Top Ender Giggles - French Breakfast

Whilst we were eating dinner on Sunday Top Ender asked if she could get dressed before she had dinner the next day. We all giggled because she had meant breakfast, I told her that it was up to her when she got dressed (within reason) and the conversation moved on.

It got me thinking though as the French say Petit Déjeuner and that means small lunch right? So I said;

"Tomorrow we will have a French Breakfast!"

I was thinking bowls of Hot Chocolate to dip croissants in, maybe a pain au chocolat for Top Ender and Baby Boy or a Tartine and if I am feeling really generous some yogurt and fruit or ham and cheese.

"Oh but I wanted a pain au chocolat!" whinged Top Ender
"Top Ender, where do pain au chocolat's come from?" asked Daddy
"I don't know!" she answered
"Think what language it is" I said
"Erm London?" she asked

The Film Premier of Disney’s TinkerBell and the Great Fairy Rescue

Last weekend we were lucky enough to be invited to the Film Premier of Disney’s TinkerBell and the Great Fairy Rescue being held at the Mayfair in London. The whole family is a BIG fan of anything Disney and Top Ender loves the Disney Fairies and everything to do with Pixie Hollow! Having already seen the first two films and owning them on DVD, we knew that we were going to be in for a good time and couldn't wait to watch the film.

As soon as the film started Baby Boy sat in his chair with a big grin on his face and kept calling out "Cool!" as he would quite like to be a fairy or Peter Pan, (he isn't sure which is better yet). Top Ender was able to keep her squeals of excitement a lot quieter especially as she had heard that the voice of Lizzy was in the audience and didn't want to appear to be uncool!

I really don't want to give too much away about the film, as it was so fun but I can confirm that this is the first time that the Fairy world and the world of humans mix and it is just as magical as you would expect! There is a bit of mild peril but Baby Boy wasn't that bothered by it (I was more worried than he was!) as I think that he knew everything would work out in the end! This is the official trailer of the film, if you want to take a sneaky peek!

After the film I was talking with Baby Boy and Nell McAndrew's son Devon about the film and both of them said they had enjoyed the film. Top Ender had of course loved the film and hoped that she could meet a fairy and has resolved to leave drawings everywhere so that Fairies know that she is a believer!

We were lucky enough to get a few minutes to speak with Lauren Mote, who is the 13 year old actress who lends her voice to Lizzy in TinkerBell and The Great Fairy Rescue. Lauren goes to Sylvia Young Theatre School in London and was really sweet; I hope that she is a big star in the future as she certainly deserves to be!

To share with you the fantastic world of Disney's TinkerBell, we have the first TinkerBell DVD along with a TinkerBell Fairy figure in a competition for those of you in the United Kingdom! To enter you need to answer the following question, the answer to which can be found somewhere in this blog post.

What fashion item did both Lauren Mote and Top Ender wear to the Disney premier of TinkerBell and The Great Fairy Rescue? (Hint look in the photos!)

Please leave your answer in the comments on this post; it is limited to one entry per household and to those in the UK. If more than one answer is correct then the correct answers will be assigned numbers and a random number generator will choose who wins. The competition is open until 1pm on the 15th August and I will email the winner to get contact details, so please make sure your email address is correct when entering!

The London Dungeons

I was gripping Top Ender's hand as we stood next to a recently unearthed coffin listening to distant screams, and I was wishing I had eaten more carrots and tuna as a child so that I could see in the dark, when suddenly a man dressed in black ushered me into a room lit by torches and I started kicking myself for my own stupidity.

RIP William Hyatt Originally uploaded by the-dungeons

You see a few months back a kind man asked if we would like to go to The London Dungeons and that he would provide tickets for us to go and we could write about our experience on this here blog. I knew that The London Dungeons was an attraction in London, but that was about it. So I asked my friend Google for some details and I didn't like what I saw.

I decided that as I am really a huge wimp that I would get Daddy to take Top Ender and that I would claim that Baby Boy was too young to go to such an attraction and that he would much more enjoy going across the road to The Hays Galleria with me... It worked right up until the morning we were set to go and Daddy asked my traitorous friend Google for some details. Somehow he managed to convince me that Top Ender would enjoy the visit with me more than with him.

Enter At Your Peril Originally uploaded by the-dungeons

A little known fact about me is that I'm scared of the dark. A well known fact about The London Dungeons is that it is a tour through the scary and horrible bits of London's History in the near dark with special effects, live actors and a big dose of your own imagination. Standing in the second queue before we were admitted to the tour gave me enough time to say a quick prayer mainly asking for me to not drop dead of a heart-attack during the tour and for nobody to jump out on us; Top Ender echoed my prayer but added a request for a torch. She's sensible.

Top Ender was the youngest in the group and I think that swayed in our favour as we didn't get picked on once during the tour. Mind you we also were smart enough to not go in the front or the back of the group as we knew if the guides were looking for volunteers that is where they would find them. A few of the friends we made during the tour (when you are all as scared as each other you make friends quickly) did get picked on, but I can say that they enjoyed the experience as much as Top Ender and I did.

Everybody was wanting to be scared (why would you go on the tour if you didn't want to just for a little while?) and so with belief suspended the over acting actors and the sometimes very dusty displays were very spooky. Even though Top Ender and I kept muttering to each other "It isn't real, they are only actors" we were at times clinging to each other and at others we were screaming, cowering, giggling and getting wet.

I don't want to give too much away about what happens inside the Dungeon, as if you go I wouldn't want to spoil the surprises (and there are plenty of places that already do that), but the hour and a half that Top Ender and I spent in the semi-darkness gripping each others hands was actually a lot of fun and fairly educational with a lot of what I had learnt at school being covered.

The tickets that we had allowed us to skip the main queue (thank goodness as it was huge!) but a quick chat with one of the ladies outside said that if you come first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening that the queues tend to be smaller, and more so if you come between Late September and Early June. The tickets do cost quite a lot but if you buy in advance and online they are cheaper and there are plenty of offers around. If you can afford the priority tickets to avoid the queue it would be worth the extra money, but there are entertainers who keep the waiting masses amused with the painting on of cuts and selling of guidebooks.

Top Ender and I would recommend The London Dungeons to anyone who is brave enough to go and I would say that ten year olds and older may enjoy it more than six and a half year olds but your own discretion should be used.

Go! Go! Go! and see this show!

On Saturday, Daddy and I took Top Ender and Baby Boy to London to see "The Go! Go! Go! Show", (after having been given tickets by Mummy Marketing) which is a family musical about a group of five friends and without giving too much away involved a sweet sock-stealing "Fluffalope", magic bikes and some fantastic songs that none of us have been able to stop singing...

We went on the underground to Leicester Square (which is on the Northern and Piccadilly line) and then walked round to the Leicester Square Theatre (its hidden up near the Prince Charles Cinema near China Town) for the 2:30pm show. We made our way down the stairs and found a foyer with a very friendly man selling merchandise which was very reasonably priced and saw me buying Top Ender and Baby Boy flashing wands (£3 each) and a Souvenir programme pack (£5), there was a place to leave our buggy and a huge pile of booster seats for children to use in the intimate theatre.

We were all quite excited to find that over the back of our seats were different coloured socks (which becomes important later) and we settled down ready for the show. From the start Baby Boy and Top Ender were excited and as soon as the musical started they were dancing along and learning the Go!Go!Go! club move and shouting excitedly when ever the cast asked the audience a question. Top Ender was in heaven and laughed loudly at the jokes, as only a six (and a half) year old can, and has already learnt all the words to Heaven Bound. Any doubt that I had about us not enjoying the show was removed from my mind as we all grew more and more engrossed in the show.

There is an interval in the show, and if you are tempted to buy an intermission icecream do be warned that they are £2 per tub, but it was really nice ice-cream and according to the pot they have won lots of awards for being so nice.

The second half of the show started getting a bit too much for Baby Boy, but with some clever Mummy and Daddy tricks we managed to get him to watch most of the second half, without too much stress and we decided that he would skip meeting the cast after the show and go and claim our buggy. Whilst he and Daddy were claiming the buggy they did meet Mr Baffled who was very charming according to Daddy.

Top Ender and I battled it out to meet the other cast members (nearly losing an eye in the process from some sharp elbowed mothers) and even though they had just finished a show and must of been exhausted they were all so lovely and I hope that take this show on tour... or at least release a DVD as all of them deserve success in the future.

For further details of show times and how to book tickets, visit http://www.gogogo.tv/ and do it soon, it is one show that the whole family really will enjoy!

When we were offered our tickets, we were also offered tickets for a family of four as part of a competition and so if you would like to win tickets to see ‘The Go!Go!Go! Show’ then all you have to do is answer this question;

What is the name of the sock stealing creature in The Go! Go! Go! Show?

A. The Sock Nabber
B. The Fluffalope
C. The Sneak

Please leave your answer in the comments below (on A Mothers Ramblings, not on any other feed such as the Facebook group), and use a valid email address as this is how I will contact you if you have won. If more than one answer is correct, a random number generator will be used to choose the winner, based on the order of entry. Competition closes at 1pm on the 7th of August, transport is not included.

John Lewis Christmas Preview, A Mothers Ramblings Style!

When I was asked the other week if I would like to go to the John Lewis Christmas preview show in July I was really really excited and of course said yes; Anything to do with Christmas will get me excited and have me answering Yes (read in to that what you will!). When Top Ender found out that it was going to be Christmas in July she asked if she could come too which is why Top Ender, Baby Boy and I all went to London for the day.

We managed to keep some commuters amused in the morning with Top Enders excitement;

"Will Santa be there?" she asked
"No I don't think so, he is probably rather busy at the North Pole right now" I answered
"Maybe he is on holiday in London" she answered more knowingly than me

We knew we were in the right place when we saw a snow machine outside of the building and a Christmas tree just inside the door.

Even though we were really early we were welcomed in and then I was handed a Flip camera.

Yeah. I know.

I assumed at the time (and lots of other people told me they thought the same too) that the camera was to give the team at John Lewis our view of the day, but no it was for us to keep. Top Ender had a field day and was filming EVERYTHING. Anyway eventually I got to see round all the lovely fab stuff that John Lewis will be getting in after Clearance and during late August, early September.

So Top Ender and Baby Boy got to watch 3D TV whilst sitting on a sofa that was the so comfy that I did think about stealing it out of the front door whilst getting some other Bloggers to create a diversion. The other Bloggers were up for it, but I just could face taking the sofa on the Tube.

I got to see round all the new ranges that are coming in, I remembered that Diesel is bringing new Denim into John Lewis and that Russian Military is going to be big this winter, and if anybody needs an Evening Gown there are going to be some great choices in John Lewis this year! There was a nightie that I did think was an Evening Gown, (honestly though if I did the school run in that people would be asking me when I won the Lottery!) and there were Doc Martin Boots that will be on my Christmas list (I would like the ones with the sheep fleece lining please!). There were some fantastic Men's PJ's and some great slippers in really vibrant colours and some really nice suits, one of which convinced me that Doctor Who shops in John Lewis.

There were some beautiful bedspreads and furniture (did you know that John Lewis have items that can be customised for you? Yup, Good old John Lewis does bespoke furniture!) that was making me think about starting to play the lottery in order to get a bigger house to keep it all in! There were several more chairs that I fell in love with and cushions galore. If you want to update your rooms this year, but want to do it on a small scale change the cushions, find some in John Lewis as there are a lot to choose from!

I was able to see lots of the Christmas decorations range where there is something for everyone! There are a lot of vibrant jewel colours and a lot of Scandinavian inspired type decorations and the cutest wooden cut words (Peace, Joy and Noel) in a light wood which will be on sale between £12 and £15 and will be something I invest in this year.

The best part of course was upstairs (where I had deposited Baby Boy and Top Ender with some friendly staff) where there were Children's clothes and Toys. Top Ender and Baby Boy thought it fabulous and had made cupcakes, cards, played with Play-Doh and Top Ender had even made a headband and had her face painted by the time I got back to them!

The train journey home was spent by Top Ender and I talking about the amazing time we had spent with John Lewis and Cohn And Wolfe (Baby Boy was crashed out in his buggy) and what we wanted for Christmas much to the amusement of the other commuters again!

So I know that I talk about Christmas all year round, but if you want to get a jump on this years Christmas Shopping, get to a John Lewis Store at the end of the Summer!

The Family Fun Elephant Parade!

Every once in a while I get a notion in my head about something that we could do as a family. Something that is fun, something that will involve exercise and family bonding and most importantly will be exciting.

Luckily when these notions come over me, Daddy is able to reign me back in and make my ideas more do-able or more suitable for the time that we have available to us. It has happened in the past and it is bound to happen again in the future.

When I was in London last week for the Huggies Mums meet up, I noticed a lot of elephants dotted around. I vaguely remembered that these were being auctioned (after having been decorated by famous people and artists) because of the problems that Asian elephants face with habitat being lost and this will lead to us losing wild Asian Elephants.

My great idea for the weekend was that as a family we walked round London finding all the elephants and photographing them. Daddy suggested that maybe we should only try and find the elephants in one area on this trip to London, and that we could go back over the next few weeks to spot the rest.

The plan was that on Sunday morning we would arrive in London at 8am. However we then realised that even at 8am London wasn't going to be a particularly nice place to be, what with the heat wave and everything. Our plans changed so that we wouldn't arrive in London until 6pm, time for the heat to disparate and we would find the elephants in Westfield shopping centre (four of them) and then the ones that were around Hyde Park.

As you can see, we found elephants...

Somehow we missed one at Westfield Shopping Centre and so we will have to go back (Shame!) to find it! It was only when we actually got to the shopping centre that we told Top Ender what we were doing, and she loved that we were going on an Elephant Parade!

We caught the tube from White City (which is just a couple of minutes away from Westfield shopping centre if you don't know) and walked past the wall of the BBC where the Blue Peter Garden is, and past a van which is from Prank Patrol. Daddy and I also pretended that we saw Kate Adie and remembered when Daddy won the £25,000* top prize on the pilot of "Dial M for Money" hosted by Phillip Schofield.

When we got off the tube at Marble Arch we were greeted with a very large crowd of people. For some reason I had made the Tourist mistake of expecting London to be like Milton Keynes, ie devoid of people when the shops had shut. The second mistake that we made was expecting London to have followed the normal rules and cooled down now that it was the evening. Undeterred we crossed the busy roads to find our next elephants.

Luckily, Daddy was once a Scout and so was prepared for the sun that was still out and slapped the suncream on us all whilst we played with the elephants and listened in on some fantastic conversations going on around us!

Crossing the road in to Hyde Park was a revelation for me. I could see what appeared to be hundreds of people standing around, we ignored them and took the photos of what we had came to London for. Although Top Ender was a little more excited than normal as she was convinced that the building in the background of this photo was Doctor Who's TARDIS...

This is Bobby and was my favourite out of all the Elephants we saw on Sunday.

What I quickly realised was that we were in Speakers Corner and there were a lot of Speakers about on this sunny Sunday evening. It led to a lovely discussion with Top Ender about free speech and having different opinions on different subjects to others, and also why some people felt the need to bring a step ladder or big box to the park to explain their point of view.

Just to give you an idea of how many people were about!

A quick walk through the underpass to The Dorchester Hotel (which had lots of Paparazzi standing outside!) and we found our next two Elephants. I tired to delay us leaving the outside of the hotel in the hopes that someone famous would come out, but time was marching on and I knew that we had to keep on walking too.

Back into Hyde Park we marched and found two more friends outside the gates... well I already knew they were there having seen them on the Tuesday, but we let Top Ender find them by herself.

As you can see the second of the Elephants just outside Hyde Park was hollow and was great fun for looking in. This one was Daddy's favourite, and I must admit that I have a soft spot for it too! We then walked back up Hyde Park and I felt very continental as Daddy told me that it was nearly 9pm! It was so light and there were so many people about that it really did feel a lot earlier. We weren't the only people with young children out and about either!

We soon found the last "herd" for the day and peered through the fence at them.

Baby Boy and Top Ender were still going strong and Baby Boy was getting a lot of admiring glances from young women holding on to their semi naked muscular partners as he was smiling and chattering away to anyone within earshot!

We walked along The Serpentine and discussed everything we could think of, watched some people Salsa dancing and tried not to stare at the family having a picnic complete with what looked like bongs!

We eventually made it back to the Tube and back to where we had left our car at Westfield at around 10pm. It was a bit later than we had planned, but it had been a grand day out and nobody minded.

We are planning our other trips to London to see the rest of the Elephants over the next couple of weeks, if you would like to take part then your best resource would be the Elephant Parade Website at http://www.elephantparadelondon.org/ as it has a route map and almost everything you want to know. If you want to know anything that isn't on the website, then you can always try asking me!

*But as it was the pilot he actually went home with a much much much lesser prize.

Wordless Wednesday - A Day out with Daddy