Search Results for: holiday

June 11, 2015 by lambandbear 9 Comments

Eleven Things

The lovely Lauren from Belle Du Brighton tagged me to answer 11 questions about myself etc. I love these sort of posts! It’s a great way to introduce a little more of yourself and your life to those who read your blog.

Here are my ‘eleven things’ answers.

1. What was your favourite childhood book?

Ok, this is a tough one, because my mum read with us from a really early age and I loved reading as a child. I wrote a post on my favourite childhood books as there are so many. I asked my mum and she said The Hungry Caterpillar and The Jolly Postman were my faves. I also loves The Tiger Who Came To Tea.

2. Do you have a favourite meal, and if so what and why?

I’m so guilty of saying “this is my favourite meal, song, film, drink”. Whatever, it’s always my favourite! But I have a memory of being at pre-school and making my favourite meal out of string and tissue paper on a paper plate. That meal was spaghetti bolognese. Loved it then, and I love it now.

3. What did you want to be when you grew up?

I have no memory of wanting to be anything in particular. In fact I don’t have many memories of my childhood. So here comes mummy to answer this for me. She said “you wanted to be a dancer, teacher and at one point a police officer! Oh and a photographer and journalist later on”. I have one memory of going through a phase of designing shoes. I was really young, so had no idea what a “designer” was, but something intrigued me about creating unusual shoes.

Turns out I covered 3 of those dream roles. I work as a fashion designer, studied photography at A Level and now write a blog. That covers designer/photographer/journalist right?!

4. What’s your favourite joke?

How do you know an elephant’s been in your fridge? Footprints in the butter!

This is an awful joke, but one I always remember reading as a child and thinking was hilarious!

5. Where is your happy place?

Cuddling Lamb. Anytime, anywhere. It’s taken a long time to get to this happy place, but cuddling him brings a tear to my eye.

6. The last song you heard?

‘Killing in the Name Of’ by Rage Against The Machine just played on Spotify at work. Bloody love this song.

7. Who was your last text from?

My sister in law Stevie with a voice message from my nephew!

8.What colour is your sofa?

Ha. Well, it’s supposed to be grey. But is now dark grey in areas due to lots of spills by Lamb! And it’s less than a year old… damn.

9. What is on your bedside table.

A lamp that doesn’t work. My old iPhone (I upgraded last month). A few books that I’m not reading. Baby Wipes.

10. Do you have any blogging goals?

To turn my blog name into a successful brand (which I’m currently working on).

11.Where did you last go on holiday?

Bluestone Wales!

I tag Tanita, Alice, Emily, Shaz and Gemma if you want to take part.

Here are my questions.

1. Where is your favourite country/place you have visited?

2. Name your top 5 celebrity crushes.

3. How do you feel about piercing babies ears? There’s a whole debate right now over it being called ‘abuse’.

4. What is your dream career?

5. If you could re live any moment in your life, what would it be?

6. Cats or dogs?

7. Top 3 things to help you survive a day?

8. PC or Mac?

9. Have you ever won anything?

10. Heels or flats?

11. Camping or Spa holiday?

June 5, 2015 by lambandbear 13 Comments

Worlds Apart Ready Bed Review and Giveaway

*Update* Since writing this review I have been sent a replacement mattress as it seems the original mattress has a slow puncture. This arrived smoothly and quickly and Worlds Apart were more than happy to send the replacement.

A while a go we were kindly sent a Worlds Apart BearHug My First ReadyBed to review. We agreed we would take this on holiday with us to Bluestones and review it there. We wanted the opportunity to really try it out as a travel bed for toddlers.

We were instantly impressed with the useful carry case it comes with. So useful to be able to pack the bed away, but also really fun for the kids to carry around with them.

When packed away it’s quite small so won’t take up much room in the car. Or when storing at home it would sit nicely at the bottom of a wardrobe or in a cupboard.

The bed comes with an easy to use pump, however I found it much easier and a lot quicker to blow into the pipe rather than using the foot pump. Be careful not to go a little dizzy and lightheaded from all of the exhaling!

We found the ready bed perfect for nap time. When we were on holiday Lamb was always too excited to sleep, but with all of the swimming and walking we need him to get plenty of rest.

We would lay the bed in the lounge in front of the TV, put on his favourite DVD and we would all have a cuppa and chill out. Lamb would eventually fall asleep and he actually slept for quite a while in it! We weren’t sure what would happen because it was a completely new sleeping arrangement for him, but it was really successful.

I really like the raised sides around his head. These keep the little ones feeling safe and secure and are also great for resting heads on! There is a useful pocket on the side, which is ideal for holding story books or even a drink. The all in one blanket fastens withe velcro on one side for extra security, however I don’t think this really does anything as the other side isn’t fastened to the top. The blanket doesn’t come up very high, so I give Lamb an extra blanket as he likes it to come up to his shoulders. I’m sure the design of the blanket is around health and safely regulations etc (e.g if the child was to wriggle down), but just keep in mind it might not stay on in the night. Not a big deal, just thought I would mention as it’s something that I noticed straight away.

The whole cover and sleeping bag can be removed really easily that can be popped in the washing machine to be cleaned. So there’s no need to worry if your little one has a spill or accident.

We also use the ReadyBed when Lambs cousin came to stay. She was just under 3 at the time and fit in it fine. She absolutely loved it and was so excited to have her own special bed. She kept saying “my bed”, even though her mum and dad kept reminding her it was Lamb’s and she was just borrowing it!

I would like to point out the bed was deflated by the time she woke up in the morning, so she was technically sleeping on the floor! This didn’t seem to wake her though! I have no idea why it deflated. Perhaps it has a slow puncture, but I’ll discuss this with the company. If I’m honest I’ve never slept on a blow up bed and it still be full of air the next morning!

This wouldn’t put me off buying this product again, and wouldn’t stop me recommending this to you. It really is a perfect product for travelling with toddlers, especially ones that hate travel cots!

Overall we are really happy with this product, other than the deflating, it’s the perfect travel bed for toddlers. If you visit the Worlds Apart website you can see all of the designs they have available.

You can purchase this ReadyBed from Tesco Direct and it retails at £40.

The lovely lot at Worlds Apart have offered us a BearHug My First ReadyBed to giveaway to our lovely followers! For your chance to win you can enter via the form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

May 20, 2015 by lambandbear 21 Comments

Cbeebies Land Review

When Lamb turned 2 in March we were given the opportunity to review Cbeebies Land in Alton Towers. We were so excited as Lamb is at the age where he has favourite characters from the Cbeebies programmes, and recognises them. His favourite’s are the shapes from Mister Maker and Mr Tumble. He’s also recently started to love Postman Pat and Tree Fu Tom.

I don’t know who was more excited, Lamb or myself. I love days out like this. Watching his face light up when he’s excited and sees something he loves, there’s nothing better.

The journey for us was around 3 hours, quite a long way, but we decided to visit family in Yorkshire for the weekend afterwards, so it ended up being a weekend away.

When we arrived at Alton Towers I was instantly impressed. Alton is probably one of the prettiest places I have driven through! It’s quite surreal having a huge theme park in the middle of it! But Alton Towers is designed so tastefully it’s hardly noticeable.

Parking was fairly straightforward, however there’s at least a 10 minute walk to the park entrance from the car. Maybe even more if you’re further away than we were. If you have a child 3 and under I highly recommend taking a buggy. The walk to the park may be ok, but the walk back to the car may be difficult if your little one is exhausted from all of the fun!

You will also make use of a buggy for holding coats and bags that you won’t want to carry around with you all day. We only put Lamb in the buggy at nap time, the rest of the time he walked (he loves walking). Cbeebies Land is very close to the park entrance, so if you don’t want to take a buggy, then once you’re in Alton Towers there isn’t much further to walk.

Don’t worry, there are plenty of places to park the pram. Literally every ride or attraction has a designated buggy park. If it doesn’t, there’s still room to leave the buggy at the side next to a fence or wall.

Right, let’s crack on with the review…

What do you need when visiting Cbeebies Land?

Like I’ve already said, I recommend taking a buggy.
Lots of snacks – queues can be quite long so you’ll need something to keep the little ones happy.
Drinks. We went in March and it ended up being a lovely day and quite warm! So if you’re going in the summer you’ll get pretty hot and thirsty!
Suncream/sun hats – for obvious reasons. You’ll be outside and in the sun a lot.
Camera – Cbeebies Land is designed so well you will want to capture all of it, especially the smiles on the kids faces!
Change of clothes – if you plan on going to the rest of the park and have a go on the water rides, you will most likely get pretty wet!
Comfy shoes. Like us, you will most likely be on your feet for a very long time. Comfy shoes are essential. Alton towers is huge and we walked around the whole of it after Cbeebies Land. So. Much. Walking.

I can’t praise Cbeebies Land enough. We absolutely loved it. I read a few reviews before going, and some were slightly negative, but I genuinely have no idea why.

Ok, so if it’s raining, you’re probably going to get wet and fed up, or if you go in the school holidays in the summer, you’re going to queue (a lot), but you should know this before going. No one should go to a theme park and complain about weather or queueing.

Cbeebies Land have tried to make queuing for rides as easy as possibly for families by adding games and activities to keep the little ones entertained. I was really impressed with this, however they need to double up (if not more) on the amount of games as the kids end up bickering over them, or refuse to move up in the queue because they don’t want to stop playing!

There are loads of rides and attractions based around some of the favourite Cbeebies characters. Lamb particularly liked Mr Tumbles Sensory Garden, Postman Pat’s Parcel Post ride, and Charlie and Lola’s House. Be warned, not all of the characters are there and I have been told they are looking to expand, so we will just have to visit again once they do! For example, we were pretty disappointed not to see Mister Maker’s Shapes there as these are Lambs absolute favourite. Also I thought we might see national treasure Peter Rabbit there. Even though, what is there is so much fun and hugely entertaining.

Lamb loved the In The Night Garden boat ride. He goes through phases of watching this, but as soon as he saw the Iggle Piggle he got excited.

Eating at Cbeebies Land was really easy. There’s a big cafe with plenty of high chairs. Not a huge choice of food, mainly sandwiches, but I found the prices to be pretty reasonable. You’re probably better off taking a packed lunch though as there’s plenty of benches to sit, or you could even go into the Big Fun Showtime and watch a show with a picnic (we did this). If you do eat in the cafe, there are Cbeebies colouring pages and crayons for the kids to play with while you’re eating. Lamb loved this.

Watching the Mike the Knight show. There was no way I was watching The Zing Zillas or Nina, they annoy the hell out of me! 😉

Both Daddy Lamb and I were really impressed with Tree Fu Tom’s Training Camp. What an amazing park for the kids to play in! The sun was shining and the park was pretty quiet, so we spent a good hour in here running around and climbing ramps and ladders. Lamb did not want to leave. Literally. He was carried out kicking and screaming.

I could go on and on about how much fun we had at Cbeebies Land. It was such a fun day, for the whole family, not just Lamb.

This was my first time at Alton Towers (yes, seriously) and I was hugely impressed with the whole park. It was tastefully designed; spread out and not at all cramped.

There’s a lot of walking involved so I would suggest planning on being there all day. Plan your day into sections. Expect to take breaks every couple of hours so you don’t get too tired and follow the map so you don’t miss anything.

There is lots more to Alton Towers than roller coasters. So much more that I ever expected. Play areas, aquarium, arcades. Literally so much to do.

I have to say this is one of my favourite days out so far. I can’t express how much fun we had. The addition of Cbeebies Land to Alton Towers is so good for young families and I think they have really catered well for toddlers and young children.

If you are thinking about going to Cbeebies Land soon make sure you take a look at their interactive map online and plan your day in advance. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or tweet me @Lambandbear.

We are already planning another trip with lots of friends and their kids, the only criticism I have and the only thing that puts us off is the price. You have to buy a ticket to the whole of Alton Towers, even if you are only intending on taking the little ones to Cbeebies Land.

I can’t see any other way around it, other than having some sort of wristband in place that tells staff what areas you have paid for, however, trust me when I say you will want to go to the whole park once you are there.

Oh and Lamb has one criticism too. He was too small to go into Justin’s House. This was rather upsetting for him.

Alex x

* We were sent tickets to Alton Towers free of charge in exchange for our honest opinion and review of Cbeebies Land.

April 30, 2015 by lambandbear 11 Comments

Dear Lamb, thank you for being you

I know, I know, I’m supposed to be on holiday and I’m going to get a big slap on the wrists from Mummy Bear, but this is something I felt the urge to write.

Lamb is 2. So that means we’re at the terrible twos stage, right?

Well, we’re not. Not in my eyes.

You probably won’t remember, but I wrote this post last year and mentioned I thought Lamb was going through the terrible twos when he turned one, because of the tantrums we were dealing with.

Maybe I was right?

Today, in fact this whole holiday, has opened my eyes to what a lovely little boy I have.

We got home from a lovely albeit long day out. Lamb was tired and a little grumpy, but we decided to take him swimming for the last hour it was open.

This instantly cheered him up. Into the changing rooms, clothes off, swimming stuff on.

When it came to getting out he was a little reluctant, and in my head I was thinking “please don’t have a tantrum”.

Well, he didn’t. He was perfect.

He sat on the baby changing table happily playing with the staps that prevent them from rolling off, while Joe and I got dressed.

He didn’t make a sound.

Around us we could hear screaming babies and children. All ages.

Lamb was perfectly well behaved.

Ok, I know this doesn’t happen every time, but it happened this time and it made me very proud of my little boy.

As parents we all focus on when our children misbehave and let it get to us.

But what about the times when they are little angels?

Today opened my eyes. Today made me realise I need to stop letting the tantrums and crying bother me.

From now on I will look at times like today, when he is a pleasure to be around, and think how lucky I am to have such a beautiful boy.

Yes, one day Lamb will be the one screaming in the changing rooms, and there will be another mother listening on with a sympathetic ear.

But let’s just remember, our children are who they are. They may be prone to tantrums, never listen or point blank refuse to do as they are told. But I guarantee they will also be the ones who give the best cuddles, tell you they love you and say please and thank you.

Today, I was filled with so much love for Lamb. He’s my Little Lamb and I love him just the way he is.