About 12 years ago I had the pleasure of a week away in Scotland, staying on the small island of Easdale with friends. A lovely holiday and a great opportunity to get to know a part of Scotland that I hadn't visited before. One rainy day we headed over to the mainland and the town of Oban where we decided to kill a couple of hours visiting the Oban distillery. Up until that day I'd never really drunk whisky before, but a small glass there, followed by some more from the gift shop had me hooked. A love affair between me and whisky was born. Now, I should come clean here and say that I tend ... read more
How to make a simple paper plate ladybird
Sometimes when doing crafts with children you just need something that is dead simple and that's exactly what I hope this paper plate ladybird is. We've been busy re-reading some of our old picture books lately and Lucy Ladybird has once again become a firm favourite. A school trip to the woods, combined with the new CBeebies series Mini-Beast Adventure, means that the interest in bugs, insects and creepy-crawlies has gone through the roof. Little Miss C was convinced that she wanted to "craft a ladybird" so that's exactly what we did. All you need for this is: A paper plate Red ... read more
Couch to 5k – week 8 in review
The only problem I'm having with progressing in the Couch to 5k running programme is that each week the training runs are getting longer and so you have less time to squeeze other things into your week - like blogging about it! But, on the flip side I'm finding myself really looking forward to my runs more and more and even going as far as wondering if I can squeeze in extra ones. I never thought I would have been saying that nine weeks ago! So, week 8 of the couch to 5k programme is quite simple. Each of the three runs is a 5 minute warm up walk, 28 minute job and then a 5 minute cool ... read more
Doubling my Save the Children Challenge
There are just three weeks to go until my 5km run for Save the Children. The training (so far) is going well. Sponsors have been supportive and I'm thrilled by how much I've raised so far. All is on plan. But I didn't count on one thing. That pesky running bug has caught me good and proper! I'm enjoying running. I'm enjoying my training runs. On the days I do evening runs I find myself looking forward to getting out and having some time on my own to mentally refresh whilst pounding the streets. I'm actually looking forward to my race and loving this challenge that I've taken on. Loving it ... read more
Featured post: Popping across the channel to France
We're lucky here in St Albans in that we live just a short 20 minute train ride away from St Pancras International station - a gateway to Europe, right in the centre of London. When I was commuting I used to have to walk past Eurostar arrivals and departures every day and became quite jealous of all the people heading off on holiday in France, back from foodie trips in Brussels, or small children home from adventures in Disneyland Paris. When you have a look at a site like Hotel Direct and realise just how cheaply you can get hotels close to Disneyland it makes me more determined than ever ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Easy to make Puppets
I've a bit of a double treat for you on this week's Ladybird Tuesday. As well as featuring Easy to make Puppets from series 633 I'm also going to be taking a look at How to make Puppets from the same series. Easy to make puppets was first published in 1973 and as with so many of the books from the time it has a very early 70s look about it. How to make puppets then followed 1978 and was part of a second set of books from this series, which seemed designed to replace some of the earlier titles. Certainly, looking at the back cover, it's as if the earlier titles in the series simply no ... read more
Week 7 of the Couch to 5k for Save the Children
When I sat down last week and wrote about my Couch to 5k experiences so far and first asked people to sponsor me I wasn't quite expecting the response I've received from friends and family. Not only have you all helped me to smash my initial sponsorship target for Save the Children (thank you, thank you, thank you!), but there have also been loads of supportive message. Not only from people I see daily on the school run, but old friends that I've not properly caught up with in years, but also online friends that I've not yet had the pleasure of meeting in person. You've all been amazing - ... read more
Little Lou and the Woolly Mammoth – Paula Bowles
Is it just me, or are Woolly Mammoths just the sort of animals that you don't really think about much? Certainly I don't, yet Little Lou and the Woolly Mammoth is the second book that we've been sent to review featuring one (the last being How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth) so Little Miss C is becoming quite familiar with them. Little Lou is bored playing with her toys and wants someone to play with instead. She suddenly sees something move in her pile of toys and goes to investigate. Then she finds a woolly thread, so she following it and her adventure with her new woolly thread begins. A ... read more
A morning of pampering at the Verulamium Spa
Every so often an email appears in my inbox that I just have to jump and answer in a split second and an invitation to spend a morning at the Verulamium Spa was one such email! Ever since the new Westminster Lodge leisure centre opened in St Albans I have been a regular visitor. Little Miss C does weekly swimming lessons there, we go swimming there as a family and the kids have attended several other classes and events there. In all that time I've walked past the entrance to the Verulamium Spa, but it wasn't until Tuesday this week that I finally stepped through the door and discovered that ... read more
Dinosaur Roar! – the app version
Little Miss C loves dinosaurs, loves books and loves apps on my iPad. It was therefore a bit of a no-brainer that she fell completely and utterly in love with the new Dinosaur Roar! app that has been created based on the best-selling picture book of the same name by Paul and Henrietta Stickland. The classic Dinosaur Roar was originally published 20 years ago and the combination of Paul Stickland's dinosaur artwork and Henrietta Stickland's rhyming text led to it selling over five million books worldwide. A new 20th anniversary edition has now been published by Random House in collaboration ... read more