The Open Road

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Back in our footloose and fancy free days, Mr. TheBoyandMe and me did a decent amount of travelling on our holidays. Most of the time it was for long weekend breaks in European cities, as I am a bit rubbish on medium/long haul flights, but there were the odd occasion where we flew for over eight hours to either Dubai or to America. Those holidays were amazing, and we were fortunate to get upgrades to premium economy or, in the case of America, first class! Thank you Virgin Atlantic!

However, one thing that I decided from those holidays is that I would not be taking The Boy on any flights until over the age of five years old. I am certinly not condemning anyone who does, but the thought of trying to keep a little one amused on a aeroplane for more than an hour, while stressing that they weren't irritating the less understanding passengers, makes my blood run cold with fear and anxiety! The decision was made to spend The Boy's first holidays in our own country, and I've never regretted it!

We've been on holiday now three times to Dorset, each time with my parents, and hired lovely little cottages by the sea. We tend to stay in the same town each time, the one that my great aunt used to live in, and always always enjoy it. But this year I fancy something and somewhere different. I've been investigating wooden lodges in Cornwall, debating caravans in Devon, staying with friends in the Lake District and I can't decide which one to go for. All I do know is that after last year's holidays with mum and dad (where we argued and were over-ruled on our parenting the entire week), our main holiday this year has got to be different. This is our time to relax, enjoy our surroundings and chill out, bonding as a family.

One of my best memories from my childhood holidays (always spent in static caravans in the South-West of England) is when my dad converted an old transit van into a campervan. It is the only time I have been 'camping', and I'm not sure that one night spent on a camp-site really constitutes camping, but it's the closest I'll ever let myself get to 'roughing it'. Dad had put in a sink, a stove, a table and benches. He'd designed it so that the table dropped down and made a bed which mum, my sister and I slept on, while he slept on the floor underneath. I remember every single elbow in my face (from my sister), every pelt of rain on the window, and every bleat from the camp-site goat, and this was over twenty-five years ago!

The idea of a campervan or mobile home really appeals to me though. Not a caravan which wobbles, but something that can be static but easily moved to another location. Just packing everything up and moving to another beach, another farm, another county really excites me. I have such twitchy feet on holiday that one time when we stayed in Barcelona (for five nights) we stayed in two different hotels! I don't like the idea of being stuck somewhere unpleasant. With a motorhome you could change your surroundings, and chase the weather, so easily.

I know that things aren't quite as easy as all that though, there's maintenance to be had on any vehicle and a motorhome is no different. Tax, MOTs, general services and motorhome insurance are all things that need to be taken into consideration. However, what a fabulous pipe-dream for me to have? And when I win the lottery this weekend, I will indeed be investigating the swishiest motorhome that I can find!

12 From '11

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This past year has been a whirl-wind of fun and chaos and all thanks to eleven little letters contained in four words:

The Boy and Me

Not only is this site a place with photos and reviews and competitions, but it's also our lives: the lives of my son, my husband and me. It's been a year of change and adjustment, fun and games, tears and therapy. There are people who read my blog, who comment and have become friends in real life, which is something that I would never have imagined when I penned my first tentative post. Thank you to everyone who reads about my little corner of the world, I really appreciate every single read and comment.

Here's my 2011!

January

The start of the year saw me pondering the loss of the technology in our home.

February

I confessed one of my deepest darkest secrets to anyone who wanted to read it. Oh the shame, my cheeks are still burning!

March

We decided that the cold was for wimps and got busy with a few meters of plastic tubing and a watering can.

April

An egg-citing trail around the garden lead to much consumption of cocoa.

May

Finally, 17 years after completing my GCSEs, I gained an 'ology!

June

The Boy celebrated his 2nd birthday.

July

With the sun beating down on us on one of the hottest weekends of the Summer, we decided to spend it going to a chocolate factory, meeting other bloggers and going on safari!

August

Toilet humour was the order of the day as one of the most stressful and confining experiences of my life began!

September

We discovered the wonders of wellies.

October

With random heatwaves and bouts of frostiness, we met a CBeebies hero.

November

My baby became a little boy as testosterone kicked in, in an astounding and upsetting way.

December

The celebrations for Christmas started with a big weekend party.

What one event would you pick to sum up your 2011?

Blue Skies and Bluebirds

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Before yesterday I had never been to a football match. Neither had my 36 year old husband. Clearly The Boy hadn't either, unless he tootles off when he's supposed to be having his afternoon nap.

Therefore when I was invited to watch Cardiff City Football Club (the Bluebirds) against Barnsley by Netmums as part of the Family Football Festival, I jumped at the chance. While remaining sceptical that it wasn't my (ball) game, I was eager to shake off the opinion based on the reputation that football has had for many a year. That of a male-orientated, shouty, sweary sport. My friends and I had a rule in our 'going-out' days; we would always go into Cardiff on a rugby match night, but never on a football match night. Twelve or so years on, I was interested to know if football's reputation has changed or not.

We arrived at Cardiff City Stadium just over an hour before kick-off and already it was a hive of activity. Giving the magic password (the name of the Director of International Marketing), we were directed into the dedicated car-park. Parking at Cardiff City Stadium is extremely limited on match-days. The majority of spots are taken by staff and Season Ticket Holders with valid match-day parking permits. The remaining spots are allocated on a first-come first served basis on the day of the game. However, despite the fact that the stadium is opposite a retail park (parking is not advised there, the shops get cross for some strange reason), there are a variety of carparks within a five-ten minute walking distance. I am only too aware that we were given a reserved space and that normally we would walk in with the other families.

Cardiff City Football Club has been lucky to have a new stadium (opened in July 2009), moving from their original football ground literally across the road to a brand-spanking new stadium, shared with the Cardiff Blues. At the time, the stalwart fans of CCFC mourned the loss of Ninian Park Road stadium, but times change and it needed moderinising. And oh how it has been! The new stadium is clean, modern, fresh with great facilities for all.

When we first walked in to the stadium, we were greeted in reception by the previously mentioned Director of International Marketing with a goody-bag for The Boy. The chocolate was most welcome half way through the match!

We were taken through into the 'back-stage' area and were taken to be shown around the ground. It was only when we walked through some double-doors onto the pitch, and I glanced up at some eager teenagers wondering who I was, that I realised we'd been taken out through the tunnel!

Walking alongside the pitch, we were told how the entirety of the Grange end of the stadium was given over to the family section. Normally this would allow for six and a half thousand seats, on that day (as it was a Family Football Festival day) they had opened up more and were expecting eight thousand family seats filled. We were shown the various food outlets, the plentiful toilets (male, female, disabled, baby-changing) and then taken to the area aimed at families.

There we found a dedicated area for playing games on computer consoles, a magician who made fabulous balloon animals (he also made The Boy a football player), a football-skills game and…

…this is where we met Cardiff City's special guest. Having already tweeted with him we knew that he was going to be there, watching the match. I'd hoped that we'd have a chance to meet him, but was delighted to be actually introduced by the club.

Chatting with Alex (CBeebies) he explained to me that he supported the Bluebirds and often came to home matches, either with his niece (in her teens) or with his own children (who are under six). The main point that Alex was keen to stress is that what was in the stadium that day, was always there. Cardiff completely understand how important it is to make this a family-friendly sport, and cater for that. There are signs all over the stadium saying 'watch your language' or 'no swearing', and if any is heard, then one of the many polite and helpful attendants are on hand to have a word with the offender. CCFC also has a family-focus group that meets every three months to discuss ways forward with the club, and how they can make it more family-orientated and improve facilities.

We were left to enjoy the family entertainment prior to the match, and of course we checked out the clean and tidy facilities before finding our seats. I was expecting to be up in the Gods, and therefore was pleasantly surprised to find that we had seats in 'h' row, which was actually only four rows back from the pitch. Luckily, it was a beautiful sunny day, I suspect we'd be a bit damp mid-Winter. However, we had a perfect view of Cardiff's goalposts, which was just as well bearing in mind the outcome.

As to the match itself. I found that I had butterflies in my stomach waiting for kick-off, and with good reason. The first half was amazing, playing out right in front of our eyes. Three goals and an unfortunate head injury, left us ooh-ing and aah-ing, jumping to our feet and cheering along with everyone else. When one of our players (because they're mine now too) was fouled, The Boy looked on in interest while everyone urged for a subsequently-granted yellow card. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and my fears of The Boy being frightened by the noise were quashed when he clapped, cheered and laughed along with everyone else.

The second half was just as nail-biting as the first, although (as I soon found out) mostly conducted at the other end of the pitch. This obviously meant that The Boy had difficulty maintaining concentration, and luckily I had been told to take something to entertain him; cue a colouring pad, crayons or the iPod Touch.

We left just before the end of the match so didn't see what happened then. Although we were right by the stairwell and didn't have to worry about any heights, I knew that trying to get out of a football stadium car-park which is on the edge of a retail park at tea-time on a Saturday would be a nightmare. However, we really didn't want to leave, but The Boy was beginning to find it difficult to concentrate.

I am a convert! I never thought I'd say that about football, but I am. It was exciting, friendly, and the facilities in Cardiff are excellent. We will be going again, although I suspect we'll wait until The Boy is a little older.

There's a reason why Cardiff have this proudly displayed outside:

I am a member of the Netmums Parent Bloggers Network, a unique community of parent bloggers from around the UK who have been handpicked by the Netmums team from our database to review products and brands on their behalf. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I can 'opt in' to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity.

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Listography: Top Five Searches

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The inimitable KateTakes5 has set us the challenge of revealing the top five searches on our blog.

Some people have exciting results like "surfing on jelly" or "nakes bananas". I don't. On WordPress, I have three variations of my blog name and twelve variations for a cosmetic review I did. Oh and an ostrich.

I'm going to check Google Analytics instead…

They're just as bad!

I'm going to sift through the review referrals and pick out the next five that are about content instead.

  1. Learning Through Play: this makes me happy as it's one of the things that I'd like my blog associated with.
  2. Composterium: and now it's going through my head again! Thank you Mr. Bloom!
  3. We Went To The Animal Fayre: ah, that was a good weekend.
  4. Helen Jessup: I kid you not.
  5. I Need a Wee-Wee: ah, famous for my potty-training posts.

I can't believe number four…
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Folly Farm

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During the Summer holidays I celebrated my 34th birthday. I know, I don't look old enough.

In order to celebrate, we decided to head down to west Wales to spend the day at Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo. We'd last been there over five years ago with Mr. TheBoyandMe's nieces and nephew, and I couldn't wait to show The Boy the different farm animals, the old-fashioned funfair rides and the indoor play area. Plus, I had been champing at the bit to see the only giraffes in Wales.

FollyFarm is not a theme park, thank goodness. It's been going for over twenty years, initially as a farm diversification project and then when the owners' daughter and husband joined the management, they brought their Disneyland training with them to make it more of an adventure with rides and attractions for all ages.

At the heart of FollyFarm remains the Jolly Barn which is home to a huge variety of  farmyard friends: sheep, pigs, donkeys, horses, chickens, goats, etc. While this is now a small part of the various attractions, it remains my joint favourite section and is constantly filled with children under seven years, petting, grooming and learning about everyday farm animals.

My second favourite area of FollyFarm is the Vintage Funfair. This is seriously good fun! A stunning carousel proudly dominates the centre of it, but there are the other really traditional rides; the swing-chairs, the dodgems, ghost-train, fun-house and waltzers. There are also a whole heap of other rides for younger children, and this is the first time The Boy had experienced rides like this unattended. My heart was in my mouth the entire time, but he had such fun and I saw him grow up just a little bit more in front of my eyes.

The rides in this section require tokens, which cost 50p each. Most rides are only one token, very few are two tokens. While this is a nominal amount, with the entrance fee of £9.00 for adults and £8.00 concessions (peak times), spending much time in this zone could soon mount up for a family of four or more. The Vintage Funfair is a must-see element of FollyFarm (especially if it's raining), but you will need to budget it into your expenses.

The other area that I was really excited to see was the Folly Zoo, mainly because of the giraffes. There are many different zones, equating to habitats: Desert Heat, Australian Outback, African Reserve etc. This last one was, for me, the best. There are (from what I recall) six giraffes and their facilities are fabulous. They are absolutely thriving in their environment. The zebras are also magnificent specimens with a huge paddock area for roaming, running and being quite frisky in!

It was quite a chilly and wet day when we went there, and so we didn't spend a huge amount of time outside. However there are masses of areas and attractions for little, and big, ones to play on. They have had a ferris wheel installed since the last time we were there, but the JCBs, sand-diggers, ride-ons, adventure playgrounds are all still there and covered in swarming children. It's a very popular aspect of the park.

The central area is where most of the food outlets are. There's a range including the usual burger and chips, along with a family restaurant and a cafe (bizarrely there's also a fully-licensed bar), and a sandwich/light meals section. Hot drinks are around £1.50, a baguette £3.25, a baguette meal (including crisps and drink) is £5.35. These are average places for a tourist attraction. There are also two large areas (one indoor, one outdoor) for picnics, which is what we took with us. There are plenty of bins around and recycling facilities, along with people sweeping up dropped litter.

We had a good time in Folly Farm: the range of attractions are wide-ranging and aimed at family entertainment without a cacophony of sirens and screams, the facilities are good and the atmosphere is fun. The entrance fee does vary with season and there are additional costs for rides, so check the website before you go.

And one last thing, it's in West Wales and on a hillside: take a pac-a-mac with you, along with your sunscreen. When it's hot, it's a sun-trap and glorious. When it rains: don't let it spoil your fun!

We were provided with free entrance tickets for the purpose of this review. My opinion is, as always, honest.

Seeking Out Autumn

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Several months ago I read an activity post from Multiple Mummy that involved a nature trail in her back garden (her son had chickenpox so they were quarantined). Ever since, I've wanted to do this with The Boy but it's taken time to get prepared. First of all, I had to find some self-adhesive pads which having scoured local shops for, I ended up finding them in a cheap shop on holiday in Dorset! Now things are more comfortable with potty-training, I felt happy to have a go.

With the increasing bite in the air and the occasional, but gentle, rainbursts, it was time to pop on our wellies and waterproofs and go nature-treasure hunting in a local park. Ideally to do this activity you need horse chestnut and sycamore trees, pine trees and possibly an oak. There is a park on the way down to the beach that is perfect for this with the abundance of trees lining the periphery of the park.

The Boy already knew what a conker was because I'd shown him a few days beforehand, trying to get him to find other treasures proved interestins; he's only two, he's never seen these things before. We wondered around the more woodland area of the beautiful Victoria park, straying off paths, climbing up banks and sliding down muddy paths and found a whole heap of nature's wonders. The Boy kept stopping and listening during the still moments between the roars from the cars on the road alongside the park. In those snapshots of serenity he heard the raindrops falling through the layers of the canopies, blackbirds calling, squirrels scampering up the treetrunks, and his absolute favourite was the chorus of the crickets in the long grass. He stood and listened for over ten minutes.

In this emeral and khaki wonderland, under our rubber-encased feet and amongst the fallen detritus, we found pine cones, acorns, beech tree seeds, red leaves, orange leaves, multi-coloured leaves and conkers in their cases and out. Is their any greater joy than opening up a conker case and being the first person in the entire world to see that feat of nature?

Children can only learn what they experience!

(Come back tomorrow to find out what we found in our nature trail)

The Gallery: Animals

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The theme this week provided by the lovely Tara is animals:

I'm sure we're going to see a lot of photos of pets, but try to branch out, be a bit different. Test yourself. Go off in search of a cow or a ladybug or something a little more exotic.

Tara will be pleased to hear that I'm not even going to touch the idea of pets. We haven't got any and I don't want any until I can no longer avoid it with The Boy. Although before he was born, we had some gorgeous fancy goldfish including a Bristol Blue Shubunkin called Bob who was stunning. Absolutely gorgeous! He originated as a classroom pet along with Daphne, Derek, Clive and Cynthia. Daphne and Derek were sent home with two children, who adored them, at the end of the school year. Clive and Cynthia came home with me. Unfortunately they didn't cope with the move very well and turned up their fins. But Bob was indestructable. I almost killed him twice through keeping him a plastic box which, it transpires, was slowly poisoning him in the sunlight. However, I managed to save him and from then on in (for three years) we were inseparable. Until I had The Boy and couldn't face cleaning him out regularly. So he and Betty, her with the deformed mouth, were dispatched to a good home.

I've waffled on about pets when I wasn't going to.

We've had a summer of animals!

This last weekend, we have been up to Manchester with the initial purpose of seeing Mr. Fletcher at MediaCity, but ending up socialising instead. On Saturday we went to Blue Planet Aquarium, Chester with MammyWoo, AddyWoo and the Irish One. I've long wanted to take The Boy to an aquarium to show him fish, this is a really good one as it has an aqua tunnel which is 70 metres long and takes you into the world of sharks, rays and stunning tropical fish.

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Earlier in the summer, we had another tweet-up with some other fabulous bloggers (Wendy and family from Inside the Wendy House, and Helen and family from The Crazy Kitchen). Here we joined the traffic jam which is normally synonymous with Birmingham, but this time relocated to West Midlands Safari Park. As amazing as it is, two and half hours driving around a load of Safari animals who are mostly asleep in the trees is a tad frustrating. That was until we came to my favourite animal of all time. I'm not saying anything else on the subject…

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Exploring Science!

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Today we met up with an old school friend of mine and her little girl who is two months older than The Boy. She had some Tesco Days Out vouchers which we used to gain free entrance into Techniquest, a science exploration centre in Cardiff Bay. I've been there many times over the years, either with nieces and nephews or taking a class there. This is the first time, I've taken The Boy on a dedicated trip just for him.

And he loved it!

Techniquest is a hands-on centre with dedicated exhibits exploring all aspects of Science. My personal favourites are the marble-run (massive display with different sized marbles and different routes), the water play, the shadow room, the walk-on piano (like in 'Big') and the headless table! If you are ever down in the south Wales area, then it is well worth a visit as your little ones could happily kill several hours there. Just take a spare change of clothes for the water-play area!

I think he's now the age where he wants to figure things out and fully explore them. He was therefore really able to enjoy the hands-on approach to the different aspects of Science that Techniquest promote. Mr. TheBoyandMe is going to be really chuffed that he enjoyed it there, as he has been desperate to go with him many times, but The Boy hasn't got it before now. We spent a really enjoyable couple of hours there, until our stomachs over-ruled our quench for play, and we headed off to Pizza Express.