Ladybird Books - A Gurgle Girls Review

Gurgle and Ladybird sent me and my fellow Gurgle Girls a customised bag of books. Top Ender and Baby Boy were delighted as books in our house are a big part of our life (and living room) as we love to read. There wasn't just books inside the bag however (which was really useful when we went Sweet shopping the other day), there was also a little camera, a ladybird cuddly toy, a DVD, a cookie cutter and a sticker. I think that is all that was in there, but when the wrapping was ripped off Top Ender and Baby Boy divided the goodies amongst themselves and ran off to read before I was aware of what was going on so I am not too sure!

Ladybird had customised the bag by sending out books that were suitable for Top Ender and Baby Boy by age range. Top Ender is a confident reader thanks to her school and home efforts and sat down with the two Read it Yourself books and was well, reading away to herself. I got her to read them to me at Bedtime on Sunday and I really enjoyed the stories! "The Elves and the Shoemaker" and "Sly Fox and Red Hen" are classic stories, but are written in a more simple way that allows young readers more ease with reading them.

The third book that Top Ender got was from "Puddle the naughtiest puppy" series and was the book "Magic Carpet Ride". Top Ender has a couple from this series already, as they were popular in Party bags in the last school year. They are large print, easy to read stories about a puppy (called Puddle!) and his adventures and they make great practice for reading and even better bedtime stories. Top Ender isn't actually keen on dogs, so I am hoping that by reading a few stories about a naughty, but lovable puppy she might get over this aversion.

Baby Boy got two books one which was a "Ladybird Big Noisy Book" and is called "Emergency!". As you can guess this book makes noises and is loved by Baby Boy. He loved it so much that he hid it in a special place and I couldn't find it for a couple of days even though he was reading it during the day. It was hidden under the cushions on the sofa! Baby Boy loves pretending to read the book and pressing the right buttons as indicated in the text to get the noise that enhances the story. Daddy and Baby Boy read this book on Sunday night at bed time and they really loved it judging from the giggles!

The other book that Baby Boy got was "Peek-a-Zoo!" a rhyming flap book and it is really sweet, he has been reading this book with me and making the noises that the hidden animals make and the obligatory "Peek-a-Zoo" phrase when ever he lifts the flap! Both books are quite sturdy, although Baby Boy has ripped the back cover of the "Emergency!" book as he could see a gap between the spine and the back page. A bit of sticky tape sorted this right out though!

The last part of the bag was a Spot DVD and Spot shaped cookie cutter! I don't really remember having any Spot the dog books when I was younger (I am a whole year older than Spot), but I do remember children that I babysat having them and loving the stories. I remember when it was turned into a cartoon as I think someone brought my sister and I a video to share of Spots adventures.

Baby Boy and I waited until we had Top Ender at school before we sat down to watch the DVD with new episodes of Spot and I baked some quick mixed spice biscuits (they were going to be gingerbread but I didn't have any ginger!). Baby Boy loved the DVD and the biscuits and we had an enjoyable afternoon snuggling on the sofa!

Take a look at the other Gurgle Girls and what they got in their bags and if you are really lucky I might even share my gingerbread mixed spice biscuits recipe with you!

Club Lego Lego Magazines

When I look back on this summer I think that my overall memory is going to be this was the summer of Lego for my family. Baby Boy discovered Duplo and has been busy making buildings, cars, rockets and what ever else his imagination comes up with and Top Ender and Daddy brought a tub of Lego from the Lego store that has grown since our visit to Legoland and has also been turned into so many different creations I wouldn't know where to start in naming them.

When Lego Club asked if they could send us some Lego magazines to review we said yes, especially as if you belong to the FREE Lego Club, you get the five magazines sent to you throughout the year. Seeing as most children enjoy Lego, I figured that a review of the two magazines (Lego Club for Top Ender and Lego Club Jr for Baby Boy) would be useful. After all you don't just sign up to something just because it is free.

So we got two magazines, Lego Club Jr which is actually aimed at ages 4-5 and Lego Club Magazine which is aimed at ages 7+. Both magazines are brought to you by a MiniFigure called Max, who if made real would be a children's Breakfast TV presenter.

Both Magazines have glossy covers, although the Lego Club Jr Magazine has matt pages on the inside. The Lego Club Jr magazine had lots of activities that kept Baby Boy amused and a how to build a Sports Car feature that kept us all amused trying to build the most perfect sports car. There were plenty of pages that kept Baby Boy amused, even if they weren't being used in the same way as the makers of the Lego Club Jr Magazine intended! The Lego Club magazine, let Top Ender have a good read and she found out a lot about different Lego sets and was most excited to find a LegoLand voucher giving her free entry if she takes an adult.

I haven't explored the Lego website too much, but I have been told that;

"On LEGOClub.com there is exclusive content like ‘Buildits’, ClubCodes, the LEGO Club Show and a chance to sign up for monthly email newsletters of the latest LEGO news"

Once I have had a good explore, if there is anything that I think about the above that is untrue I shall let you know! All in all I think that the Lego Club magazine is a great extra for any Lego mad children/adults and we will be signing up for the club as soon as I get five minutes!

Family Fun Days Out on a Budget

The other Sunday I was talking about Family Fun on a Budget and I was talking about things that we do as a family on the cheap to make everyday a fun day. It got me thinking though because even when we go out as a family I still try and make it as cheap as possible and today I thought I would share some of my secrets with you.

Most of our days out involve us going somewhere in our car. I love our car, we have a Citroen Xsara Picasso and I have to say that I think it is fab as a family car (although my next car will without a doubt be a Toyota Prius) because of the great storage it offers. When we go on a long journey we always check the tyre pressure, the water and oil levels and make sure that we have petrol. We empty the car of anything that we won't need and normally give it a quick wash and use the Dyson on the inside. As I am sure you know these simple steps help improve the fuel efficiency and also means that the mouldy pears are taken care of!

The great storage in our car means that we have space (in the floor) to store snacks and drinks for the journeys we make. I put family and car friendly snacks such as cartoons of juice and crisps and raisins (and the odd biscuit) into the car before we set off, so that if we need to snack whilst we are on the move we don't need to stop at the services that we past. I also keep mints in the front of the car for Daddy and I

If we are going out for the entire day, I make sure that we take snacks, drinks and if possible Lunch and a light Supper. I am always shocked, although I don't know why, at the price of drinks and snacks at theme parks or anywhere that isn't my local shop. I have a large cool bag, which will hold enough sandwiches, fruit, yogurts (I freeze tube yogurts and use them as cool packs) drinks, biscuits, crisps and cakes for the four of us more than twice over. The pack can stay in the car if we are at an attraction that lets us return to our car during the day, and if not it can either go on/in the buggy or we adults take turns in carrying it.

I love the Internet (as you probably already know) and as such will search for vouchers for days out, two for one, half price days or anything else that will save me on admission price. You can also use your Tesco Clubcard points to convert to tickets for certain theme parks and days out, so this is like free days out! I am signed up with local tourist boards to get emails about upcoming attractions so that if there is a discount for booking early I can take advantage of this. I couldn't even make a guess at how much this has saved me in the past, but I am sure that it is worth the time and effort.

Daddy always scopes out parking for where we are going, and checks that it isn't cheaper to park in a local NCP car park rather than the car park at the event we are going to. His favourite was when we went to the O2, parking at a local NCP car park cost £10 and then there was a further £5 fee for our trip on the Docklands Light Railway to the O2 arena but parking at the O2 would of cost £20. I know its only a saving of £5 but that £5 brought us our programme for the evening and meant that we spent some more time together having an adventure!

So these are my top tips, but what are your top tips? Where else can I save money?

Family Fun on a Budget

Reading this blog you might think that we don't know about having Family Fun on a Budget as at the moment it seems that every other weekend we are at a show or at the cinema, or on a day trip as a family and it must seem like we have money to burn, but its not true. Its just that with a bit of careful planning we are able to budget for events like I have mentioned but we intersperse them with events and days out that cost nothing or next to nothing, such as the ones that I have talked about before in my post Eight things to do on a small Entertainment fund but are still packed full of fun! This weekend we don't have anything major planned, but you can be sure that we will be doing a few of the following!

We love to bake together as a family, and this is a great way of doing something fun on a small amount of money. Plus you get to eat it afterwards! Something that I love to do is to make cornflake cakes (melt chocolate and stir in cornflakes, put a generous spoonful into a cake case and leave to set) and then whip them out whilst we are waiting for our cup cakes to cook.

We love going for walks, we are lucky that we have a great local Parks Trust that maintains local parks and green areas. It could be though that you just walk to the local shop and buy everyone a small sweet, or take a walk to the local park. If you all have wellies why not even go if it has been raining and puddle jump at the same time?!

The local park is really great for burning off some energy and is a great way to have some fun. Top Ender and Baby Boy love when we get on the roundabout or the swings or slide with them and so do we! Plus according to that study that Brainiacs did (It was Scientific!) a half hour in the park on the equipment burns more calories than a half hour in the Gym.

Going round a Shop or a Supermarket might seem like an odd place for Family Fun, but most Supermarkets these days have aisles dedicated to toys and household goods. Its a great place to window shop for things that you might like... not that we do that in Ikea or anything!

Search the Internet for free things to do, there are lots of sites that list places such as Skillscape, and Silver Cross Days Out that list places that other parents have recommended. It might be that you get to go to an Outdoor Cinema, an Airshow, or pick some fruit but there is bound to be something to suit your budget!

I don't know many people who pay much attention to flyers and vouchers in the UK. It seems to me that our friends in the USA and Canada are much more savvy at this sort of thing, but there are savings to be had on most days out. There is a funfair at Willen Lake at the moment, and at £1.50 per person per ride it soon adds up but a flyer I found in a local pub gives vouchers for 50p off any ride. I picked up two flyers (one for Top Ender and one for Baby Boy) and now Top Ender and Baby Boy will be able to go on two more rides than we would of originally budgeted for!

Make use of cinema discounts (such as Orange Wednesday, half price Tuesday or movies for juniors) or have fun and make your living room into the cinema. Shutting the curtains, making movie tickets and having Cinema style snacks is a great laugh, and a good way to have a sneaky snooze or snog when the kids aren't looking...

And if you get really stuck for something to do why not try looking for ideas on Disney's What shall we do today. We love the ideas on the website and quite often have a quick visit to get a game or idea!

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.

MINI Countryman World Record Attempt

When we went to Westfields Shopping Centre to see Mickey Mouse (and didn't actually see him) we noticed a MINI Countryman in the corner of the main plaza and discovered that there is a record attempt at getting as many people into a MINI as possible. Top Ender and Daddy are never one to back down from a challenge and so they decided to jump on in!

And I don't want any comments that Daddy is a natural at being squished because of all the practice he gets living with me!

Making Bath Time MORE Fun!

As part of our 104 Days of Summer or Family Fun on a Phineas and Ferb Scale, we needed some ideas that only took a few minutes to arrange. We had already decided that not all our days needed to be on a grand scale, that it was the Fun that had to be on a grand scale. The one thing that I know that can turn anything from small to big is imagination and so I told Top Ender and Baby Boy that they were going to go Deep Sea Diving just before Bath time.

Of course my bathroom isn't built over an ocean and Top Ender and Baby Boy don't have any scuba gear or training, so this was going to be Deep Sea Diving with a difference. This was deep sea diving with food colouring...

When you add a few drops of food colouring to bathwater it changes colour. It is diluted enough that it doesn't stain the children (or the bath, but if you have a porcelain bath you might want to be careful) despite what my Nan might tell you. Everybody knows that the sea is blue and so blue food colouring was added to the running water and we got this;

Top Ender and Baby Boy loved the bath and it was a struggle to get them out that evening, but I was able to bribe them out with a promise of a new bath adventure the following evening. Coming up with an idea the following evening was as hard as opening my cake decorating gels and looking to see what colour took my fancy!

I decided that yellow would probably be the best bet, and added some yellow gel to the water. It required a bit more swishing around, but then that just serves me right for being fancy and having gels instead of the liquid kind that most people have.

The result was a sunshine bath and although I didn't think this looked as impressive as the Deep Sea Diving bath, Top Ender and Baby Boy loved it... as you can hear from our singing in the video!

So the next time you can't face having a boring old bath, or you want to add some excitement to your children's bath time why not go and raid the cake decorations for food colouring to add to the water!

World Party - Croydon Summer Festival 2010

It isn't just me who comes up with places and ideas of where we should go as a family, Daddy comes up with ideas too and this past weekend when we went to the Croydon Summer Festival it was his suggestion.

We went to the World Party day (well evening) as we wanted to hear Martha Reeves and the Vandellas but due to some issues with traffic and roads being closed and a lot of police guarding crime scenes we arrived after they had left the stage.

As we came in we saw this sign, I am not sure who brings a kangaroo to a festival, but we were pleased that they were very clear about what sorts of Animals weren't allowed into the grounds! If anyone has ever taken any form of Marsupial to a Musical Festival, if they could let me know in the comments that would be great.

We had a quick look around the stalls and exhibitions (and of course the fun fair) and saw a fantastic sky dancer/air ballerina who was attached to a giant ball (and two men on the floor making sure she didn't fly away) and the movements that she made in the air were fantastic, and only a little scary as she would rush towards the crowds before suddenly swooping back into the air!

We managed to get back to the main stage in time to hear the other act that we wanted to hear... The Lightning Seeds! Honestly this photo does show Ian Broudie on stage...

We set up camp nearish the back of the crowd and both Top Ender and Baby Boy were having a great time having a dance to the songs (which I knew more than I thought I would) and even got me dancing although there is no video footage of this phenomena! It was a beautiful end to a beautiful day and I think that I could be tempted to go to every London borough Summer Festival!

The Magical Menagerie (Le Manege Carre Senart)

At the moment in Milton Keynes there is a fantastical carousel, which is quite unlike any carousel I have ever seen before. For a start the carousel is square and instead of horses to ride on, there are mechanical creatures such as buffalo, fish and insects that are operated by the people riding on them!

When Daddy first heard about the Manege Carre Senart coming to Milton Keynes as part of the Milton Keynes International Festival, he sent me the link so that I could see the carousel as he knew that I would have to see it to believe it. Since it opened for business on the 16th July, we have been up to see the Carousel a couple of times and finally we got our chance to go last night and to have a ride.

The carousel is huge, it is said in the information that it is as tall as a house and it is just as impressive. The whole structure is decorated, with the metal work on the roof in the shapes of Snails and Frogs and other creatures.

The outer ring of the Carousel are one seater creatures and they travel in a clockwise direction and as you can see are fairly large in size!

  

The inner ring are larger multiple rider creatures which travel in a anticlockwise direction. If you have a child under seven who wants to ride, then this is where you should head as children under seven have to be accompanied by an adult.

We were really lucky that we got to ride the entire Carousel by ourselves and Top Ender chose for us to go on a Buffalo in the centre. We climbed up wooden steps to sit upon the top of the mechanical creature, where five separate seats with seat belts were waiting for us.

We seated Top Ender and Baby Boy in the front and Daddy and I took two of the rear seats and started to look round at the various levers and handles that were around us (and between our legs!). Top Ender was in heaven and Baby Boy were in heaven with the noise and the movement and loved every second.

  

As soon as Top Ender got off the ride she asked if we could go back on, we explained that the Carousel will be in Milton Keynes (just outside The Point) until the 8th August and so we would have plenty of time to go back and have another ride and time to save up!

The Carousel is open from 12 noon until 8pm (but not at all on the 2nd August). If you book in advance Weekday tickets cost £10 for a family of four (£12 if you just turn up) and at weekends booked in advanced tickets cost £14 (or £16 if you just turn up). The ride itself lasts for around five minutes, but the happy feeling you get from riding will last for a lot longer!

Millets Farm Centre And the Maize Maze

On Saturday Top Ender, Baby Boy, Daddy and I were invited along with a few other bloggers to visit Millets Farm Centre in Oxfordshire to try out the new Maize Maze and to enjoy the other attractions on offer as well. As going in a Maize Maze was one of our 100 things we decided that we would be foolish not to accept, especially as they were providing lunch and free food will always get me out of bed in the morning.

As we made our way to the entrance tent to the Maize Maze area and the Courtyard activities we walked past a Victorian Steam Carousel which took both Top Ender and Baby Boy's eye, and at a cost of £1.50 per person was something we were quite happy to let them have a ride on, but agreed it should be at the end of the day, as it was next to our car!

Entrance to the Maize Maze and the courtyard activities is £5.95 per Adult and £4.95 per child (3-16 years), but there are discounts for family tickets and groups and I felt it accurately priced for the amount of activities in the courtyard area.

Within the Courtyard there are several garden games such as noughts and crosses (I won), draughts/checkers (Top Ender won), a football aim game (Baby Boy enjoyed this), connect four (Baby Boy declared himself to have won despite not playing) some mini tractors for those under ten to pedal round a small course (Daddy *enjoyed* pushing Baby Boy round) and there are trampolines, a bouncy castle and Straw bales to climb on and under. If you look closely at Top Enders video you might spot one of those other bloggers...

There were two further mazes one of which is a lost sheep trail and the other is a fort maze and both were great fun for Baby Boy and Top Ender to run around looking for the various signs they were to look out for. The courtyard activities were well aimed, with older children enjoying the activities as much as the younger children and the huge sandpit, which I think Baby Boy was trying to smuggle home in his shoes, even kept a few adults amused!

There are three Maize Mazes, the Giant Maize Maze which takes around an hour and a half to complete (but we decided that we really weren't cut out for that), a middle sized maze which takes around a half hour to complete (unless you forget to take the map in with you) and the Mini Maze which takes around fifteen minutes to complete (Unless you let Top Ender navigate).

Each Maze has a quiz element but the most fun is the one in the mini maze, where as you go round you have to look for small stands that have finger pastels in five different colours. When you find them you can choose which finger you colour and when you come out of the maize there is a giant board with all 120 possible different colour combinations which results in you having to do a dare. It did cause a lot of laughter with us all and Top Ender has new found respect for my pig impressions.

Millets Farm has 100 Acres of land where it grows fresh produce, a restaurant, a farm shop, a Garden Centre (part of the Frosts chain), a wood, a farm animal Zoo and plenty of areas to picnic in. The restaurant uses produce grown on site or ingredients sourced locally and the lunch we were treated to was put together by them and was fantastic. I have a feeling that the food is expensive, but I do think that it would be worth it.

The Farm has a large pick your own section and we had been given a voucher for a punnet of Strawberries so we made our way across the complex to the strawberry polytunnels. We started picking and our punnet was soon full and only a handful didn't make it to the punnet but were sneakily eaten by Top Ender and Baby Boy. They told me that they tasted as good as their first strawberries of the season, and the few that I have eaten so far would make me agree with that!

The whole day was lots of fun and Daddy and I agreed that we will be returning in the next few weeks with Top Ender and Baby Boy and we all agreed that it will become an annual tradition for a day out.

Just Dance for the Wii

On Sunday I wrote a review about Dance on Broadway for the Wii. We had been playing the game as a family and had enjoyed it so much that I felt the need to share with everyone about this fab game! I haven't stopped tweeting about the game (or the blog post) since and it has meant that a few people asked me how I compared it to Just Dance for the Wii. This of course meant that I had to go out and buy Just Dance for the Wii so I could make a comparison (quick someone ask me to compare it to another game!).

So last night Daddy and I played Just Dance for the first time. It was fairly late at night and I was very tired so for the first song I was on the sofa. Daddy flicked through the songs until he got to Cotton-Eye Joe, I could see the gleam in his eye and knew that I was about to witness something truly great. I wish that I had been sitting nearer a camera, this was the funniest thing I had seen ever and I have no doubt that this video would have been able to stop wars.

Seeing how much fun it was I joined in for the second dance and used one of the features that this game has that Dance on Broadway doesn't, a quick play option and we danced to "That's the way I like it" by KC and the Sunshine band but it was over all too quickly. We played again and this time we went for the full version, I found it hard following the neon character and found them ever so slightly disturbing and I would have to say the backgrounds on Dance on Broadway are much Prettier than the plain backgrounds in Just Dance.

Again as soon as Daddy had a score higher than mine he retired from competitive dancing, claiming himself to be Family Champion. Revenge will be mine.

I am not disappointed with either of my purchases, but would suggest if you were only buying one to think about what sort of music you prefer. If you like Pop Music or want to buy a game for use at a party go for Just dance, if you like Musicals then go with Dance on Broadway. If you were forcing me to make a choice then it would be Dance on Broadway that wins because it looks prettier.

Overall I would say that Ubisoft made improvements on the original Just Dance when they released Dance on Broadway and I hope they are making more improvements when they release Just Dance 2 later this year. And here is the trailer for Just Dance 2!

The recommended retail price is £24.99, but you can buy it for less in a lot of places. I was not paid to review this and only went and brought it because of the questions about it on Twitter as a comparison to Dance on Broadway.

Water Bombs and some Family Fun

In Leighton Buzzard there is a 99p Store. Every so often I go there and spend a fortune on things that I wouldn't of brought normally, but as it is only 99p find it to be really good value and can't resist a bargin. A couple of weeks back I brought Water Bombs because everyone loves a good water bomb fight.

I told Daddy that I was going to fill up two of each colour from the very large pack (300 in the pack) and that we could have fun chasing Top Ender and Baby Boy with them, and took to the bathroom to fill them up as the Bathroom sink has the only tap that the tap adaptor would fit. Twenty minutes later I was very wet and had really mastered filling up Water Bombs.

I think that what happened can only best be explained, by this short video...

Dance on Broadway for the Wii

I love our Wii and I love Musicals so when I saw the game Dance On Broadway for the Wii I knew that I had to have it. Luckily I must have done something that meant that Daddy was thinking I also needed a treat and he bought it for me!

We decided that today after lunch would be a good time to play it and as I was taking my time to get back into the living room Daddy and Top Ender started without me. They were going through the songs deciding which ones would be best for them to dance to and decided upon "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins.

I arrived in the living room just in time to see them exhausting themselves dancing along with the Wii, by dancing badly. Top Ender got the highest score and declared herself to have won and that it was now my turn to join in. As all you need to dance is a Wii remote for each player, I was soon clicking on the character I wanted to dance as, and before I knew it we were dancing to "Time Warp" from The Rocky Horror Show.

Top Ender won again and I came a close second but it was at a price as both Daddy and I were exhausted!

We went through a few more songs and each time Top Ender won. Although I did redeem myself on "Bend & Snap" from Legally Blonde with a very high score and the sweat dripping off me as a prize.* 

Daddy however wasn't going to give up without a fight and kept repeating;

"Just once more!"

Eventually he got his victory with a score higher than both Top Ender and I had reached, immediately declared himself the family champion and retired from competitive dancing. Yes, he's a cheat.

There are a lot of songs on the game (all of which I recognised and was able to sing along with) and they range in effort needed and difficulty. I did work up a good sweat and my first thoughts that this game wasn't any good because both Top Ender and Daddy didn't seem to be doing well, were wrong and I love this game. I am going to add this to my exercise routine and hopefully dance my way to skinny!

The recommended retail price is £29.99, but you can buy it for less in a lot of places! I was not paid or asked to review this, but we had so much fun that I just wanted to share it with you all!

*If anyone wants to see my rendition of "Bend & Snap" let me know and if enough of you speak up it shall be a vlog!

Wordless Wednesday - If you see a big tree you have to explore inside of it!

Family Fun on a Phineas and Ferb Scale!

In our house we love Disney, we especially love watching Phineas and Ferb together as a family. We love the crazy schemes that the boys get up to, the ways in which the days activities are magically cleared up by Doofenshmirtz's latest "-inator" and it has inspired us to have some family fun on a Phineas and Ferb scale. Well it inspired Top Ender first...

You see in the theme song to the cartoon it is stated that the boys have 104 days of Summer Vacation and Top Ender was inspired to tell me that we (as a family) should do something fun every day for 104 days. Now this would be really easy if we were a cartoon family (I know that in the header we are, but its pretend, we don't really look like that!) and if we had 104 days for a Summer Holiday.

Top Ender understands that she only gets 40 days for her Summer Holidays (and doesn't mind this) so we figured that we had better start doing fun things before the Summer Holidays starts. We thought that May 28th would be a good start, seeing as that was the first day of the half term and so we started doing fun things...

We can't doing anything as grand as the boys, as we are pretty sure there isn't any evil scientist near by who could accidentally use an "-inator" of his to tidy everything up! We soon figured out that it is the fun that should be on a grand scale and our schemes don't need to be on a grand scale. So this is what we are up to...

28th May - Picnic Day
29th May - Ponyo Lunch
30th May - Book Day
31st May - Brand New Bike Day
1st June  - Pajama Day
2nd June - Visit London for The Elephant Parade part two.
3rd June - Arts and Crafts Day
4th June - Flag making Day
5th June - Cinema Day
6th June - Party Day
7th June - Frog jumping Evening
8th June - Food Tasting Night
9th June - South African Food Night
10th June - Deep Sea Diving Night

As we go through our 104 days we will add blog posts explaining what we did and we will also add links to this blog post...which if I can work out how to I will make stay on the front page of the blog!

Wordless Wednesday - Concrete cows

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.