We're all going on a Summer Holiday!

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Very soon The Boy, Me and Daddy will be departing for a chilled out week down south to our favourite little haven: Lyme Bay. I can't wait to: sit on the promenade at West Bay and see the waves crashing on the shore, build a sandcastle on the imported sand at Lyme Regis, have a nosey in Rainbow stores and see what bargains they've got, visit Frost's in Bridport and persuade hubby that we need that toy over there! A trip to the Donkey Sanctuary and Peppa Pig World is on the cards as well.

There are two factors that are causing me a little stress.

  1. I need to pack. This, I am rubbish at and it is invariably left until 10pm the night before. But no, not this time! (yeah, right!). Hubby will be rubbish and do nothing, as usual. We will invariably have a row in the morning before we have to leave. Can't wait!
  2. My parents are coming with us, as they usually do. It's a fantastic week with them, but of course we do encounter a few fraught occasions throughout the week. I find the week before that I have to ration contact with them or I feel overloaded. I love them to pieces, but there's only so much a grown-daughter can cope with.

I need a holiday!

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Ignore this squigglyword, I have sucumbed to the nonsence of Technorati! S4FHA2UN4FX7

The Next Picasso? A TRU Review

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Being both a qualified nursery nurse and a primary school teacher, I've had training on the development of most areas of a child's ability from 3 months old to 11 years. One of the areas that I know is important to develop at this age is the fine motor skills as it is a precursor to the ability to write; the pincer grip, hand-eye co-ordination, control of small objects are all important skills to develop.

Therefore threading, lacing, painting, colouring, jigsaws, sticking are all really important activities for toddlers to experience to help develop these skills. A drawing table or art easel would be something that would allow these activities to happen easily. We've got one and The Boy loves it; it's his own little territory and he spends quite a lot of time there.

Combine the two things together and you get the Artisto Table and Easel by Keter which we were sent to review as part of the Toys R Us Toyologist scheme.

Do you notice what's different about it? Yep, an easel and table combined, but for two children!

What I liked:

  • that using the perspex, two children can work collaboratively on a drawing or a game like noughts and crosses etc.
  • there is an individual table for each child and they both have a pot and compartment for their drawing/sticking equipment
  • it's easily cleanable
  • bright and attractive colours
  • very easy to put together, meaning five minutes after getting it out of the box, it was assembled
  • encourages social interaction.

What I wasn't keen on:

  • the space on each side is big enough to fit a landscape sheet of A4, portrait won't fit on it
  • the perspex is quite high up and is an unnatural position to draw on from a seating position
  • when the moving compartments swivel around, one can completely cover the other person's drawing table; I can see arguments happening
  • the distance from the seat to the table is quite wide in comparison to other tables available
  • it's big, very big! (width 65cm, length 122cm, height 96cm).

At £79.99 (RRP) this is a more expensive table, but does have a lot of functionality and is perfect for twins, near-aged children or playgroups.

This will soon be available to purchase at Toys R Us. Keep an eye on the Facebook page to find out when!

Due to its size (and the fact that we've already got a drawing table) I will be donating this to Ty Hafan Children's Hospice (my local children's cancer hospital).

We Went to the Animal Fair!

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When I get an idea in my head, there's no stopping me. I don't always think around the situation and sometimes the logistics of my ideas are a bit squiffy. Like going away for the weekend, having two day trips and meeting new people the day after I've broken up from school.

Teachers reading this will think "are you mental?" while everyone else is wondering what the problem is. Usually I lie low for the first week of the summer holidays, making sure that I've given my head time to adjust to the change in circumstance and the ability to stop thinking about school for a while. Only being part-time, I forgot. Whoops!

On Saturday we went to Cadbury's World which was really good. Following this we took advantage of a Groupon offer that the lovely Helen from The Crazy Kitchen had pointed out to me. So we both arranged to stay in the Park Inn in Walsall, followed by a trip to West Midlands Safari Park on the Sunday, where we planned to meet up with Wendy from Inside The Wendy House.

We had a great time and The Boy and Jack thoroughly enjoyed meeting up, even if they did only discuss the finer points of a Trunki. Helen and I consumed a rather scintillating bottle of pink fizz over dinner and we set the world to rights. However by 10pm, I was seriously flagging and had to excuse myself. What poor Helen doesn't realise is that I was having massive issues keeping my eyes open and was about to cry with tiredness. I was asleep by 10.30pm. For me, this is unheard of!

Next day Helen's clan and us three all trotted off the WMSP, and after having been accosted by a giraffe through the sun-roof we met up with our Toyologist comrade and her brood. We had a fab time and my first tweet-up wasn't anywhere near as scary as I thought it was going to be! (Before I could walk into the Park Inn on Saturday, I texted MammyWoo explaining how petrified I was and she sent a virtual kick up the arse my way. I wish she'd been able to make it as originally planned; your presence was sorely missed chick-a-dee!)

Oreo Lick Race Challenge!

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One of the favourite snacks of children everywhere is cookies and milk. To make it even better why not vamp it up a little and use the rather scrummy Oreo cookies which taste divine with a cold glass of milk. Well the lovely folk at Oreo are encouraging you to break the rules that your mum set you, by not only licking the cookie but also dunking it in your glass of milk! It's great fun though and they sent us this fantastic kit to try it out.

The reason for this is the Double-Stuff Oreo Lick-Race competition that is running until the 31st July 2011. Simply do the following simple instructions with another member of your family, upload it to the Oreo website and you could win a fantastic VIP holiday to Florida. There are additional prizes of a Nintendo Wii to be won.

And what's even better is that for every video Lick Race video uploaded to the website, the kind folk at Oreo will donate £1 to the children’s charity KidsOut. All you need to do is upload your video attempts of a Lick Race to www.oreolickrace.co.uk.

"There are two different ways in which to enter to win Lick Race prizes – you can either ‘watch to win’ or ‘race to win’. If you choose to watch the Double Stuff Lick Race, there are opportunities to win a Nintendo Wii every day. If you choose to take part in the Lick Race, the stakes are raised and you will be in with the chance to win the grand prize of a VIP trip to Florida; there are also opportunities to win a Nintendo Wii every week of the promotional period in a weekly prize draw of all valid video entries received."

Seems easy enough to me, and therefore here is our entry (which I've speeded up in places because it took 4 minutes and 29 seconds!)


I'd like to point out that it was the 36 yr old daddy and not the 2 yr old toddler that spilt his milk everywhere! This was the first time he'd ever drunk out of an open cup and he didn't spill a single drop. Daddy on the other hand!

I was provided with this kit in order to complete and promote the Oreo Race. However, my opinions are my own, and as always, honest.

COMPETITION

If you'd like to win an Oreo Lick-Race Kit (like the one that I was sent above) in order to help you enter the race on the Oreo site, then you just need to do the following things:

I've entered to win an Oreo Race Kit with @TheBoyandMe's blog https://www.theboyandme.co.uk/?p=3977

  • Leave one comment below to tell me that you've done this!

T&C

As the closing date for the Oreo Lick-Race is 31st July 2011, this is a really short deadline competition in order to allow the winner to get their prize, film and submit their entry. Therefore the closing date is Tuesday 26th July 2011 at 1pm. One winner will be drawn at random and contacted immediately. I will need their postal address returned by 4.30pm in order to get their prize despatched as soon as possible.

Please do not enter if you can't be contacted tomorrow afternoon!

 THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED

The winner is @Mcai7td3! Congratulations to all who entered.

A Purple Paradise with the Elixor of Life!

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When I'm having a rubbish day, my poor husband is despatched to the nearest shop to return with a certain bar of chocolate. It's the only one that will do it for me really, from the moment that I remove its trademark purple covering to the moment that the first chunk melts on my tongue; I'm a Dairy Milk girl through and through!

Therefore visiting Cadbury's World in Birmingham is, quite frankly, my idea of Nirvana!

We were fortunate enough to be provided with free entry tickets into Cadbury's World by the marvellous Superbreak who offer a great range of family days out. They also have a great range of Birmingham hotels on offer if you wanted to combine the trip with another break, as we were. They even offer a specific Cadbury World Short Break if you don't have time to search around.

Driving up from Cardiff yesterday, we found that it was really well signposted from the moment you leave the motorway. We drove through the beautiful surrounding area of Bourneville with its chocolate box cottages and idealistic village green, before arriving at the majestic Cadbury's factory.

A little logistical talk here: Parking is not a problem, there is a huge amount around the back of the factory; the queue for tickets is well organised with it being split into pre-booked and pay on arrival; there is a screen up with information showing when the next available tour is if you haven't booked (and there's plenty to do if you do have to wait an hour or two); and the tours leave every ten minutes with another large screen showing displaying which tour needs to queue up at that point. The cafe is large and well stocked, and typical prices for a large tourist attraction. The toilets are plentiful throughout, clean and well-kept. One more practical note; there are oodles of bins for both general waste and recycling throughout the site.

Back to the fun! On joining the tour, each member of your party is given two bars of chocolate; we had a Curly-Wurly and a Crunchie each. My philistine of a husband had never experienced a Curly-Wurly before, which I was appalled at! That was soon rectified, and The Boy quite happily munched his way through daddies (I might have been frugal and kept his for another time!). As you meander through the tale of Cadbury's inception from the discovery of cocoa in Aztec times to the expansion of the Cadbury's factory, there is plenty to keep you informed, interested and nostalgic. Cadbury's have transferred their mixing skills over to blend together videos, displays, the written and spoken word, along with interactive displays to keep everyone interested. This part of the tour is aimed at older children, The Boy was kept entertained by the sights and sounds, but at two years old he wasn't able to fully enjoy it. However, the highlight of this part of the tour for me was the second theatre show with the interactive seating!

Following the history part, there is a walk-around the packaging plant. We were really lucky because it was operational that day and they were packing up none other than my favourite bar of purpleness: Dairy Milk! It was fascinating to see the huge slabs of chocolate in a sterile environment (you're behind a wall with windows in it) and the size of the foil wrapper canisters was astounding. And yes we had a bar of that too! At the end of the tour is a carriage-ride that takes you through a Cadbury's version of 'It's a Small World' and this was one of the best bits for The Boy! He adored seeing all the little moving figures. His second best bit was being given a small pot of liquid Dairy Milk to eat afterwards! Absolutely divine.

At the very end of the tour is a section full of interactive displays. This part contained The Boy's final favourite part of the visit; a very clever and nifty screen which has balls projected onto it. Somehow, they can be bounced around the screen. He had great fun chasing and trying to catch these balls; simple things hey?

There are lots of bargains to be had in the shop, although I can imagine it would be only too easy to spend a small fortune in there. I stocked up on Old Jamaica because I find it impossible to find anywhere else! Additionally, there is another theatre show called 'Essence' around the back of the main attraction, but we didn't go into that because The Boy was getting tired and irritable. However, this is right next to two brilliant children's playgrounds.

I would recommend a trip to Cadbury's World; in hindsight and in my opinion, at two years old,The Boy was a little too young for it, but for three or four year olds and up it is a brilliant trip. And I loved it there!

We were provided with two free adult tickets by SuperBreak. My thoughts and opinions are my own and, as always, honest.