Thank you Mr Tesco

As usual I have saved my clubcard points all year. I traded most of them in for 3 tickets to Chessington. We like theme park rides, and Stephanie is just starting to enjoy small coasters. So we were very excited.

When we got to the park there was a notice board saying that four of the rides were closed, to be fair they were some of the bigger coasters so we wouldn't have gone on anyway. Dylan didn't want to go alone and Stephanie is not yet big enough for them so we weren't overly disappointed. However, when we got to the gate a staff member politely asked if we knew they were closed and gave us a voucher which entitles us to another day at the park for free. We just have to use the tickets before November 2nd. I have to say I am very impressed, after the awful accident at a different theme park a while ago I am aware this is likely to be in part to raise the profile of the group again.

We had a fabulous day. We started with the ride Stephanie dragged us to- The vampire. She has nerve wanted to go on this before, but she was very excited and desperate to try. I should have trusted my instincts- she hated it! The longest 3 minutes sat next to her screaming in terror! From there we headed to the Bubbleworks- much calmer.

 
These pictures are the part where you go around and look at scenery such as ducks taking a bath etc. Their faces make me laugh.

I put my phone away for the more interesting part of the ride- the water fountains. We always have a bit of a play in that part and I knew we would all come out wet. So no pictures to show. The ride did the job- my princess was smiling again. We headed off for lunch and then onto some calmer rides.
We were a little disappointed as we were unable to go on the one ride we were all looking forward to Dragon Falls. Its a water slide ride. Sadly, it was broken by the time we reached it and the park staff were busy fixing it but not finished in time for us to have a go. Nevermind, we will enjoy it on our return visit.

 

As well as enjoying the rides we also went in the sea life centre. There is also the zoo animals at the park but the children didn't want to visit those this time.

We had a great day and staff were polite wherever we encountered them. We will be returning at some point before the 2nd November. Probably in the next half term.

Legoland

Yesterday we returned to legoland after an awful visit in the summer holidays, so bad that I complained. As a result of my complaint we were offered free tickets to return to the park. We finally found a day which we were all free, as were my sister and her family. I have to confess I was still sceptical, after all it is still a school holiday and it was legoland's fireworks display last night. We packed a bag of nibbles and drinks and off we went. We decided to do the rides we hadn't been on last time, not a difficult task as we got on just 4 rides last time, hence the complaint!
We managed nearly all of the rides we wanted to go on this time

We arrived at the park not long after opening and left at 9pm after the rides closed. It was a fabulous day. The fireworks were phenomenal, the best display I have seen in this country. So good I didn't take many pictures, I stood and watched. 

I am so pleased we were able to give legoland another chance this year. It was worth the wait, I would never have thought to go up for the fireworks before. I am planning on saving specifically to go for the fireworks here next year, or if Stephanie is feeling even braver with rides perhaps we will go to one of the parks with bigger rides!

What have you done recently which surprised you?

Harry Potter

You remember how my little lady is Harry Potter crazy so much so that this year I have made her a Harry Potter costume for World Book Day, and a Harry Potter Cake for her birthday as well as buying everything harry otter for her birthday.

Well, this weekend was the final part of her birthday surprise- A trip to Harry Potter tour London. As my niece and nephew are also Harry Potter crazy they came too, well my niece had asked for the same thing for her birthday and the girl's birthdays are a month apart so we went together. We didn't tell the children and it wasn't until I stopped to show our tickets to the car park attendant they realised where we were! Cue lots of excited squealing from the back of the carl. As soon as it was declared safe to exit the vehicle we had three children who could not stop bouncing up and down in excitement.

It was an absolutely phenomenal day, even my sister and I got caught up in the excitement as soon as we passed through the main entrance- look there is Harry, there's the Weasleys car, oh oh oh look!!!
The magic of the day was everything we had hoped for and more.

One thing we hadn't expected was just how expensive it was! I knew it wouldn't be cheap there but £2.00 for a bottle of drink in the café- £5.00 almost for a sandwich. I'm glad we had lunch packed and eaten before we arrived. I did buy a butter beer which the five of us shared, good job we only bought one as no-one except me actually liked it! LOL

We had an amazing day looking at the costumes, learning how the masks etc were made. Flying through London first in the Weasley's car and then on broomsticks! It truly was magical and was worth every penny for the entrance fee.


Could have done without the shock of the gift shop at the end- £25 for a plastic wand anyone? What about £20 for a notebook? Cue some very sad faced children when they were told they couldn't have any of the things they actually wanted as it was just too much money, and 2 very disappointed Mum's that had to say no to the children because they couldn't afford to buy them anything in the shop after promising them a treat at the end of the day, and one that couldn't be avoided with a whoops the shop must have shut as you can't get out without going through the extortionate shop. Very disappointing way to end the day. All three of our children were very good and didn't tantrum tetc after all we have never hid from them that there is only so much money in the pot, when it's gone that's it. But it is still not how we expected to end the day.

We were a little mollified today when we met up with my brother- he hasn't seen Stephanie since before her birthday so hadn't given her her presents- he had only got her a book of spells and a Harry potter broomstick. Exactly like the one she desperately wanted in the shop for almost £30 yesterday. He had got it for less than £10 on the internet!

 

We flew over Hogwart's!!

We're going to the zoo, soo, zoo how about you..........

Ok so we are not going to the zoo- we have been. In fact Stephanie and I went on Sunday. it was a fantastic day. We went to a zoo which we have not been to before but I have heard great things about. We packed our lunch and off we went.

 

It was fantastic we saw lots of the usual suspects; lions, penguins (they are one of the main reasons for going!), giraffes, zebras, seals etc.

 

The highlights of the day were hand feeding the elephants and the giraffes. I was most impressed as this was free most zoos that allow this charge extra, but we only spent our admission fees for the whole day. Except for running out of drinks, so an extra drink each but nanny had given us some spending money which was enough for an ice cream and a nice cold drink.

 

We have already decided that we want to go back here. There are so many things to see and do that although we were there from 10am- 6pm we didn't get to see everything!

Join us on our fairy adventure!

Yesterday Stephanie and I went on an adventure, we made us of our National trust membership and went off to explore. This time the membership saved us the cost of parking, which at this [articular place is £3.50.

We started off by jumping along these rings of trees, which mystical creatures could have created such things?

We had to balance along a precarious walkway to begin our adventure through the smelly swamp!

sneak over the goblins toes without waking them!

teeter along a seesaw walk way

 

find our way around the trickiest high rise maze

to make it to the plinth in the centre for the right to be queen of the castle

 

 

To find our way to the centre of the kingdom at the fairy queens palace where we had a royal feast of Fairy sweets (blueberries to mere mortals) and fairy cakes (bananas)

We called in to visit a fairy friend at home

before we went off in pursuit of the impressive and beautiful Fairy people carrier (a male pheasant)

Alas he was feeling very shy today and hide behind the trees!

We wandered down a mystical path and found ourselves looking at this impressive view

which led us to the wondering of what does this hill we are stood on look like from the top of that hill over there!

We set off across the mountain range to find out! (trust me we have climbed a mountain so we know when we are exaggerating!)

To discover that this is what the first hill looks like from the top of the second hill. We also discovered that the second hill is much more amazing for hill rolling!

Up and down the hills and back through the woods we found ourselves here climbing the tallest totem poles in the world!

Before needing to swing across the wild ravines to safety. After this there were some wild adventures involving the necessity to build ourselves a shelter to hide whilst the goblins and trolls had a mud fight. Which we did get a little caught up in but it didn't take long to sort

Of course we needed to use magic in the form of several fairy wipes!

Still we know we have not had a good day if we come home without any cuts/scrapes or mud on us. This was a day when we both came home with mud on us- thank you to the goblins and trolls! And there were a couple of scrape along the way but nothing so serious as to stop us from planning our next trip already..................





Would you like to have your own magical adventure, all you need is a trip to Box Hill in Surrey and a sprinkling of imagination!

another lovely family day out

On Sunday we went out for the day- I know I said i'm saving, but I booked this on groupon last month (before I overspent on other stuff) look:

Now the full price for our day out should have been £9.00 for an adult and £5.50 for a child. As Dylan doesn't often want to com eon days out with us these days :-( I booked 2 tickets at the bargain price of £5.00 each through groupon when the offer came up last month. It should have cost me £14.50. therefore I saved £4.50 by buying this way.

So I packed lunch for Stephanie and I, determined not to spend more than I needed.

When we got there we discovered the wildlife park was high up on a hill and windy! Good job I had packed lots of layers to wear! LOL
However it did make it rather cold to sit outside and eat our picnic- especially for my poor sister who is breastfeeding lol.
So we took ourselves into the café, now as is normal in these places there are signs saying now picnicking, only food bought here to be consumed etc etc.
Now my sister was buying sandwiches there, I was not. So I bought a hot choc each for me and Stephanie to warm up as we ate. the staff seemed to turn a blind eye to our own sandwiches being eaten (thank you!), perhaps as we had bought drinks, it was incredibly windy and they still had half their tables empty. I'm sure it would have been a different story in the height of summer!

We had a fabulous time there, we looked at all sorts of birds of prey, we watched displays with some of them flying- others refusing! LOL

We then got to meet the husky dogs, well 2 of them. They were so over friendly lol. one of them knocked Stephanie off the bench. Lucky there was a lovely older couple sat behind her who were quick at catching and 2 Stephanie is not at all nervous of big dogs look;

The lovely Coco jumping up for a hug! lol
The staff at the park were very knowledgeable about the animals they have and incredibly friendly. They answered all of the children's questions even the repetitive ones, with good humour and patience.

As it is called eagle heights I expected lots of feathered friends. I was not disappointed. But I was also amazed at just how many other species there were there- there is even a reptile house.

My nephew trying out his parseltongue!!

Yes Stephanie's Harry Potter obsession is passing off onto other family members.

From talking to the staff we learnt that most of the animals in the pack are rescued, they have been collected by the park when owners have been unable to care for them so that they are not euthanized. What a fantastic ethos!
This is only a 30-40 minute drive for our home. we will definitely be going back. What a fantastic gem of a place.
The link for the park's website is eagle heights, just in case you are in the area and want to take a look. I can even recommend the play area- very challenging even for adults! LOL

A much better day

Our day might have started a bit fraught but it was much better. Stephanie and I went to Lullingstone Roman villa. She has been learning about Romans at school so we went to have a look at the real thing. It is part of the English Heritage properties so we didn't have to pay to get in or for the car park, saving £9.90 for entrance fees and £2.50 for the car park without our membership this would have been an unaffordable day out at the moment.

reading the information boards

trying the clothes on

 

 

 

Once we had finished we went back to the car for lunch.

enjoying her soup- flasks are great aren't they! Once we had finished lunch we left and saw signs for a castle so once we found somewhere to park we went to have a look. It doesn't matter how many castles we have seen previously this child always loves to visit more!

 

This one is more of a shell than a castle, there is not a huge amount of it left, it had been argues over and fell into disrepair many centuries ago.

Stephanie was horrified to read that parts of the roman villa had been taken apart in order to build the castle. I had to explain that the villa didn't have the same status back when the castle was first built- it was just like recycling the materials. She understood a little better then.

 

We came home and then had dinner. Dylan has decided to come home just for tonight. He is off to his Dad's tomorrow as he doesn't want to come to the football or fireworks.

 

Now I am off to sit in front of the tv with my knitting I feel the need for something to switch off my brain!