Visiting The Natural History Museum

We live fairly close to London but up until now we hadn't taken the kids there. A mix of not knowing where everything is and a fear of getting on the wrong tube stopped us when the children were younger.

However times have changed. My FIL actually owns a flat in Greenwich so this was our base. We stayed there on the Friday night, or as my girls were telling everyone, we camped out. This meant that we didn't have to get up ridiculously early in the morning to make it London for a good time.

The below picture shows how excited the girls were :

Sea, Sun and Wind

When the sun comes out to play the first place that always springs to mind to go to is the beach. It is days like this that I'm reminded how lucky we are to live by sea.

I was excited at the idea of fresh air and sunshine whilst the girls were happy about the prospect of ice cream, either way it was going to be a good day for all.

This was actually the first time that I'd taken all four kids out by myself without putting Layla in a pushchair. So with sunglasses and Goldbug reins at the ready we set out to walk down the seafront.

It didn't take as long as I thought to make it down there, although I did end up carrying little legs for part of the distance.

However once down there the wind took over from where the sun began, it was shall we say a tad blustery, this didn't deter us though.

You can see from the smiles below.

A Visit To The Marlowe Theatre

Canterbury in Kent is the perfect place for my family and I when it comes to days out. Being local is a huge bonus but this town boasts plenty of places to eat and drink, museums and historic venues to visit and lots of shops to wander through and in the heart of the town you can also find the Marlowe Theatre.

My girls and I were recently invited along to watch a new show, Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus.

The Friendly bus driver leaves us with one simple instruction : "don't let the pigeon drive the bus!" What could possibly go wrong?

Coming from author Mo Willems who is an award winning writer and animator for Seasame Street,  straight away I was expecting good things.

Recommended for children aged 3 and upwards, this lively show promises lots of laughter and excitement and I can tell you first hand that it well and truly delivers.

October Park Life

I don't know about you but I was pleasantly surprised last weekend to find the sun still shining brightly, even though we have reached October, I mean the Autumn season means golden leaves, wind and the beginning of colder temperatures doesn't it?

As with anything I think we have to make the most of these moments and what better thing to do than visit the park.

I mean, the park isn't just for kids is it…

 

Nice having that feeling of freedom to run around.

Oh We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

I do love living near the beach.

Being able to walk down the pier, watch the boats coming in and just sitting on the pebbles eating ice cream never gets old.

However you can't beat a sandy beach.

Whilst Daddy Hazelden was off, we drove down to Greatstone beach in Kent.

Not too far from us.

Fishing With Daddy

Poor Daddy Hazelden is definitely outnumbered. With a wife and four daughters, the girls are definitely in charge.

I think he was worried when they were younger that they wouldn't enjoy doing the things he likes to do, I suppose he saw them as male activities but we girls know that anything boys can do girls can do better!!

So last week Daddy Hazelden was a bit surprised when the girls agreed to go fishing with him.

I stayed at home with Layla (I knew she would get bored easily) while the others made their way down Dover Pier.

The rod was set up in a great place, with a fantastic view of Dover Castle in the distance, then all that was left to do was sit and wait.

Our Day Out To Chessington World of Adventures

I was very fortunate when SuperBreak offered tickets for my family and I to go to Chessington World of Adventures last week, what did I need to do in return?? Enjoy our day out and tell you lovely lot all about what we got up to.

We live around an hour and half car drive away from the theme park, Chessington opens at 10am so we set off at 7.45am as we needed to get petrol and travel sickness tablets before we could get on our way. Well turns out the petrol station we normally use wasn't working, first set back, then Daddy Hazelden realised he had forgot his drink and music CDs, quick about turn to go back home, good job because I swiftly decided I needed a wee, oops.

We eventually got on the road about 8.30am and we still managed to arrive at Chessington before 10am so we made good time and an added bonus is that we got parked right by the entrance.

SuperBreak had provided me with a printout that included our reference number so all I needed to do was hand this over at the ticket office and we were provided with our tickets to enter the park and maps to help us find our way around.

Once in the park Freya decided to be chief map holder, although I struggled to understand it so I wasn't sure where we would end up first.

Disney's Frozen Made Me Cry

On Saturday Layla got a rare afternoon with Daddy Hazelden and I treated my eldest three daughter's to a trip to the cinema to watch Disney's latest film Frozen, ok I admit it was a treat for me too because I love love love Disney films.

Good old Dover cinema is always a bargain day out, it cost me a tiny £13 for all us to watch the film, the nice man was kind enough to let Gracie go for free, it was that butter wouldn't melt look that did it!! I mean just look at these faces :

I had heard so many good things about this film and being made by the same people that produced Tangled (which is also amazing), I was eager to see if it lived up to the hype.

Was it Charlie and Lola's Bestest Play?

My family and I were lucky enough to be given tickets to go and watch Charlie and Lola's Best Bestest play at the Glow inside of Bluwater at the weekend, the questions was would it really be the bestest play?

Our viewing wasn't until 3pm so we decided to make a proper day out of it, doing a touch of Christmas shopping, eating a nice lunch out and visiting the Winter Wonderland. The girls got their faces painted too. My daughter's were more than a little excited and were asking on the hour whether it was time to go and watch the play yet.

When the time finally came mummy and daddy were more than ready to sit down and rest our feet while the kids enjoyed the show, the girls decided to sit right at the top at the back, the view was great, no struggling to see what was on the stage.

The play is done by the use of puppets, four puppeteers were very good at moving the puppets as well as joining in with their own facial expressions and movements too.

The play starts with Charlie trying to get Lola to tidy her room which wasn't the easiest of tasks. And of course the play wouldn't have been complete without an appearance from Soren Lorensen. Thoughout the play we see tigers drinking pink milk, dogs dancing and even a not so scary ogre.

For me personally I noticed some issues with the sound being either too loud or too quiet but the girls really enjoyed themselves, they were laughing throughout and when different songs came on they were up out of their seats and dancing. There was a moment when bubbles were being blown out into the crowd and all the children were jumping up and trying to pop them.

At roughly 45 minutes long, it was the perfect length, especially for younger children, it had my daughter's engaged the whole time and it even gave Daddy Hazelden a chance to have a quick power nap.

A lovely play that I think would probably make a good introduction to the theatre for younger children, worth watching whether your kids are fans of Charlie and Lola or even if they are not, great family fun.

xxxx

Disclaimer : We were given tickets free of charge to watch this play however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Family day out with my Lin & Leo BabyBag

If you haven't heard the news, I was one of five bloggers that was chosen by Lin & Leo to review their gorgeous BabyBag.

To review the BabyBag, Lin & Leo are setting us four challenges to showcase just how good their bag really is. Challenge one was set last Friday, the challenge was to take the BabyBag on a family day out, challenge accepted!!!!

Unfortunately I had to wait a few days to actually take part in the challenge because typical British weather (you know rain, rain and more rain) meant that we were trapped indoors.

However Tuesday brought much needed sunshine and it was also my eldest twos Sports Day, this meant an afternoon out watching and joining in with races, this also meant I needed to pack up the BabyBag.

As you can see from the photo on the left, I had to take a fair amount with me :

* drinks for all the children
* snacks
* picnic blanket
* nappy wallet filled with nappies, wipes and nappy sacks
* changing mat
* change of clothes for Layla
* hats for all four children
* toys for Layla
* suncream
* phone
* purse
* keys

The bag looks quite small but looks can be deceiving. The photo on the right shows just how I managed to get all the items mentioned above to fit into the bag with ease.

I think the many pockets on the BabyBag really helped because it meant that I could fit plenty on the outside as well as in the inside of it. The bottles of drink, the sun cream, the snacks and my phone and keys were placed in the outside pockets, the only zip I couldn't close was the back one because the drinks bottles were taller than the pocket itself.

I have to admit the bag was quite weighty once I had filled it but the soft leather strap made it comfortable to carry, it didn't dig into my shoulders at all.

I admit after a little while I decided to hang the BabyBag on the pushchair rather than carry it.

Thankfully the long strap allowed me to do this.

The photo on the left showcases the bag hanging onmy Graco Evo Mini.

The strap was long enough to hang over with ease and it didn't get in the way when I needed to recline the pushchair as Layla fell asleep, all that sitting tired her out!! ;)

I forgot to get another photo but I also managed to squeeze the full to the brim bag in the basket, although I did need a tiny bit of help to get the bag back out after.

And let's not forget this was a family day out, I managed to get a photo of my 5 year old Freya mid run. This was her first sports day and she made me a proud mummy when she came third in her individual race, as did her older sister Elise. 

So the Lin & Leo BabyBag has been introduced to the family and enjoyed it's first family day out, I think we completed that challenge, I'm excited to hear what challenge two will be.

Disclaimer : this bag has been sent to us free of charge for recviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.