Flip Out Blackburn

Last week Lily and I got to attend the opening event at Flip Out Blackburn. We were going to be one of the first to try it out and we were very excited. 

Flip out Blackburn is one of Lancashire's largest trampoline parks which has 140 interconnected trampolines. It also has the world largest stunt box area and the best ninja warrior course. If that is not enough, it also has the only Lazer Maze area in the North West. 

When we got there we were both given some bright green socks with grip to go bouncing in and then shown a video with some rules. The level of safety regulations in the park is quite high which is a good thing that I hope continues throughout their opening. Children are told to only jump on their own trampoline and not one that other children are jumping on and that also not to try and do tricks they are not able to do.
We also had to sign a waver which practically said we were entering and jumping at our own risk. Sounds a little scary but I guess if you do plan to go, you need to be prepared that accidents happen and so take care of yourself and your children. It does state that under 5's need to be supervised by an adult and in my personal opinion I think this should be higher and at least the age of 7. 5 and 6 years olds are still too young to keep in mind the rules when having fun and may need to be told at times. There was a few times when bouncing that an older child came a little bit to close to Lily's trampoline and jumped on the same one she was on. 

There are then some lockers to put your things in. Don't do what I did and not take anywhere to place the key. Preferably you would need to wear clothing that pockets zip up to keep your key nice and safe. 

When we got in there I was very impressed with the size and Lily headed straight to the smaller trampolines which are for under 7's to get jumping. There really is so much space and so many other things to do their that haven't been mentioned. Like the football pitch with a trampoline in front of the goal. The basket ball hoops with trampolines next to them and the warrior walls with foam pits to knock your contender into. 
There is also a DJ booth which was playing really funky music and the place is decorated so colourful and funky. Also if you need to take a break there is a cafe which has a balcony where you can over look the trampolines. 

Lily had so much fun. She was bouncing from one trampoline to another. As there wasn't many children at this event, there was loads of space for her to move around. At one point she was the only ones on the big trampolines. She just loved chucking herself into the foam pit and spent so much time throwing them around, burying herself and trying to crawl through them. 

Even I enjoyed myself this day. I haven't jumped on a trampoline since I was a kid and so I was having so much fun bouncing after Lily and we both were at one point on separate trampolines having a really good bounce at the same time. 

We didn't try the Laser maze or the Ninja course as Lily is a little bit too small for those areas yet but I hope to back with my partner and would love to give it a go. (and most likely fail) haha

Overall we had such a great day out and I will definetly be taking Lily back there again. 

To find out more about the Flip Out Park in Blackburn or to book tickets, head to the Flip Out Website. 


Would your child enjoy a place like this? 

Arthur Price Despicable Me 3 Range Review

We are huge Despicable me and Minions fans and so we were super excited to find out that Arthur Price had something exciting in store for us. 

Say BELO to the new Despicable me 3 cutlery set and bone china children's dinner collection from Arthur Price, who also happens to be a huge Minions fan! 

If you haven't head of Arthur Price before lets me tell you a little about them. Arthur Price is a family owned business that started in 1902 making and supplying high quality cutlery and dining sets to places such as department stores, airlines, cruise ships and some of the finest hotels. 

While keeping with the quality and standards of their ranges, the company full of adults decided to take themselves back to their childhood and make something special for children. 

This is when they designed the Despicable Me Collection which we got sent to review. 

In the collection we was sent there was a lovely set of cutlery which was from the Expressions Set and a bone china breakfast set which came as three pieces, a mug, plate and bowl and was from the Sea of Minions Set. All the items were featuring the loveable minions and presented in wonderful Despicable Me presentation boxes.  

My first impressions was WOW, the cutlery was so shiny and of such good quality. In fact they are so shiny you can clearly see me taking the photograph in the reflection of them haha! It was great to see the little minion characters with expressions on the bottom of them which just makes them super fun for kids. Made of the 18/10 finest stainless steel you can just see how perfect they are. 
The breakfast set was so.. well... yellow haha. I mean the design on it was brilliant. It was just a Sea of Minions all on a plate, all peering from behind each other with there fun faces. It was just what any minion fan would love to see. Again you could tell from holding the plate and bowl that it was great quality and lovely china. As for the cup, I thought it was adorable. Such a perfect size for a child. It was so nice to own a lovely set for my daughter to be able to use. 

Lily was so so so happy and excited to see Minions. We got them just after lunchtime and Lily wanted them straight away. But I told her we had to wait until dinner time. I realise the set is a breakfast set, but I don't think Lily could have waited for the next morning. She was asking for them all day until dinner time. 

So when it came to dinner time I prepared some dinner for Lily on her Minion plate and filled her cup with juice. I placed her knife and folk down before her meal came out so she could have a good look at them. She was super impressed to have such grown up looking cutlery. The folk is quite sharp but luckily Lily is really good with her eating now and so I didn't worry about her using it. Its actually great for her to own a sharper folk as some foods she gets fed up with not being able to stab. The knife isn't sharp but is strong enough to do a really good job at cutting through foods. Lily has never managed to cut something up before but with a little help from me she did. 

Lily was really impressed with her plate and she just loved revealing minion characters as she was eating. She was able to use her mug really well. Although it is made of bone china. It is very light and she had no problems holding it or putting it to her mouth. She was really impressed to have a mug that was just like mummies. Expect hers was better as the design was full of minions. 

Lily ate pretty much most of her dinner this night and so I think the fact she had this super cool plate and cutlery to use really encouraged her. 

The morning after I gave Lily her cereal in her new minion bowl. Again she was super excited to see minions and ate all her breakfast up. It is really nice for her to own such a lovely set and feel more grown up eating from a real plate and bowl using a real knife and folk. Only child sized. 

I was really impressed with this set. It put a big smile on Lily's face and has been used lots of times now. I would love to only use it for special occasions as it is that nice. But Lily just loves it so much I can't resist letting her use them all the time. We did have one problem though and that was with cleaning them. I did notice that we must not have been gentle enough with washing up as some of the lettering on the knife had started to scratch off. So my advice for washing these is to be gentle and wash with a soft sponge. 

The four piece cutlery set and bone china breakfast set both retail at £24.95 and have a 15 year guarantee. The breakfast set can also be bought separately with a starting price of £8.95.

To see the full range of Arthur Price or to purchase your Despicable Me sets visit the Arthur Price Website. 

Are your children Minion Mad?

Would they love this set? 

Poopaye for now! (Minions Talk for Goodbye) 

My Sunday Photo 06/08/17

Casdon Baby Huggles Car Booster Seat Review

Lily isn't a big fan of sitting in her car seat. Even if its a short journey she sits there and says "im stuck". So when I got the chance to review the Baby Huggles Car seat from Casdon I was really happy and hoped it would help Lily be happier in the car. 

The box arrived and it looked great. Lily was super excited to have a seat for her baby dolls. She was so excited that when she saw it that morning she wanted to open it straight away, which is why she is still in her Pjs in the Photo. 

When I opened it up I was surprised to see that it all had to be fitted toggether and all the material had to be placed on to. I had a very eager 2 year old waiting to play with it and wouldn't stop tugging at it while I was trying to put it toggether. So be warned that it may be easier to open this and put toggether without your child there. 

I found the plastic parts to the booster seat easy to put toggether and a simple shove of pieces toggether was all it took. But I didn't find the material easy to get on the seat. Especially because the drawstrings you pull to tighten it all on came out and I had to thread them back through. That was not an easy job. After that you needed to attach the car seat belt. That was quite easy but a little fiddly and took time, so again may be best if your child is not with you. Lily kept trying to help me. Which wasn't actually helping me.
After you have put it all toggether it looked great and Lily got her dolly to put in it straight away. The doll sat nicely into the booster and the seat belt easily fastened with a push into the seat. The seatbelt also unfastens really easily to with a push of the button and pull of the straps.
Lily carried her doll around the house feeding her and reading her stories until it was time to go out into the car. 

Please note that the doll is not Casdon's and doesn't come with the seat.

When we got into the car I fasted the booster seat into the actual car with the real car seatbelt. Which just hooks onto the back. This is great because it makes the child feel like it is a real car seat just like theirs. This did keep it quite secure and it didn't more around anywhere. 

It looked great sat next to Lily and each time Lily mentioned she was stuck. We could tell her that the baby had her seat belt on to which seemed to reassure her. 

Lily has been playing with this lots since we opened it. She definetly is a fan of it. Some of the material loosened and kept falling off as she moved the car seat around the house. But luckily it just ties back on so its not a big deal, though I think I would have liked the material to be attached to the car seat a little better. But over all Lily's is happy with this toy and if she is happy, then I am happy. 

To find out where to buy the Booster seat which retails at £17 and is recommended for children aged 3+, Head to the Casdon Website. 

What do you like about the Casdon Dolls Booster seat? 

Lily's Manners

Manners have always been one thing that I have always made sure I had myself. It is my biggest hate when others do not not use their manners towards me. Bad manners something I have definetly noticed a lot more since I have gotten older and especially since I have become a parent. 

So when it came to teaching Lily manners I got on with it straight away. As soon as lily was old enough to start doing things like passing me things, I taught her please and thank you.

Thank you was first, and I used the actual words "Thank you" rather than "Ta". I do understand that "Ta" is easier for a child to learn and say, and so they may start speaking their manners earlier. So there is nothing wrong with your child learning this word apart from it is slang and unless you want your child saying "ta" for the rest of their life, you then have to teach them for a second time that the word is "Thank you". I figure that you cut out the middle man with "ta" and straight away use Thank you. As for a baby its not terribly important that they use there manners so doesn't matter if they aren't saying it straight away. I think when Lily first said thank you. It came out as a "yuuuu" when she took something from us. 

That soon progressed and the more she heard it, the more that she spoke, then the better it got and eventually you have what we get now. A full on Thank you. 

Please didn't come until much later on. But now she says that a lot. Especially if she really wants something I get either "Please mummy" or "pleeeeeaaasssseeeee" 

Children really pick up words from us and follow what we do as parents. So its really important that we remember to always use our manners. It is the easiest way to teach them by just using them ourselves and before you even realise, they have learnt it and are saying it. 

For example Lily is really good at saying thank you if she pays for something in a shop. I haven't sat her down and taught her that when you buy something, and they hand you the toy back that you have to say thank you. But it is just something she has seen me do and so now does it herself. I feel ever so proud when she has nice manners to the shop keepers. 

Children are children though and of corse they do forget at times. I usually just give Lily a simply reminder and ask her "What do you say?" and she remembers and says "thank you". 

It really is never to young to teach your child manners. 

I am currently trying to teach Lily to say excuse me when she breaks wind or burps. She currently just laughs and shouts "ooo I just popped". Which I do find cute and funny. But she now needs to also learn to say excuse me at the same time. 

Do you find it important for a child to have manners?

How did you teach your child manners? 

Monthly Book Roundup - What We have been reading in July

Its time for my monthly book round up again. Each month I write about new books that I have introduced to Lily at bedtime and what we think of them. We always read around 3 books a night and most nights we end up reading the same ones with a few odd ones read in between. I find reading the same books helps Lily relax and she does grow fond of the stories each month and gets excited when I get them out to read each night. 

You can read all our other monthly roundups here.

We didn't really have a theme for this months books as we have a huge pile of them on her top shelf to get reading. So this was what we chose for this month. 

1. The Lines on Nana's Face by Simona Ciraolo and Flying Eye Books

This story is so beautiful. It tells the tale of a loving relationship between a nana and her Grand Daughter. Where the Grand Daughter is unsure about all the lines on Nana's face. Nana finds a really sweet way to tell her grand daughter why she has lines on her face and how she got each line. Which then tells story's of Nana's life. I think children are really curious and i'm sure many grandparents have been asked about their wrinkles. I think it gives such a nice positive storyline to why grandparents have them.
The story doesn't have to many words in so is quite short but just enough to capture the attention of any child. But the illustrations really speak for themselves and help this story become what it is. For each story Nana tells there is a full page with a illustration to show exactly what happened for her to get those lines. One thing I must say about this book is that it is beautifully made with a material binding to the side and high quality paper. Not something that maybe a young child would appreciate but something that makes it really nice for us adults to read to our children. Lily enjoyed this story and would point out some of the emotions in the pictures. For example she would point at Nana and say "Aww she is crying". I was sent this book from Flying Eye Books and would happily recommend it. Especially if you are a Nana with a curious child asking about your lines.  

2. The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain

This book some nights Lily loved, and some nights she didn't want me to read it her. The story is all about this caterpillars journey to become a butterfly. But the caterpillar doesn't realise it will a butterfly one day and is really sad that she can't fly just like the birds and the bee's and the butterflies do. She speaks to each animal that flies and tells them how she would love to fly. But they tell her that she can't as she has legs instead of wings. One day she falls asleep and then turns into a beautiful butterfly and can fly because of her beautiful wings.
The story has your nice classic caterpillar to butterfly storyline but with little added extras with the conversations with other animals. It definitely is a nice caterpillar story to read to your children. The illustrations are really colourful and Lily enjoyed this story. I found this book at a carboot sale but you can pick it up online. 

3. Hide and Seek Pig and Postman Bear from Julia Donaldson
These are some of Lily's favourite books and this month Lily really wanted me to read them each night. The hide and seek pig book has flaps to open as the pig seeks for hen. It is really well written with the rhymes and Lily is starting to learn which animals are behind the flaps. Postman Bear she prefers over Hide and Seek pig as she counts the letters he has and loves revealing who lives in each home. This is also a flap book and she loves opening up the flaps.
She is learning the story so well and now and when we open the envelope she tells me that inside it says "come to my party". Its really nice for Lily to be more involved in our story time. These books aren't new to her and she has been reading them for over a year now but this month she seemed to take an even bigger interest. I would definetly recommend these Julia Donaldson books for your child. They are perfect for your child to grow with going from not being able to read to reading it for them selves. You can buy these from most book stores such as Waterstones or online. 

4. My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson 

I picked this book up from the Works as I had never seen a story about a shadow before and thought it would be a great story for Lily to start taking interest in and noticing her own shadow. The story is about a little boy and his shadow, he isn't quite aware that his shadow is what the sun makes of him and instead thinks that it is a version of another person. Just Like most children do. He talks about how it comes everywhere with him and also changes size. The story is a funny little rhyming story and is not too long or too short. I enjoyed reading this one to Lily and she enjoyed it to. Since we have been reading it she has noticed her shadow a lot more and we have started saying hello to it. I think this is a really good story for an introduction to shadows for young children. You should be able to buy this at the works or search for it online. 

Which book do you like the sound of? 

IllumiBowl Review and Giveaway

One thing I have always worried about since I have had Lily is waking her up by needing a trip to the bathroom in the night. Lily has never been a big sleeper and its only recently that she has started sleeping through on a regular basis. In my last flat and my new home, both bathrooms have pull cords that make a loud CLICK noise as you pull them. Sometimes I would just get Lily back to sleep and would need to use the bathroom before hopping back into bed and I would attempt to go in the dark.

Well now I have that problem no more. There is such an invention as a Toilet night light and Illumibowl sent one to me to try out. 

The idea behind it is that you place it onto your toilet and when you enter the bathroom the motion detector turns on the light which illuminates your toilet bowl. Meaning you don't have to switch on your bathroom light. 

It comes in 8 different colours which rotate. Red, Orange, Light Blue, Green, Dark Blue, Purple, Dark Pink and Pink. They stay on for 2 minutes after the last the last bit of motion was detected. When you are in the bathroom and the light is on. The Illumibowl will not light up. Saving you in batteries. 

It fits onto any toilet and has a special stay put arm that keeps it in place. 

So what did we think? 

Firstly I think the idea is brilliant. No more making noise in the bathroom and secondly, no more being fully woken up by a bright light. Though I must admit, out of habit a few times I still have pulled with light switch. It is something Im going to have to train myself not to do. 

The light fits on the toilet really easily. Didn't take me 2 moments to install it on. It also stays on the toilet really well and it hasn't come off at all. Which is great. 

The quickness that the light comes on when you enter the bathroom is really good, and it is really bright so you can easily make your way to the toilet. In fact my bathroom isn't to big so most of it was lit up. The only time I found the light not to great was when it was on the colour red. Red is a really hard light to see in and as its also the first colour to come on, so it is the colour that you are making your way to the toilet with. I really wasn't keen on the red colour and would of preferred it not to have been included. I think it also looked slightly demonic and freaky. Its not really what you want to be walking into when you have just woken up. Especially when you may have been having nightmares which I can have quite a lot. 

But all the other colours worked really well and they softly and slowly rotated from one colour to the next. So don't worry, it won't be like a disco in your bathroom. 

Overall this product is well worth investing in. You can buy it for £14.99 from the website. 

If you would like to give this a try then why not Enter below to win a Illumibowl Night Light. 

Win a illumiBowl Toilet Light