The Gallery - Playtime

The Gallery theme this week was on playtime. I really didn't know what to use, I knew that there were lots of photos that I have of Top Ender and Baby Boy playing and even of Daddy, but I couldn't think of the words to go with them. It was all rather one lined "Top Ender and Baby Boy play so well together" or something.

So I looked through my photos and nothing inspired me.

I would of taken a new one, but you know as I have mentioned at least 1000 times on Twitter I'm not very well and its too much effort to get the camera out.

So I looked through my photos again. And then I saw it. Please pretend that I am looking more attractive

I remember this day really well, it was a couple of months before Baby Boy was born. Top Ender had been on her best behaviour so we had gone to the park as a treat in the afternoon. Only thing was once we were there she wanted us to join in. I went on the swing, the See-Saw and we laughed and laughed.

That's what playtime is to 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!

The Bic Picture! (See what they did there!)

We draw a lot in our house, I once drew JoJo from JoJo's Circus and it was so great that everyone knew who it was, without me having to tell them. I tried to repeat it and sadly it looked more like the scary clown from Stephen King's IT. I drew this picture of Top Ender which isn't that bad, but I am not going to try again. I don't want to mentally scar my children anymore than I already have!

Luckily my complete lack of artistic talent hasn't stopped Top Ender and Baby Boy from expressing themselves and both of them are often found creating masterpieces. Baby Boy at the moment has gone for my abstract approach, and no matter what he draws it is always a Car and a Rocket taking me and him on an adventure. Mind you seeing as how he is always pointing at various objects and saying "That's you Mummy" I don't know if I should believe him... especially as I was a lampost yesterday.

So when Bic suggested that I might like to let you all know about a competition they are running for Primary School aged children (between 5 and 11) I knew that Top Ender would want to enter and it would give me a perfect chance to tell everyone about it too.

This is where Top Enders picture should be, but she asked me not to show it to you all. I can tell you about the floating houses, with ladders up to them because of the overcrowding on the ground, but I can't show you it as she has gone a little shy (yeah I know) and as I have always maintained if Top Ender asks me not to tell you all something then I won't tell you.
So this is perfect for a rainy day (which there seem to be a lot of this Summer Holiday so far), just get your little ones drawing a picture with the theme "Life in the Future" and post it along with a signed consent form (from http://www.bickids.com/) to the below address by the 20th August 2010.

THE BIC PICTURE
c/o 3 Monkey Communications
Medius House
2 Sheraton Street
London
W1F 8BH

And if you do enter Good Luck!

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!

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.

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!

Wordless Wednesday - Baby Boy after Millets Farm

Not a picture, but a video of Baby Boy after our trip to Millets Farm at the weekend.

See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkzwUFXVXNs

As you can see, he was just a little tired.