When we were planning our trip to Shanghai this summer we knew that one thing we really wanted to see was giant pandas. We discovered that in Shanghai there are two options to see them - Shanghai Zoo and the Shanghai Wild Animal Park which both have giant pandas as well as a range of other animals. In the end we settled on Shanghai Zoo because we were more interested in some of the other animals that they have there - in particular the monkeys as we really enjoy seeing monkeys and other primates!
We travelled to Shanghai Zoo by taxi from our hotel in central Shanghai, as we found that booking taxis in Shanghai using the Didi app (which is very similar to Uber) was really easy and the rides were very reasonably priced. But if you prefer to use public transport then the Metro Line 10 stops at Shanghai Zoo Station which is right outside. We used Alipay to buy our tickets on the gate.
We arrived at the zoo as soon as it opened, around 8am, which meant that as well as avoiding the summer crowds we could also make the most of the very slightly cooler temperatures. Because the pandas were the main attraction for us we headed straight to their enclosure which was a really good move. There were only a couple of other people there, and the two pandas were out and about.
We were able to see both pandas really close up and moving around in their outdoor enclosures, and we stayed for quite a while watching them.
Another draw for us was the penguins which were near the entrance, so we made our way back through the zoo stopping at various exhibits along the way. The zoo is very large and we found it quite difficult to navigate - and be prepared for a lot of walking! It's a good idea to take a photo of one of the maps to help you find your way around. There are a few places to buy snacks or water, and also some vending machines.
We found the penguins, and also enjoyed seeing the golden snub nosed monkeys, the lions and tigers, and the elephants.
The zoo was clean and tidy, and not at all crowded when we visited on a weekday in mid July. It was very hot which meant that we didn't feel up to spending the whole day there, but we comfortably saw everything that we wanted to in a couple of hours. Something to note about the toilets - almost all of the toilets were squat toilets which as Western visitors we aren't used to. If you need or prefer a pedestal toilet then look for the disabled toilet, we found one in every toilet block.
There is a lovely Swan Lake which features other water birds as well as swans, and overall the zoo was really open and pleasant to walk around, with plenty of green and scenic areas.
I found the design of the zoo a little old-fashioned and quite charming. Many of the enclosures had gorgeous hand painted signs showing the animals inside, inside which I loved.
Almost all of the signage around the enclosures was entirely in Chinese, so if you don't speak Chinese you will need to make sure that you have a translation app on your phone - I like to use the Google Translate app. You can't use Google products easily in China, but I made sure to download the Chinese dictionary ahead of time and it worked really well.
One thing that I had read before we visited the zoo was that the living conditions for the animals aren't perhaps quite as high as you might be used to seeing in other zoos around the world, and there is possibly some truth in that. We found that we saw every single animal, and often when you visit a zoo there are some animals that you never see because they are out of sight.
So although the animal enclosures were a good size and clean, I think they are built so that they don't have many areas where the animals can hide out of view. Although this makes for a great visitor experience, it may not be so good for the animals. Otherwise though the enclosures were clean, and the animals appeared healthy.
You can find more information about the zoo on the Shanghai Zoo official website (the website can be translated to English!)
Somewhere my children were desperate to visit in Seoul was a Cat Café. I was hesitant, mainly because my son has a mild cat allergy, but he was fully prepared to accept the consequences in exchange for the experience, and fortunately he was fine!
There are several cat cafés in the Myeondong area of Seoul where we were staying, but it was difficult to find out information online. In the end I chose the Myeondong Cat Playground because it was close by, had a reasonable fixed fee for entrance that included a drink, and you could stay as long as you wanted. It wasn't possible to make advance reservations, so we did have to wait for a short while to get in.
On arrival you need to swap your outdoor shoes for a pair of plastic sandals, and you are provided with a plastic sack to keep your belongings safe from the cats. There was a good selection of hot and cold drinks included in the entry price and you could buy more as you needed them as well as cat food.
In the centre of the room was a tower structure with dozing cats, there was a heated floor area to sit and hope that a cat might want to sit on your knee, all the tables were provided with a basket and often a sleeping cat, and the cats also roamed around freely.
You aren't allowed to pick up the cats, and some of the cats were wearing a blue collar which means that they may get grumpy if you play with them too much. The cats all seemed really happy and well cared for, and they were all beautiful breeds, including a hairless cat.
I didn't like to disturb them too much but they honestly didn't seem to be bothered by the attention (and I know that a cat would make it pretty clear if they were fed up of being bothered!) There were plenty of hidden places that the cats could escape to if they needed a break, and they could rest high up and out of reach.
Our table had a basket but no cat, so we were delighted about halfway through our visit when a lovely cat jumped up on the table and came to visit! After some stroking and photographing the cat ended up settling down for a nap.
The café was beautifully clean with no cat hair in sight. It looked a little hectic at first when we were waiting to go inside, but once we were settled at our table it felt much calmer, and people were generally very respectful of the cats. It was a really relaxing space to sit with a drink, especially if you are lucky enough to end up with a sleeping cat on your table!
I would love to have a cat of my own but it's not practical for us, and probably not a good idea with an allergy in the family. So the cat café was a great place to hang out with some cats for a little while, and if we ever find ourselves in a part of the world with a cat café again I'd love to visit another!
I'm sure I'm not the only one that can't wait until the school Christmas holidays! The last couple of weeks of term are always so busy, and even though I try to cut back on things as much as I can after learning from the mistakes of previous years, we still seem to have a full calendar.
Last week Mia took part in her school production of Bugsy Malone. She played a reporter and a dancer and the show was brilliant. She's never done any kind of dancing before, and they had a dance instructor come to the school to teach them. I was so impressed when the curtain went up and she was there dancing away with her friends all wearing their sparkly outfits! She also had to read several news reports by herself on the stage, some of them in an American accent, and she did so well. I watched three of the four performances and loved every one.
Our village always goes all out for Christmas. We have a group of village yarn bombers that put up decorations for all sorts of celebrations throughout the year and they have excelled themselves this Christmas. As well as the traditional post box topper we have a knitted ice skating rink, sleigh, decorations in all the shop windows, hanging knitted ornaments from the trees in the village centre and knitted ornaments tied along any available stretch of railing or bollard. I love spotting them as I go on my regular runs through the village, and it's really nice that people respect them and leave them in place.
Yesterday we had the school Christmas Fair which was as chaotic as always. They have a new system for payment which is very clever - when you arrive you exchange money for tokens which can be used on all the stalls. This means that they don't need to worry about keeping a float of change for each stall. Also the tokens could be bought using a credit card, which is useful for people like me that don't carry much cash. The most popular stall is always the chocolate tombola, and the children did pretty well!
Next week we have a few dates arranged with friends and family, including an evening Christmas meal out for me, and I'm also looking forward to some chilled out family time, doing some crafting and making our annual gingerbread houses.
I hope that you are all enjoying this festive time of year!
When my children were little they always wanted to be close to me. They only went to their rooms for sleeping, and they never got up to any mischief because they were always in the same room as I was! Now they are older they prefer their own space a lot more, and spend most of their time when at home in their bedrooms. This started during the pandemic, when they did their home schooling video calls in their rooms, but of course it's a natural part of growing up too.
Sometimes it's nice for me to have a bit more peace and quiet to work on my own projects! But I do also miss them, especially at the weekends when sometimes it feels as though the entire day has gone and I've hardly seen them. So I've been trying to find ways to entice them out of their rooms and into spending some time with me.
Anything food related is a good one for Mia. A few times I've taken her out to the café at the garden centre around the corner and treated her to a fancy hot chocolate and a cake. As a bonus there is a Hobbycraft in the same retail park and so we often make a stop there too. We always seem to have a voucher to spend, or else there is something on special offer!
I can also entice them downstairs to watch something together if I provide a favourite snack like popcorn or chocolate fingers. And Mia loves baking, especially if licking a spoon is involved!
Sometimes I'm able to drag one child at a time out for a walk. We have a little loop that runs down through our estate and back through a foresty footpath. I entice them with the promise of some private talking time with just me which they like, it's a good way to both get some exercise and also chat through anything that's bothering them.
Recently I've got back into doing jigsaws again and I've discovered that they both like helping out from time to time. Mia spotted this Squishmallow jigsaw while I was browsing on Amazon the other day, and I had a voucher so I bought it for us to do together. It's a very challenging one! I'm trying to keep away from it during the day so that we can do it together!
I also like to find a television show or film that we'll all enjoy watching together. At the moment I'm sitting down with Harry and we are working our way through Red Dwarf, which has recently been put up onto iPlayer. I was a massive fan as a teenager and watched it over and over, I always have a Red Dwarf quote in my head! But I discovered that there have been three more seasons that I've never even watched because they were on Dave and I didn't know how to watch them! So we are just about to get to the new episodes which is quite exciting. Harry has also been loving Look Around You which is also on iPlayer, it's a sort of spoof science television show series which was on a few years ago. It's very surreal and very funny.
Sometimes I can persuade the children to come downstairs and sit at the kitchen table with me while we all work on our own projects, especially if there's a pack of biscuits involved. They often do some homework, and I like seeing what they are up to at school. They also do things without screens, like reading or drawing. It's nice to all be in the same space but still doing our own thing!
I much prefer this stage of parenthood to the early baby and toddler days!
And just like that, September has come around again and the children are back at school!
Weather wise it doesn't feel like September at all, in fact it feels more like the end of the summer term! The weather this summer was a little disappointing wasn't it, just last week I was out in Brighton wearing a cardigan underneath my thick winter coat. I'm really glad that we are currently enjoying a few warmer days before winter kicks in!
We were lucky enough to get away this summer and enjoyed a fantastic Northern Europe cruise aboard the Disney Dream. The cruise started in Copenhagen and we spent a few days there before sailing back to Southampton via stops in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands and Belgium. We visited Copenhagen for the day on a cruise a few years ago and loved it, so we decided to spend a few (unfortunately rather wet!) days there before the cruise began.
It was a great itinerary with a really good mixture of smaller towns and larger cities, and we really enjoyed exploring places which were new to us and re-visiting places that we've not been to for years. The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam was a highlight, as was the evening spent sailing back through the North Sea Canal and waving at all the people who had come out to watch us go past. In Fredericia in Denmark we were greeted by the townspeople firing cannons, and several places put on a marching band as we departed. Stockholm in particular was a lovely city and definitely somewhere that I'd like to return for a little longer. And of course a Disney cruise was as magical as always!
At the beginning of the holidays I went to see Blur at Wembley and Pulp in Sheffield on two consecutive weekends which was amazing. They were my two favourite bands as a teenager and I never thought I'd see either one live again. Blur at Wembley was a huge concert, such a brilliant atmosphere. The Pulp venue was much smaller meaning that we had an excellent view of the stage which was great because the staging of the show was perfect, each song had different lighting and projections. I even rocked the vintage Blur and Pulp t-shirts that I still own!
Apart from that the rest of the holidays were fairly quiet. I took Mia out shopping to Hobbycraft a few times, combined with a trip to the café next door for hot chocolate and cake. We had a trip to Monkey World to visit our adopted Kim, and a few playdates. Harry spent a lot of time playing a new computer game that he is obsessed with, it's called Kerbal Space Progam and is the perfect fit for his maths/physics/rockets interests!
A summer highlight was Harry receiving his GCSE result - he achieved a fantastic grade 9 in Computer Science which he took two years early as he has a natural aptitude for and interest in programming. He was mainly self-taught, although he did have some extra help from his computing tutor. We are so proud, I can't believe he's already got a top grade GCSE under his belt at age 14!
Now we are slowly getting back into the school routine. At the time the holiday seemed long but looking back it flew by. It seems like a long slog ahead now until the Christmas break!
I write this post every year, but I can't believe that it's only a few short days until the summer holiday! We are lucky because we break up a couple of weeks earlier than many schools, and usually we plan a holiday for this time. However this year I'm very excited to be seeing Pulp and Blur in early July on consecutive weekends - two of my very favourite bands - so we will have a couple of quiet weeks at home in between instead.
The first term goes so slowly and it's a real slog until Christmas, then when they go back in January it's dark and cold and seems to go on forever. But the summer term always seems so short, flying past in the blink of an eye, and although they've been having assessments over the last few weeks they are definitely winding down now.
I love the summer holidays because we are at home a lot of the time, the weather is generally pleasant, and it's so much more relaxing. I love that feeling at the start when they seem to stretch on forever, and I really appreciate being free from the school run, making packed lunches and sorting out uniform.
Later in the summer we have a Disney cruise booked which we are very much looking forward to. It's a city cruise and we will be exploring some new places, re-visiting some old favourites, and enjoying all the Disney magic on board. Apart from that we don't have many plans, as I'm always reluctant to spend too much money on going out and about when we've spent towards the holiday. But we have exchanged some Tesco vouchers for trips to Chessington and Thorpe Park and we'll probably get to the cinema as well as meeting up with friends and family.
Photo credit Phil Mono via Unsplash
Harry will enter Year 10 in September and make a proper start on his GCSEs (he took his Computer Science GCSE a couple of years early this summer so it doesn't feel such a shock for him to be starting the GCSE process as for us it has already begun!) Mia will be into Year 8 and no longer one of the tiny ones, things will be getting serious as they will be set academically in more subjects. She's involved with the school production of Bugsy Malone which will be performed at the beginning of December, so she's going to be busy with that for a few months.
A few years ago I wrote this post - Flying long haul with two small children. We were lucky enough to fly long haul several times with young children - it was worth it for the experiences we enjoyed but it was hard work! After appreciating how much easier our more recent flights have been now that the children are older (14 and 12) I thought I'd write an update with tips for flying with younger teenagers!
I always make plans in advance around flight times. For example if we have booked a night flight I know that the food may not be served until a couple of hours in. If we eat a good meal at the airport then we can settle down to sleep straightaway. For a daytime flight, if we've had an early start I try to encourage a nap at some point so that we can keep going when we arrive. I always set my watch for the new time zone before we get on the plane and then try and work to that as soon as possible.
We make sure to choose our seats as soon as we can so that we can sit together, and I like to be near a toilet. We try to book a row of seats including an aisle so we can get in and out without disturbing others, and because we book special meals like child or vegetarian we are served first, which means we can nip to the toilet while it's empty because others are still eating!
Photo credit Alexander Schimmeck via Unsplash
Everyone in our family is responsible for their own bag which contains their devices, plenty of snacks, teddies and so on. It's packed in a bag which will fit under the seat in front so that they don't need to disturb me to retrieve things.
For a night flight we pack lots of things to help us be comfortable - a travel pillow, sleep mask, ear plugs and teddies for example. We wear comfy clothes and layers, and when settling down to sleep with a blanket make sure to put the seat belt on over the top so that it can be seen in case of turbulence. When the children are asleep I usually rearrange them carefully and make sure that any loose items like headphones or teddies are well secured!
On that note, as the children get bigger their headphones get smaller, so from experience you need to be extra careful with them as they can easily get lost in the seat!
I've always found the seat back entertainment on long haul flights very good, with recently released films, television box sets and games as well as the map showing where you are. You can usually check in advance to see what will be showing on your flight which is a good idea as sometimes there is so much to choose from that it can be overwhelming when you are actually sat there.
Finally I now set the expectation that the children are in general responsible for entertaining themselves. They can go to the toilet on their own (although I often end up going too!), they can choose what they would like to drink, they can plan their entertainment and bring along things they might want or need. And if it looks like I'm sleeping then they will have a much happier Mum at the destination if they leave me to it unless there's an emergency!
I am very much enjoying the fact that now my children are older they are less dependent on me. I love being able to pop out for a run or to the shops without dragging them along with me, and I'm very glad that those nightly reading records are now a distant memory.
But even though they are slowly becoming more independent, there are lots of things that they still need me for!
Taking to school - this is the big one. We made the decision to send our children to school in the nearest town and we are very happy with our choice as it's a great school. But the public transport options are limited, and so for the moment they need to be driven there and back. Luckily our family setup means that we can do it.
Plaiting hair - this was proven when I went away for a few days at the beginning of the year. Mia likes to wear her hair in two plaits, and it's not something that she can do herself. I'm pretty good at plaiting - she has such unruly hair that I've been plaiting it at least once a day for about ten years now. But my husband lacks the skill so they had to come up with a ponytail hairstyle for her while I was away!
Putting to bed - they both still like to have an individual chat with me before bed.
Printing things - Harry has got this sorted but Mia's laptop doesn't seem to want to do it, so I'm often being called upon to print an urgent piece of homework.
Washing and sorting clothes - I spend a lot of time doing the washing and getting it ready. I do have a new rule - clothes that are put in the washing pile inside out are returned washed and folded but still inside out!
Making food - Harry can make his own breakfast and lunch now which is brilliant! But Mia still needs a bit of help, she claims to be scared of the toaster. I make the packed lunches but to be honest it's easier for me to just get on and do it than have everyone faffing around making their own!
Removing spiders from bedrooms and bathrooms - I'm not very good at this myself but I will grit my teeth and get to it with a glass and piece of cardboard.
Emotional support - they often have things going on that need to be talked about. It can be hard work but I don't mind being there to talk to, it's an important part of my job!
But even though some of these things might be a bit of a pain, I do know that I'll definitely miss them when I'm not needed any more!
I can't believe it's the 1st of December already. Since the children went back to school after half term the time has just flown, and they finish for Christmas at the end of next week. We aren't going away this Christmas apart from a short visit to family before New Year, so we will have two weeks at home before the big day. It will be nice to have some time to relax, and we also have some tasks to take care of like visits to the dentist and the optician. We'll also be making our yearly gingerbread houses and definitely doing some Christmas crafting!
The children were very excited to open their Advent calendars this morning. We don't go overboard at all, they have a simple chocolate one each (and I have a Maltesers one). Last year we bought a train Advent calendar in the sales after Christmas which they are sharing, and it looks as though it's going to be very sweet, we got a little wooden engine today. I'm hoping that it can come out year after year.
The Elves on the Shelf are back of course and their arrival was very highly anticipated. The magic of Christmas is definitely still alive in our house!
One year when the children were smaller I had a very stressful last couple of weeks of term. My husband was away at all his Christmas parties and we had multiple things on every day - swimming galas, school fair, pantomime, carol service and so on, as well as the regular music lessons, meeting up with friends and other appointments. I really struggled with it, and ever since I've been very mindful about the things that I commit us to at this time of year. Luckily now that the children are older and at the same school there are fewer things to worry about, and we are only doing the things that we want to and will enjoy.
So I'm looking forward to a fairly relaxed festive season with lots of family time!
This August we had a brilliant couple of weeks in Florida doing the Disney theme parks. We've not been in August before and I wasn't quite prepared for how intense the heat would be. It was hard work, but we managed, and so I thought I'd share some tips which made it more bearable:
Apply plenty of sun cream and take a bottle with you for top ups.
Drink plenty of water. I found that I was sweating constantly and you need to be drinking almost constantly to keep up with the rate of water lost. There are plenty of water fountains and at Disney World parks you can get free iced water from most of the quick service dining locations.
Likewise eat plenty of snacks. You are allowed to take your own food and drink into the Disney theme parks (with a very few restrictions - check the park websites for the latest guidance). I'm not a nutritional expert but I'm assuming that a snack like crisps might replace some of the salts that you have lost through sweating.
Wear loose and comfortable clothing, avoid dark colours and high necklines. If you feel too body conscious to even think about wearing shorts then there's no need, there are honestly people of all shapes and sizes in the theme parks. But I wouldn't recommend skirts unless you aren't planning on going on any of the faster rides!
Wear comfortable footwear, an important tip for theme parks regardless. I bought a pair of Teva sandals which were really comfy and were great for rides where my feet got wet, as well as during the frequent Florida storms.
Take and use hats and sunglasses. If you are a glasses wearer it can be a pain to keep swapping between normal glasses and prescription sunglasses as you move from indoor to outdoor spaces. My son gets round this by taking a large pair of non-prescription sunglasses that he puts on over the top of his normal glasses!
We bought some cooling towels and they were brilliant, and you can buy a set of four for £10-£15. They are small, light pieces of fabric which you wet under a tap or at a water fountain, wring loosely to dry, and then wrap around your neck. I liked to use mine to dampen my arms, legs and face and make the most of any slight breeze on my wet skin to cool down.
We also saw lots of people with cooling fans which I was quite envious of. Some people even had fans which looped around their necks, and a fan is also great to direct at a child sitting in a pushchair. Some people had umbrellas for shade, which are also useful for the frequent downpours.
There are plenty of indoor, air-conditioned attractions and it's definitely worth saving these for the hottest parts of the day. Even the outdoor theatres are usually undercover with fans, and are a great place to sit and have a snack if you are early for a show. You can also sit down and rest while waiting for a parade or the evening fireworks. You might want to bring a small mat to sit on but I always felt comfortable sitting on the ground.
You can also duck into one of the shops. When walking down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom we often walked some of the way through the shops on either side which are all connected.
It's also fun to go on a water ride. The wettest ride in all the parks is Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom which will leave you soaked. You also get pretty wet on Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean at the Magic Kingdom. Keep an eye out for fountains - there's a spitting camel next to The Magic Carpets of Aladdin at Magic Kingdom, and the ride itself can be steered through a water spray. At Epcot there are some fantastic jumping fountains that you can use to cool down in.
But by far my biggest tip would be to simply avoid the parks during the hottest part of the day as much as you can. We planned our days to arrive just before the park opened and keep going until lunchtime, often finishing the morning with an ice cream to cool us down before the long walk back to the car. Then we returned to our accommodation for some lunch, a visit to the pool and then a nap or quiet time. We went back to the parks anytime from 4pm and stayed until late in the evening. It was still hot in the evening, but once the sun has gone down it makes a big different to comfort levels.
Finally the most important thing is to keep a careful eye out for the signs of heat exhaustion and heatstroke for all members of your party. If anyone starts to feel unwell then you need to find a cool, shaded spot, have a rest and make sure to drink plenty of water. There are first aid stations throughout the parks and any cast member can help you find medical assistance.
September is here, and the beginning of the summer seems like an awfully long time ago. We were lucky enough to enjoy two amazing holidays this summer - a last-minute cruise at the beginning of July and then a long delayed trip to Florida and Disney World in late August. In the middle unfortunately I was mostly recovering from Covid so we didn't get up to much!
Because we have such intensive (and of course expensive) holidays away, when we are at home I don't feel the need to take the children out and about too much, or to fill their time with pricey days out and activities. Luckily like me they are quite content to stay at home. Harry has been spending lots of time on Minecraft building all sorts of complicated projects and Mia can occupy herself for hours with her coloured pens and stationery collection. We had a major sort out in Harry's room which took almost a week here and there, and I've also had time to get on with my work when it was available.
But now it's time for us all to get back into a proper routine, in particular with reasonable bedtimes and a reduction in screen time. Mia will be starting at the senior school this year which is quite a change for her. Luckily it's a small school, Harry is already there, and many of the children in her classes will be the ones that she has come up from junior school with. Harry is going into Year 9 and I'm assuming that at some point soon he'll have to make some decisions about which GSCE subjects he wants to take, although he already has a pretty clear idea.
Photo credit Elena Mozhvilo via Unsplash
I'm not looking forward to the return of the school run, which I find quite stressful as it involves driving through the traffic and then finding somewhere to park. I'm also not very fond of making packed lunches. And I miss the children when they are at school, I like having them around to chat to and see what projects they are working on.
Over the weekend I shared some of my September goals, and I enjoy having a few goals to work towards. I've set up a habit tracker with three new daily habits - declutter ten items, do a short tummy exercise routine and write a blog post. So far so good! Although I'm already struggling with the decluttering, I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to keep it up!
Fingers crossed it will be a smooth back to school for us all.
Term finished yesterday and the summer holidays are here! I used to sit down with the children and come up with a list of things that they wanted to do, but nowadays they are a lot easier to keep entertained and we are also lucky enough to have a couple of holidays booked so we will be busy. But there are a few things that I want to get done over the next few weeks:
My big job is sorting out Harry's room. It's a mess, it needs a good clean, and it is packed with old toys and things that he has outgrown. I'm tackling his room using the Marie Kondo method where you sort by category and it's working really well. So far we've done clothes, books and paperwork. The next categories to work on are stationery, stuffed toys, Lego, and then we will move on all the other toys. Toys will be sub-divided into small toys (little plastic figurines etc.), boxed toys (like jigsaws, activity sets, construction sets), games, decorative things and so on to make it all a bit easier to tackle.
As we work we are having a good clean, and also coming up with better ways to organise what he has left. His room could also do with re-painting, but I'm not sure I've got the energy for that!
I'm also going to be spending time with Mia. I've been helping out with my four year old niece recently and have been criticised by Mia for not doing the same activities with her. So we are going to be making rice crispy cakes and doing crafts and drawing together.
I'm hoping to get a bit more blogging done. Our holidays should provide me with plenty of blogging inspiration and I'm also planning to work on my seasonal crafts and related blog posts. I have quite a lot scheduled in for Christmas already, but I could do with some more Autumn and Halloween content.
There are a few craft projects that I want to get on with. I was really pleased with the fabric laundry bags that I made recently and so I want to make a couple more before our travels. I have some Christmas cross stitch pieces that I want to finish and frame, and I have some Autumn felt crafts planned.
I want to make the most of any nice weather and get down to the beach more. We like to go in the evening when it's quieter and not too hot. Hopefully we can also make lots of use of the barbeque and pizza oven.
It would be good for all of us to have some screen free time. I've always been quite relaxed about screen time as long as it's easy to get the children away from it when they need to be. But we've agreed that we could have a go at a few screen free days (as long as Mia can get her Roblox log in rewards!)
I've always loved to travel, and the children have been joining us on our travels around the world since they were very small. Obviously our travel abroad has been somewhat curtailed over the last couple of years, and we've just returned from our first long haul holiday in a long time - a wonderful week in Mauritius.
Something that I really noticed on this holiday was how much easier things have become now that the children are older.
When it comes to packing I just give them a list of clothes and they gather the items together for me. They pack their own toiletries (with a few reminders!) along with all the other things that need to join us - books, pencil cases, fidget toys and so on. This time I even got them to organise their own hand luggage and snacks - it's a long time since I had to prepare busy bags and little tubs filled with raisins!
We had good flight times for this holiday - two long night flights. Both children took themselves off to sleep when they were tired and slept almost the whole way, meaning that us adults could sleep too. I didn't even mind the babies that cried the whole way there and back as I was so grateful that they weren't mine to worry about!
I found that I could relax much more without having to constantly entertain the children. We sat by the pool or on the beach, and I could read my book while the children read or played on their tablets. They took themselves to the toilet if they needed it, and rinsed the sand off their own feet. They applied their own sun cream in the morning and washed their own hair in the evening.
We did a couple of sightseeing trips by taxi, and it was so nice not to have to worry about car seats. We also spent time snorkelling in the sea, and it was much more enjoyable now that the children can swim as well as I can. I was able to appreciate the fish myself instead of being constantly on alert!
We usually choose holiday destinations with a buffet meal setup as it works best for us. This was the first time that the children were confident enough to go up and help themselves to food, meaning that we could sit and enjoy our own dinner without having to constantly jump up and down to get them things. Then after dinner we were able to enjoy a drink in one of the bars, and we had some great family time chatting together. When they got restless we sent them off with a phone, and they amused themselves by taking videos of each other while still within our sight.
These are all changes that have happened gradually, but it hasn't been until now that I've really noticed how all these things added up and what a positive difference it made to our holiday. I did love travelling with the children when they were smaller but it does make holidays much less stressful now that they are a bit older!
Recently I wrote about how Mia had adopted a primate from Monkey World with some of her Christmas money. She chose to adopt Kim, a golden-cheeked gibbon who was born at the park. Since then we have discovered the television series Monkey Life which has been running for years and features all the primates at the park and their back stories. We've been watching an episode or two most days and are now pretty familiar with many of the primates and their stories.
Over half term we spent a week in Torquay, and because our adoption package includes admission to the park for the year we decided to visit on both the way there and the way back.
Unfortunately our first visit was badly timed. It was the day after Storm Eunice, and although the park was open we were warned that the majority of the outdoor enclosures were closed and that there was a lot of debris around the park. The weather forecast was also very bad with lots of rain. If we hadn't already booked our admission and weren't driving right past then we would have cancelled.
With all the animals indoors it was a bit of pot luck as to what you could see. Some of the indoor enclosures are tucked well away and you can't see them from the path, just catch a glimpse through the windows. But luckily the indoor enclosure for Mia's adopted gibbon Kim had a lovely big glass window, and with Kim and her partner Tien indoors it was a great opportunity to see them really close up. There weren't many other people around so we were able to stand at the viewing window for ages watching them swing about and snack.
But to be honest there wasn't a lot else to see in the park on that day, and when the rain started to get heavier we called it a day. Luckily the fact that we knew we would be back the following week made it less of a disappointing visit. The park was closed for the following two days and we learned from social media that they had wanted to close on the day of our visit but felt it was too short notice. But Mia was still really happy after our trip, she loved spotting the celebrity primates that she recognised from the television show and of course she was delighted to see Kim.
Our second visit the next week was much more successful. It was a lovely sunny day and the park was tidied up and fully open for visitors. All the outdoor enclosures were open and there was plenty to see. I think that my favourite primates are the orangutans, they are surprisingly graceful and you can tell that they are intelligent. They have such lovely eyes.
All the primates have wonderful outdoor enclosures to enjoy, and although it was a chilly day there were plenty of them out and about to watch. We saw Kim and Tien sitting in the branches of their large enclosure and swinging about which was really nice to see, although they were too far away for a decent photograph!
We spent much longer at the park this time and we even discovered a section of the park that we had missed the first time around as we stumbled through the rain! I think that my favourite primate at the park is the golden-cheeked gibbon Peanut, mum to Tien and two other gibbons that have now moved on to their own families. Now she lives in a lovely big enclosure with her partner Pung-Yo. I'm not sure if she's expected to have any more babies, as they do breed the golden-cheeked gibbons, or whether she is now happily enjoying her retirement!
I'd definitely recommend a visit to Monkey World if you have an interest in primates, and especially in the rescue and rehabilitation of primates. Watching the Monkey Life series definitely made me realise what an important place this is, there is a great deal going on behind the scenes that you wouldn't necessarily realise as a visitor. We will definitely be back for another visit or two while we have our adoption tickets (and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we end up renewing the adoption when it finishes!)
The other day I was cooking up a batch of green pasta sauce for my children, which I've been making for years, and it occurred to me that were I to go under a bus, would there be anyone that could make it for them? (Although loving relatives, if you do need the recipe then I did blog a version of it once and you can find it here - baby led weaning pasta sauces).
It made me think about all the things that I do which no-one else knows how to. I used to work in the NHS in Business Continuity, and my job was all about making sure that the processes and procedures in our department were documented so that there wouldn't be any loss of service if someone was absent or left suddenly. While things wouldn't fall apart entirely upon my sudden departure, there would be a few things which might be difficult to manage for a time.
Here are some of the things our family needs which only I know how to do:
* Batch cook and serve the favourite pasta sauces.
* Plait hair.
* Cook the meals that we eat regularly, along with organising the cupboards and fridge to make sure that we have all the food that we need in the house..
* Pay for school trips.
* Know how much to pay the window cleaners and keep the money ready.
* Work out a packing list for holidays and pack everything.
* General organisation and decluttering so that drawers and cupboards aren't overflowing with outgrown clothes and other junk.
* Check for school uniform that has been grown out of and sort out getting hold of the next sizes up.
* Retrieve certain items from their storage locations, for example the Christmas stockings, seasonal décor and dressing up clothes, extra bin bags, wrapping paper and cards.
Then of course there are the things that I do which others are perfectly capable of managing but don't:
* Put a new toilet roll on the holder, and top up the spare ones in the rack when we are down to the last one in a bathroom.
* Put away the clean dishes from the dishrack and clean the sink.
* Put dirty washing in the basket instead of the floor, along with putting everything the right way out so it is ready to fold when it comes out the machine.
* Wash up the day's lunchboxes and prepare the next ones.
However, in the interest of balance , here are some of the very important things that only my husband can do:
* Find the best deals for insurance, utilities, holidays, bank accounts and all the large purchases. He has much more patience than me when it comes to shopping around and knowing where to look for the best prices for things.
* Use the drill. I'm terrified of it, it's so loud!
* Sort out anything to do with our smart home devices, internet, routers, photo back up and so on.
What does your family rely on you for? I'm wondering if I need to come up with some business continuity documents for our house so that we can each learn each other's jobs!
I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year. We had a really nice family Christmas break, the children had three weeks off school and the end of term seems a long time ago now! Luckily it looks as though the children will be returning to school as normal, and as over half of Mia's school went down with covid before Christmas hopefully there won't be any more issues.
We enjoyed our usual Christmas traditions. The Elf on the Shelf came back of course, the children might be getting older but the magic of Christmas is still alive and well!
Our school breaks up a week earlier than most of the country so we returned to the fantastic apartment in Torquay where we spent the same week last year. It's an amazing place with its own pool, which we used several times a day. I treated the children to an enormous inflatable unicorn, we went for walks, visited to the harbour, and went to the cinema to watch the new Spiderman film.
We ordered so much food that we ended up eating a roast dinner for three days in a row! We did our Christmas food shop with Tesco online and we bought a massive box of prepared vegetables, a sweet potato and red cabbage Christmas log for the main course and a chocolate yule log for dessert. Along with all the other snacks and party food of course.
This was my Christmas dinner, going heavy on the roast potatoes along with my token Brussels sprout!
We didn't get out too much over Christmas as we were trying to avoid the covid, but we did spend some time with both sides of the family. At home we enjoyed lots of family Christmas television. I had my annual sob over The Snowman on Christmas Eve and we also enjoyed the film Encanto with some great songs. We've made a start on Around the World in 80 Days which is shaping up well. Mia and I spent an afternoon watching the latest Little Women film which I love, although I think it's quite confusing if you don't know the books so I had to explain quite a lot to her. She's now made a start on the books herself which I'm pleased with.
I also did lots of reading. I worked through some of the books that I had stored up on my Kindle from the Amazon First Reads and Prime Reading selections, there were some nice easy books that I didn't need to concentrate on too much. I also received some books for Christmas - I've enjoyed several books by Haruki Murakami and the first few pages of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle suggest that I'll enjoy this one too. The Swish of the Curtain is an upgrade to the old paperback copy I have which is missing an entire chapter! And The Almanac is something new that I spotted while browsing for books. It has a chapter for each month of the year with things to look out for in nature - the night sky, birds and so on - with a folktale theme this year.
I was also lucky enough to get an Amazon voucher and I've already bought three books. I bought The Betrayals and Ten Thousand Doors of January, both of which I borrowed from the library last year and loved enough to want my own copy. Then I bought Atomic Habits which I'm hoping will help me to work on a few things that I want to achieve this year.
Now it's time to make sure that all the homework is completed, the books and bags are ready for school and the packed lunches are made. I'm looking forward to getting the house back in shape for the New Year, picking up on the neglected housework and hopefully having a bit of a sort out with everyone out of the way!
Family. Visiting our family when we can, and spending time together just the four of us when we are all at home without any commitments.
A Christmas tree and fairy lights. We seem to put our tree up earlier every year but I love having it there in the living room, along with festive garlands in the hallway. As soon as I've wrapped a present I place it underneath.
Photo credit Element5 Digital via Unsplash
Advent calendars. I treated myself to a Lindt one this year!
A big box of chocolates (or two, or three...) We tend to go for the Cadbury Heroes or Celebrations.
Gingerbread houses. I must confess that we haven't managed to make ours this year yet as we have been away, so this year I think it will be a post-Christmas gingerbread house!
Christmas television. We don't watch much live television and Christmas is the only time of year that we buy a physical television guide to leaf through. I like watching the classics (The Snowman!) as well as any new adaptations, I'm planning on watching Around The World in 80 Days. Also lots of favourite Christmas films!
The Elf on the Shelf. Yes the Elf still visits us and is now an important part of our Christmas traditions.
Shopping. My family is very easy to buy for at Christmas as well all just share our Amazon wish lists. But there are lots of bargains to be hunted down from Black Friday onwards and of course the sales after Christmas to stock up on wrapping paper, cards, and any reduced chocolate treats.
Food. So much food that we never eat the rest of the year! I'm especially fond of mince pies and crackers with fancy cheese.
Christmas music. Both traditional carols and Christmas party classics.
Decorated houses. We always try to pop out for a drive to see the houses with the best light displays!
I received a complimentary link to enable us to try out this game.
The Curse of the Burial Dagger is an interactive puzzle game presented in the style of a graphic novel. It's a family-friendly game, and we were sent a link so that we could try it out together over half-term.
Here's the premise of the game:
When everyone is a suspect, and a killer is on the loose, is anybody safe?
A mansion near Dundee, 1923. Susie Sato finds herself investigating a murder when her great-uncle and host Lord Hamilton is found dead in his private museum, an ancient Egyptian burial dagger protruding from his back. Could it be the curse of the dagger, an object Lord Hamilton was warned not to remove from the tomb? Or could something else have caused his death?
Can you uncover the events leading up to Lord Hamilton’s death and deduce how he died… before the curse strikes again?
We decided that the children and I would play the game together around one device, but you can use the game link for up to six people playing on different devices at the same time. This means that it's a perfect activity to do with friends and family remotely if you aren't able to meet in person. In total the game took us 80 minutes to play.
The story is presented as a graphic novel, with images and subtitled narration. We meet the narrator, Susie, who is staying at the house and investigating the death of Lord Hamilton. She's studying forensic science, so we learn some interesting information about different techniques which can be used to solve crimes, for example chromatography and fingerprinting.
In between detailed information about motives and alibis given by the different characters, there are a variety of different puzzles which need to be solved in order to move to the next stage. Among others there are maths puzzles, logic puzzles, and puzzles where you need to look for clues based on the images.
Some of the puzzles were simple but others were quite hard! In particular there was a maths problem which Harry and I both had different ideas about how to solve, so we tackled it separately and compared our final answers which were very different. And yes, despite my confidence his answer was the correct one - luckily we entered his result in first! If you are stuck with a clue at any point you can ask for help or skip it.
As well as solving the puzzles you also need to pay attention to the story as it unfolds, as there are plenty of clues revealed in the spoken dialogue between characters. This is where we came unstuck - we solved all the puzzles correctly first time but got the final answer wrong as we couldn't decide between two suspects!
As you go along you are encouraged to fill out a notebook on the screen where you decide how likely various different hypotheses are, and this helps you to think about who committed the murder. But we didn't mind that we didn't get the answer exactly right, we definitely felt like we had given the game a good go! And as Susie says during the game, it's putting together the clues that was what we were most concerned with, when it comes to convicting the murder it's up to a judge and jury.
We really enjoyed playing The Curse of the Burial Dagger, and I would definitely recommend it. The game was family friendly and aimed at ages 10 and up, although I think you'd want an adult or two playing, as some of the puzzles did require a bit of thinking about. But perhaps I'm doing mine (aged 10 and 12) a disservice to think that they needed me, especially after my failure at the maths task!
I'm really glad that we had the opportunity to play the game, and I'll definitely be looking out for similar things to try in the future.
If this review has sparked your interest, you can watch the trailer below to get a good sense of how the game works, and visit The Curse of the Burial Dagger for more information or to purchase.
The Curse of the Burial Dagger game is priced at £20. All you need to play the game is a computer or tablet with internet access, using either Chrome on a computer or Safari on a tablet. When you buy a ticket you will be sent an email with a link to the game which can be forwarded to other players to play at a time agreed amongst you, or you can play as a group using a shared device. If you are playing with others remotely then it's recommended to set up a Zoom call or similar so you can discuss it together. You can play the game at any time, and take as long as you need to play.
With a view to making the most of our new English Heritage membership, on a recent trip to York we made a stop at Bolsover Castle located in the town of Bolsover, north east Derbyshire and just off the M1. Booking in advance wasn't required, but as it was the school holidays and we were taking a non-member with us we chose to book our tickets and purchase the extra one in advance.
There is free parking in the town centre and English Heritage provides a handy map of parking spaces. However we arrived mid morning, and our first choice of parking in the main car park was full. We headed for the additional car parking and found a space, but when we returned to the car early afternoon the car park was crammed with thoughtlessly parked cars to the point where we nearly couldn't get our car out. So if you are visiting at a busy time I'd save yourself some stress and avoid the car park located to the side of the castle - head for a town centre one instead even if you have to walk for a few minutes!
A visit to the castle is divided into three main areas. We started with the Terrace Range. This is a series of ruined stately rooms which once formed the entrance to the castle. Even though there is no roof you can still get a really good impression of what it would once have looked like.
The views from the huge old windows are just stunning! We found a bench just outside to sit and enjoy our packed lunch looking out across the surrounding countryside.
Next we explored the Little Castle, which was not a permanent residence but rather created as an extravagant retreat for entertaining. We had a really interesting chat with one of the guides who told us all about the paintings in one of the entrance rooms and how they reflected the activities that were planned for visitors - lots of eating, drinking and entertainment like hunting and plays.
We spent a lot of time wandering around the beautifully decorated rooms upstairs and then exploring the kitchens and cellars below ground.
Then we emerged into the Fountain Garden with a beautiful working fountain in the centre. The fountain extends below ground level and is filled with various statues and gargoyle type creatures that spout water up and around. The grassy area is another lovely spot to sit for a while, surrounded by the high wall studded with built-in niches. Then we climbed up to the newly restored circular Wall Walk along the top of the wall. You can enjoy wonderful views across the countryside and back towards the Little Castle and ruins.
We finished our visit at the playground. Ours are getting a little bit too old for a playground to be honest, but it was a good way to burn off some excess energy before heading back to the car to continue our drive!
We spent just over two hours at the castle and it was one of my favourite castle type attractions that we've visited. I really enjoyed the contrast between the derelict ruined areas and the beautifully preserved Little Castle, each with just the right amount of explanatory displays to keep us all interested. It is beautifully maintained and the views really are stunning. It felt like a very peaceful place to visit, and was a great place to break a long journey with some fresh air and pleasant picnic spots.
A family ticket currently costs £32.80 which I think is quite reasonable, although like most English Heritage properties if you are visiting more than a couple of the large attractions over the year then it's often better value to purchase a year's membership.
