Mummy and Me - August

This month seems to have gone so fast. Im hoping the summer we have just lasts that little bit longer as we still have so much to do and so many places to go. I got some great pictures of me and Lily this month from some lovely days out.

I think my favourite would have to be this one I took at Hampton Court Palace. Although I do look at myself and don't think I look over flattering but Lily is super happy and it was a really happy moment together.

Then I love this one which was more recent from my visit to the Wild Boar Park. Even though its not great quality I do love that my mum caught one of us both laughing and waving.

Kidlo Land App Review

We were recently sent the app Kidloland for Lily to try out. 

Kidloland is a app specially for children under 5's that has nursery rhymes, songs stories, activities and games to keep you child amused for ages. It has over 550 things for your child to do on it.

The app can help with learning colours, shapes, animals, numbers, words and more.

I let Lily have a few plays on the app and here is what we thought.

Firstly the app takes a lot of space on your device. So unfortunately we didn't have space to download all the different songs and activities to our device. So we had a few of the songs downloaded. Also each nursery rhyme has to be downloaded individually which is a bit of a faff but I will admit they download fast. So my review today is only based on a small part of the app.

Lily is a big fan of nursery rhymes and also watching videos so she did enjoy sitting down and watching the colours on the screen and listening to the music. We played it before bed and it seemed to relax her which is always a plus.
She also enjoyed the parts where you tap the screen and the little animals do actions, for example in the Incy Wincy Spider song you can make the spider go up the spout. 

The app is very easy to use and you just swipe to look through the different options of songs and activities. 

You can download a free app or you can purchase a one month, six month, or years subscription.

Head to the KidloLand website now to find out more or click the links below to download to your device.

KidloLand (iOS): Click here

Nursery Rhymes For Kids (Google Play Store): Click here

KidloLand (Amazon Appstore): Click here

My Sunday Photo - 28.08.16

In the Night Garden Live

So last Sunday we went to go and see In the Night Garden Live. We got tickets to go see the Manchester show while I was visiting my family up north.
Lily has always loved In the Night Garden, especially Upsy Daisy.

I was really excited to take her as she really enjoyed the Gruffalo show and so I thought she would love the In the Night Garden one just as much. 

We had the 4pm viewing to see The Pinky Ponk show. 

When we got there and lined up I bought Lily a little Upsy Daisy Toy to take in with her, she started to get excited and was clapping and pointing at all the Upsy Daisy things she could see. 

When we got into the showdome we got right to the front on the non premium section and so had great seats. Lily was looking around at everything going on and the ceiling of the dome had the Pinky Ponk flying around on it. She calls the Pinky Ponk aeroplane and kept shouting it.

The show was about to start and Lily was sat on my knee ready to watch. All of a sudden the room darkened and the roof went dark and the stars started to come out and twinkle above us and the In the night Garden introduction started playing. It looked amazing and I started pointing out the stars to Lily. Then she did something that I really didn't see coming. She burst out into tears and turned into me to hide. Somehow this part with the stars coming out really scared her.

After this it was really hard to calm her down and she kept crying for ages. She was the only one crying and I didn't know what to do. Im sure all the other parents weren't thinking anything about it but I actually felt a little embarrassed and felt like the other parents may have been thinking I was mean for not removing her from the room if she was scared. The reason I didn't was because I knew that as soon as she saw Upsy Daisy that she would cheer right up and I didn't want her to miss out on seeing Upsy Daisy.

It took Upsy Daisy ages to come on stage though and they kept teasing us with being able to hear her sing like she was on her way. So I kept saying "Upsy Daisy is coming" but she didn't and all I was thinking was come on Upsy Daisy so then I could get Lily to stop crying.

So we stayed, and after about 20 minutes she finally settled and started to enjoy the show. 

The characters were great. Makka Pakka and Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy were all people in costumes and the Tombliboos were puppets controlled by people dressed up in a green costume with hats. The show all related to In the Night Garden and it showed all parts of it. It even had the birds singing in the tree's which were projected onto the roof of the dome.

Lily really loved it when Upsy Daisy came on stage. She sang into her microphone thing and made bubbles because Makka Pakka's Sponge was stuck inside it. Then loads of bubbles were shot from a canon into the crowd and Lily loved that and started shouting bubbles. Unfortunately they didn't point them into our direction so none came to her. Which was a little disappointing.

The bit that Lily enjoyed the most was the part where they all dance to the music together at the end. Its always been Lily's favourite part of the Tv show and she always dances to it at home so I was so glad to see her get up and dance to it at the live show to.

It did seem that just as she had started to relax and enjoy it, that it was all over and done with. It was such a shame that the first part scared and upset her as I think that if the characters would of simply come out on stage she would have been okay. But as she was the only one crying I really can't put the show to fault just because of that. It really was a amazing show and they really do pull out all the stops to make it a full In the Night Garden experience.

Have you been to see the In the Night Garden show? What did you think? 

Our day out to Bowland Wild Boar Park

Last week we had a lovely day out with my parents to Bowland Wild Boar Park. 
It was a lovely day and we had never been before and so it seemed the perfect place for a day out. 
We weren't wrong and it was actually even better than expected. 

It took us about 45 minute to drive there from my parents house in Burnley, which was the perfect time to give Lily a nice nap before we got there. 

As you arrive you pay to get in, and its £7.50 per adult and was free for Lily being under 2 years old. We got given a map and its a really good job we did get one of these as the place is huge. Much bigger than expected and it had a lot more animals then expected to. 

Lily really enjoyed walking around with the map and looked so cute doing so, it was like she was going on a little adventure.

Our first stop was the Meercats. There were lovely and kept running over towards us. Lily was waving at them as they stood up and looked at her. Then there was the Raccoon. I had never seen a Raccoon before so was really impressed to see one. Though Lily was more interested in the ducks that were in the field across from the Raccoon enclosure. Next to the Raccoons were 2 really big Owls. One of Lily's Favourite animals is owls but they were so high up in the cage that I don't think she could see them properly as she didn't seem to interested in them. Which is unusual for her as she normally gets very excited to see owls. Next we headed into the wallaby enclosure. This one you could walk around really close to the wallaby's but they were all asleep in the long grass as it was quite warm and I'm guessing they needed shade.

Lily really like the wooden animals that were dotted around the park and would want to stroke each one that we saw.

We then headed to feed the goats and other animals at the feeding section of the park. We bought 2 bags of animals feed for 50p per bag and we also got a tub so Lily could feed them to. She was quite happy to hold the tub to the animals to feed them. There was goats, sheep and alpacas. 

After this we headed to the barn where there was chick stroking. I had never held a chick before and so was excited myself. I wasn't sure how Lily would be but she actually loved it. She sat on my knee and then we sat the chick on our knee. Lily was stroking the chick so gently and really really enjoyed this experience. 

After this we took a little break and had some Ice cream, although Lily just had a cone. She still doesn't like Ice Cream. Haha
We then headed back into the barn to see some other animals. In the barn there was a cow and it had a calf with it. That calf was only a day old. It was a lot bigger than I though a day old cow would be and it was already starting to walk around. Was lovely to see the mother taking care of it. 

We then went to see the Boars and this was on a nice walk around the countryside. The views around there were just beautiful. As we were heading back we spotted a little enclosure we had missed. I'm so glad we went to look inside it because there was a really cute little baby Wallaby. Never seen one before and wow they sure can hop high. 

After that we headed to the huge park that was there as Lily had been asking to go on it all day. I really liked this park as a lot of the slides had steps that Lily could walk up herself and So I think she really enjoyed the independence of not needing my help. We spent ages on the slides and she wasn't to happy that we had to leave. But a little trip to the shop and a treat to a toy tractor soon cheered her up.

We had such a great day and would definitely go back.

Have you ever been? Or been to anywhere like this?

Placed in the Coombe Mill Country Kids Linkup

Num Noms Freezie Pop Review and Giveaway

After the Brilliant event at Bella Italia with Num Noms, we were super excited to find out we were getting sent some to review. I really liked the look of the Freezie Pop Num Noms and so when asked which ones we would like to review, we chose those. We already have loads of series 1 Num Noms and so this looked like a great place to start our series 2 collection.

Our Freezie Pop starter pack arrived and inside was 3 Nums and 1 motorised Nom. It also came with a spoon and a Freezie Pop container. 

The Nums are a squishy jelly type feeling and these one are different to the rest we have as they are transparent. Which just adds to their colourful appearance. The Nom is also transparent. It comes with a little button on the top that when pressed makes it move along the floor. Its really cute and when it bashes into things it changes direction.

Num noms are also scented!!! The scents we got were Strawberry Pop, Tropi-cali Pop, Grape Soda Pop, and Ice Berry Go Go

The Num Noms are really fun and when you start to get other flavours you can then stack them up to create a recipe.
You start with your container, then add a Nom, and then your selection of Nums.

Lily really enjoys playing with them and they are also great for us adults to! I must admit that Im really enjoying the collecting aspect of them.

Lily understands that you put them to your nose and sniff them and these Freezie Pop ones smell really nice and fruity. Her favourite thing is the Nom though. She really enjoys pressing the little button and finds it funny watching the little thing buzz around the floor.

This particular pack of Num Noms is £9.99 and you can buy them from Amazon, or toy stores such as Toys R Us.

There are loads of different sets of Num Noms in series 2, including Deluxe packs, Pizza Party Packs, and the Brunch Bunch. You can also buy play sets and mystery packs. To see what more is on offer from Num Noms, head to the Num Nom website. 

How would you like to win your very own Freezie Pop set? For a chance to Win one enter on the Gleam app below. 


Win some Freezie Pop Num Noms

Lily and the Guinea Pigs

Lily has always loved seeing my mums pet guinea pigs but this time when we visited Lily was even more interested in them.

My mum has currently 3 guinea pigs, which isn't actually the most she has had. When I was little she used to have 12 at one point. So its always been a family favourite pet.

My mum now has Squeaky and he is in a cage on his own. He is really friendly but it became apparent that he needed his own space.
Then my mum has 2 white guinea pigs who are brothers. One is blind and death and so my mum adopted them both together. The blind one also has no teeth. He is so cute and you will often see him leaning his head to the side. 

This visit Lily has been really confident with the guinea pigs and has fed them every day and also was really happy to stroke them. Its really nice to see her be so confident with them and also so good with them and being really gentle when stroking them. Lily is only 21 months old so It just shows that as she grows she is also going to grow up to be really good with the guinea pigs. In fact she is already even more confident than I am with them. 

Guinea pigs can make really good pets as they rarely bite and a lot are so happy to lay on your knee and just be stroked. We won't be getting any guinea pigs any time soon as we have 3 cats. But we definitely would if we had no cats and a garden to have them in. 

Here are a few more photographs of Lily with the guinea pigs. 

Do your children have a pet they love? 

A Nice Week at Nan and Grandads

This week I have been a little quiet on the posting front because this week I have been visiting my mum and dads up north. Which is obviously Lily's Nan and Grandad. I try and visit every few months because as you know children grow so fast and I really don't want my parents missing out on seeing their grandchild grow up and we always miss each other way to much to leave it any longer than a few months.

I though a nice way to start this week would be to recap on what a great week we had. 

 I arrived last Wednesday and for once I arrived to lots of sunshine. Where my parents live is actually in a very nice area and is surrounded by some nice nature and so we made the most of the sunshine and went for a lovely walk around the nearby lodge. Lily loved seeing the ducks and their was also a big heron flying around. After being stuck on a train all day it was a lovely walk.

On Thursday my dad had the day of work, so we headed to Bowland Wild Boar Park. We had all never been before and again it was such a sunny day and we had a lovely time. If you head back in a few days I'm going to write a more detailed post about our day there. 

On Friday we didn't do much during the day. It was raining all day and so we just relaxed and Lily and her Nan had a great day playing with her toys together. It was really nice to be able to take it easy myself and know that Lily was quite happy playing with my mum. That night I actually went on a night out. Which is something I never get to to at home. Mum was in her element getting to babysit and I actually stayed out until 2.30am knowing that Lily would be fine with my mum. 

On Saturday we had another rainy day. So the most we did was go for a walk to visit my auntie. Lily was really tired though and to shy to see her and decided this was the perfect time to take a long hour nap on my mum. 

Sunday morning (yesterday) we had a break from the rain and we went for a walk in the just to get some fresh air. In the afternoon I had tickets to take Lily to see In the Night Garden Live so we all drove to the Trafford Centre in Manchester for that. My parents went and did some shopping while we went to see the show. If you head back to the blog later this week you will find a longer post that I will write about the show. 

Today, Lily and I went to see my friend Jenna from chicgeekdiary.com and her son Noah. Noah is about a year older than Lily but they have always got on so well. They really enjoyed playing together with all of Noah's toys which he kindly shared and me and Jenna got a nice chance to have a good chat and catch up. When we went to leave, Lily and Noah kept giving each other a big kiss and Lily really didn't want to leave and she got a little upset in the car. Bless. We finished the day by visiting my Grandad and we had a lovely dinner of chicken with home made chips and veg. Yum! 

I have had such a lovely week and I'm feeling quite sad to be leaving tomorrow and I know that Lily and my parents will be sad to be saying goodbye to each other. But we are also looking forward to going home to see Lily's daddy.

Did you have a nice week? Do anything fun and exciting? 

My Sunday Photo 21/08/16

Our Trip to Lavender Fields

I had been meaning to go to Lavender Fields which is based in Bansted in Surrey for quite a while. So a few weeks ago we got a nice day and decided to go.

We did have a bit of a night mare getting there. After google telling me... wait scrap that... lying to me and saying it was one train journey to one stop from my home and then a 10 min walk, it actually ended up becoming a one stop train journey and a hours walk.

I got there and this time instead of using google, I put the address into google maps. Apparently a 45 min walk from the station. I was about to head back and instead I thought I would ask directions. Here I was lied to for a second time. Two very friendly ladies told me it was a 20-30 min walk in a straight line in one direction. So I thought to myself, that's okay. I can manage that.

20 min into the walk and I'm not there and instead i'm at a dead end where the path ends and it becomes road only. Great. How am I meant to walk down there. So I wait and finally ask a passer by. He tells me that if I cut through the tree's on the other side of the road I will find a path to take me there. So I think I've come this far I may as well keep going. Get to the end of the woodland road and then there are 2 turns... okay which way do I go? No one told me about turns. I wait again and finally another passer by sends me up a long path which she says is a 15 min walk and I will be there. She was correct. Only I was then at the back entrance with 2 stiles to go over and here I am with a pram.

Lily is really cranky at this point as its hot and she has been in the pram for ages. So as I take her out the pram and lift her over the stile she suddenly starts to cry hysterically because she seems to think I'm not coming over with her. There wasn't much I could do and had to lift her over each stile and then the pram and it took me a good 30 min after that to settle her.

Nightmare.

But we were there.

It was £1 entrance which wasn't bad to pay. When you look across the fields all you can see is purple. Its beautiful. The fields are huge at 25 acres and there are loads of openings between the lavender so then you can walk between it all. We went for a lovely long walk around them all while I was trying to calm Lily down.
We went to lavender parks in late July. Apparently to see the lavender at its best you need to go at the start of July. The lavender is around until the end of august though.

Lily finally cheered up and seemed excited and interested to explore the lavender. I had dressed Lily in her little Bee outfit as I thought it was a fitting little outfit to wear amongst all the other Bee's all hard at work.

Lily didn't seem to phased by all the bee's buzzing around her which surprised me actually as she see's a little fly in the house and she suddenly starts shouting bee bee. She happily walked in and around the lavender but didn't seem to want to go to far away from me and so kept around the edge of the little path ways. The lavender smelt beautiful. I'm sure you all know what lavender smells like so just imagine being outdoors and being able to smell that smell all around you. Its amazing. I taught Lily how to smell by sniffing and so when I said to her smell the flowers, she leant over and gave a bit sniff of them.

Lily was really impressed to see that there was a tractor with a wagon on the back taking people around the field. Lily hasn't seen a tractor before and so she was quite amazed! We didn't go on the tractor this time as we had the pram with us and also I didn't have any change to pay the fee to ride on it.

The fields are also full of wildlife flying around. There is a huge bee hive and you see a bee every second here. If you are frightened of bee's then this isn't the place to go. Although I must say that it could help with your fear because you will see that they are no threat. Not once did a bee come near us while we were there and they even let me get close enough to take a photograph. There were also loads of beautiful butterflies flying around. All different sizes and colours. Now what I didn't realise is butterflies are very hard to photograph haha. I managed to get some pictures but I was literally chasing them all day to get them. As well as the lavender you would find some odd yellow flowers dotted around the field which looked lovely with the purple. One plant I wasn't to keen to see there though was the nettle. I got stung and I was very frightened of Lily getting stung due to her not having anything on her legs.

Me and Lily then decided to play a little game of chase through the lavender. She really enjoyed this and was giggling in hysterics and it was really nice to see her adventure a little more into it all. This definitely tired me out if not her and after this we both needed a sit down and nice cold drink.

A Lovely way to end the day was to make a new friend. As we were sat relaxing enjoying our drinks a lady got her daughter some bubbles out. Lily is a sucker for bubbles and wasn't going to just sit there and watch and so had to run over and join in playing with the bubbles. That's one thing that kids are great for, they really help you get talking to strangers and thanks to Lily I got chatting to the parent of the other child and we really got on. We are soon to meet up for coffee and to let our little ones play together which i'm really happy about.

Just before we left to catch the bus. (Yes, there's a bus, wish I had of known that on the way there grr) We headed to the shop. They sell all sorts of lavender products and also sell bunches of fresh lavender.  I bought some dried lavender in a bag to hang in my bathroom and a magnet with lovely photograph of the fields on. I like to buy magnets to remind me of the places I have visited.

You still have a little time to still visit the fields if you wanted. You can head to the website here to find out exactly where it is.
Its open from July to end of August and open 7 days a week from 9am with the last entry being at 6pm. 

Linked in the Coombe Mill Country Kids Linkup