Not so dancing on ice

Wednesday we tried our hands at ice skating, well our feet anyhows lol, from my big daddy feet through to L-A and her dinky feet we all had a blast at it.

I titled this post not so dancing on ice which is certainly true for me as I was more like bambi on ice I was sliding everywhere.

My wife had been invited to attend Webb's Garden Centre media event and in turn we were invited to go ice skating, how fab we both thought, something we had never done before as a couple or as a family.

The only time I've ever been ice skating before was when I was about 12 years old, and one of the lads I was with fell face first on the ice and knocked his top front teeth out.

Well we hadn't told the kids what we were doing we just picked JR up from school and made our way over to Webb's Garden Centre.

The kids were so excited to see all the bright lights and Christmas scenery in the entry way to the store.

Once inside the kids were invited to write their Christmas letter to Santa telling him what they want for Christmas, they posted it in the post box and now they have to just sit back and await his response.

As we were early for the ice skating session we had a look round the store, showing the kids all the animals in the animal corner.

We took them through the Christmas section where they pointed at all the lights and decorations in excitement, we even got to take a christmas photo in a lovely carriage pulled by reindeers.

Now it was time for ice skating, we made our way round to the ice rink where we bumped into Joy from Pinkoddy and her lovely family, we put on our ice skates and waited patiently to go onto the ice.

I was worried about me falling on my ass as much as my kids falling over to be honest so we decided to help the whole situation out by hiring a banana aid which the kids sat on whilst I pushed them round plus that stopped me falling on my ass many times to be fair.

Well all my kids at different points of the session found massive amounts of bravery as they all skated by themselves at some point. Even little L-A showed daddy how to ice skate properly to the point she refused to hold anyones hand.

By the end of the session even my wife was skating round like a natural, well I won't say Jane Torvill has anything to worry about well apart from moving out of the way as my wife as she couldn't stop lol.

As big massive thank you must go out to Pinkoddy for the help and encouragement she offered at various points to my wife and kids who thanks to her found inner bravery to go off and skate unaided cause I was useless on the ice and couldn't stay on my own two feet let alone helping them stay on theirs.

Once we had finished the skating we all chilled out with a lovely chocolate muffin and hot chocolate which we all fully enjoyed.

Personalized Paw Print iPad Folio Case

My wife's iPad case was becoming a bit worn out of late so I looked into getting here a new one, whilst I was looking about to see who offered what kind of case and at what price I was contacted by Katrina who worked in Marketing at Zazzle to see if I'd be interested in working with them.

If you haven't heard of Zazzle before, Zazzle is a marketplace where you can custom design nearly anything from phone cases to watches.

I took a look around their website at all their amazing products and guess what ..... Yes your guess is correct they had iPad cases not just iPad cases but the cases could be personalised too, so I thought why not kill two birds with one stone (theoretically of course), get my wife a new iPad case and work with Zazzle at the same time.

As I was saying my wife's iPad case was a bit worn and she was due a new one so I ordered her a Personalized Red and Pink Paw Prints iPad Folio Case, designed by The_Cat_Lady.

 

This Powis iCase is made with premium book cloth and finished with glossy laminate, this hard cover case is a durable and elegant way to show off your favourite designs, photos, images and text. Features rubberised non-slip edge design for landscape use.

This iPad case is priced up at £32.95. Having looked round at various other sites that sell personalised products I can say that this falls in to the same price bracket.

It is a lovely product which is exceptionally well made. It's very easy to use and comes with a full picture instruction sheet of how to dock your iPad in to it and how to remove it if you wish.

I must admit I hadn't heard of Zazzle before I was contacted by them but I will recommend to anyone who wants personalised high quality products to check them out before making a purchase elsewhere.

I was sent this product free of charge for the post purpose, my views and opinions are all my own.

A Cadbury World Xmas

On Sunday we went on a family day out visit to Cadbury World.

Well I might of forgotten to mention it was a bloggers event my wife had been invited to called A Cadbury World Xmas.

Well we arrived at Cadbury World and meet up with many others bloggers including Erica, Zoe and Eileen to find out what was in store for the day ahead.

Our first port of call was a visit to see Santa, the kids were so excited. We queued up with everyone else awaiting to see the main man himself. Once inside his grotto the kids told him what they wanted for Christmas and how good they were going to be (that I'll wait and see lol) then we had a lovely family photo with Santa, wouldn't you agree?

Our next activity was the new for 2014 4D chocolate adventure ride.

This we all really enjoyed, you join freddo and other iconic Cadbury chocolate characters like the caramel bunny and Mr Cadburys parrot and go on a fabulous 4D journey through Cadbury World.

Interactive wall of 4D cinema characters.

We then stopped for a spot of lunch.

Posh sandwiches and lots of cake, well yummy it was too. When I say posh sandwiches and cakes (all those with kids will agree to this.... I think) my wife and I had a lunch consisting of sandwiches and a cake and the kids had a sandwich (not eaten) and a plate of cakes lol.

One point I must make here regarding lunch, my daughter is on a dairy free diet due to early childhood illness and the events team and cafe staff couldn't help us enough to be honest. They made here a plate of non buttered sandwiches, a bowl of tomato paste and a bowl of mixed fruit which was very very kind of them.

Well after lunch we went to pantoland, well ok a marquee outside by the African adventure land but it soon became pantoland lol.

The panto was Snow White and the Chuckle Beans, it was a story about Snow White birthday and how her evil step mom planned to ruin it until with help from Snow White's best friend Muddles and the Chuckle Beans, Prince Charming saved the day. The panto was full and laughs and jokes which were enjoyed by all and there was even a Christmas songs thrown in too.

The children were invited to stay behind after the show ended to have photos taken with the cast which everyone enjoyed.

Now we were given our own time, to do with what we wanted at our own pace, so we decided to do the Cadbury World experience tour.

If you haven't been before I won't go into too much detail so not to spoil it, but you go on a tour right from the very beginning of when and where from cocoa beans were brought to Europe, learn about how chocolate was introduced to the societies of Europe and in turn learn all about John Cadbury and story behind the chocolate we today know at Cadbury chocolate.

The next part of the experience sees you going on the factory tour where you'll learn about packaging, moulding of years past, along the way you get to taste melted chocolate with toppings of your choice which is fun for all the ages, be taken through the advertising years of Cadbury chocolate and if you're like us you'll stand there and straight away go "I remember that advert" or go "that advertisement wasn't that many year's ago was it? I feel old now lol".

 

 

As well as collecting chocolate along the way which (obviously everyone enjoys doing), the other attraction the kids really enjoyed was Cadabra a fun beanmobile ride through chocolate wonderland.

The last thing to do before you leave Cadbury World is of course a visit to the World Biggest Cadbury Shop where you can buy everything thing from freddo bars through to proper tell size teapots in the shape of dairy milk pieces, there's gifts for all ages here.

Well that was our day out to Cadbury World enjoyed by us all.

A couple of fun photos of the day to finish my post off.

Dettol Cleansing Surface Wipes

How clean is your child's lunchbox? 

Research carried out by the Dettol Back to School Study shows that only 48% of parents clean and disinfect their child's lunch box every day. 

Crumbs left behind can become a breading ground for bacteria such as E.coli, Salmonella and Staphylococcus Aureus. 

A quick wipe with a dishcloth may not help as research has shown that 9 out of 10 dishcloths in the UK are 'heavily contaminated' with bacteria.

Lunchboxes are often left in schoolbags for hours at a time, without being refrigerated meaning they are in the room temperature 'danger zone' where bacteria multiplies most rapidly increasing the risk of food poisoning. In these conditions, one bacteria such as salmonella could become several million in just eight hours.

Dettol have compiled three easy top tips for parents to follow to help reduce the risk of foodborne tummy bugs, they are:-

• Pack frozen water bottles into lunchbox as freezer packs. This will cool down the food inside, helping to prevent it from hitting the 'danger zone' plus the water should be chilled ready to drink by lunch time too.

• After lunch, children should discard all leftover perishable food and packaging. Avoid reusing sandwich bags and tin foil because they could contaminate other food.

• Wipe down the lunchbox with an antibacterial wipe, such as Dettol Anti-Bacterial Cleansing Surface Wipes, before packing in order to kill 99.9% of bacteria.

As a parent I always want to protect my children and keep them safe and well at all times and with Dettol Cleansing Surface Wipes I feel I can help protect them even when they are at school.

Using Dettol Surface Wipes I am not only able to keep clean the preparation area where I make them their lunch but I can also keep clean the lunchbox they use at school too. 

Together with educating my children to discard of leftover food at lunch time and myself to keep their lunchbox clean and free of bacteria we can fight off foodborn tummy bugs together. 

90:10 Product Review

Picture the scene (you can close your eyes if it helps lol) two guys sat round a table in a pub chatting away about random topics and putting the world to rights. The conversation then turns towards the subject of "being grown up" and having responsibilities. It then dawns upon them that they are grown up and have responsibilities now to which one of them pipes up and says "We might have responsibilities and are grown up but we're far from over the hill!"

Well this scenario was exactly how 90:10 was created by Dan and Paul over a few beers in their local pub in the summer of 2013 (read the whole story here). A daft conversation under the influence was underway when Dan suddenly said, "When it comes to having to admit that I am now a grown up, I will go 90% but no higher".... He joked that he would get this tattooed on his forehead as a statement of self expression prompting Paul to propose printing it on a T-shirt instead .... A bit less drastic! Dan then decided that this statement should be symbolised as 90:10 .... 90% Grown Up .... 10% Not!

Well after a few days of the concept of the 90:10 brand buzzing round Dan's head he took the full idea to Paul and with his guidance as Paul worked in the clothing industry. With blood, sweat and tears the brand 90:10 was brought to life.

Dan is quick to point out that having an innovative brand message is one thing, but it needs to be married to stylish clothing that is well made which in turn is then delivered to the customer at the right in an environmentally responsible way.

When I was approached about working with this brand I was really interested to be honest, the whole story behind the development of the brand intrigued me. A brand developed from a conversation had whilst two guys sat drinking round a table in a pub how fantastic I thought, not only that but I totally get the 90:10 logo as a working dad of three I too am 90% Grown up and 10% Not.

The signature 90:10 hoodie I was sent for review has the 90:10 logo embroiled on the chest. It is made from 100% pure organic cotton and it features a double kangaroo front pocket. 

The hoodie is priced up at £42.00 including free delivery, to be honest that for me to spend on a item of clothing is expensive but I'm not a fashionable guy and my children have more branded clothes then I do as I normally but cheaper versions but saying that this hoodie is a quality made casual smart item that is worth its price tag.

Check out and follow 9010 Man on twitter (@9010man)

You can also pop over and visit their Facebook page here too.

All the views and options on this post are mine.

#Wicked Wednesdays

ALL wrapped up, now where shall I send them?

Penpals at Home books

 Penpals at Home Getting Ready for Handwriting and Forming Letters are fantastic books full of activies to help your 3-5 year olds with developing their motor skills to help improve with their handwriting.

 

As my two boys are in nursery and year one respectively I thought this book would be a great aid in helping with their handwriting. 

Its laminated pages are ideal as they can be used over and over again, so you don't have to worry if your child is like mine and draws off the patterns/shapes on the page or scribbles on the page completely as you can just wipe it off and start again. Unfortunately the book doesn't come with a wipe clean pen, but you can pick these up quiet cheap from stationary shops.

This book has a fantastic FREE app you can download from google play or the ITunes store. This app allows your child to follow an animated example of how to draw the shape or letter correctly. Both my wife and I downloaded this app on our respective phones but the app worked on her phone but not mine so be aware of this in case it doesn't work once you have downloaded it.

Along with the app guidance each new double page has a 'Notes for grown-ups' part where it tells the growm-up what the letter is known as and how to help them write it. For example c,a,d,o,s,g,q,e and f are known as curly caterpillar letters.

 

My boys found this book really helpful, it was fun to be able to sit with them load up the app watch it together and then watch them complete the activities on the pages.

The book is priced up at £4.99 which I think is a very good price which compares very well with lots of other wipe clean educational activity book. Yes although it doesn't come with a wipe clean pen it does have the downloadable app which is in my opinion a fantastic aid for your children to see how they write the letters or shapes correctly.

I was sent these books for review purpose free of charge and all views and opinions are my own.