Halloween Memories Post

Recently on Twitter I've noticed peoples Halloween Pinterest popping up here and there sharing their wonderful ideas for you to have a fun filled Halloween time with kids of all ages and almost every shop you go have up or are starting to decorate their shops ready for Halloween.

This year will be our first year as a family we won't be at home celebrating/participating in the Halloween festivities. We will however be at Coombe Mill and can't wait to see what wonderful activities Fiona and her lovely family have in store for us to participate in.

When I think about Halloween festivities two occasions spring to my mind, one being a kiddies party we held at the flat when JR and his friends were only 11 months/ 12 months old and the other has to be when my wife and I visited visited Magic Kingdom and attended the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

The kiddies party was fun, they all came dressed in really cute costumes, to be honest it wasn't much of a party as all they did was sit and play with toys but it was our very first Halloween party we'd held so it was fun never the less, I put on a finger buffet and we played a few party games, everyone seemed to enjoy it so that was good.

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party now that was a fabulous occasions.

Disney put on the family Halloween party to celebrate Halloween whereas at the same time Universal Studios held their own shall we say more 'grown up' party with lots more scary sights and sounds. Even the giant billboard outside Universal Studios and their TV advertisement for their party was scary to be honest.

The TV advertisement started off with a young man in his mid 20s I'd say sat at a fortune tellers table in a carnival tent with the female fortune teller sat in front of him looking into her crystal ball, the teller then said something like "I see terror and fright in your immediate future" upon this she shot backwards in her chair away from the young man and the young man was immediately surrounded by Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and the clown from the IT film. These three characters are who are on the giant billboard too.

As my wife doesn't like scary films and such forth but loves Disney we were only ever going to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party to be honest.

We spent the whole day in Magic Kingdom and as time ticked closure towards park closing time the visitors started to leave the park, this was our cue to get changed, we put on our costumes and joined up with the the many hundred of party goers who had either been at the park all day like us or had turned up to participate in the Halloween festivities.

My wife had chosen to dress as a zombie pirate and I had chosen to dress as an escaped convict complete with ball and chain.

Well Magic Kingdoms normal end of day fireworks and light show was over and the bells chimed seven pm signaling the start of the Halloween festivities, the night began with an awesome fireworks and light show and a stage show right outside of the Magic Kingdom castle which was presented by the baddies and villains of Disney like Jaffar, Hook, Maleficent and many others, which was totally different to the normal daily bubbly shows presented by Mickey Mouse and friends.

Once we had watched the show we made our way to Mickey's Toontown Fair where we took part in a fantastic trick or treat hunt, this was really fun and my wife and I filled our sweet pots full of some wonderful American candy of all kinds.

The park had kept open a handful of rides during the party too, it was fun going on rides like the haunted mansion and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin dressed in our costumes. We also watched a fantastic parade of all the baddies and villains which was started by the headless horseman running ahead of all the parade floats, it was a fantastic parade and great to see the villains in their very own parade too.

I truly enjoyed Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and I am so glad we booked up and went to it, I would recommend it to anyone whatever your age because everyone there gets dressed up and caught up in the festivities.

I'm linking this post up to the lovely Charly Dove and her weekly linkie
What's The Story.

 

Sixteen Years Ago

Sixteen years ago Thursday just gone to the date (9th October) and Friday to the day my lovely wife and I started dating. Yes this was back in the day when individuals spoke face to face when dating not speaking through Twitter, Facebook or whatever else people meet on these days. Come to think of it we didn't even own a fine between us back then lol.

It all began when we went on a college trip to Alton Towers a few weeks prior to us starting to date one another, we got on really well to be honest clicked straight away (even though she thought I fancied her mate), I like to think that I was her hero for looking after her on all those scary roller coaster rides (she hated them back then yet loves them now) funny now she looks after me when I'm all nervous about going on new ones lol.

Well as I was saying, we started dating sixteen years ago on Friday 9th October 1998, I remember the day well as it was my Dad's 40th birthday, we kinda told each other how we'd enjoyed each other company at Alton Towers and maybe we should give dating a try. I still to this day remember the lovely letter she wrote to me in in pink pen telling me how much she'd enjoyed our time together at Alton Towers and she'd like to spend some more time getting to know me. How could I have refused knowing how much time and effort she'd put into writing that lovely letter.

Well I didn't she her for the next three days as I wasn't back in college till the Tuesday and stupidly in our loved up haze neither of us got any contact details of the other. As I said earlier there wasn't Facebook or Twitter to jump onto and search for people back then and not knowing her surname I couldn't look her up in the phone book either, yes back in the day you had to use a huge phone book (like the one in that Robbie Williams yellow pages TV advert) and search for people to find their number if you wanted to contact them lol.

We saw each other constantly both in and outside of college for the next few weeks then it was October half term holidays, I went with my family to Devon to shut our caravan up for the winter, I promised I'd phone her daily which I fully intended to do.

Yes I did say fully intended to do, this is where a stupid/funny (whichever way you look at it) the story unfolds, you see I wrote down her new landline number as they'd recently changed it, or so I thought I had.

The very first night I walked to the bid red phone box, yes we used pay phone boxes back then too and dialed the number I had written down, to my astonishment the voice on the other end replied "please try again you've dialed an incorrect number", I tried again and again but to no success so I spent the whole week not being able to talk to her, yes it saved me a few quid lol but I didn't half get a barrage of questions to why I hadn't contacted her all week once I got back home.

A lot has changed over the last sixteen years, we've made some wonderful friends and drifted apart from some friends too, we've changed jobs and careers which in turn has allowed us to go on some wonderful fun filled holidays, we've got married and honeymooned in Florida, have three wonderful children and even formed a new family tree link when we merged our surnames together after we married.

We've had some fantastic highs but equally some very terrible lows over the years but we've still stayed strong throughout it all, I wonder what the next sixteen years will hold in store for us? Maybe I'll be sharing my stories and words of wisdom (OK maybe just my stories lol) with my grand kids who knows eh?

Holiday Moments/Memories

Over the years I have been lucky enough to have been on some wonderful holidays both before I started dating Tammy and since we have been together.

The holiday which stands out most in my mind before Tammy and I started dating Tammy would have to be my family holiday to Malta when I was about ten years old, ( yes that was many years ago before anybody says anything lol).

I'll set the scene a little first before i go into the holiday, before my grandfather passed away he wanted to take both my brother and I on holiday to Malta with him and my nan. As he was becoming very ill my dad advised strongly against, so in his memory and once my father could afford it he took our family to Malta on our first holiday abroad.

We did so much on this holiday, visited so many fabulous places and meet and became friends with some amazing people which in turn help make some fantastic holiday memories.

Strangely though one thing that still stands out clearly from this holiday took place before we even got to Malta, it took place on the aeroplane going there. Thinking about it now it would cause a major alert today but back then it was obviously clearly OK to do, I along with a handful of other kids on the plane were allowed to go into the cockpit and meet the pilots and see what it was like to fly a aeroplane, as a ten year old boy this was a pretty cool thing to be allowed to do.

The holiday which stands out most to me since Tammy and I have been together has to be without a shadow of a doubt our honeymoon in Florida. Although we have shared some wonderful holiday memories/moments together over the last sixteen years whilst we have holidayed to Spain, France 

(Euro Disney) & Crete our honeymoon has to be the top of the list for me to be honest.

We had a wonderful wedding and reception on Saturday 19th August 2006 and we went on our honeymoon on the Tuesday afterwards. As my wife is a Disney nut I let her organise the whole holiday, where we went, what we did, what shows we watched and even where we were going out to eat. As shes a big kid at heart and is really into everything Disney I knew it was going to be a fun filled holiday and I wasn't disappointed at all as the holiday was fantastic from start to finish.

Tammy had booked and sorted out everything so we knew what we were going to do and where we were going so we didn't miss out on anything. We did so much in this holiday there is just too much to write about to be honest but Tammy being proposed to by Goofy stands out as a funny moment.

Going to Bush Gardens and hand feeding giraffes on the safari run was a truly amazing part of the holiday too.

One rather unique moment which stands out for me whilst we were at Magic kingdom was when we were looking round the old cinema and the history of the Magic Kingdom park which was situated behind the Kodak photo shop on Main Street,

Whilst we were in there we noticed this was where the characters came through to go out the back whilst taking a rest period from the meet and greets on main street, this was where Tammy was able to get her picture took with Pinocchio in a Toy Story photo stand thing, if you look carefully in the picture below you'll see Pinocchio's face (left hand side) sticking out next to Tammy's.

Well that's some of my holiday stand out moments shared with you, what wonderful or disastrous holidays have you been on? what stand out memories/moments do you have good or bad to share? 

TP's Hospital Visit

On Tuesday early evening TP said his boy parts area was hurting, so mummy phoned NHS direct who advised her to take him to hospital straight away.

Within an hour he was taken up to the children's ward and was put into a room with three other poorly children.

He had his bloods took and a ultrasound done on his boy parts to investigate what was causing the pain, the ultrasound was all clear.

He was allowed some tea and went to sleep, as I was at work whilst all this going on I visited on the way home from work, he was such a sad site too see cuddled up in bed bright red cheeks from his temperature and arm in bandage from the blood tests and medication he was being given.

On Wednesday I was working late again, I dropped JR off at school, L-A to her grandparents and went to the hospital. TP seemed better, he'd eaten some breakfast and was really happy to see me. I stayed at little then had to go to work.

Whilst I was at work TP had some further tests and bloods taken, he also had another ultrasound on his liver and stomach which came back clear which was a big relief.

As I was in till late and both TP and mummy were tired they went to sleep early so I didn't visit and went straight home to check JR and L-A were ok.

Thursday came and I took JR to school but today it was family read so that took my mind off TP for a bit, L-A stayed with her Grandma as she was off work.

I went straight to the hospital for about 9.30, upon arrival TP wasn't in his bed and mummy wasn't about neither, I was informed he'd gone for bloods so I sat and waited for his return.  

Most of the day was spent waiting and waiting and waiting some more for the Dr's to come see us and tell us what was happening with TP.

The lunchtime food cart came round and TP had fish fingers and chips followed by cherry pie and custard which mummy said was really nice as TP decided he didn't want to eat it.

Although the children in the room were poorly they still managed to play lovely together with smiles on their little faces whilst the parents wait for Dr's reports. One by one the children who were in the same room as TP were discharged and we still waited patiently to see the Dr and find out what was going on.

 

 

Eventually at about four pm the Dr came to see us, told us that all seemed ok, nothing had shown up on either ultrasound or in his bloods to worry about and that he was all clear to go home, so with a smile on our faces we packed up mummy and TP's belongings and left the hospital, his gotta get a check up at GPS in 10 days but fingers crossed by then alls back to normal.

U Is For ..... Underwater

I'm linking this post up with this lovely Charly Dove and her wonderful Alphabet Project.

My U Is For ........ Underwater

On Sunday we took the kids to LEGOLAND,Windsor.

The day was fab and the weather was awesome. The kids got to go on lots of rides and one they particularly enjoyed going on was Atlantis Submarine Voyage.

L-A really loved sitting on my lap pointing at all the bubbles and fish and every now and then I could hear the boys shouting "look at them sharks daddy", "daddy daddy look lego in with the fish" too.

 

Well that's my U Is For ....... 

Stay tuned for my V Is For ....... 

T Is For ........ Trying

I am linking this post up with the lovely Charly Dove and her wonderful Alphabet Project.

The other day after we dropped the boys off at school my wife suggested we should go for a coffee, so off we went to our local Costa branch.

My wife though it would be nice to buy my daughter a drink too so she brought her a babychino, this is L-A excitedly about to try her first ever Costa drink.

Well that's my T Is For ........

Stay tuned for my U Is For ........

S Is For ....... Storm Damage

I am linking this post up with the lovely Charley Dove 

and her wonderful Alphabet Project.

My S Is For ...... Storm Damage

When we were on holiday to Coombe Mill last february we went to Fistral Beach, Newquay.

Whilst the kids were playing on the beach and paddling in the sea I was able
to pan round the beach and take some scenery pictures, I happened to notice what damage the storms had done to the beach and the surrounding areas, as you can see it was pretty terrible the devastation caused by the storms only a few weeks before our holiday.

Well that's my S Is For .........

Stay tuned for my T Is For............

R Is For .... Riding {horse riding}

I am linking this post up with the lovely Charley Dove 

and her wonderful Alphabet Project.

My R Is For ...... Riding (horse riding)

My parents live in Benidorm, Spain and when we get the chance we go over on holiday to see them.

Last time we visited we took the boys to an adventure park called Terra Natura where JR had his very first horse riding experience, not being bias but he was pretty good lol.

Well that's my R Is For ......

Stay tuned for My S Is For.........

Vita Coco Kids Club

Are your kids like mine? 

Do they like being part of a club? 

Well there's a new club in town they'd love to sign up to and it goes by the name of 

Vita Coco Kids Club.

"What's Vita Coco Kids Club?" I hear you ask, well the healthy drinks range Vita Coco Kids have recently launched their own kids club, a fab club for kids to have fun yet learn and drink healthy at the same time.

Currently with every purchase of special edition multipacks of Vita Coco Kids drinks you will receive two trumps cards containing facts and figures about animals that can be found in the rain forest.

Once your little ones have their cards (with your help) they can log into the website found on the back of their cards, register their details and sign up to become a Vita Kids Club member, 

 

Also as part of the registration process they will be sent their very own height chart.

This height chart isn't just a plain old height chart, no it is split into the different levels of the rain forest, within each section there are various facts about the various animals which can be found there.

 Also your little ones trumps cards have their very own space on the height chart too, so when complete your little ones will have a fully filled height chart containing many facts about many different animals that can be found within the rainforest.

Plus on the bottom of each card you'll see a unique code, this code can be inserted into the code box and will give your little ones a free throw on coconut shy, yes your little ones get to play a game of coconut shy, the more coconuts they knock down the larger the range of prizes they can choose from as a prize for playing.

So not only is Vita Coco Kids Drinks a fantastic healthy drinks range {see post about Vita Coco Kids drinks here} they now have a fantastic kids club for your little ones to become part of  and by doing so they will be educated about the rain forest and they will be collecting fabulous prizes before they know it.

I was sent a create of Vita Coco Kids drinks, a height chart and a packet of trumps cards for this review/promotional piece free of charge.

Q Is For ...... Quest (Arthur's Quest)

I am linking this post up with the lovely Charley Dove 

and her wonderful Alphabet Project.

My Q Is For ...... Quest (Arthur's Quest)

Whilst on our holiday to Coombe Mill earlier this year we had a day out at Lands End, whilst there we did the Arthur's Quest attraction.

The kids had a mixed response to it they were excited and scared at the same time whilst we walked round the attraction.

At the very end of the Quest you get to pull the sword out of the stone and become a true knight.

Well that's My Q Is For........

Stay tuned for My R Is For........