Flashback Friday: The One About Friends

by 15 Comments

This time last year I was preparing to reveal myself to a bunch of people that I'd never met before.

I'll be honest, I was wetting myself with nerves.

Last Autumn, Tots100 announced that they were going to be holding a bloggers' party down in Butlins in Bognor Regis. Very quickly Multiple Mummy, The Crazy Kitchen, Mummy Mishaps and I decided that we had to go and booked our places. We started making plans to have a fantastic family weekend; celebrating Christmas with a bunch of like-minded people and meeting new friends.

Messages to the aforementioned ladies let them know how worried I was about 'coming out', especially as I'd only met The Crazy Kitchen beforehand. Kerry and Jenny reassured me that everything would be ok and they'd hold my hand, metaphorically and literally. Mobile numbers were exchanged and I looked forward to meeting them both.

The weekend arrived and I really need not have worried at all. All of the bloggers I met were friendly, genuine and warm. Meeting Jenny that weekend ensured the start of a real-life friendship that has seen us get together several times over the past year, on our own and with our families.

However, I want to focus on Kerry here. Meeting Kerry was a joy. From the moment I rang her mobile in the hotel foyer to find out where she was, it felt like I'd known her for years. Blogging is a bizarre world; we read about each other's lives, we see photos of our family and we natter away. By the time we meet in person, the inital small-talk is out of the way. Kerry and I had been chatting since she first started blogging and had asked for some advice from me; we also have similar age boys and we both live in the world of education.

We sat next to each other during the Tots100 meal and had a good giggle and very indepth conversation. We may have also both partaken of numerous glasses of Tia Maria and cokes…

Due to our geographical locations Kerry and I couldn't meet up many times, but we did see each other at Britmums in June. I might have been utterly bored rigid during one of the sessions in the main hall and was openly tweeting so (sorry Britmums!). At one point when I hoped the session was ending, the speaker opened up the floor to questions and I might have sighed a little loudly. I realised I'd been audible when I heard a few giggles from my left. I glanced up and was greeted by the sight of Kerry laughing her head off at me .

That image is the one that has stayed in my head since the beautiful and joyful Kerry suffered a brain aneurysm in August. I had just finished reading about her day out to Peppa Pig World with her gorgeous family when I received a message to tell me about the terrible news.

Kerry is battling valiantly to recover, but is suffering setback after setback on the road to returning to her family. On Saturday 24th November 2012 at 10pm, the blogging world will unite to think about Kerry and send her positive healing thoughts to aide her recovery.

Thing is, I haven't stopped thinking of her every day.

—
Linking up to Flashback Friday at Mummy Mishaps and The Real Housewife of Suffolk County

With thanks to Tots100 for two of the photos above

Sadly, the beautiful Kerry died on 14th December 2012. She fought so valiantly for so long, but the infections kept on coming and in the end she couldn't fight anymore. Ever since I heard, I had felt so inordinately sad about the loss of such a fantastic mother to her children, especially as they are so young, and that her soulmate no longer has her to cherish. The memories I've described above have stayed with me and I know that all of her friends and her family have a multitude of happy memories of such a special person.

TOTS100 Book Club Review

by 11 Comments

I was nominated by the magnificent Mummy Mishaps to receive a copy of her favourite book on behalf of the TOTS100 Book Club. Knowing that I had identified reading a specific book on my list of Things To Do Before I'm 40, the cheeky minx put me down to have a copy of 'Pride and Prejudice'. I know what you're thinking; how has she not read it? But stop glaring at me; I've seen a couple of film versions, watched about 50% of the Colin Firth BBC adaptation, but can't get my head around the book. I will though now, because I like a challenge.

However, in tagging me I have had the baton passed to choose someone else to receive a copy of my favourite book; my must-read.

And so I choose Helen from The Crazy Kitchen, and the book that she's going to receive? See if you can work it out as I describe why I love it.

I first read this classic when I was given a copy of it by my great aunt. She had a horde of books that she insisted I read (one was Pride and Prejudice by the way!) and this one was the one that seemed easiest to me when I was 14 or 15. I was hooked very quickly, even if some of the themes in the book were a little too tricky for a young, innocent, teenage girl to digest.

I saw it performed in the New Theatre, Cardiff with Simon Williams as the male lead and Carmen Silvera as the formidable house-keeper, and was completely and utterly intoxicated by the power of the storyline.

Young girl meets a dashing gentleman with a sizeable fortune to his name. They fall in love in the stunning setting of Monte Carlo, wed and honeymoon there, before returning to his sprawling estate on the south coast of Cornwall where, as the new lady of the house, she has to instruct the staunch Mrs. Danvers. The new Mrs. de Winter must try and crawl out from the shadow of the previous, now deceased but still idolised, first wife to prove her worth as the mistress of Manderley.

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…

… is the classic opening line and from here the new Mrs. de Winter explains the tumultuous tale of love, history, death, intrigue, deceipt, mystery, skeletons and a spine-chilling web of lies that leads to an unimaginable ending.

I was on tenderhooks 'til the very last line and had to re-read many sections of the book again and again because I was astonished. Daphne de Maurier was a spell-bindingly amazing writer and this is one of the best books I have ever read.

Therefore I nominate Helen to receive 'Rebecca' by Daphne de Maurier!

12 From '11

by 7 Comments

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?

A Weekend Full of Tots: Both Big and Small

by 12 Comments

I intended to write just one post about the TOTS100 Christmas Party but I got carried away talking about the Butlins resort at Bognor Regis so decided to split them into two posts.

When I heard about the event, I immediately checked with a couple of others to see if they were going and signed up. I was nervous as hell about going to the event because I felt like I was surrendering my anonymity, however at the same time I was desperate to meet some other bloggers (I rarely get invited to events) and meet up with Jenny and Helen who I'd previously met. The three of us were pretty much desperate for a break away from it all and we willingly jumped in the car on Friday evening to drive the three and half hours down to the South coast.

We were quite lazy on Saturday morning but eventually got ready to leave our cocoon of a hotel room and venture over to find out what Butlins had in store for us. In the foyer I noticed a couple of other mummies and deduced that they were Mummy and The Beastie and Mummy, Daddy and Me Makes Three. We chatted briefly to them, admired the decorations and Christmas tree and played jumping while waiting for Mummy Mishaps to come and rescue my poor, neglected son (I'd forgotten to bring a coat for him, that's what comes of leaving the house with him in his pyjamas and sleeping bag!). Thanks Burton for lending him a coat for the weekend!

We headed over to the Skyline Pavillion for lunch, had a mooch around and had a good run around on the chaotic soft-play. We enjoyed a puppet show which had some fabulous puppetry and dancing courtesy of the Red Coats, those ladies earn their bobby-socks and blazers!

In the afternoon, while The Boy had his sleep and Mr. TheBoyandMe rested his eyelids, I met up with the other 34 bloggers for the afternoon reception that Sally had arranged for us. Having already seen a tweet from her a few days before about boxes from Hallmark, I suspected that something was on the cards for us and she didn't disappoint. We were split into four groups for the purpose of socialisation and given an hour to decorate an empty Christmas tree using the contents of the middle table.

A few of our team raced for a tree, while a couple of others grabbed baubles. Unfortunately, one of the other groups doubled up on the lights, sellotape and scissors leaving us without any and we managed to wrap a large selection of objects without either sellotape or scissors. What Mellow Mummy, All About The Boys and I can't do with ribbons isn't worth mentioning!

Ably assisted by one of the lovely twins from Here Come The Girls 'helping' with the baubles, and Bloggomy doing her twirly things with ribbons (and a kind Butlins staff member who found us some lights), we managed to get a very sophisticated tree done with time to spare. Just enough time to steal borrow some additional decor from the Butlins reception to boost the silver and red theme before judging. Unfortunately we didn't win the hampers from Aldi but it was the perfect activity to get everyone chatting and mixing together.

After this, I popped back to the hotel and picked up Mr. TheBoyandMe and The Boy so that we could go and get them something to eat before our evening meal. We nipped into Papa Johns for the pizza buffet and managed to join the table already occupied by fifteen other people: Multiple Mummy, The Crazy Kitchen and MummyMummyMum and their gorgeous children. After we had our fill, we went back to prepare for our big night out. All the lovely, glamorous ladies met in the foyer of the hotel and we all froze our arses bottoms off as we nipped over to Bar Rosso for complimentary cocktails: cranberry and vodka = fruity and strong and yummy!

Turner's is a very nice restaurant that was designed by Brian Turner and the chef there used to be the head-chef of The Ivy. That's the closest I'm going to get to posh London dining, and to be honest if that's the best they can do for a vegetarian at Christmas time, then I'll stick to Pizza Express in Cardiff Bay! Wild mushroom risotto is great for a Summer evening meal, not for a warming Winter and Christmas meal when the meat alternative was a full Christmas dinner.

I didn't take a photo of the pudding: figs and apricots do not inspire me, although the cinnamon ice-cream and poached pear was nice. No replacement for a sumptuous cheesecake or the traditional Christmas pudding though.

However, a meal like this is all about the company and the presence of Mummy, Daddy and Me, Multiple Mummy, Dear Beautiful Boy made the evening fly by! I forgot to take a photo of them but did manage one of Jenny and Helen!

We dutifully meandered over to the resort's club afterwards, but decided we just wanted a quite chat in the hotel bar instead, leaving the more hardcore MammaSaurus and TiredMummy of Two to party with NewMumOnline and the glamorous Actually Mummy.

After a tipple or two and having the lights turned out on us in the bar, we retired to bed!

To cut a long story short (too late I hear you cry!), the Sunday saw us have lunch with Mummy Mishaps and her lovely family (in Papa John's), playing with some more rides in the Skyline Pavillion, all of us falling asleep for an afternoon nap, seeing Bjorn's snowstorm and then having an evening meal with Mummy Mishaps again (this time in the Sun and Moon pub). The Boy and Burton started to have a good old natter about this and that, until Burton fell asleep following his mammoth two hours in the swimming pool! Just before we had to do, The Crazy Kitchen turned up to join us, and the littlies set about making a bus to drive us home.

Unfortunately we had to leave on the Sunday night as The Boy had developed croup and I wanted to get him to a doctor, but I shall leave you with some images of the Sunday.

I thoroughly enjoyed our weekend there and found that Multiple Mummy is just as funny and friendly as I suspected and I wish we lived closer because we got on well! It was brilliant to meet up with the others and find that they are just as lovely (and glamorous) as I'd imagined. I wish I'd had more time to speak to others including Kate from I Am Wit Woo and Jen from Mum In The Madhouse, amongst others.

Never mind, there's always next time!

'Ho-De-Ho' Not 'Hi-De-Hi'!

by 16 Comments

If you've been hiding under a rock for the past month then you'll be excused for not knowing that this weekend was the Tots100 Christmas Party at Butlins, Bognor Regis resort. Anyone else has no excuse and should hang their heads in shame now!

As this was my first proper blogging event, I was so excited but incredibly nervous. Obviously anyone is nervous about these, but I have been particularly nervous as this was the big reveal: I was no longer going to be a green bug with yellow antennae and a permanently happy smile.  However, with Mr. TheBoyandMe and The Boy in tow for the family weekend in Bognor Regis, and my lovely friends @JennyPaulin and @Jessies_Online to support me I felt a lot more comfortable at meeting the other bloggers.

Having decided to stay an extra night, we drove down on Friday night (right decision, roads were empty) and with The Boy settled into his pyjamas and travel Gro-bag the three and a half hours passed quickly.

We were soon settled into the incredibly plush Ocean Hotel in the Butlins resort. I didn't get the chance to see the Shoreline hotel over the weekend and I understand this to be more orientated towards younger children, but the Ocean is more my cup of tea: a nice boutique-style hotel with additional facilities making it easy enough for those with younger children.

We stayed in an Atlantis room which is more of a mini-suite with a king-size bed in the main bedroom area and small seating area, good-sized bathroom (with a fixed overhead rain shower) and a twin bedroom area. There are flat-screen televisions (with in-built DVD players and freeview) in both sleeping areas, a plethora of towels and a complimentary toiletries set, a small fridge in the main room, a balcony with table and chairs, a safe (big enough to fit a laptop, DSLR camera, video camera, etc), a kettle (with four mugs, tea bags, sugar, long-life milk and coffee sachets), an iron and ironing board, a hairdryer and 'disco' lights throughout! That's not something that I'd normally consider a selling point, but the slow colour-changing ambient lighting was strangely calming and The Boy and me (ha!) loved it.

The room was excellent and I can't recommend it highly enough. I have only three tiny niggles: the first was that the carpet didn't appear to have been hoovered and so on Saturday morning I asked at reception if they could send house-keeping in to give it a quick going over. Reception were most apologetic and by the time we got back two hours later, every fibre of the carpet was standing to attention having been vacuumed to within an inch of its life. Secondly, it was incredibly hot in the room! The other thing that irked me was that they didn't empty our bins on either day, and as we had eaten breakfast in our rooms we had food waste, plus with a child who is still in nappies at night, there was a fair amount in the bins overflowing onto the beautifully clean carpet!

I was amazed at the amount of entertainment available throughout the weekend, definitely something for everyone in the family. The staff are genuinely helpful and caring, being a redcoat really does matter to them! I'd downloaded the brilliant (and free) app for the iPod Touch which can add entertainment events straight to your calendar, this made it really easy to keep track of where everything is taking place and at what time. With free wi-fi (strict firewall settings making it safe) available in both hotels and the Skyline Pavillion it makes it easy to check against the app. Oh and to tweet!

There's a fair amount of places to eat: pizza, pub food, snacks, bar food, Burger King, Turner's (where we had our meal) and in the hotels themselves. However, having spent £90 on just four meals (lunch for the three of us on Saturday and dinner for Mr. TBAM & TB, lunch and dinner for all three on Sunday) the prices are a little on the steep side, which makes the Spar shop a good addition to the site. We had a very good meal with some healthier options available (there's quite a fast-food vibe to some of the 'easteries') in the Sun and Moon pub. The Boy had three fishfingers, five smiley faces and a pot of peas for £3.50 and it was served on the most sensible plate I've seen given yet:

Unfortunately we had to leave last night rather than this afternoon (as I wanted to get The Boy to the doctor this morning) and therefore we missed out on seeing Father Christmas in our designated slot, but were provided with a small gift of a selection box as a consolation.

Would we go again? Yes!

Would I go in the depths of Winter again? No! The site is right on the coast and it was bitterly cold in the open air.

Was the Christmas vibe present during that Christmas Festival weekend? Yes, in abundance!

Overall: service – excellent, hotel – excellent, entertainment – excellent, food – good but pricey.

This is neither a sponsored or a review post. We had a reduced hotel-rate as part of the deal that Tots100 organised with Butlins, but this has no bearing on the outcome of this post which I wasn't asked to write. I just wanted to share the love!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...