London Day Out!

Last term at school James was doing all about The Great Fire of London, so when we started talking to him about going down to Surrey to see his nanny and pappy he requested that we also go to London!

Since we were down from the evening of the 9th and coming home on the lunchtime of the 14th we had a choice of four days on which to go into London and do all the tourist things! 

We decided to go in on the Monday James only had three places that he wanted to see - Big Ben, The Palace of Westminster and Pudding Lane where the Great Fire of London actually started! Although James did ask us if the Bakery where the fire started would actually be there!

When we get the train in from Walton-on-Thames, we get into London Waterloo station so we were in the perfect place to start with going to see Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament of course The London Eye!

 

We then headed off up Whitehall towards Downing Street and the cenotaph. When we got up towards Horse Guards Parade we were able to go in and see the household Calvary doing a display which the boys loved! We let Freddie out of his pushchair here for a little run around as there was plenty of space! 

We then walked up to Trafalgar Square so James could see the fountains! We then headed off in the direction of Leicester Square as James was desperate to go to M&M World and the Lego store! 

After spending some time in these shops we had a McDonald's lunch and then headed to get the tube across to monument so we could visit Pudding Lane! James was thrilled to see a sign telling him all about the bakery! 

We then walked down and across to London Bridge and took some photos of Tower Bridge! We then went to London Bridge station and got the tube to Green Park and then changed to Piccadilly Circus to then walk up Regent Street to take James to Hamley's! Both boys had some money from nana and gaga to spend, plus mummy and daddy had said we would buy them both something too! So jams ended up with construction vehicles from mummy and daddy and a playmobile explorer with an ice dragon from nana and gaga, Freddie got a peppa pig cuddly toy from mummy and daddy and a peppa pig book from nana and gaga.

Then it was back down Regent Street to Piccadilly Circus and then across to The Mall and back through Admiralty arch to Trafalgar Square and back onto Whitehall and round to cross Westminster bridge and walk back around to Waterloo to get the train back to Walton-on-Thames.

It was a long day but we had so much fun! Hopefully next time we go down we can take the boys on the London Eye or maybe the aquarium as we felt they were still a bit young this time especially for the eye! I don't think that Freddie would have liked being contained in a pod on the London Eye very much!

#Blogtober Day 8 Holidays

So I have made it to day eight of Blogtober 2017 and so far so good! I am proud of myself getting this far! Although I would like to be publishing earlier in the day but it always depends on what time I can get the laptop on and if I have remembered to charge it up the night before.

So yes day eight and the prompt is Holidays!

My last holiday was actually my honeymoon just over six years ago! I know totally shocking isn't it! Not having been on holiday anywhere for over six years! In fact James is five and Freddie is almost two and neither of them actually have passports yet!

So our last holiday was actually to Orlando, Florida, USA! It was absolutely brilliant! We were there for ten days and we literally crammed in everything! We had planned what we wanted to do before we went and since we had pre booked our Dolphin swimming at Discovery Cove for the Tuesday which was also Andy's 29th Birthday! 

So we arrived on the Thursday afternoon and was evening by the time we got to our hotel which was in the suburb of Kissimee. We went to our room and unpacked then headed out to find somewhere to eat! We found a McDonalds up the road so we ate there then went back to our hotel.

The Friday we got up and went to Florida Mall. We had a look around the shops and had lunch. Then we chilled out round the pool and then ended up in our room during a big, but short storm! We had dinner at IHop and looked around the little gift shops by the hotel. We also stocked up on drinks and snacks for our hotel room!

The Saturday we were up early and on the hotel transport to Seaworld! This was one of the day I was really looking forward too as I had been reading up about the different shows we could see and all the animal interaction! My favourite bit was getting to stroke the Dolphins as they are definitely my favourite animals!

Sunday was spent at Universal Studios. It was also the tenth anniversary of 9/11 so we were expecting there to be a lot of extra security but to be honest there wasn't any extra at all!

Monday was our first day at a Disney park when we went to visit animal kingdom! Due to me being on crutches and using a wheelchair in the parks we did get to go on a lot of the rides quicker as we didn't need to queue! My favourite thing at Animal kingdom was the Kilimanjaro Safari! We also tried frozen lemonade for the first time while we were waiting for the parade to start! We also met Tigger, Pooh Bear and Eeyore!

Tuesday was another early start as it was our pre booked day at Discovery Cove! It was also Andy's birthday! This day was truly amazing! We got to the park and checked in and got our id cards! We then went to put our bags into the locker and get our wet suit jackets! We then made our way to our hut to have the briefing before we did the dolphin interaction and swim! As we had an early swim time we were in a really small group! which meant we got so much interaction! Once we had finished with the interaction and swim, we chose our Photos and DVD. We then went for our breakfast which along with lunch was included in the package along with all our drinks and snacks!

Wednesday was going to be a very long day as we had decided to go to Magic Kingdom! This day was amazing as we met Mickey, Minnie and Pluto! We were in the park till gone 11pm as we stayed to watch the electrical parade and also see the wishes fireworks show!

Thursday we had a chill out day as we were exhausted from all the parks! We also went to one of the designer outlet malls while was pretty cool! Friday we went to mall at millenia. Saturday was our last full day so we did the rest of our present shopping and visited the other designer outlet. We also did our packing! Sunday we just chilled out in the hotel, had a last meal at IHop and waited for our airport transfer after lunch. 

This really was the holiday of a lifetime and I really hope we get to go back with the boys when they are a little bit older!

Confessions of a Summer Parent!

Summer holidays argh!!! This year Is the first year I have had to face the six/seven weeks holiday as before this year James had always been with me, but since he started nursery school last September and subsequently going to school this September, school holidays have become so important.

Our school finishes on July 22nd and goes back on September 6th so I have a grand total of six weeks and one day to amuse James. As each set of holidays have rolled round this school year, I have for it harder to amuse James as he has been desperate to go to school and see all of his friends. 

Lucky for us our local children's centre normally has at least one 0-5 group on, so I can take the boys along to that. But finding stuff to do the rest of the time is hard especially when daddy does not have any holiday off till the last week of the holidays and even then it's only two days and we will be down in Surrey visiting family.

Through James school we get a copy of a magazine called Primary Times and I find this fantastic as it has all the activities that are on at attractions in the North East listed! It also normally contains a few vouchers for money off entrance. We have used previous vouchers during other school holidays to keep James amused!

There is so much going to be on over the summer and these are just a few of the things happening in the north east, some of these I'm hoping to get the boys along too!

First off we have Warkworth Castle, which is literally a five minute walk from my parents house! They have stuff on every holiday and this summer is no different! Starting from the first weekend of the summer they have something on at least one day a week and also the village show is on 20th August. Primary Times also has a voucher for free child entry with a full paying adult. 

We also have Alnwick Castle, they again have lots on over the summer, for five weekends they have on Potter inspired characters. This is because Alnwick Castle was used as Hogwarts in the first couple of Harry Potter films. There is also the beautiful Alnwick Gardens too! 

For a child like James, who loves diggers then I think a visit to Diggerland is definitely on our list! 

We are lucky to have places like these a short drive away, so we will definitely be paying a visit to them. But for the days when we are at home mummy will be turning to good old arts and crafts and of course Netflix to amuse James. He's a real lover of Paw Patrol and Bubble Guppies so they will definitely be used to keep James amused on the days where mummy just wants to chill out.

So these are just a few of the things I'm going to be trying to do to keep my big boy amused over the summer holidays! 

This post is an entry for BritMums Confessions of a Summer Parent Challenge, sponsored by Anchor

Images supplied by www.ivtography.com