• days out - holidays - parenting - Sculpture trails - Summer

    The Great Big Rhino Project and Trail

    We’ve finally been able to leave London behind and visit family and friends in Devon. We come a couple of times each year so always have our favourite places to re-visit around Exeter. This year we stayed in a fab hotel in central Exeter which was  a great base for exploring the city. The weather has been perfect so we spent a fun afternoon down by the Quay as well as walking around the Cathedral, City walls and historic buildings. On our first day we discovered a colourful life-sized painted rhino and quickly realised this was a really fun public…

  • Cath Kidston - days out - Monday Happy List

    Monday Happy List – Week 100

    Hello everyone, I hope you had a lovely weekend. It’s time for me to sit and write my weekly blog post about some of the things which have made me happy – my Monday Happy List. We’ve had my sister visiting all week which has been lovely. We had an epic day in London exploring one of the BFG Dream Jar Trails and spent lots of time drinking tea and eating cake. We made the Lemon and Poppy Seed cake from the Cath Kidston Teatime, book which was delicious. There was a trip to Hobbycraft too for more craft supplies…

  • days out - Local Review - London

    Scooby-Doo Live! at the London Palladium

    Our summer holidays have been so much fun this year! Today we received an invite to see Scooby Doo Live! at the London Palladium. I loved Scooby Doo when I was a kid and we love to sit down and watch episodes together. We received a lovely parcel with our golden ticket to the theatre, a Scooby Doo magazine and some sweets which my children immediately ate. This afternoon we headed to the London Palladium to see Scooby Doo Live! image credit In this brand new family musical Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang have been called upon to help…

  • days out - parenting

    Getting the most from a scooter {tips and tricks from Halfords}

    There’s something about long summer days that makes us all want to be outside as much as possible. We’ve had some lovely weather lately, packed up a picnic and gone out for the day. At the beginning of the school holidays we popped down to Halfords and bought both children lovely new bikes. They’ve been out on these quite a lot but their scooters haven’t been forgotten. As we live so close to school the kids scoot to school every day. They love their scooters and it’s always easy to identify them. My 4 year old has customised hers with…

  • days out - Lego - London - mindfulness - Monday Happy List - Orla Kiely

    Monday Happy List – Week 99

    I’m really enjoying the summer holidays. I’m not sure if it’s because the children are a little bit older or that we’ve not had a moment to be bored. I struggled to make a short list for my weekly Monday Happy List post, we’re just too busy at the moment! However, if I have to choose my 5 favourite things over the last week they would be as follows: My 6 year old was invited to an amazing Lego birthday party at the start of the week. It was well organised with 3 different Lego challenges. My son is Lego…

  • days out - film review - London

    Learning the art of donut decorating (Nine Lives review)

    Our Summer holiday fun continued with a donut decorating and activity workshop today. After a pretty dull trip to Ikea (more kitchen research) we hopped on the tube to the West End. Our destination was a donut decorating workshop with Vicky’s Donuts to celebrate the release of Nine Lives which is out on the 18th August. Nine Lives Tom Brand (Kevin Spacey) is a billionaire whose workaholic lifestyle has disconnected him from his family, particularly his beautiful wife Lara (Jennifer Garner) and his adoring daughter Rebecca. Rebecca’s 11th birthday is here and she wants the gift she want every year…

  • days out - Local Review - London

    The Tiger Who Came to Tea at Cadogan Hall

    I was so excited to receive an invitation for the family to attend the press performance of The Tiger Who Came to Tea, a musical adaptation of the classic picture book by Judith Kerr. The Tiger Who Came to Tea roars into Chelsea this summer in the truly magical Olivier Award nominated West End production which opened at Cadogan Hall on Saturday 6th August, running through to Sunday 4th September 2016. Adapted and directed by David Wood OBE, Judith Kerr’s ever popular tale The Tiger Who Came to Tea is the ideal introduction to theatre for children aged three plus…

  • days out - mindfulness - Monday Happy List

    Monday Happy List – week 98

    The summer holidays are going so quickly and I think we’re all enjoying the slower pace of life. Although I’ve been ferrying them around I’m happy there are no after school clubs or evening activities to go to. With my free time I’ve been de-cluttering, eBaying, charity shopping and doing some of those niggling jobs I’ve been meaning to do for months. Who knew August would be a much-needed month of tidying and sorting. Kids had a great time at the summer holiday workshop they went to every morning. After 2 weeks of early starts I’m looking forward to a…

  • days out - London - Roald Dahl crafts - Sculpture trails

    Exploring The BFG Dream Jar Trail in London

    We’ve had a couple of trips into the West End recently and managed to tick off some of The BFG Dream Jars that are currently in place around the country until 31st August. The majority of the sculptures are in London so we’re planning a few more trips over the holidays so we can visit more. The BFG Dream Jar Trail brings to life the long-held dreams of celebrities and artists with Dream Jars across London and beyond. Each jar contains “splendiferous” sculptures based on dream stories from the likes of Steven Spielberg, Stephen Hawking, the Delevingne sisters and more. You…