Let the mini adventures begin…

It is now only four weeks before I return to work, and Tony has finished the work he was doing during my maternity leave so that we can spend plenty of time together as a family before I officially hand over the childcare reigns to him once again!

Over the last few weeks we have thought a lot about how we will spend these precious four weeks, we’ve even occasionally got carried away with the thought of a holiday – foreign or at home – but we a reality check on cost has meant that we have returned to our original plan of plenty of lovely local days out.

We started on Sunday with a trip to Martin Mere Wetland Centre in Lancashire. Hubby had fond memories of a school trip to this Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust run bird haven, so he expected great things. On the other hand, my expectations were low – bird spotting doesn’t exactly fill me with enthusiasm and I imagined vast wetlands with a few birds in the distance, viewable only through binoculars (and really, who cares what kind they are?)

In fact, there were a series of different areas which you walked through all with different geographical themes. There were flamingoes, very close up, and loads of unusually coloured ducks (well, they looked like ducks to me). The grounds were quite pretty really, not just the barren, vast open spaces I imagined. There were also beavers (allegedly – we didn’t spot any), but my favourites were the otters.

You could buy a bag of bird seed for £1 which kept Lilly amused – and not ALL of it got dropped on the floor, which was a miracle good.

Lilly’s favourite thing was the slightly hair-raising walk along the stepping stones with daddy…

My least favourite bit was when Lilly anounced she needed a wee when we were exactly half way around the route – and of course the only toilets were back at the entrance…

All in all, I was more impressed than I thought I would be, Tony was less impressed than he remembered. And it was a bit pricey – all in all for two adults and one child (Isla and Eve were free) it came to about £25. I don’t think we’ll be rushing back, but it was a good start to our programme of days out.

On Monday we visited an old favourite – Croxteth Hall Country Park.

The girls had a good play on the playground before we went for a little walk (we brought Lilly’s scooter), had an explore in the trees and a quick game of football on the grass before visiting the little farm.

The only disappointment was when we sat down to eat some ice creams (the weather was lovely!) and Lilly stepped in dog dirt. It very much took the shine off the lovely time we were having as I had to try and clean her shoe as best I could before putting it back on her to get to the car – and then discovering that the pram wheels had also gone through the dirt so I had to use many more baby wipes to try and clean them… I could rant for days about how much I HATE irresponsible dog owners!!!!!

Once we got home and I had managed to wash my hands about 10 times to banish the memory of the dog poo, the girls had a lovely play out in the garden with their water table.

On Tuesday the weather was still beautiful so we stayed at home and played in the garden. Then on Wednesday we took ourselves to Chester Zoo (where we are members) and had a lovely day in the blazing sunshine. We enjoyed a picnic in a (hard to find) shady spot and visited some of our favourites – Lilly’s being the dinosaurs which are currently there temporarily. Isla finds the dinosaurs too scary so while Lilly, daddy and a sleeping Eve were looking at them Isla and I had a lovely time together watching the penguins, giraffes and butterflies. We had a lovely day finishing up with some ice lollies for everyone.

We are starting to get used to all the things we need to take and the logistics of days out as a threesome – it seems to take hours of preparation and we have a full car load of stuff (we recently upgraded our car to a proper people carrier – just as well!) But hopefully Eve is getting a little more patient and there seems to be less screaming (except when milk is due!) so the days out have become a little less stressful.

Now we’re just hoping that the fabulous weather continues for a while – we have plans for another trip to the seaside tomorrow and our first barbecue in this house on Saturday!

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Pulled pigtails and windy walks

After Isla’s recent antics of playing up at bedtime, chatting, singing & purposely getting her legs ‘stuck’ in the cot bars or throwing her pillow out so that she can shout for help, we decided yesterday that it was time for Operation Tire out Toddler.

With that in mind, we headed to the coast (Southport) to visit Grannie, with the aim of a long walk along the pier and a lot of fresh air.

The Met Office app reliably informed us it was not going to rain, and they were mainly right. However, when we arrived, full of May optimism with our picnic, it was slightly too baltic to get out of the car. And it was blowing a gale. And then Eve started screaming. And it started drizzling. And the upshot of all the above was that we panicked, and ended up diving into the nearest soft play place instead.

Once Eve had stopped screaming & we all had cups of coffee inside us things were calmer. Lilly and Isla were playing so nicely together and all was well.

But then, Devil Child (aka boy toddler) entered stage left and, with a swift pull of Isla’s pigtails all out meltdown began. Because, while Isla might like to dish out the odd smack to her big sister at home, she is definitely not used to being on the receiving end.

This Devil Child was a particularly sadistic little thing. And accompanied (naturally) by the kind of parent who comes to soft play and immediately washes their hands of their kid, not caring what kind of bad behaviour they might be getting up to.

Isla was screaming and this only amused Devil Child, who then kept trying to come back for more, following Isla and trying for another grab of her pigtail. Not going to happen, Devil Child. “She doesn’t want to play with you, so go away please,” I told him. But Devil Child isn’t bothered, his mum isn’t watching, and Isla is getting more and more traumatised. I try to encourage her to keep playing, but Devil Child keeps following her, so she’s getting hysterical and we give up and go for a Fruit Shoot break.

Luckily, Devil Child & Neglectful Parent leave soon afterwards, and play continues. But Isla’s obviously traumatised because later when another little boy comes near her she crumbles into a heap of tears and throws herself down some (soft) stairs, sobbing “naughty boy!”

So, if Devil Child has done one thing, it is to put Isla off boys for a while… hmmm… wonder if it might last into her teens….

Anyway. After a few goes on the big wavy slide (me, Lilly and Isla all on one lane each – great photo opportunity missed, eh?) We decided to give the windy walk along the pier another go.

Once we got outside the weather had really brightened up, the sun was out and it was even a little bit warm. It was still windy, but it was a pleasant kind of wind, not a freezing cold drizzly kind of wind.

It was such a clear day, you could see the Blackpool Tower and The Big One

We had a lovely walk along Southport’s famously long pier. The tide was out so we didn’t see much of the sea, but it was a really clear day. And when we got to the end the girls had loads of fun looking at the old fashioned penny arcade games they have there.

Lilly’s favourite was always the Sooty and Sweep Band, who sing a nursery rhyme in exchange for an old penny. I’ve actually blogged about it before. This was the first time Isla had really been big enough to take much notice, and it was her turn to fall in love with Sooty. Quite a few of our old pennies went into this machine – it’s brilliant!

And, of course, no trip to the seaside could be complete without ice creams…

All in all, we had a really lovely afternoon. And, as for Operation Tire Out Toddler? Well, after all that excitement – soft play, pigtail pulling, long walks, meeting sooty, eating ice cream – yes, you’ve guessed it… it DIDN’T MAKE A BLIND BIT OF DIFFERENCE… she was still up for a good 40 minutes at bedtime messing about…

*sigh*

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My baby rode a rollercoaster!

This weekend we had a lovely day out to Drayton Manor in Staffordshire, home of Thomas Land!

This was our second visit, our first being to celebrate Lilly’s third birthday last December, when Thomas Land does a special Christmas themed Winter Wonderland.

I had the day booked off work on Friday, and we noticed an offer on Facebook that adults could get in for £10 when they wore pink, and we decided to go for it.

Once again Lilly absolutely loved it, and went on pretty much all the rides in Thomas Land, her favourites being Jeremy the Jet Plane, Bertie Bus, Harold the Helicopter and Diesel. She also went on the river rapids with daddy – and was enjoying that until right at the end, when an unexpected rapid caused her to bump her mouth on the middle of the boat, leaving her with a mouthful of blood… not so good!

Enjoying the rapids, shortly before the chin bumping incident...

As we didn’t get round to a ride on Thomas himself last time (it was about minus 2 when we went and we were frozen solid after a few hours!) we made that the first priority and took a little ride down to Farmer McColl’s Farm where Lilly had a go at Terence’s Driving School – basically a pedal operated tractor around a little track. There were some parents there taking this very seriously – shouting to their children to “straighten up the wheel, turn to the left, straight on, right a bit, etc etc”! (It’s not a real driving school, y’anno!”) But I must say, Lilly did much better than we expected… last time she went on something similar, at a fairground in Bournemouth, she only stayed on a minute before saying she’d “had enough” and just got off, leaving the car running!

Doing well Lil, next we'll move onto parallel parking...

Once again, Lilly demonstrated her thrillseeking side – for a girl who still hesitates at the mere thought of a “tunnel slide” at soft play, she certainly likes her white knuckle rides! So much so that we decided to risk taking her on the Troublesome Trucks rollercoaster ride… which was a bit of a gamble, because, you know, once you’re on, you’re on.

Tony decided to take her on while Isla and I watched. I felt a little bit nervous. But then they emerged, sitting on the middle of the rollercoaster which was ascending before its first drop… Lilly looked happy enough… “Oh God,” I thought. “She has no idea what’s about to happen!” Then, down it swooshed…. after a few seconds the ride swung back into view and there was Lilly… laughing her head off!

I have never ever seen such a sight as my baby girl riding a rollercoaster! And I don’t think I will ever forget it (which is just as well as I was far too shocked to get my camera out in time to capture this moment on film!)

Unfortunately, Isla is still a little way behind in the bravery stakes. She just about broke her heart crying on the Thomas train ride, which was white knuckle enough for our delicate little bubba. She did enjoy doing plenty of walking around the park though, thanks to her new reins which allow her to roam wherever she likes (or so she thinks!) without having to hold our hands (which she hates!)

"For gawd's sake, stop crying Isla. You're embarrassing me..."

We did manage to take both the girls on the Ferris Wheel right at the end of our stay, which Isla quite enjoyed… until the ride stopped and the brakes made a rather loud and unexpected noise which started off the screaming again!

After our last visit, and the huge traffic jam on the M6 during our return journey, we decided to spend the night in a nearby Premier Inn… Lilly’s FAVOURITE hotel in the WHOLE WORLD, apparently. Thankfully both girls went to sleep reasonably easily and slept all night – in fact until almost 6.45am, which is a record! Tony and I were also in bed super early – about 8.30pm – Thomas Land is pretty tiring for grown ups too, you know!

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A moment of fame…

This time last year, when Isla was only a few weeks old, we discovered the brilliant urban beach at Liverpool One shopping centre.

Today the girls and I went back to the beach, which has returned for the summer holidays, and once again met up with my mum there.

The weather wasn’t as good as last year, when it was really quite warm and sunny – today it was humid but overcast and with the occasional fine shower.

That did not put us off though – lucky I had been organised enough to pack towels, buckets, spades and an entire change of outfit for both girls as they got drenched to the skin!!!

Lilly had a great time paddling in the “sea” and playing with the other children, while Isla made sandcastles and sat on the edge of the water splashing her feet. After a while that wasn’t enough for her and she wanted to get in the sea too, wading around in the water and giggling her head off!

And we had a moment of fame as the local news crew were filming when we arrived – tonight’s news featured Me, Isla and mum building a sandcastle and Lilly running and splashing in the water. Mother in law didn’t know we were going to be on but rang up very excited when she spotted us!

Anybody with young children in the Liverpool area this summer do not miss the urban beach – but don’t forget your towels!

 

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Gorgeous Easter weekend

We have just enjoyed a lovely long weekend with glorious weather and some really lovely days out.

Good Friday was such a sunny day we decided on a trip to a local beer garden, which includes a nice big playground, with Lilly and Isla’s Nanna and Grandad and Aunty Laura. We all sat and enjoyed the sunshine while Lilly played on the slide and swings, while bossing the much bigger children who tried to play on the one slide that was “out of order”!  The highlight had to be the huge trampoline at the bottom on the field where Lilly surprised me by wanting to get on without hesitation after seeing another little boy bouncing away. (Previously at the soft play, she’s had two tentative bounces before wanting to get off – and she wouldn’t even entertain bouncy castles, except to sit on the outside and bounce on her bottom a bit!) Soon when Grandad and Laura saw how much fun she was having they wanted to join in too – in the end we were all bent over double laughing as they bounced away together!

After that it was back to their house for a bbq – we had some delicious meat but tried to keep the amount consumed down a little bit with Weight Watchers in mind. Lilly’s wendy house was brought out of the shed and she also enjoyed cycling around the garden and playing football with daddy and grandad (“It’s MY turn to score a goal now!!!”)

Isla wouldn’t sleep in her pushchair after lunch, and after less than five minutes shut-eye in the car, wouldn’t sleep at Nanna’s house either, so she was a little grouchy towards the end of the day. But she still enjoyed sitting on her picnic blanket in the garden and picking daisies, and even had a little sit in the wendy house which she seemed to enjoy.

On Saturday we decided to go on a (slightly ambitious) day trip to York. We absolutely love it there, and actually went last Easter for a long weekend before Isla was born. We left the house at 8.30 and got there for just after 10am, so it wasn’t bad going at all. A tip for other daytrippers is the station car park, just by the railway museum – £2.50 all day on Saturdays, and you can reserve your place ahead.

 We started at the Railway Museum, where we enjoyed cappucinos (no cakes) for us and a muffin for Lilly before looking at the Royal trains, Japanese bullet train (once again Lilly loved sitting on this and didn’t want to get off “until the train goes”), and of course enjoying the coin operated Thomas ride and shop of the same theme – where a Thomas Flag was purchased with much excitement – exactly the same as this time last year when we last stayed.

After the railway museum we went for a picnic by the river – it was such a glorious day, really warm and sunny and combined with it being Easter weekend York was absolutely packed. However where we spread out our blanket, in a very lovely park with the war memorial in it, wasn’t too busy and we all enjoyed our sandwiches and salad. Mind you, Lilly managed to get a whole sandwich stuck to her dress and was walking around oblivious… Luckily, (and unusually), I had packed another sun dress for her…

We went for a lovely stroll along the River Ouse, and tried to find a pub where we could have a little sit down – not easy due to the hoardes! Then it was back home and a slightly less peaceful journey as Lilly managed to wee in her seat after not very much advance notice of needing the loo. So there went the last change of clothes – she had to travel home in nothing but a cardy! Isla was grizzling because she was hungry. But hey, no matter, a lovely day!

Easter Sunday started a little early – not sure which of the girls woke first but by 4.50am they were both awake (usual wakeup time at the moment being about 5.50am) We had left a pair of bunny ears and a couple of tiny chocolate eggs for Lilly outside her bedroom, which she was very excited to discover. “Do you think the Easter bunny left you those, Lilly?” I asked her. “No, he didn’t”. she said. “Because Sasha at nursery has got those ears too…”

Anyway the chocolate was eaten aproximately 10 seconds later and she was happy with that!

After lunch I set up an Easter egg hunt for her, complete with ‘cryptic’ clues, and she enjoyed hunting all over the house collecting little chocolate eggs, chicks and bunnies. At the end of the hunt was a present each for the girls and a bigger Peppa Pig egg for Lilly with a rocket shaped cup.

Monday was a slightly cooler day, although still sunny and we went to see my mum where Lilly enjoyed yet another Easter Egg hunt as ‘uncle’ Jack (my sister’s boyfriend) had hidden 70 small eggs in the garden for her to find. Isla meanwhile enjoyed putting the chocolate eggs in her mouth and tearing off the foil wrapping with her teeth- oops!

Then we went to a country fair in Southport, where I may or may not have exposed my knickers to the crowd while trying to rescue Lilly from impending doom trying to climb up a ridiculously difficult ladder thing on an inflatable slide, and I also may or may not have nearly wiped out about five children in failing to rescue Lilly and instead sliding rather un-ladylike back down said difficult ladder thing. I, er, can’t quite remember now… Anyway the upshot was that Lilly plumped for the bouncy castle instead, and, after at least five minutes sitting in the corner of the castle observing… she got up and bounced!!!! Quite a breakthrough after being too frightened to do it before. And, guess what? She absolutely loved it!

If only we had more four day weekends… oh, wait – there’s another one next week (thank you, Royal Wedding)

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Walton Hall Gardens

Last week on a day off work the girls and I spent a really lovely day at Walton Hall Gardens in Warrington.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we decided to take a picnic and go.

We parked up and walked over the bridge, watching and waving to canal boats passing below. Then we arrived at the playground, which, if you are a 3-year-old or thereabouts is VERY impressive. Lilly’s absolute favourite being the helter skelter style slide – plenty of exercise was had climbing up there time after time after time!

After that we spread out our picnic blanket under a shady tree and enjoyed our lunch – I was really pleased that Isla ate some soft cheese sandwiches and had no choking issues, and also seemed to enjoy them and feel full up without me having to heat anything up for her – hallelujah! Isla also had her first taste of strawberries:

… as you can see she wasn’t too sure at first, but she enjoyed holding it in her hand and biting into it, so I’m counting that as a success!

Then we went for a look at the pond with some HUGE fish in – one even flipped out of the water while we watched with very much entertained Lilly. And the flower gardens there were looking beautiful in the sunshine, especially this one which was planted with hundreds of lovely purple tulips:

After that, it was back to the playground for a bit then a look around the ‘children’s zoo’, which basically comprises of lots of rabbits, guinea pigs, peacocks and things, and then Lilly had a little go at pottery painting which was taking place next to the playground

She chose a little aeroplane to paint (£3.50) and I was actually really impressed by the detail she put into it. Usually painting at home is a bit of a messy business, with LOTS of paint applied and all the colours mixed together. But at the pottery painting they had a big box of fine paintbrushes, and the children were using one paintbrush per colour, then putting the used brush into a tub, so no colours were mixed up. Lilly took a good ten minutes carefully adding little dots of colour to her plane before declaring it finished. Then we left it to dry while we sat down with an ice cream on the grass.

After that we had one last play in the playground – and strangely enough, bumped into a group of children from Lilly’s nursery on a day trip! Then we collected Lilly’s aeroplane and came home.

All in all I think we were there about five hours – not bad for somewhere that’s free (car parking aside). The weather obviously helped, but if you live anywhere near Warrington I’d thoroughly recommend Walton Hall Gardens for a nice day out with the children.

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A day at the farm

We made a fantastic discovery at the weekend – Windmill Animal Farm in Burscough.

My mum stumbled across the place and thought the girls would like it so we took them on Saturday and had an absolutely brilliant time!

The weather forecast for the weekend was good, but when we got up in the morning the skies were dark and threatening and Isla still had a bit of a tummy bug so I wasn’t sure a trip to a farm was the best idea, but I had already promised Lilly we were going and she was really excited about it.

From the moment we set off in the car the skies started changing and by the time we arrived at Windmill Farm (via some really gorgeous scenery Parbold way that I never even knew existed) the weather had gone decidedly sunny and even almost warmish.

We knew we’d arrived at the right place when we saw the old windmill (it looks like it has been converted into a rather lovely modern home so unfortunately its not part of the farm itself). We got a very friendly welcome on arrival and were allowed to pet the owner’s sheepdog, before we walked in and discovered all the other nice things that were waiting.

There were play tractors of all different sizes for the children to use, a quite big playbarn with a generously sized under 4s area, an adventure playground with equipment suitable for little tots right up to bigger children, including a zip wire and plenty of opportunities to sit and enjoy your own picnic, which is what we did (outside, because by then the sun was really shining!)

After that we went to see the animals – we saw lots of babies including lambs and baby goats (if my memory serves me correctly they’re ‘kids’?), they had llamas (I don’t trust them!) and  a little donkey and a rather handsome horse who seemed to really want to eat my mum’s coat. I thought that Isla would like the animals because she has just started noticing her Nanna’s black cat, Alex, and gets very excited when he walks into the room, clenching her fists and making a “grrrrrrrrrrrrrr” sound! And yes, she really liked seeing the little goats popping their heads through the fences to get a closer look at the children and she was even brave enough to touch the horse a couple of times. There were some baby lambs with tight curly black wool who were so cute, as were all the black spotted little goats who kept pushing their heads as far through the fence as they could to get a good look at us.

It has to be said though that I think Lilly’s favourite animal was the plastic lifesized cow that you could “milk”! Yep, that was loads of fun and Lilly was in her element telling everyone how to do it and getting herself soaked in the process…

My mum and I had a coffee in the play barn before joining Isla and Lilly in the under 4s ball pool for a bit. Isla was up to her armpits in balls but really loved it – not like Lilly’s first experience of a much smaller ball pool in Southport when she screamed her head off!

Lilly was obviously feeling adventurous today as she climbed right up to the third ‘storey’ of the bigger play area – I was panicking a little because I couldn’t see if she was ok and knew that she wouldn’t want to go down the “tunnel slide” when she got to the top because she’s scared of them. So being an overprotective mum I climbed up after her but she was quite ok, she did say “I wonder how we’ll get down?!” but she didn’t seem too worried and we managed to slip and slide our way back down the very steep but soft stairs.

There was a children’s party on at the same time and after lunch Lilly got ice cream envy when she saw all the children being given one, so we decided to buy one from the cafe but they only really had ice lollies in the freezer so she ended up with an orange calypso - it was pretty obvious it would end in tears when it inevitably melt/spilt/dropped or came flying out after an over-enthusiastic squeeze, and it did, but to be fair she had managed to eat most of it before it predictably ended up on the floor with Lilly sobbing “We’ll have to buy another one…”

But I was really, really impressed with Windmill Animal Farm and definitely plan to go back there many times over the next few years with the girls. We’ve been to Farmer Ted’s in Ormskirk before and liked it, but felt that it lacked ‘something’ – I can’t quite put my finger on it but I much preferred this place. It seemed to have a bit more going on for both quite young children and 3 years plus where Farmer Ted’s always seemed a bit limited for Lilly when she was under 2. Windmill’s definitely has a better outdoor adventure playground with a better mix of equipment for all ages, and it also has a bigger and better under 4s area. I also like the fact that at Windmills they cater well for people bringing their own food. There is a cafe but it isn’t a big food operation like at Farmer Ted’s. 

Oh, and I nearly forgot the best thing of all, the miniature train ride!

The train was running every half an hour and took us to another part of the farm with a “secret” play area where we were allowed five minutes before the train driver whistled to tell is it was time to get back on board. Lilly, being a train fan generally, loved it of course. Isla was sitting quite happily until the train actually started moving – she wasn’t too sure about it at first! But after a few cuddles and reassurance she was fine.

Anyway, if you are local, or visiting, I would definitely recommend this place, we had a really, really enjoyable day and both girls left absolutely shattered, especially Isla who packed quite a few new experiences into one day!

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Third birthday celebrations

Well, after all the drama and excitement of Christmas, it was soon time to move on to birthday celebrations for Lilly.

It began with a special birthday outing to Thomas Land at Drayton Manor – something I’ve just posted a separate blog post about because we had such a fabulous time!

Unfortunately on her birthday itself, Daddy had to go to work at 11.30am, but we spent a fun morning together opening presents. Lilly slept really well the night before, even though Isla had woken at 4am and disturbed her, Lilly had just gone straight back to sleep and woke up again after 7am.

The night before, we had hung birthday banners and balloons, and taken down all the Christmas cards and decorations (except the tree). The birthday cards were all waiting on the doormat. We came down in the morning to find all the presents on the sofa, as well as a new bike standing in the middle of the lounge!

After a little try on the bike, Lilly started opening presents which included Tumble Tots accessories (lummy sticks, beanbags, ribbons and an action rhyme dvd), Postman Pat playset, alphabet jigsaw, set of Maisy books, Zingzillas album and a Roary Nintendo DS game.

While she was doing it, Tony had a quick scan of the first of the CBeebies birthday cards that we had recorded. I’d made Lilly a card six weeks ago and sent it in. And hers was the very first one shown on the day! Much excitement! The card was Same Smile themed, with the three pandas, Mish, Moosh and Mogo from the programme on it, and Lilly 3 written in silver glittery lettering. And the presenter, by chance, was Nisha from Same Smile itself, which added to the excitement! Lilly watched it, and then gave me a great big hug! I asked her: “Where you expecting your card to be on CBeebies?” and she just shrugged and nodded, as if to say: “Of course I was! It is my birthday, after all!”

After that she had a little try on the bike outside (not all together successful, there was still a little bit of adjustment needed to the saddle height) and then time for singing Happy Birthday and blowing out candles. I had made Lilly a chocolate fudge cake, with a 3 on it in Smarties. All morning, Lilly was asking: “Did you make me a chocolate cake mummy? Can I have my chocolate cake now, mummy? Can I see my chocolate cake now mummy?” So it was quite eagerly anicipated and hopefully lived up to expectations!

In the afternoon, after Tony went to work, Nanna minded Isla while I took Lilly to Chester Zoo, where we have annual passes. The visit started with fish chips and beans in the cafe, followed by a trip through the bat cave (where I noticed properly for the first time just how bloody big those things are!) and the monkeys, before a ride on the monorail (we went in carriage number 3, in honour of Lilly’s age).

After that we visited the lions, then the reptile house and, lastly, the butterfly house, Lilly’s favourite. But this time, a small semi-see through butterfly took a liking to Lilly and landed on her – first on her hand and then on her coat. Lilly didn’t like it one bit and stood there paralysed, crying: “I don’t like him! Get him off meeeeee!” much to the amusement of other visitors (and me!). Afterwards she told me the problem was “he was too fluttery”.

After terrifying the life out of Lilly, the butterfly made friends with me instead

Then it was back home and round to Nanna’s where Lilly opened more presents before  Daddy arrived home early in time for bedtime stories.

Today we have been enjoying a little birthday party at our house for family. We’ve had an 80s style birthday buffet, with sandwiches, sausages on sticks, wotsits, party rings, chocolate fingers and animal biscuits, as well as more birthday cake. We played Pass the Parcel and Pin the Tail on the Donkey (Lilly won both, and although Pass the Parcel was rigged, she was scarily good at pinning the tail on the donkey!) and enjoyed a few games of Thomas The Tank Engine Bingo (one of her Christmas presents).

All in all a lovely day and one that has left us all shattered, not least Lilly. For the last hour before bed she was so tired she hardly spoke. She cuddled up on the sofa with one of Isla’s blankets and watched The Snowman DVD.

Lilly's birthday was tiring for Isla too

Tomorrow we are going over to my mum’s for more presents and to take her new bike for its inaugural ride.

And after that, all the Christmas and birthday excitement will be over for a while and normal life will have to resume!

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Birthday outing to Thomas Land

1 Jan, 2010

As part of the many celebrations for Lilly’s third birthday, we took her on a special outing to Thomas Land.

Thomas Land is the home of all things Thomas the Tank Engine, and it’s part of Drayton Manor theme park in Staffordshire. At Christmas time, the main park is closed, but Thomas Land is open for a Winter Wonderland celebration, complete with plenty of Christmas trimmings and guaranteed ‘snow’ three times a day.

We had planned to take Lilly to Thomas Land last year for her birthday, when her obsession with Thomas was at its peak, but we decided against it as Lilly is naturally quite a cautious personality, and we worried that the rides might have been a bit too scary for her.

No such worries now she’s three. Not one phased her, and to say she loved Thomas Land is an understatement. In fact, I loved Thomas Land! Having enjoyed many birthday outings of my own to Thorpe Park when I was younger, this was right up my street. As i’ve got older my idea of a great ride has been toned down slightly, so I’d pretty much say the rides at Thomas Land weren’t only perfect for Lilly, they were just about perfect for me too!

All four of us went so Tony and I took turns going on the rides with Lilly while the other stayed with Isla. That was one of the really great things about Thomas Land, the fact that grown ups can accompany kids on all the rides, so you aren’t left with that awful scenario of watching helplessly as your child goes round and round on a carousel crying their eyes out because they are terrified. Imagine how cruel and bad a parent you would feel if that happened!! (NB this scenario may or may not have happened to us on a trip to Truck Fest in Haydock a year and a half ago. Ahem.)

First up was Diesel, then Classic Cars, followed by rides on Jeremy Jetplane (probably my personal favourite) and Harold the Helicopter. Tony took Lilly on a truly terrifyingly fast pirate ride, which she loved! I tried to take pictures but it was going way too fast, I just kept taking pictures of empty seats! We also enjoyed Bertie the Bus and a traditional carousel. On the day we went, December 27, there were no queues for rides. In fact, on a couple of occasions at the beginning of our visit, we had the rides to ourselves!

And then we watched as the main man, Thomas himself, chuffed into Knapford station as the (fake) snow fell and the Fat Controller and friends entertained us with dancing and singing. Lilly was delighted when Thomas puffed right up to her before turning on his turntable to puff back the other way!

Because it was Christmas themed, all the children visiting the park were able to claim a free gift from Santa’s elves. And when we walked over to collect it, we heard an unexpected “ho ho ho” and turned around to see Santa himself! He was really friendly and chatted to Lilly about Christmas, and asked her if she had been happy with her presents. He also asked her if she remembered him tickling her nose while she was asleep, which made her giggle! She even got to sit on Santa’s knee and have her picture taken (by us, for no extra cost… now you gotta love that!) Afterwards, Lilly collected her gift (a handbag with brushes and combs) from the elves, and Isla got one too – a cuddly rabbit rattle.

It was pretty cold though. Freezing! At one of the rides, the operator said it had got to minus 11 on some days! And, if I was to make a criticism there was nowhere near enough provision for people to have a cuppa and a cake in the warm - there were a couple of burger bar type joints and only one cafe type place open with a totally inadequate number of seats. As Thomas Land didn’t open til 12, and shuts at 5, I thought those people wasting some of their time eating overpriced burgers in crowded restaurants were a bit nuts. Please, Drayton Manor, if you see this, think about more cafes and indoor seating for next year. It would have made a major difference to our day!

It was also unfortunate that the zoo was shut the day we went – I’m assuming because of temperatures and snow/ice. We didn’t miss the zoo so much, but we wanted to walk through the zoo to get to the Thomas and Friends exhibition, which we could see on the map but couldn’t figure out how to get to it on foot, other than through the zoo, which was shut. We asked a member of staff but they didn’t really seem to know what we were on about…

The other problem was the M6. Outside of Drayton Manor’s control, I know. It took us the expected hour and a half to get there. But on the way back, the M6 was at a standstill and it ended up taking two and a half hours. Luckily the girls were both really good on the way home. But still, a major drawback.

All in all though I think we will think about going again in the summer, considering how much we all enjoyed it, and how much Lilly loved all the rides. She surprised us with how brave she was, even asking us if she could go on the couple of rides that we still felt were a bit too scary for her.

Tips for you if you think of going too. Book in advance! We saved £8 overall by booking the night before on the internet. Eat before you go, if the park is only opening at 12 (which I would imagine is only the case during winter). And, if you’re going to ride on Thomas, do that first. This was the only thing people queued for, and the queues got longer as the day went on.

All in all though, I’d thoroughly recommend this place, for Thomas Fans of Lilly’s age and up (and for the grown ups, too!)

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Christmas 2010

Each year since we’ve had Lilly, Christmas has got more and more exciting. Her first Christmas, when she was almost one, was a bit of an anti climax because we were all poorly. Lilly enjoyed it but also found it all pretty overwhelming. Last year, at nearly two, Lilly understood a little more and thankfully we were illness free, so a much better time was had by all. This year, at nearly three, Lilly definitely understands Christmas and has been really looking forward to it – as have we!

In fact, Christmas preparations in this house probably started in mid-November, when we spent plenty of days visiting garden centres to admire all the pretty trees, lights and baubles, one of the highlights being the World’s Biggest Santa at Dobbie’s Garden Centre in Southport (above)! We also visited Pleasureland in Southport with Grannie and saw Santa’s reindeers and met the snowqueen too.

As soon as people in the real world started putting up their outdoor lights, we started taking the long way home from nursery to ooh and aah at all the lights on people’s houses.

Because I’ve been off on maternity leave, Lilly and I have been able to indulge in plenty of Christmas arts and crafts, involving lots of glitter and glue. We’ve made Christmas cards for all the close family members, Christmas hats, Christmas decorations, felt Christmas stockings and collages out of last year’s Christmas cards. We’ve also baked yummy Christmas cookies and a victoria sponge based Christmas cake (Tony & Lilly don’t like fruit cake) with a snowman on the top.

Lilly was old enough this year to “help” us put up the Christmas tree, which we did on the last weekend of November as we couldn’t wait! When it came to putting the lights and tinsel (or glitter, as Lilly insists on calling it) on the tree, we were all going round and round it like a maypole! She was surprisingly good at putting on the baubles – but tended to have a four-per-branch policy, with all the best decorations on the bottom couple of branches, where she could
reach!

This year, Lilly had her first chocolate Advent Calender, a Peppa Pig one (and disappointing because it didn’t have any pictures behind the doors – note to self: purchase better calender next year). It turns out “Advent Calender” is one of the very few things Lilly can’t say properly – but she loved her “Alan Callydar”. A few times I caught her lovingly caressing the calender or trying to stick her fingers in one of the doors even though she knew she could only have one a day. But, considering the restraint level of a typical 2/3 year old, I think she did pretty well!

I suppose the recent snow has also been part of the preparations. This is two Christmasses in a row now where we’ve had snow on the ground. Our Christmas walk to Nanna’s house across the snowy fields is almost becoming a tradition! Tony and I were saying that Lilly will take for granted that you get snow at Christmas – if we don’t get it next year she’ll be wondering why not!

We had the usual fun in the snow – made a snowman and had snowball fights, until after a few days the snow got a bit icy and slippy and the novely wore off, of course. It is now December 28 and the snow is finally thawing, so hopefully outside will be a bit more accessible from now on.

Lilly is no longer scared of Father Christmas (last year, she was terrified – couldn’t even watch him on tv!) and the frst time she bumped into him was in the garden centre with Nanna. Nanna helped her write him a letter, and asked what she wanted: “A yoyo, scissors and a baby toy for Isla”, was the reply. (Yoyo inspired by too much Peppa Pig’s Christmas)! A few days before Christmas, Lilly remembered that what she really wanted wasn’t a yo-yo at all, she wanted a Tin Top. Tin Top, if you don’t know, is a character from Roary the Racing Car, he’s a blue American stock car, and she’s wanted him since she saw a little boy in Asda with one a few months ago. She already has the model Roary, which was one of her big obsessions in 2010. Luckily, Father Christmas was on the ball and his elves had reserved one for her a while back. On Christmas morning, I genuinely think she was only expecting one or two presents. When she opened the first thing in her stocking (a drum), she was really disappointed it wasn’t a Tin Top and said: “Oh. I didn’t want THAT!” Luckily, the second present out was indeed Tin Top, and all was right with the world again!

We spent Christmas morning in our house, ploughing through the presents, which included a play kitchen, lots of Fireman Sam playthings…. for Lilly and shape sorters, baby books, rattly, musical and chewy things for Isla. It was lovely to think that, on Christmas Day last year I felt Isla’s first kick, and this year here she was joining in the celebrations!

In the afternoon we went over to Nanna and Grandad’s house where Tony’s sister and boyfriend announced they had just got engaged! Before we sat down to Christmas dinner and more presents, including a child sized pink guitar for Lilly!!! Isla, predictably, was most interested in chewing on bits of wrapping paper! Mind you, she didn’t get much of a look in with many of her presents, as Lilly wanted to “help” her open them all, and then seemed to like playing with the baby toys more than the ones that were actually for her! 

On Boxing Day my mum, sister and boyfriend came over for some food and MORE presents, including a Thomas bingo set, books and clothes for Isla. Tony and I didn’t do too badly for presents either, my personal highlight being a new camera which I hope will help me take better photographs in 2011 – still studying the instruction manual as we speak!

All in all, a really lovely few days – and now the emphasis turns to birthday celebrations for Lilly on New Year’s Eve…

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