Birthday celebrations

Well this year's birthday celebration was a first...although a trip to the seaside wasn't that unique...a trip to Peppa Pig World certainly was!

Even when Baby R was just a bump we promised E a trip if he was a good big brother and he really has been. Always wanting to kiss her, always telling me if she is crying and always putting her dummy back in. So another deal had been made.

We drove down to the coast on my birthday in one go, not bad going for a 3 hour drive with an 8 week old and a 3 year old. We went for lunch in the lovely Lymington at a really nice boutique hotel, Stanwell House Hotel, which offered a great lunch and children's menu. A great find considering we were about to go in to a Costa for a sandwich! After a feed for all of us we headed down to find the sea and had an ice cream at the harbour.

We then set off to continue the journey to Bournemouth to check into our room for the night, a Premier Inn Family Room. A sleep on the way revived us all (apart from our driver, Mr B!) and after a little play in our hotel room, possibly the biggest I have ever seen, we headed down to Bournemouth for dinner.

If I have ever been to Bournemouth then I can't remember it but we were pleasantly impressed. A very long beach, a pier to wander down, boats to spot and money to 'gamble'. Time was ticking on and tummy's rumbling so we went to find somewhere to eat. I had seen Aruba mentioned in a leaflet and am so glad we decided to try it, despite the many stairs to get in. It was as much a bar as it was a restaurant but the atmosphere and music with it being my birthday was perfect. Some great menu choices, especially for vegetarian Mr B and I even had a cheeky glass of wine.

 

 

 

The perfect birthday, even if E didn't go to sleep til about 11pm!

The next day meant Peppa Pig World and despite us trying to leave early we were too busy eating breakfast. Even though we didn't arrive until 11am it wasn't too busy, and was much better than I was expecting. Paulton's Park where it is based was very well looked after, lovely gardens but the Peppa Pig area was clearly the place to be. We probably queued for a maximum of 40 minutes for any one ride and went on Daddy Pig's cars, Peppa's house, the Dinosaur Adventure, Helicopter Flight, Grandpa Pig's little train (baby R even joined us on that one), Grandpa Pig's boat trip and the play area. The food was reasonable and there were plenty of places to sit and park the buggy. We would definitely go back but might try and wait a couple of years first!

We left around 4pm and with a sleepy E in the car headed back. After freshening up at the hotel we decided that Poole harbour was worth a visit. There was a Mini meet on the harbour so there was lots of reminiscing from me about my first car, and no interest whatsoever from E. We walked around  for a bit and chose Pizza Express for dinner, a bit of a cop-out but you know it will always be good.

Soon it was Saturday and our last day. Despite being at the seaside for a couple of days we still hadn't ventured on to the sand and with a day of sun forecast we headed to Boscombe Beach. It was only a 10 minute walk according to Google and after a look on satellite view it looked like we could walk their via a park. Well I am glad I found that shortcut, it was beautiful. Called the Boscombe Chine Gardens it was a Victorian park with an adventure golf course and great kids playground. Well we were more than impressed when we reached the seafront, it was stunning. First, a quick stop at a shop to buy a towel and couple of bottles of water, we had not come prepared for the Mediterranean temperatures! A walk along the front and we picked our spot on the beach and dragged the pushchair kicking and screaming on to the sand, I am not loving having to take the pushchair everywhere again! Within 30 seconds E and Mr B were paddling and then I headed in for R's first paddle. It was obviously met with cries but that's another milestone passed. After a couple of hours on the beach, two wet boys and two hot girls we headed for lunch. We spotted Urban Reef, a great modern looking, family friendly restaurant. The food was very nice and I went all out and ordered half a lobster. Well it was my birthday weekend after all.

We headed home with the usual conversations of 'shall we move to the seaside' knowing we never will. But we were refreshed and bizarrely slightly sun kissed!

Until the next time, seaside x

I'm linking up with Country Kids again, championing the outdoors!

Adventures in the deep dark wood

As I am sure is the case in many homes The Gruffalo is a popular choice at bedtime. When I saw that the Forestry Commission were helping to celebrate the Gruffalo's 15th anniversary with a number of activities I was intrigued.

After a quick search I found our closest Gruffalo sculpture and activity trail was at Sherwood Pines in Nottingham and although an hours drive away we decided to add it to our Summer to do list.

We had never been to Sherwood Pines but were pleasantly impressed. Despite the rain and being quite ill prepared (I keep forgetting you have to remember so many extra things with a baby!) we ventured out of the car to track down the cafe to purchase the activity leaflet. I wouldn't bother with that again although we did all get a sticker!

Attention quickly turned to trying to find the trail. The first thing we spotted was the Gruffalo. At first we weren't sure whether this was the sculpture we thought we would be looking for in the deep dark woods. Turned out it was. Luckily E wasn't bothered and still wanted to explore. It did however seem a bit strange to put the 'treasure' of the hunt at the beginning?

We carried on to find the trail which included all the characters you would recognise, the mouse, owl, snake. There were other activities along the way which would probably help keep older children's attention but E was a little too young.

At Sherwood Pines the trail is amongst the other play areas for children which were all excellent. We eventually teared E away with the lure of cake in the cafe. Towards the end of the day there wasn't much choice left but Baby R needed feeding and there were a couple of chocolate options :)

We will definitely be going back to Sherwood Pines in the future and there is another chance to meet the Gruffalo in August, a little closer to home in Leicestershire for the Gruffalo tour. We may just have to convince E that that Gruffalo is still just a 'pretend' one!

I am also linking up with Country Kids!

Easter...time for a break

The week before Easter was always going to be a momentous one for us. It was my last week at work before maternity leave and Mr B's first week in a new job. Thank god it was only a four day week!

We had a lovely long weekend kicking off with some much needed jobs around the house on Good Friday, and some baking on Saturday. Now this might not sound very impressive but it is VERY rare and E had started to think it was only possible to make cakes at Nan-nans house. E and I had a lovely time together mixing and making. We even produced some edible crispy cakes and biscuits!

On Saturday we ventured out of the house to see my parents and visit a vintage fair at the great, Great Central Railway which we are very lucky to have on our doorstep.

Sunday brought not only the Easter Bunny but also Nan-nans birthday so we packaged up some of the products of our labour and off we went to see the other side of the family. The annual Easter Egg hunt (which I have been taking part in since Mr B and I got together 13 years ago!) was as fruitful as always. It is not unheard of us to have Easter chocolate left at Christmas.

By Monday we wanted some time on our own so waited for the sun to come out playing in the garden and after a lovely lunch prepared by Mr B we took the short 5 minute drive to our local woods (Martinshaw Woods) to spot the bluebells. I love this time of year!

 

 

 

 

 

Finally we dropped E off at grandparents for a sleepover ready for our early scan at the hospital on Tuesday. Unfortunately baby girl is still breech so after chatting through things with the doctor we are booked in for a ECV next week. Fingers crossed we can get this little monkey moving!

I am linking up with Country Kids from Coombe Mill.

It's definitely Spring

Today we visited the University of Leicester's Botanical Gardens for the first time.

The past two weeks they have been running Crocus Sunday's to showcase their collection. It was a great place to visit and even better being so local. We will definitely be back in the Summer as the gardens are open every day and the cafe from June. As you can see we had a lot of fun, the weather was perfect, and I even managed to play some 'catch me if you can' at 30 weeks pregnant!

 

 

 

 

After too many weeks off I am linking up with Country Kids again!

Our favourite park

Well, I thought this might be the first weekend we didn't manage to get outdoors but alas our Saturday morning plans of newborn baby cuddles were cancelled and a quick check of the weather forecast later and it was decided, yes we were.

Our favourite walks of recent years have been at Bradgate Park. Less than 10 minutes in the car from our house it is a popular destination for what seems like the whole of Leicestershire. It makes up for this with a great path (suitable for all weathers), rocks for climbing, ducks, ruins and being in a beautiful village.

With Mr B and I having grown up in Leicestershire it holds many memories - rock climbing as children, picnics whilst dating and daydreaming, walks with a newborn and more recently walks with a toddler.

Today was a quick visit, whilst the weather held, which allowed us to don the wellies, get some fresh air and climb some rocks.

We ended off the trip with a visit to a new little deli (The Grey Lady Kitchen & Deli) in the village for a lovely lunch and cake. We will definitely be going back there for the great food, relaxed and child friendly atmosphere (there is even a dedicated playroom upstairs!).

Two hours later, once the hail storm had stopped, we headed home.

Another great day inspired by Country Kids!