#TheGallery: Faces

A lovely topic from Tara this week with Faces plus a chance to win a digital photo frame! Here are my contributions.

First up my children from back in August 2009:

They are sitting on a tree branch in Alexandra Park, Hastings. My daughter then aged 5 was taking very good care of her little brother who wasn't quite 3. We had just become a family of 3 and my daughter was especially caring towards both her brother and me - shame the sibling effect has worn off now! I love them both so very much

Then my granny and my daughter:

This was taken on my granny's 98th birthday last November. It was lovely to see how close my then 7 year old was to her great granny. Unfortunately Granny died at the beginning of the year so as we approach what would have been her 99th birthday next month there will be a few tears. You maybe able to see that my daughter has inherited the family eyebrows that passed down from my granny!

That's it from me for this week. Please check the links to see all the other entries!

DVD Review: Peppa Pig International Day and Other Stories

Sponsored Post

Yesterday (24th October) saw the release of the 15th volume of Peppa Pig DVDs with International Day and Other Stories this has an RRP of £12.99 but is available on the web site for £8.99 at the minute.

This is a great DVD for Peppa Pig fans with a total of 12 episodes:

• International Day
• Grampy Rabbit's Boatyard
• Shake Rattle and Bang
• Pottery
• Mr Fox's Van
• Biggest Puddle in the World
• Chatterbox
• Chloe's Big Friends
• Edmond Elephant's Birthday
• Gym Class
• Paper Aeroplanes (bonus episode)

My 4 year old son sat transfixed as I hit the Play All option on the menu and let 53 minutes of Peppa Pig fun commence. I did pause after a couple of episodes but many parents will love the fact that their children have a safe, educational entertainment for their children for nearly an hour. The menu also had an option to choose one episode or the Shuffle. 

I think this Shuffle is a great idea as the DVD starts playing the whole set in random order. Brilliant for when your child wants their favourite DVD over and over again but the grown up doesn't want to listen to everything in exactly the same order again! I for one quite enjoy an episode or two of Peppa Pig and I'm sure this will be a big hit.

Recipe for Half Term Cumbrian Fun

1) Take a road trip to see friends


Jump in the car and head north through Windermere, Ambleside, Grasmere, skirt Keswick and head towards the Solway coast near Allonby


2) Bring homemade cakes to share

3) Meet some friendly goats

This digital scrapbook personalized with Smilebox

4) Go to the beach at Allonby with the lovely Chloe

Throw sticks in the waves for her to catch and enjoy the beautiful beach:

This scrapbooking design generated with Smilebox

Then have ice creams from the local ice cream parlour - delicious!

5) Share a relaxed lunch 

Everyone bringing a contribution to share around the kitchen table. Made for a really interesting mix from potted shrimp, to pizza, to houmous, to cocktail sausages...

6) Have a leisurely drive home

Take time on the return journey to stop and photograph the things that caught your eye on the way up:

A scrapbooking design by Smilebox

#SilentSunday: 23rd October 2011

Bang Goes the Theory Roadshow

The kids and I were very lucky and got tickets in the draw for the Bang Goes the Theory roadshow in Manchester today. My daughter and I are big fans of this science show so there was much excitement on nearing the venue:

There was quite a wait before the doors opened but once in there was so much hands on activity for children and adults:

The above selection included:

• painting with maggots
• using microscopes to look at water samples
• sniffing good and bad smells
• blowing bubbles into a box which contained dry ice
• using a green screen to forecast the weather
• balancing a beach ball on a jet of air

During the 3 hour session there were 3 stage demonstrations from the usual presenters: Dallas Campbell, Jem Stansfield and Liz Bowen:

Basically they recreated a few of the experiments they do on the series. There were a lot of bangs in the final session which went down well with all ages in the audience! Of course there was also a degree of audience participation and predictably my daughter managed to get herself chosen to test out Jem's pear drop glue:

She was presented with the 2 blocks still stuck together and autographed by a couple of the presenters!

Altogether a fantastic family fun and educational day out. We all had different favourite bits. My daughter was chuffed to have held the hand of presenter Liz on the way to taking part. My 4 year old wanted to go home and make explosions Mummy! As for me watching my children getting excited by science was just amazing.