Summer Swimsuits

Now it’s spring I can start to think about buying the kids some new bits for the warmer weather and I am thinking about HOLIDAYS! With that in mind here's Isla in her new Popupshop swimming costume that I absolutely love and she does too! 

It’s such a bold print and I feel like it matches her personality. It was a bit more than I would usually spend on a kids swimsuit at £22, but I’ve always been a swimwear fanatic.  I love checking out the new kids swimming costumes when they come in the stores, and I am a big fan of animal print. Isla rocked this Zebra print two piece that I’m sure came from Sainsbury's last year, and the price tag on that one was lower, so you don’t need to spend loads to have good style sense.

I got the tiger swimsuit online from Little Sunflowers and they were brilliant to deal with, I received the swimsuit the day after purchase. Now I’ve discovered Popupshop fashions, I’m coveting lots more things from there for the kids! 

Dinosaur Zoo, The Fairfield Halls - Review

On Saturday we went to see Dinosaur Zoo at The Fairfield Halls in Croydon. We decided to skip football and gymnastics classes for it as we love seeing shows and Noah is Dino mad at the moment. Every bedtime includes either a fictional dinosaur story - Dinosaurs Love Underpants is a big favourite or a factual book where I have to try and pronounce ALL the dinosaur names!

We arrived at the theatre and starting at the same time was a Frozen Singalong! All the little Elsa and Anna's were running around and looking very excited about the prospect of singing their hearts out to Let It Go (and the mums too I would imagine!). We went to a Frozen Singalong before Christmas and it was brilliant!

Anyway, back to Dinosaur Zoo. The show is really interactive with the kids, which is great - with each introduction of a new dinosaur a child in the audience gets invited up to take part. The whole show is about dinosaurs that lived in Australia, so that meant that we didn't see T-Rex but we did see his Australian equivalent, the Australovenator - he was fierce! Noah reassured himself that it was just a puppet when he told me that he could see the legs of the person inside! Aside from the fierce carnivore there were also some baby dinosaurs, some huge dragonfly type creatures that 'flew' round the audience and a really huge gentle herbivore dinosaur.

The presenter of the show gave the audience loads of factual information about dinosaurs throughout which was great for adults and kids and he was also really good with the children, poking gentle fun out of them to raise a laugh from the audience and with the little ones it felt like they believed the dinosaurs were real which was magic.

After the show the kids were able to meet and greet the dinosaurs, Isla touched the the Australovenator's nose and then got to stroke one of the baby dinosaurs. This was a nice touch as she is ever the child who wants to get up on stage, and this time she didn't so meeting the puppets more than made up for it.  

For more information about the show go to: http://dinosaurzoolive.com/

The Fairfield Halls always has a great selection of shows and screenings for all ages. This half term The Fairfield Halls are showing family films for only £2! For anyone who’s not seen Big Hero 6, then I thoroughly recommend it and it’s not long been released. Personally I think we’ll be going to see the Shaun the Sheep Movie, Isla is a big fan of the TV series and I hope to take the kids on the Shaun in The City Trail too. Going to the cinema can be such an expensive family outing, sometimes costing over £30 for a family of 4 but at these prices you could afford to go a couple of times in the holidays – particularly if we get typical school holiday wet weather! Details of cinema showings can be found on the Fairfield Halls website

 

Thanks to the Fairfield Halls for inviting us along to see the show, we look forward to visiting again soon!

Peter Rabbit's Post Office #CountryKids

Today we made our way to Limpsfield Common, a National Trust area, to see some very special little dwellings! I'd first seen them when a friend commented on a photo on Facebook and as they're only a 20 minute drive from us we had to go and see for ourselves! What am I talking about? Well some lovely volunteers have been creating some very sweet little homes on the Common, amongst them Peter Rabbit's Post Office, the Owl House and Fox Villa. 

The car park gave no clue as to where to go to see these treasures so we set off on a walk and I took some photos of what we found. The kids loved it and found it really exciting coming across each residence. When you find Peter Rabbit's Post Office you can open the door and there's a box you can leave notes or keepsakes. Isla left a little picture she quickly drew. It really was a lovely way to spend an hour or so of our time and we know we'll definitely be back when it's warmer for a picnic and it also looks like in a few weeks time there will be a multitude of bluebells. 

Siblings: March 2015

This month it was World Book Day. I'd decided that I'd keep the conversation about this limited with the kids as the school had given us a grand total of 3 days to prepare for it, getting the letter on Monday morning about needing costumes for that Thursday didn't give me cause to swear and curse under my breath at all....

In the end I wished I'd actually asked for their input because it turned out that the mermaid costume I'd bought for Isla to be The Singing Mermaid was surplus to requirements and on seeing that Noah was going to be Peter Pan she just wanted to be Wendy, which required nothing more than sending her to school in her nightie! Gah! There was me thinking that it would complicate matters having a discussion about who they would be and in fact Isla's idea was so much better than mine and I loved that they were characters from the same story. In future we'll definitely be working it out together.

With them dressed up it also gave me the opportunity to play around with my new camera and get some practice in following the Photography for Parents course I'd taken. Practice is definitely needed I think although I'm fairly happy with these ones I took.

When I Grow Up I Want to Be....

.....A Twitcher.

This is Isla's latest desired career path at the age of 5. I have to add that she doesn't just want to be a bird watcher she has been quite clear that this will be her daytime occupation and then at night she will be a singer on TV (I think she's watched The Voice too much lately!). I love that she's thought of two polar opposite jobs, I also love the innocence of her declaration, I guess there is some similarity with birds also enjoying a good sing song! A job as a bird watcher would certainly be very lovely I'm sure, and if she wants to be on TV then perhaps she could be the next Michaela Strachan or Kate Humble on TV showing us the loveliness of Springtime or on Countryfile......?

Her interest in birds has really peaked lately, together we drew some pictures of birds and she made it in to a 'Guess the Bird' game which she tested Nanny and Grandpa on (they didn't get many right!). She also watched a Natural World programme: Super Powered Owls last week (if it's on the iPlayer still do watch it, it was fascinating) and paused it throughout, drawing and writing about the programme as it went on. She was amazed by the way they could turn their necks all the way round and kept saying 'Look Mummy, I can do it too', whilst spinning her whole body round. She was upset when at the end of the programme, one of the young owls called Luna, flew off and didn't stay with their handlers. I was so impressed that she watched this all the way through and her interest didn't wane and she got so attached to the owls and had even picked a favourite from Luna and Lily.

I found a great book at a local charity shop about owls and we've read this many times now. I feel like it's such a shame that we have such a small garden and we own a cat and there are about 5 other cats in the near vicinity, so we don't really get any birds in our garden apart from the brave wood pigeons, who are probably the same size as the cats!

When I told my sister about Isla's new found interest she reminded me that at my junior school, I used to be part of the RSPB Young Ornathologists club. I'd totally forgotten! It was easy for me to spot birds as we had a great garden when I was young that also backed onto allotments, I'd see plenty of jays, magpies, blue tits, robins and occasionally we'd even sight a heron in the neighbours garden, stealing from the pond!

I'm fully supportive of her love of nature. Long may it continue, but I'm sure there will be a multitude of jobs Isla wants to pursue in the future and I won't be too disappointed if she isn't the next Bill Oddie! What do your children say they want to be when they grow up? Any fellow twitchers for Isla to hang out with?

Owls by Isla, aged 5 and 3 quarters.

Dinosaur Zoo at The Fairfield Halls, Croydon

Fresh from its success at the Edinburgh Festival and following a UK and international Autumn tour, West End hit show DINOSAUR ZOO is back by popular demand this spring for its fourth major UK tour, stopping at Fairfield Halls, Croydon on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 March 2015.

Australian-based creators Erth use ingenious puppetry to bring dinosaurs to life in this interactive and imaginative live show. Suitable for all the family (ages 3+), DINOSAUR ZOO introduces audiences to a range of creatures from cute baby dinos to teeth-gnashing giants, including a carnivorous theropod known as the ‘Australovenator’ – Australia’s version of the American T-Rex.

Intrepid audience members who are brave enough to get up close and personal with the dinosaurs are invited up on stage to assist the Zoo Keepers in their daily tasks - but be warned - not all of these ravenous reptiles are as tame as they seem! Each performance concludes with a post-show ‘meat & greet’ session offering every audience member a chance to meet the dinosaurs in person.

 

We will be going along to the show when it's on, so pop back here for our review. Noah is a huge dinosaur fan at the moment, every library visit yeilds another 5 or 6 dinosaur books to read. He loves finding out their names, knowing most of them off by heart and he knows if I get them wrong!  

If you've also got a dino-mad child then go to Fairfield Halls for tickets.

Running time: 50 minutes + post-show ‘meat’ & greet

 

Photography for Parents Online Photography Course Review

I've always loved photos and keeping a record of the things I do. Not only since having children, I have stacks of photos from my teens and twenties when big nights out were captured from beginning to messy end and holidays and festivals were recorded in technicolour. I always had a camera, or for times when I didn't I'd rely on disposables. I remember loving the anticipation of going to collect my prints from Boots and thinking of the moments I'd captured and hoping they looked as good as I remembered them to be. And then there were always the photos that I couldn't remember taking and being surprised by them as I leafed through the prints.

In recent times I've used my iPhone as my camera, which in the most part is fine because they give ok results and if the phot isn't as good as I'd hoped there's always a photography app like A Beautiful Mess and Instagram where I can fade out imperfections with filters and other gizmos. There is absolutely nothing wrong with photos taken in this way as it's so convenient given that I always have a phone in my pocket, but I decided to delve into the world of DSLR and bought a Nikon d3200. I soon realised that if I was going to have a clue what I was doing with this wonderful technology I'd need to go on a little photography course.

Photography for Parents online photography course is perfect for people who can't make it to face to face lessons and given that the subject of my photos these days is mostly kids it seemed the course was perfectly titled for me. The course comes in 6 modules of learning, running weekly and alongside it there is a forum where you can ask questions and gain support. For every module there is also a homework element and you submit your homework to the forum for the moderator to appraise and give pointers of how you could do things differently and also say "Yes! You really captured that!". Because the course has live support it also means that you get feedback really quickly and in the case of this of this course we were asked if we would like a week midway through to help us process some of the technical information about aperture and depth of field etc.

The idea of the course is to get people off the 'Auto' setting and to get some really great photos of your little ones. It gets you thinking about light, composition, aperture, shutter speeds amongst other things. I have to admit that if I hadn't started this course I think I would have definitely left the camera on Auto and not braved it. There is a lot to take in when you are getting to grips with a DSLR and I won't deny that it didn't frighten me slightly in the same way that my weekly physics lessons in senior school used to terrify me, but the course is so clear and the moderators online really make you feel at ease. There is nothing intimidating about it. I feel that I have a better understanding of the settings on my camera now and like I can navigate my way round without fear. My only wish is that my brain would work quicker and I'd be able to think through best settings for different situations faster. In the time it takes me to remember what ISO I need or whether spot metering would be best I potentially lose the moment. However this is really just me getting to grips with a fairly new camera and with more practice it will come.

During each module there are practical exercises to complete. I liked doing these particularly shooting at different focal lengths and also the exercise on focus and achieving blur in the background of my photos. At the end of each module there are homework tasks for you to complete in your own time and submit to the forum. I have to admit that I haven't been great at that bit and I attribute that to a few reasons. Firstly as it's winter, good enough light to take great photos is limited, and with me working full time these days I can't round up my trusty subjects when I get home and herd them outside like I could in the summer months. And our house is too dingy to get photos I feel happy with. I am also not so good at hooking up my camera to my Macbook and uploading my photos and resizing them so I can upload them to the forum. I am one of those people with a camera full of photos (just like my phone) and they're trapped in there. This is something I need to be better at.
I was given the chance to join the Level 1 online Photography for Parents course for free in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.




At the end of every module you are able to download that weeks course content in pdf form and print it out which I have found to be invaluable for when I'm commuting to work and I want to re-read some of the stuff I've read online. I also highlight some of the things I want to stick out for me. Once you come to the end of the course it doesn't end there, the forums stay moderated for another few weeks to allow for stragglers to post their homework (umm yes that's me!) and you can join a Facebook group to continue sharing your photography practice.

I'm personally really happy that I was given the opportunity ti try this course and I would recommend it. The course is full of information but it's delivered in such a way that makes it easy to understand. It's broken down into easily digestible chunks that allows you to not feel under pressure and for me that is key when I'm learning something new. If there was any pressure then it wouldn't work for me what with all the other stresses I have as a working parent. My aim from taking this course was to understand my camera better and to start getting some great photos of my family and that's already underway.

The Level 1 course costs £65 if you get an earlybird rate and the standard cost is £87. It runs for 6 weeks. The next course starts on Monday 2nd March so..... GET BOOKING!

If you're not quite sure you want to commit to the whole course fee, then Photography for Parents are currently offering a module 1 trial offer for 37 which seems like a bargain to me! It will allow you to get a flavour and see if you think the course is for you. If you like what you see then you can pay the remainder of the course fee and carry on. If you decide it's not for you then you can leave it at that and walk away, you're not obliged to carry on. Go to: Photography Course for your trial offer.


For more details and to sign up to the website go to: Photography for Parents

They can also be found on Facebook: Photography for Parents