A blissful child-free weekend

I haven't written a post for ages - I don't know where the last couple of weeks has gone! I seem to be busy all day yet achieve nothing! The dreaded wilfing has been in charge!

Anyway, I digress. Last weekend, I had a delightful weekend away with my best friend - 2 whole nights and almost 2 full days with no children or husbands! I have to say, it was utter bliss! This was the longest that I have ever been away from my two little darlings. I had a night away in Bath for my sister's 40th birthday do earlier in the year, but it was only 1 night and just over 24hrs, and so I didn't really fully relax and switch off from being "mummy". 2 nights however, definitely allowed me that luxury!

We went to Ludlow for the weekend. It was somewhere that neither my friend or I had ever been to, and as we are both history-lovers and there is a great, historic castle bang slap in the middle of Ludlow (where Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon went to live after they were married), as well as lots of little shops, restaurants, tea rooms etc, we thought it would be ideal for us. My other reason for wanting to visit Ludlow, was to go to the Clearview Stoves showroom. If you ever happen to be n Ludlow, it is well worth a visit, even if you're not interested in stoves! It is in a Georgian mansion - Dinham House, by the walls of the castle, where Napoleon's brother and family lived while in excile. The house is beautifully decorated in historic colours, with locally produced furniture and accessories dressing each room, as well as lots of the Clearview stoves on display and being demonstrated. It's like visiting a National Trust property that happens to have lots of woodburners dotted around! 

The weather was fantastic for our whole weekend - sunny, clear blue sky and 21 degrees both days. We had a little lie-in both mornings, before a lovely cooked breakfast in our hotel, and then a leisurely stroll into town. It was so nice not being tied to any schedule or fixed meal times, and having to only think about ourselves - no need to pack bags of snacks/drinks/wet wipes/coats/jumpers etc etc for the children. No whining or moaning about sore feet/being bored/thirsty/hungry/tired. No tantrums over wanting sweets/toys/snacks/whose turn it is for something. Just pure unadulterated mooching around, browsing the shops, stopping for lunch when we got peckish, stopping for a pimms or three when we got tired!

We came back on Sunday evening feeling truly refreshed. Both my friend and I are SAHMs - I have two boys, and she has two girls and a boy. We both rarely have time away from our children, so we both luxuriated in the freedom of being away from children and housework. We're hoping to make it an annual treat....have to see if the husbands are willing!

  And for once, I think the boys had actually missed me. They are so used to me always being there, that by Sunday afternoon they were starting to get concerned! Maybe absence really does make the heart grow fonder...  

A Visit to The National Space Centre, Leicester

So today was the day that we decided to venture out a bit further from home. W has been doing about space at school, so I thought a visit to the National Space Centre would be good.

It took just over an hour to get there. I dutifully ignored the satnav and followed the brown rocket signs around the ring road, as advised on the website. Satnav was adamant that we should go throught the city centre. I rather wish we had, as it was a lot quicker going home this route! Thankfully the carpark is only a short walk from the entrance to the Space Centre, but you do have to pay £2 to park.



The National Space Centre, Leicester

I would definitely advise booking tickets online in advance. When we got there, we didn't have to queue at all, as we could just go straight to the pre-booked ticket collection desk to get our tickets. Booking online also means that you can choose which showing of the planetarium show you want to see, rather than getting given whatever is left when you get there. It worked perfectly for us, as we had a little look around when we got there before going in for our showing, and then had lunch when we came out, so no hanging around waiting for a late show. It was £13 for an adult and under-5s were free, so both my boys went in for free (W is 5 and a bit, but shhhh don't tell anyone!)

Once in, you needed to keep your tickets handy, as there are lots of interactive exhibits that you can scan your ticket on and it then stored information on your ticket. For example, in the Tranquility Base section, you could untertake lots of different astronaut training activities such as moonwalk practise. At the end, you scanned your ticket and it brought up all the tasks you had completed and then produced a crew card and postcard of your moonwalk that you could have emailed to you to print at home. Great fun!

The ground level had all the usual space stuff - info on being an astronaut, all about the planets, stars, black holes, space exploration etc. There was also an area with people giving talks at various times during the day. For half term, the topic was Women in Science. We listened to a bit about the first woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova, if you're interested), and a bit of the Horrible History of Women in Science. Both were very interesting and well presented, but my two are a little too young and got bored after a few minutes. Throughout the ground level are various dressing-up points aimed at the under-5s, where they can dress up as an astronaut, a star, an alien or a scientist. My two loved it! There were also lots of those things you stand behind and put your face through a hole to have a photo taken, which was also a bit hit with my two!



Pondering Quantum-physics?



My two little astronauts

Upstairs is all about rockets. They have a Thor missile on display, which is very impressive. You can take a glass lift up alongside it to various viewing platforms, to get a better look and learn more about rockets, missiles and the space race. We did this just before we left, and the queue for the lift was not bad at all.



Thor Missile



There is a large self-service cafe serving soup and a large range of sandwiches and baguettes, cakes, crisps etc. I'd brought a packed lunch each for the boys, but got myself a sandwich from the cafe. I was impressed with how much seating they had for the cafe and how clean and well-serviced it was. In fact, the whole centre was very clean and well-staffed. The boys particularly liked the toilets, which were space themed, with automatic washbasins built into the walls which automatically squirted soap, water and hot air!

The planetarium show was called "We Are Aliens" and was all about the possiblity of there being life on other planets. It was a great show, but I would have liked a more traditional planetarium experience of the planets and stars. There was a later showing like that, but the queues were enormous, as it was not bookable in advance.

Considering it is halfterm, I was amazed at how quiet it was. I was expecting the place to be packed and huge queues for all the interactive exhibits, but it wasn't, which was great! I did notice that there were far more little boys there than little girls. I guess space is something that must appeal more to boys than girls!

All in all, a very enjoyable day out. G wants to go back again, and said we can go for my birthday next week. When I said I didn't want to do that for my birthday, he had a huge tantrum! So I have promised we can go back for his birthday next year! There was the usual whining and fighting over whose turn it was to press buttons/have their photo taken/look through a telescope/whose feet were hurting most/whose legs were aching etc* (*delete as appropriate) which always drives me potty, but that seems to be par for the course on days out!

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Epic Review

We survived another trip to the cinema. Although, whilst in there, I vowed that G would NOT be going again, and W would not NOT be allowed a drink next time!

W was extremely excited to be going to see Epic in 3D. We have been avoiding watching anything in 3D of late, due to the extra expense and the fact that G spends most of the film with the glasses off (like today!). I think W was actually a little disappointed with the 3D experience today, and spent the first half hour of the film complaining loudly to me that his glasses weren't working as "nothing is popping out of the screen at me"! The novelty of 3D does seem to wear off after a few minutes, as your eyes and brain just adjust to watching it that way, and it ceases to amaze or enthrall you. The adverts you see in the cinema for 3D films are always way more 3D than the film is in reality - things flying out of the screen towards you, and the feeling that you could reach out and touch it! I think that's what W was expecting, and although I found it was lovely to watch in 3D, I can see why he was disappointed.

The film itself felt vaguely familiar. It was a bit of a cross between "The Spiderwick Chronicles" and "Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue". Many, many similarities in plot between the three films! Despite this dejavu, I enjoyed the film (despite the trials and tribulations of having 2 children with me!). But I pretty much enjoy any film at the cinema to be honest - I just love the whole experience, especially the enormous popcorn and fizzy drink!

G was a little underwhelmed by the whole thing though. He took his glasses off after about 10 minutes, and then dropped them twice on the floor - cue lots of rummaging and scrabbling around under the seats looking for them, as despite not wanting to wear them, he still wanted them, and I think the whole cinema knew it too! He also managed to tip his popcorn over twice. Those cinema cleaners certainly had their work cut out for them cleaning our row of seats today! Then there was his usual figeting - up and down in his seat, wanting to sit on my lap, then wanting to sit in his seat, then on his knees etc etc. Thankfully there was no-one sat in front of us, as the seats got a lot of kicking and pulling! G's antics coupled with W's repeated toilet trips (where we all have to go with him), meant I missed some of the crucial plot twists. But as it was certificate U, the plot wasn't so complicated that I couldn't follow it, even for me!

Overall, we enjoyed our morning at the cinema on a cold and rainy day. Not sure we will be getting Epic on DVD, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

DISCLAIMER: This post is NOT sponsored in any way.

The double-edged sword

School holidays - the ultimate double-edged sword...

On the one hand, an enormous relief not to have to rush around getting ready for school, doing the school run and watching the clock all day ready for the return school run. On the other hand, I have 2 small boys at home all day, all week, in the rain, waiting to be entertained!

During term time (and a lot of the rest of the time too to be honest!), I find myself constantly shouting "QUICKLY!", "COME ON!", "HURRY UP!" and "WE'LL BE LATE!". But these phrases seem to mean very little to a 3 year old, as he completely ignores me and carries on with whatever he is doing at his usual snail's pace. It is one of the things that drives us mad the most - being ignored by our children! Getting to school on time requires lots of use of these phrases. Even more so on the days when I do 2 drop offs at different places - G to nursery at 8.45am and W to school for 8.55am. Every second counts on these mornings, as leaving even a minute late means having to park further away which means it takes longer to get back to my car which means we are late getting W to school! So holidays at least means we don't have all the mad dashing around. It's also nice not to have days that end at 3pm. My whole day revolves around school timings, so once 3pm arrives, that's pretty much it for the day - downhill through supper, school reading and bathtime.

This week, we have had a bank holiday, and also husband has Friday off, so we actually only have 3 days to fill. I managed to last until midday today before giving in to the pester-power of getting the paints out! W is a prolific creater of art, and we are constantly having to clear out his 'masterpieces' into the recyle bin under the cover of darkness. After 10 minutes, and about 10 pictures, he decided he wanted to do glueing and sticking instead! I'm now left with a sink full of paint pots, brushes etc to clear up. Isn't this what they go to school for - to paint, glue, chalk to their hearts delight, so that their poor parents no longer have to put up with the mess at home??? Thankfully G, the little one, is not so bothered about arts and crafts, and was having his nap at the time, as he is a total liability with the glue and paint, and seems to apply it to every surface and orifice other than the paper! We spent the afternoon under a blanket on the sofa (where's the sun gone?), with popcorn, watching "Annie" on DVD. G kept telling me he couldn't hear the telly as I was singing too loud!

Tomorrow we have a trip to the cinema planned to see Epic. I splashed out and booked us 3D tickets, purely because that was the viewing time that suited us best. W loves a bit of 3D, but G is not so bothered and last time didn't even wear the glasses for most of the film! So tomorrow will be mostly taken up with eating our body weights in popcorn and fizzy pop.

Thursday, if it is STILL raining, I may venture further afield with them to the space centre in Leicester. I have a few Tesco days out vouchers that we can use there, and W has been doing all about space at school recently, so he will love it.

Before we know it, Monday will be here again and a return to the "QUICKLY" and "WE'LL BE LATE!", so rather than bemoaning the contant nagging, demands and arguments (from the kids, not me!) that makes up my days of school holidays, I should enjoy the more leisurely pace, spending time with my two little monsters darlings, and make the most of the little lie-ins that husband gives me (well, he let me lie-in a little this morning and brought me a cup of tea in bed before going to work, so hopefully he's reading this and will continue along those lines for the rest of the week!)

Festival of Country Life



Another sunny day, another country show visit! This time it was to Lamport Hall and the Festival of Country Life.



Lamport Hall



First impressions were that this show was on a much smaller scale than yesterday's one at Burghley House - it was cheaper to get in and there were no queues. But once we were inside, there was a surprising amount of stuff to see.



First stop was the food hall in the old stables. Although there were only a few stands, I think they were much better than at the show yesterday. We practically bought half their stock! We came away from there with 3 pounds of sausages (buy 2lb get 1free!), 2 bags of fudge (one of which was sea salt tablet - to die for!), 2 slabs of rocky road, more pork scratchings (can't enough of those salty, crunchy morsels - my secret snack shame!), 2 bunches of fresh British asparagus, 2 dozen eggs, and for our lunch 2 sausage rolls, a game pie, a bacon & cheese pasty, 4 caramel slices and 4 flapjacks!! Phew! Lucky we had the buggy with us to carry all our purchases!

The rest of the stables was full of antique & craft stalls, so we gave these a quick peruse before heading out to the rest of the show. There were loads of vintage cars, steam engines, tractors, motorbikes, army vehicles etc etc as well as many traditional crafts such as blacksmiths, wood turners, rope makers, bee-keepers etc.

W in a Messerschmitt



W watching another blacksmith - he is totally fascinated by it and could have stayed there all day watching him at work!



Again, the boys were pretty well behaved, despite being cold (after yesterday, they had shorts and t-shirts on again, but it was much cooler today and very windy!) We are very lucky that G still has an afternoon nap, and so with only a little encouragement he climbed back into the buggy with his muslin and went to sleep for an hour. It makes it a whole lot easier when you only have one child to entertain and keep track of whilst walking around these places!

All in all, an immensely enjoyable bank holiday weekend. Aren't we being spoiled by the British weather by having 2 sunny bank holiday weekends this May!!









Burghley House Game and Country Show

The weather was forecast to be lovely this weekend, so after a day of gardening yesterday, we headed out for a family day out.

Having grown up on a farm in the Welsh countryside, I have been to many, many agricultural and country shows in my time! I love browsing the stalls, especially the food tents which usually have plenty of samples on offer. The boys have been to a fair few too in their short lives, as every August we head down to my parents' in Pembrokeshire to the Pembrokeshire Agricultural Show (a 3 day extravaganza, second only to the Royal Welsh Show in Wales!)

This week I had spotted lots of signs up on the roadside advertising the show at Burghley House in Stamford. As it is only half an hour away from us, and Burghley House in on my Stately Home Bucket List(!), we thought we'd pop over to have a look.

The show is on for two days - today (Sunday), and bank holiday Monday. I have to say, they are very lucky with the weather, as if the weather was anything like it was here on Friday, it would have been a total washout. Instead, we had a lovely few hours strolling around in the warm sun, but with a nice cool breeze so that we never felt too hot.

The boys were exceptionally well behaved, which made a huge difference to our enjoyment of the day. So often, one or both of them have a tantrum about something or start whining which in turn puts husband and me in a bad mood too. But even when we said they couldn't go on the fair rides until we had had a look around, they were as good as gold, and patiently waited until we were on the way back to the car. It probably helped that we fed them with lots of treats all the way around (hot sugary donuts, pick'n'mix sweets & pork scrachings!) - probably the worst things a child can eat in terms of sugar, salt & fat content, but hey, it worked a dream on their behaviour!

W took a huge interest in all the traditional crafts being demonstrated - blacksmith, pottery making, glass blowing, glass etching etc, which was lovely to see. He also really enjoyed watching some of the entertainment in the various rings - a sheepdog herding some geese and a motorbike stuntman!

I have to say, I have never seen so many dogs in one place before! Practically every person had a dog or two in tow! Not great when one of your children is scared of dogs. And these weren't small dogs either - many were taller than the children and seemed to want to give them a good sniff. I'm not a big dog-lover either - I don't mind them, but I definitely don't fawn over them like a lot of people do! 

All in all, a lovely day in beautiful surroundings. They boys finally got their fair rides - W on the trapese trampoline, and G on the swing seats. We finished off the day with a quick stroll around Stamford (beautiful, picturesque town, well worth a visit) and supper at McDonald's!

It's curtains for me!

Finally! No more light streaming in our bedroom at the crack of dawn every day. No more freezing cold bedroom (hopefully!). No more baby black-out blind suckered to our window. We finally have curtains! A roman blind and a curtain with covered pelmet to be precise!

When we moved in, our bedroom had some rather hideous curtains up. A dark maroon coloured brocade fabric, with a fringed pelmet(!), that finished about 6 inches short of the floor, thereby completely failing at their intended job of shutting out the morning light, and keep the warm air in! Unfortunately (or fortunately!) I don't have a photo of them. As soon as we started having the bedroom re-done last August (new built-in cupboards, coving and redecoration) those nasty curtains came down, and the baby black-out blind went up. It's one of those travel blinds, that have suction pads to stick to the window, so that you can make baby's bedroom dark wherever you may be. Little did I know how useful it would be long-term, and that it would be used non-stop for 9 months!



Before we moved in

After we redecorated & had built-in wardrobes fitted

Before

After

After Christmas, I finally got around to visiting the interiors shop in our local town to look at curtain fabric. They came out to measure-up and give advice on what sort of fabric and colours they thought might work in our room, which is painted in "Elephant Breath". If you've ever wondered what colour an elephant's breath is, I can tell you that it is a kind of greige - in some lights it is a warm grey, and in others is almost brown. (You've gotta love those funny folk over at Farrow & Ball who think up the colour names!). I collected a few fabric books from them to take home to look at. Which I did....repeatedly...for weeks on end!

Finally, I decided on two fabrics (with the help of husband) - one for the blind and a different one for the curtains.  I'm a little scared of prints and patterns, as I always worry that I will soon get bored of them. The fabric books showed pictures of beautiful curtains and blinds in mix and match patterns, but I decided that as they were going to be pretty expensive, I didn't want something that would date or that I might get bored of, or anything that would make it difficult to change the decor of the rest of room. I had in mind some sumptuous curtains, so chose a taffeta fabric in a browny grey - not too shiny, but shiny enough to give a bit of glamour to the room. We went for some pattern for the blind - a geometric shape (almost a giraffe print) with a slight trim of bright pink to match some of the colour in our rugs in the room, and to brighten the colour scheme of the room a little. They also made a fabric covered pelmet, using the taffeta curtain fabric and trimming it with the blind fabric. Both the blind and curtains are lined with very thick interlining, so we're hoping this will make a huge difference in the winter, as our bedroom was one of the coldest rooms in the house last winter!

The finished result is lovely. It adds the perfect finish to the room.

It's hard to get a good picture to do them justice, due to the light from the window and my lack of camera skills!

The downside is that it is now extremely difficult to get up in the morning, as the room is pitch dark and feels like the middle of the night!