiene was not.

We arrived at 12.30pm on Sunday for lunch and we'd already decided that we needed to have the three courses to be able to sample the menu properly. We were greeted by a happy and cheerful waitress who seated us at a corner table with a highchair for The Boy. And this was the first hygiene problem. I always carry Dettol wipes in my handbag, and thank God I do because this was the state of the highchair:

The entire seat was covered in ingrained food and dirt. I considered not even putting him in the highchair but decided to give it a wipe over myself and keep an eye on where he put his hands. The table also needed wiping down as it had sticky drink stains on it, and the menus had tomato ketchup and soft drink dried onto them. Two of the five forks were dirty. Mr. TheBoyandMe took The Boy to the toilet and told me that one of the door-locks was broken and the loo-seat wasn't attached. Great.

After 15 minutes, we were 'greeted' by our waiter and we gave our food order and then asked if we could have some drinks. I checked to see if they had a plastic beaker for toddlers (as they do in Pizza Express) or a paper cup with a lid (Pizza Hut) but was told it was just a glass so I asked him to leave it as I had a tippy-cup of water he could drink from. 9 minutes later he returned with the two soft drinks and the heavy glass of water which I hadn't wanted.

Starters

Left:Dough sticks, dough balls and hot cheese = £5.95

Right: 'Amazing skins' with melted goat's cheese & home-made bruschetta = £4.95

These arrived 23 minutes after we ordered them. As it goes, I was very happy with the doughballs and doughsticks and felt that they were good value for money, especially if used as a big sharing plate between people in the party. The 'Amazing skins' were pleasant enough but the potato was terribly fatty and they certainly weren't 'fully loaded' as in the description.

Main

As soon as the starters were initially brought out, I asked the waiter to bring The Boy's main meal as soon as it was ready. This is actually good practise for restaurants when families are dining with young children, but it did seem an alien concept to the waiter. Nonetheless, The Boy's meal was brought out ten minutes after we finished the starters which was a full twenty minutes after it was asked for (more about his later) and ours came twenty-five minutes after we'd finished the starters.

Goat's Cheese & Caramelised Red Onion Hot Baked Wrap = £8.45

This was one of the more adventurous vegetarian meals on the menu and I was happy with the size of the portion, the imagination behind the concept and the quality of the food. The wrap was fresh and tasty, the filling plentiful, and the chips very tasty. The only thing I will say is that I felt that the onion was too overwhelming a flavour but that is probably a personal choice. This had a thumbs up from me.

A 'Deep-filled' New Yorker Calzone = £10.45

At this point I need to point out two things: I have never known my husband (in twelve years) to ever complain about a meal, and the product description for this is as follows; "Full to the brim with spicy pepperoni, ham, bacon, mushrooms and mozzarella. All topped with Mamma’s rich Neapolitan tomato and herb sauce."

I think that it's clear from the photo that it is not 'full to the brim' at all: this 'deep-filled' calzone is as flat as pancake. Mr. TheBoyandMe said that the ham was heavily processed, the bacon was fatty, there was barely any cheese and the whole thing was greasy and bland. He's since explained to me that he orders a calzone as a measure of comparison in new restaurants because he knows what an Italian and an American-Italian calzone is like having tasted them in both countries (I did wonder why he has them so often) and is rarely disappointed. He was incredibly disappointed with this one and said that the filling wouldn't have been enough to cover a pizza had it not been folded. Not good enough for £10.45!

We finished our main at 1.55 and ordered desserts five minutes afterwards at 2pm.

Dessert

'The Godfather' – a sharing sundae = £7.95

We decided to share a pudding and went for this 'mountain of brownies, crunchy chocolate malt balls, red berries and cream. Topped with ice cream, lashings of toffee and chocolate sauce and finished with toffee crunch.' Aside from the small amount of ice-cream and copious amounts of squirty cream, it didn't disappoint. It was very tasty, very filling and we would order it again with no problem.

However, it took 36 minutes for it to arrive.

Kids' Menu

Left: Pork sausage, mash & beans.

Right: Chocolate ice-cream sundae

I was impressed with the choice on the kids' children's menu: spaghetti bolognese, hamburger, chicken strips, margherita pizza, fish fingers, chicken pasta or sausage. This younger menu costs just £3.95 and includes a main course, a dessert and refillable soft drinks. There is also the the option of a free side of vegetables, side salad or Heinz baked beans.

The sausage meat was quite poor quality and The Boy actually wouldn't eat it, which is rare for him and sausages. The mashed potato was 'smash'-style packet potatoes. The whole thing had been sat on the side for a while as the mashed potato had a skin on it, the plate was hot (a no-no for children) and the baked beans were drying around the side. The quantity was perfect for younger children, but the quality was far from ideal.

He had a single scoop of chocolate ice-cream for pudding with sauce on top and a separate pack of chocolate buttons. A perfectly sized dessert for a young child.

The activity pack contained a double-sided activity booklet for different ages, a jigsaw and a multi-coloured colouring pencil. It is one of the better packs I've seen and was well received.

Finally, 2 hours and 15 minutes after we were first seated I managed to pay the bill. At this point I decided to tell the manager about the highchair, rather than leaving it until this review is (possibly) passed on and countless other children being placed in the same seat. I showed him the dirty straps and seat and he was genuinely shocked. He apologised and tried to give an excuse, stopped because there is none and apologised again. He then sent over a waitress to clean it. I did intervene and tell her it actually needed taking apart and scrubbing as spray wasn't going to clean off months of built up dirt.

What was good?

  • The hot bread sharing plate for starters
  • The hot baked goat's cheese & caramelised onion wrap
  • The portions and price of the younger children's menu
  • The children's activity pack
  • The sharing sundae

What was bad?

  • The 'amazing skins'
  • The 'deep-filled' calzone
  • The cleanliness throughout the entire restaurant: table, menu, cutlery, toilets, highchairs. If that is what the front of house is like, what state are the kitchens in?
  • The waiting period:
    • 12.30 seated
    • 12.45 order taken
    • 12.54 drinks arrived
    • 1.08 starters came and asked for The Boy's meal
    • 1.21 end of starters
    • 1.28 The Boy's main arrived
    • 1.45 mains came
    • 2.00 ordered ice-cream
    • 2.20 waiting for ice-cream for 20 mins
    • 2.36 ice-creams came
    • 2.41 waiting for the bill

Is it good enough that it took 2 hours and 15 minutes to have a family meal? I don't think so. Not when actual eating time was 25-30 minutes, leaving 1 hour and 45 minutes as waiting time.

Will I go again? Unless there are serious improvements in service and cleanliness? No!

I was provided with a £50 voucher towards the cost of this meal. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Five Things To Do Before You're Three

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I was chatting with my sister-in-law earlier and she mentioned something that she'd read through her work (outdoor adventure leader for children with behavioural problems) which I found fascinating, and wanted to share.

The National Trust, as a part of their nationwide campaign to encourage outdoor adventure and play in our couch-potato children, has published a list of 50 Things To Do Before You're 11¾. I'm a big fan of Country Kids over on Coombe Mill and try and take part most weeks with photos and posts of The Boy having fun outdoors and generally getting mucky. This list has a great range of things on there, quite a few of which he's already experienced:

Climb a tree (04/11/12), roll down a really big hill, camp out in the wild, build a den, skim a stone, run around in the rain, fly a kite, catch a fish with a net, eat an apple straight from a tree, play conkers, throw some snow, hunt for treasure on the beach, make a mud pie, dam a stream, go sledging, bury someone in the sand, set up a snail race, balance on a fallen tree, swing on a rope swing, make a mud slide, eat blackberries growing in the wild, take a look inside a tree, visit an island, feel like you’re flying in the wind, make a grass trumpet, hunt for fossils and bones, watch the sun wake up, climb a huge hill, get behind a waterfall, feed a bird from your hand (09/12 – Coombe Mill), hunt for bugs, find some frogspawn, catch a butterfly in a net, track wild animals, discover what’s in a pond, call an owl, check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool, bring up a butterfly, catch a crab, go on a nature walk at night, plant it grow it eat it, go wild swimming, go rafting, light a fire without matches, find your way with a map and compass, try bouldering, cook on a campfire, try abseiling, find a geocache, canoe down a river.

There's obviously quite a few things on that list that are a bit tricky for a two and three-quarter year old to do, but he's got nine years to scare the hell out of me and try abseiling and canoe down a river. However, I'm going to set him a little target of five things from the list to do before he's three years old in six and a half weeks time (eeek!):

I reckon they're achievable?

What five things are you going to do with your tiddler from the list?

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Fun With Friends On The Farm

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Today we met up in Somerset with Jenny, Burton and Jenson from Mummy Mishaps. We'd both really wanted to go to the Warner Bros event earlier in the week but were unable to make it, so we decided to meet at Puxton Park, just off junction 21 of the M5.

The weather was typical April with brilliant sunshine one minute and lashing rain the next. However it didn't deter us from having fun both indoors in the massive soft play, and outdoors in the digging sand pit, adventure park, climbing fort and having a quick look at the animals before the deluge.

[slickr-flickr tag='Funwithfriends']

The boys had a great time together, and even though the weather cut our time short I suspect we'll be meeting the Mummy Mishaps mob again there. Worth a visit!

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I've added this to Coombe Mill's Country Kids

Why I'll Need A Time-Turner

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Now that The Boy is getting older, I've started to contemplate different types of days out with him. He's getting to the age where he has a sustained period of concentration, he's interested in stories and the whys and hows of things, and loves to experience new things. It never fails to amaze me the memories that he comes out with, small events that happened last year but they pop into his head at the most obscure of times when something prompts his recall of them.

I think that the great family day out is something that needs to have a resurgence, it's way too easy to spend the weekends lolling around and not doing anything. When I was a child we always went out on a Sunday afternoon and did something, even if it was only to a park or the beach, possibly a ruined castle, but always something as a family. I don't think there's much of an effort in families nowadays to do this. Maybe parents think that the time spent together has to involve a lot of cost, but I actually think a lot of it comes down to a) the stress of both parents working and b) Sunday trading hours allowing for afternoons spent in supermarkets! Hardly the essence of childhood memories is it?

In June, we'll be going to London for the BritMums Live blogging conference. I say 'we' because there is no way that I'm leaving Mr. TBaM and The Boy here on their own. I maintain that it's because I'll miss them (and I will) but in all honesty, I'm more worried that they'll have a fab time without me and I can't split myself into two. So I'm dragging them to the capital city for the weekend with me. While I'm busy chatting and socialising networking and improving my blog on the Saturday, I suspect they will be enjoying the Science Museum, it's something that Mr. TBaM has wanted to take The Boy to since before he was even conceived.

I'm still trying to narrow down what to do on the Sunday when we have our family time together. I've had fabulous suggestions of London Zoo, the Transport Museum and of course I want to check out Hyde Park and the London Eye. However, I'm wondering how we could forget one of the things that for me is synonymous with London? How could we possibly neglect the West End?

Is there time to squeeze in a child's day out at the theatre or am I asking too much from a (then) three year old? And even then, which production? There are so many different and marvellous musicals on at the moment that I wouldn't know where to start. Maybe one of those that had the 'search for the star' type tv shows? I could always investigate Wizard of Oz tickets but I think that would be more for me in my attempts to get closer to those sparkly shoes that I've always covetted.

I suspect that unless I manage to procure Hermoine's time-turner that we're going to be sticking to the London Eye and Hyde Park, but you never know!

This is a featured post.

We're Going To London…

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I'm very excited!

Before Christmas, I bought my ticket for the Britmums Live in London in June. Last year I had many lengthy discussions with other mums and bloggers on twitter about going to the equivalent conference held at the same time, but decided that it would be too much like an INSET day for me and therefore I didn't want to go. As it so happened, the closer it got to the big day, and the more twitter was completely and utterly taken over with plans surrounding Cybermummy, I became just that teensiest bit green about the hundreds of mummy bloggers going. It was made worse by the fact that I was having to attend the school Summer fayre and paint children's faces. As pink butterflies.

However, this year I am determined not to miss out again! So during a discussion with someone on twitter, they offered to sponsor me and bought my ticket for the blogging conference there and then. They offered to contribute towards my travel and hotel costs but I declined. I know! Foolishness? No, I don't think so at all. I won't be going there on my own you see, I will be accompanied by The Boy and Mr. TheBoyandMe. Friday to Sunday is a long time for me to be away from my boys and I don't honestly think I'd enjoy it as much as I should knowing that they're three hours and 150 miles away from me. Therefore we're turning it into a family weekend, hence paying for our own accommodation.

Doing it this way means that we'll be able to spend Sunday together as a family in London and show our (then) three year old son some of the sites which he will hopefully find exciting. Last Summer was filled with days out and weekend breaks away, one of which was to Cadbury World in Bourneville. I want this Summer to be filled with similar family days out and excursions, be it to the beach or our trip to London. I'm at a loss as to whether he will enjoy the London Eye or if that might be too chaotic for him? It might be better to go for a quieter (and cheaper) venue which he will enjoy, and will allow us to actually spend time relaxed in each other's company. Possibly one of the parks? I went to Kew Gardens in London on a school trip when I was a teenager and really enjoyed that, maybe it would be better as it is sited on the escape from central London back to the cooler and calmer climes of Cardiff?

It may only be January, but I'm starting to make preparations and get excited about our trip in June. I can't wait to see London again, it's been such a long time since we were last there. I'm just as excited about seeing all the other bloggers, but I'm possibly most jubilant that I won't be painting any pink butterflies that day!

And who is my sponsor? That's another blog-post.