Tuesday, 31 August 2010

September the time for New School Year Resolutions

After sixteen years in the British Education system it has been imprinted in my brain that September is when the New Year starts. You get a new start and you can be a different person to who you were before the summer. Every September you can reinvent yourself as someone who is studious, on time, interesting and in my case on top of things.


Of course its dead lucky that just four months later you get to re-make all these promises to yourself with your New Years Resolutions as that is how long it normally took for me to forget what I was aiming for and fall back to my normal forgetting to study, do my homework, be late, only talk about things I find interesting and nobody else does and of course let everything pile on top of me in some crazy hotch potch way.

This is not a photo of Top Ender on her first day of School doing homework that had to be handed in that day.
This year of course will be no different, I am going to make changes and stick to them, not just for me but as a parent and of course if Top Ender wants to make some then I will support her. And if it turns out that at the end of December we have to make the same personal resolutions again? Well then I will just know that I am consistent in my ways!

As a Mummy however I promise the following resolutions will not be forgotten until at least Easter...
  1. We will get to school on time everyday. Yes I know I only live five minutes from school.
  2. Top Ender will have clean uniform everyday and her shoes will be polished.
  3. I will remind Top Ender to take her PE kit at the start of the week.
  4. I will check Top Enders bag for permission slips and return them promptly.
  5. Top Ender will have a nutritious lunch everyday.
  6. Top Ender will take her bottle of water to school everyday.
  7. I won't be late picking Top Ender up. Again, yes I know I practically live next door to the school.
  8. I will write all appointments on the calender.
  9. I will get Top Ender to do her homework.
  10. I will remember to give Top Ender and Baby Boy a healthy after school snack
Yeah who am I kidding? I won't last two weeks.

Monday, 30 August 2010

Toyologists? What on earth is a Toyologist?

In the run up to Top Enders being born, Daddy and I would often go out of an evening and wander round a shop or two. Top Ender loved to be up late, and watching TV and staring at the same four walls whilst being kicked from the inside just wasn't cutting it for us. We used to drive to Toys R Us in Bedford as it had late night Christmas Opening times and walk round looking at all the toys and seeing what we would like.

Eventually in 2005 Toys R Us found a site for a store in Milton Keynes and Daddy and I were thrilled that we could start going to a local store instead with our baby. Several years later and we still love the Milton Keynes store, not only because it is HUGE but because all of us (Baby Boy included) love to walk round and look at the toys and what we would have if our house was bigger!

It was with great interest that I replied back to the email from Geoffrey (you know the Toys R Us Giraffe, of  "there's millions of Geoffrey's all under one roof" fame) about becoming a Toyologist. And after some careful consideration I agreed that Top Ender and Baby Boy would become Toyologists and Daddy and I would be their assistants!

We were invited down to Bucklebury Farm Park in Berkshire to meet the other Toyologists and to have a bit of a tea party and as Daddy was at work I took my Mum (AKA Granny). I had explained to her what it was we were going to and why and it was then that she exclaimed;

"Toyologists? What on earth is a Toyologist?"
"Not a what, a who. Your Grandchildren are going to be Toyologists for Toys R Us" I explained
"Is it to do with that blog thing you do?" she said (I could hear her eyes rolling)
"Yes Mum" I sighed
"Your going to put this conversation on there aren't you?" she said resignedly
"Yes Mum" I said Smugly (Love you Mummy!)

Top Ender and Baby Boy had a great time and Top Ender even discovered that TB (GlowStars and Urbanvox eldest) isn't evil despite being a boy! They played in the playground, in the sandpit, on the slides, sat next to each other and even talked in Horse to each other. As I was the only one who could translate Horse it might of just been me making things up, but they didn't care. Well, not until I announced that TB had just asked Top Ender to marry him...

Whilst we grown ups had a little question and answer session about how the Toyologist programme is going to work, Granny took Top Ender and Baby Boy to play on some of the fab things at the Farm (such as a huge jumping pillow, a lot of slides, a zip slide sort of thing and a playground) and also they went and talked to a few animals and snacked on the cookies and muffins that had been laid out for us all to share.

After this we were all brought back together as it was time to open our first box of toys. Top Ender and Baby Boy got Granny and I to remove the tape and then they dived in pulling toys from the box and working out what was the best thing to look at first. There was a lot of toys and both Top Ender and Baby Boy exclaimed "COOL!" more than once as they examined the contents.


After this we went on a Tractor ride to see the Japanese Sika, Axis and Fallow deer that are at the Farm. We were allowed to feed them and as you can see from the photos they weren't shy!


We went home, happy but tired and with a huge dollop of excitement over playing with some new toys. I hope that you will enjoy the reviews that we do over the next few months and remember that anything we say is the truth, we aren't being paid to be nice (we aren't being paid at all, but you know what I mean) and hopefully it might give you some ideas about Christmas gifts!

Saturday, 28 August 2010

Breakfast - Bullseye Egg

I think that in other parts of the country this is called an Open House Egg. We call it a Bullseye Egg, because when we aim the sauce we yell "BULLSEYE!" If we get a direct hit.


First you need to heat oil in your frying pan, whilst that is doing cut a circle out of a slice of bread. Fry the bread and circle so that it is Golden Brown on one side and then flip them both over. When flipped over crack an egg into the hole in the slice of bread and fry until cooked.

When done put on a plate, squirt on some ketchup and add the circle of bread back on top.


One Bullseye Egg for breakfast!

Wednesday, 25 August 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Boiling Eggs


Tuesday, 24 August 2010

Who is The Stig?

Some say that The Stig might be Michael Schumacher or Ben Collins or Julian Bailey but I say that rumours are all that they are and all they should ever be!


To those of us who watch Top Gear (and I believe it to be quite a lot around 7 Million tune in via TV, or the Web) The Stig is a mystery that not even Scooby and the Gang would unmask (they are fans of Top Gear I am sure) because it is part of the fun of the show. It is the fun of not knowing, the fun of Jezza taking the mickey out of him with his intros, the fun of seeing his "cousins" when the Top Gear team are in different countries, the fun that even the celebs say that they don't know who this man is, the fun of everyone being in the same boat (well car) and just marvelling at the fantastic driving that The Stig does each week.

Top Gear is one of those programmes that isn't just for petrol heads. I'm not a petrol head, in fact if Jeremy Clarkson ever became ruler of The World and declared that we must all be petrol heads, the only thing that would stop me from going to prison would be the obvious positioning of who I would put in the snog category of the three Top Gear presenters in the game "Snog, Marry, Avoid"!


I like to watch Top Gear because of the stupid boy projects that they carry out, I like to watch the laps that the Celebs do, I like to guess what insult is going to be used against James May and then feel sorry for him that everyone is picking on him. I like the guessing of how Richard Hammond is going to have his hair this week, or if his teeth are going to get another mention.

Its because we don't know who The Stig is that we can all build up mythical status for this man (or maybe a woman who knows!) and so I plead to you in the media don't reveal the secret, have a heart and let us keep one hero untainted!

Anyway, we all know that Baby Boy is The Stig. He has a T-Shirt to prove it and I think that this video proves it without a doubt...


Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Home Grown Potatoes

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

Family Fun Days Out on a Budget

The other Sunday I was talking about Family Fun on a Budget and I was talking about things that we do as a family on the cheap to make everyday a fun day. It got me thinking though because even when we go out as a family I still try and make it as cheap as possible and today I thought I would share some of my secrets with you.

Most of our days out involve us going somewhere in our car. I love our car, we have a Citroen Xsara Picasso and I have to say that I think it is fab as a family car (although my next car will without a doubt be a Toyota Prius) because of the great storage it offers. When we go on a long journey we always check the tyre pressure, the water and oil levels and make sure that we have petrol. We empty the car of anything that we won't need and normally give it a quick wash and use the Dyson on the inside. As I am sure you know these simple steps help improve the fuel efficiency and also means that the mouldy pears are taken care of!


The great storage in our car means that we have space (in the floor) to store snacks and drinks for the journeys we make. I put family and car friendly snacks such as cartoons of juice and crisps and raisins (and the odd biscuit) into the car before we set off, so that if we need to snack whilst we are on the move we don't need to stop at the services that we past. I also keep mints in the front of the car for Daddy and I

If we are going out for the entire day, I make sure that we take snacks, drinks and if possible Lunch and a light Supper. I am always shocked, although I don't know why, at the price of drinks and snacks at theme parks or anywhere that isn't my local shop. I have a large cool bag, which will hold enough sandwiches, fruit, yogurts (I freeze tube yogurts and use them as cool packs) drinks, biscuits, crisps and cakes for the four of us more than twice over. The pack can stay in the car if we are at an attraction that lets us return to our car during the day, and if not it can either go on/in the buggy or we adults take turns in carrying it.

I love the Internet (as you probably already know) and as such will search for vouchers for days out, two for one, half price days or anything else that will save me on admission price. You can also use your Tesco Clubcard points to convert to tickets for certain theme parks and days out, so this is like free days out! I am signed up with local tourist boards to get emails about upcoming attractions so that if there is a discount for booking early I can take advantage of this. I couldn't even make a guess at how much this has saved me in the past, but I am sure that it is worth the time and effort.


Daddy always scopes out parking for where we are going, and checks that it isn't cheaper to park in a local NCP car park rather than the car park at the event we are going to. His favourite was when we went to the O2, parking at a local NCP car park cost £10 and then there was a further £5 fee for our trip on the Docklands Light Railway to the O2 arena but parking at the O2 would of cost £20. I know its only a saving of £5 but that £5 brought us our programme for the evening and meant that we spent some more time together having an adventure!

So these are my top tips, but what are your top tips? Where else can I save money?

Sunday, 15 August 2010

Family Fun on a Budget

Reading this blog you might think that we don't know about having Family Fun on a Budget as at the moment it seems that every other weekend we are at a show or at the cinema, or on a day trip as a family and it must seem like we have money to burn, but its not true. Its just that with a bit of careful planning we are able to budget for events like I have mentioned but we intersperse them with events and days out that cost nothing or next to nothing, such as the ones that I have talked about before in my post Eight things to do on a small Entertainment fund but are still packed full of fun! This weekend we don't have anything major planned, but you can be sure that we will be doing a few of the following!

We love to bake together as a family, and this is a great way of doing something fun on a small amount of money. Plus you get to eat it afterwards! Something that I love to do is to make cornflake cakes (melt chocolate and stir in cornflakes, put a generous spoonful into a cake case and leave to set) and then whip them out whilst we are waiting for our cup cakes to cook.

We love going for walks, we are lucky that we have a great local Parks Trust that maintains local parks and green areas. It could be though that you just walk to the local shop and buy everyone a small sweet, or take a walk to the local park. If you all have wellies why not even go if it has been raining and puddle jump at the same time?!


The local park is really great for burning off some energy and is a great way to have some fun. Top Ender and Baby Boy love when we get on the roundabout or the swings or slide with them and so do we! Plus according to that study that Brainiacs did (It was Scientific!) a half hour in the park on the equipment burns more calories than a half hour in the Gym.

Going round a Shop or a Supermarket might seem like an odd place for Family Fun, but most Supermarkets these days have aisles dedicated to toys and household goods. Its a great place to window shop for things that you might like... not that we do that in Ikea or anything!

Search the Internet for free things to do, there are lots of sites that list places such as Skillscape, and Silver Cross Days Out that list places that other parents have recommended. It might be that you get to go to an Outdoor Cinema, an Airshow, or pick some fruit but there is bound to be something to suit your budget!

I don't know many people who pay much attention to flyers and vouchers in the UK. It seems to me that our friends in the USA and Canada are much more savvy at this sort of thing, but there are savings to be had on most days out. There is a funfair at Willen Lake at the moment, and at £1.50 per person per ride it soon adds up but a flyer I found in a local pub gives vouchers for 50p off any ride. I picked up two flyers (one for Top Ender and one for Baby Boy) and now Top Ender and Baby Boy will be able to go on two more rides than we would of originally budgeted for!


Make use of cinema discounts (such as Orange Wednesday, half price Tuesday or movies for juniors) or have fun and make your living room into the cinema. Shutting the curtains, making movie tickets and having Cinema style snacks is a great laugh, and a good way to have a sneaky snooze or snog when the kids aren't looking...

And if you get really stuck for something to do why not try looking for ideas on Disney's What shall we do today. We love the ideas on the website and quite often have a quick visit to get a game or idea!

Saturday, 14 August 2010

Little Dish Favourites Cookbook and Top Enders meal plan

Did you know that Little Dish has a cook book? Its called the Little Dish Favourites Cookbook and I knew because they sent me one. Top Ender has spent her time pouring through it looking at the various dishes, pondering on what ones she would request that I cook for the family. Baby Boy didn't quite understand that a cook book was full of recipes and wasn't something you were meant to eat and took a bite out of some of the pages!

Top Ender found a section called Meal Matchers towards the back of the book that recommends what dishes you can make that go nicely with another dish and she was busy copying out the names so that she could play restaurants with Baby Boy and I. It gave me an idea though, if she was smart enough to work this out, what would happen if I asked her to work out a meal plan for the week?

I gave Top Ender some simple instructions. Don't choose anything that nobody will eat, make sure that we get at least one portion of fish in the week, see if we can use the same ingredients in more than one dish, and we like to have a Roast on Sundays. Top Ender spent half an hour looking through making notes in her little notebook and finally was ready to sit down with me to update our spreadsheet.


Her list was as follows;

Meatloaf with Ratatouille
Sausage and Lentil Casserole with boiled potatoes
Spanish Tortilla
Shepperd's Pie
Easy fish in foil with Broccoli and Cauliflower Cheese
Burgers with Wedges
Simple Roast Chicken with trimmings

I was impressed. She had chosen meals that she knew everyone would eat and more importantly that I could confidently cook! All of the dishes apart from Meatloaf were dishes that I cook and know how to cook, but I followed the recipes as stated and found that although the dishes didn't taste too different to how I cook them normally that Top Ender ate everything we gave her... traitor.

All of us (apart from Baby Boy) loved the Meatloaf recipe, so much so that everyone had seconds. I don't ever remember us all having seconds. Baby Boy was keen on the leftovers in a sandwich the next day, so it was a good job there was a lot leftover, as I had to make another sandwich for me! The Meatloaf recipe was such a success that I wrote to Little Dish and asked if I could share it with you and they agreed. So for your delight (and consumption) here it is;

Ingredients

1/2 Small Onion, peeled and diced
1 Large Carrot, peeled and diced
2 eggs, beaten
60ml (2 fl oz) whole milk
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
100g (3 1/2 oz) fresh breadcrumbs (2 1/2 slices of brown bread)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (optional)
500g (1lb) lean minced beef
500g (1lb) lean minced pork

Method

Preheat the oven to 190oC/375oF/Gas 5

Line a baking tray with foil. Lightly oil the foil.

Combine all the ingredients, apart from the meat, in a large bowl and mix together thoroughly. Using your hands, add the minced beef and pork and make sure it is well mixed in and evenly distributed.

Shape your ingredients into a loaf and place on the baking tray. The loaf should not touch the sides of the tray but sit nicely in the middle. Bake for 45-50 minutes, then let it stand for 10 minutes before serving.

This should serve 8 children or a family of 6 with leftovers according to the book. It served us as a family of 4 with seconds and leftovers and I was generous with the portion sizes. I found that I had to cook mine for 70 minutes as after 50 minutes the centre was still pink, and I also think that next time I would cook the carrots a little before adding them as we found them a little hard and if they were softer I think that it would have just made it a little better. Mind you I probably should of diced it smaller!

The only problem that we have now is that Baby Boy wants to make a meal plan...


The Little Dish Favourites Cookbook is available from WH Smith, Waterstones, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s, or online at Amazon.co.uk (and other places if you Google it) and its RRP is £14.99.

Thursday, 12 August 2010

The Film Premier of Disney’s TinkerBell and the Great Fairy Rescue

Last weekend we were lucky enough to be invited to the Film Premier of Disney’s TinkerBell and the Great Fairy Rescue being held at the Mayfair in London. The whole family is a BIG fan of anything Disney and Top Ender loves the Disney Fairies and everything to do with Pixie Hollow! Having already seen the first two films and owning them on DVD, we knew that we were going to be in for a good time and couldn't wait to watch the film.


As soon as the film started Baby Boy sat in his chair with a big grin on his face and kept calling out "Cool!" as he would quite like to be a fairy or Peter Pan, (he isn't sure which is better yet). Top Ender was able to keep her squeals of excitement a lot quieter especially as she had heard that the voice of Lizzy was in the audience and didn't want to appear to be uncool!

I really don't want to give too much away about the film, as it was so fun but I can confirm that this is the first time that the Fairy world and the world of humans mix and it is just as magical as you would expect! There is a bit of mild peril but Baby Boy wasn't that bothered by it (I was more worried than he was!) as I think that he knew everything would work out in the end! This is the official trailer of the film, if you want to take a sneaky peek!


After the film I was talking with Baby Boy and Nell McAndrew's son Devon about the film and both of them said they had enjoyed the film. Top Ender had of course loved the film and hoped that she could meet a fairy and has resolved to leave drawings everywhere so that Fairies know that she is a believer!


We were lucky enough to get a few minutes to speak with Lauren Mote, who is the 13 year old actress who lends her voice to Lizzy in TinkerBell and The Great Fairy Rescue. Lauren goes to Sylvia Young Theatre School in London and was really sweet; I hope that she is a big star in the future as she certainly deserves to be!


To share with you the fantastic world of Disney's TinkerBell, we have the first TinkerBell DVD along with a TinkerBell Fairy figure in a competition for those of you in the United Kingdom! To enter you need to answer the following question, the answer to which can be found somewhere in this blog post.

What fashion item did both Lauren Mote and Top Ender wear to the Disney premier of TinkerBell and The Great Fairy Rescue? (Hint look in the photos!)

Please leave your answer in the comments on this post; it is limited to one entry per household and to those in the UK. If more than one answer is correct then the correct answers will be assigned numbers and a random number generator will choose who wins. The competition is open until 1pm on the 15th August and I will email the winner to get contact details, so please make sure your email address is correct when entering!

Wednesday, 11 August 2010

Wordless Wednesday - The things you can do with a spade!

Tuesday, 10 August 2010

Prize Winning Wheat Free Cupcake Recipe

During July, Top Ender and Baby Boy entered English Mums Bake Off in the Children's section with their Wheat Free Fairy Cakes. A few days back Heather from Eggs Cream and Honey (don't you just love that as a name?) who was judging the competition announced the winners and to our surprise Top Ender and Baby Boy won!


We thought that it would only be fair that we share the recipe with you, so that you could recreate the winning Children's entry if you wanted!

Ingredients
6oz Butter
6oz Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
1/2tsp Vanilla Extract
6oz Self Raising Flour (we use Doves Farm)
5 tbsp Milk

Method

Preheat the over to Gas Mark 6. Mix the Butter and Sugar until Fluffy, then beat in the eggs and Vanilla, followed by gradually by the milk and flour.


Put the cake mix into paper cases, roughly half fill the cases and then bake for ten to fifteen minutes. Allow to cool and then decorate or eat straight away as they taste scrummy!
 

This was originally a recipe that we took from a Doves Farm Flour Packet, but I am sure they won't mind me sharing it with you.

Wednesday, 4 August 2010

The Gallery - Playtime

The Gallery theme this week was on playtime. I really didn't know what to use, I knew that there were lots of photos that I have of Top Ender and Baby Boy playing and even of Daddy, but I couldn't think of the words to go with them. It was all rather one lined "Top Ender and Baby Boy play so well together" or something.

So I looked through my photos and nothing inspired me.

I would of taken a new one, but you know as I have mentioned at least 1000 times on Twitter I'm not very well and its too much effort to get the camera out.

So I looked through my photos again. And then I saw it. Please pretend that I am looking more attractive


I remember this day really well, it was a couple of months before Baby Boy was born. Top Ender had been on her best behaviour so we had gone to the park as a treat in the afternoon. Only thing was once we were there she wanted us to join in. I went on the swing, the See-Saw and we laughed and laughed.

That's what playtime is to me.

Tuesday, 3 August 2010

Making Bath Time MORE Fun!

As part of our 104 Days of Summer or Family Fun on a Phineas and Ferb Scale, we needed some ideas that only took a few minutes to arrange. We had already decided that not all our days needed to be on a grand scale, that it was the Fun that had to be on a grand scale. The one thing that I know that can turn anything from small to big is imagination and so I told Top Ender and Baby Boy that they were going to go Deep Sea Diving just before Bath time.

Of course my bathroom isn't built over an ocean and Top Ender and Baby Boy don't have any scuba gear or training, so this was going to be Deep Sea Diving with a difference. This was deep sea diving with food colouring...

When you add a few drops of food colouring to bathwater it changes colour. It is diluted enough that it doesn't stain the children (or the bath, but if you have a porcelain bath you might want to be careful) despite what my Nan might tell you. Everybody knows that the sea is blue and so blue food colouring was added to the running water and we got this;



Top Ender and Baby Boy loved the bath and it was a struggle to get them out that evening, but I was able to bribe them out with a promise of a new bath adventure the following evening. Coming up with an idea the following evening was as hard as opening my cake decorating gels and looking to see what colour took my fancy!

I decided that yellow would probably be the best bet, and added some yellow gel to the water. It required a bit more swishing around, but then that just serves me right for being fancy and having gels instead of the liquid kind that most people have.

The result was a sunshine bath and although I didn't think this looked as impressive as the Deep Sea Diving bath, Top Ender and Baby Boy loved it... as you can hear from our singing in the video!


So the next time you can't face having a boring old bath, or you want to add some excitement to your children's bath time why not go and raid the cake decorations for food colouring to add to the water!

Monday, 2 August 2010

World Party - Croydon Summer Festival 2010

It isn't just me who comes up with places and ideas of where we should go as a family, Daddy comes up with ideas too and this past weekend when we went to the Croydon Summer Festival it was his suggestion.


We went to the World Party day (well evening) as we wanted to hear Martha Reeves and the Vandellas but due to some issues with traffic and roads being closed and a lot of police guarding crime scenes we arrived after they had left the stage.

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As we came in we saw this sign, I am not sure who brings a kangaroo to a festival, but we were pleased that they were very clear about what sorts of Animals weren't allowed into the grounds! If anyone has ever taken any form of Marsupial to a Musical Festival, if they could let me know in the comments that would be great.

We had a quick look around the stalls and exhibitions (and of course the fun fair) and saw a fantastic sky dancer/air ballerina who was attached to a giant ball (and two men on the floor making sure she didn't fly away) and the movements that she made in the air were fantastic, and only a little scary as she would rush towards the crowds before suddenly swooping back into the air!


We managed to get back to the main stage in time to hear the other act that we wanted to hear... The Lightning Seeds! Honestly this photo does show Ian Broudie on stage...

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We set up camp nearish the back of the crowd and both Top Ender and Baby Boy were having a great time having a dance to the songs (which I knew more than I thought I would) and even got me dancing although there is no video footage of this phenomena! It was a beautiful end to a beautiful day and I think that I could be tempted to go to every London borough Summer Festival!

Sunday, 1 August 2010

Go! Go! Go! and see this show!

On Saturday, Daddy and I took Top Ender and Baby Boy to London to see "The Go! Go! Go! Show", (after having been given tickets by Mummy Marketing) which is a family musical about a group of five friends and without giving too much away involved a sweet sock-stealing "Fluffalope", magic bikes and some fantastic songs that none of us have been able to stop singing...


We went on the underground to Leicester Square (which is on the Northern and Piccadilly line) and then walked round to the Leicester Square Theatre (its hidden up near the Prince Charles Cinema near China Town) for the 2:30pm show. We made our way down the stairs and found a foyer with a very friendly man selling merchandise which was very reasonably priced and saw me buying Top Ender and Baby Boy flashing wands (£3 each) and a Souvenir programme pack (£5), there was a place to leave our buggy and a huge pile of booster seats for children to use in the intimate theatre.

We were all quite excited to find that over the back of our seats were different coloured socks (which becomes important later) and we settled down ready for the show. From the start Baby Boy and Top Ender were excited and as soon as the musical started they were dancing along and learning the Go!Go!Go! club move and shouting excitedly when ever the cast asked the audience a question. Top Ender was in heaven and laughed loudly at the jokes, as only a six (and a half) year old can, and has already learnt all the words to Heaven Bound. Any doubt that I had about us not enjoying the show was removed from my mind as we all grew more and more engrossed in the show.

There is an interval in the show, and if you are tempted to buy an intermission icecream do be warned that they are £2 per tub, but it was really nice ice-cream and according to the pot they have won lots of awards for being so nice.

The second half of the show started getting a bit too much for Baby Boy, but with some clever Mummy and Daddy tricks we managed to get him to watch most of the second half, without too much stress and we decided that he would skip meeting the cast after the show and go and claim our buggy. Whilst he and Daddy were claiming the buggy they did meet Mr Baffled who was very charming according to Daddy.

Top Ender and I battled it out to meet the other cast members (nearly losing an eye in the process from some sharp elbowed mothers) and even though they had just finished a show and must of been exhausted they were all so lovely and I hope that take this show on tour... or at least release a DVD as all of them deserve success in the future.


For further details of show times and how to book tickets, visit http://www.gogogo.tv/ and do it soon, it is one show that the whole family really will enjoy!

When we were offered our tickets, we were also offered tickets for a family of four as part of a competition and so if you would like to win tickets to see ‘The Go!Go!Go! Show’ then all you have to do is answer this question;

What is the name of the sock stealing creature in The Go! Go! Go! Show?

A. The Sock Nabber
B. The Fluffalope
C. The Sneak

Please leave your answer in the comments below (on A Mothers Ramblings, not on any other feed such as the Facebook group), and use a valid email address as this is how I will contact you if you have won. If more than one answer is correct, a random number generator will be used to choose the winner, based on the order of entry. Competition closes at 1pm on the 7th of August, transport is not included.