I’m really pleased with Bradley and his swimming lesson tonight. After usually making an excuse why he shouldn’t go, I’ve been spared the guilt for the last couple of sessions as he’s been happy to oblige. Last week Bradley was really eager to go as Daddy was able to take him (working from home), but typically the only day they go together the lesson’s cancelled – too much chlorine in the pool. Anyway, Bradley did fantastic tonight, he’s dropped another arm band and is now down to one (those disc things) from originally four, and even the swimming teacher said he had improved so much this week and was really trying kicking his legs. He was even ‘smiling’ in the pool!

I couldn’t for the life of me find my mobile this morning even when I rang it on my landline I couldn’t hear it. Oh well, off I went into town while Cy had the boys for a couple of hours (and cleaned the house I hoped!). When I got back home, Cy said that Bradley (dressed as Indiana Jones in his cowboy hat and stachel) had instigated a ‘picnic’ on the bottom bunk in his room and invited Daddy and Rudy to join him. When everyone was settled, Bradley fished around in his leather ‘Indi’ bag (actually a cast off hand bag of mine) and said “we’ve got food…” extracting plastic sausages and burgers “and we’ve even got games!” and out came my mobile! Little monkey. Rudy then piped up that the food wasn’t cooked, grabbed all the plastic sausages and burgers and made a swift exit out of Bradley’s room en-route to the plastic bbq set downstairs, Indiana Bradley protesting and hot on his trail!

Very proud of my bargain hunting! After trying to source a Mr Incredible suit for Rudy I’ve managed to save over £25 by buying it almost new from ebay. The suit is made by Disney and brand new was £30+ from lots of on-line fancy dress shops that I researched, the trouble was I couldn’t find any that covered age 3 range. Rudy is almost 3, but he wears his brothers age 5 hero costumes and they just need rolling up at the legs. I thought maybe it was best to get one bigger anyway as the boys are always swapping their super hero outfits. However, at £5.25 (£3.00 suit + £2.25 postage) for age 5-6 years on ebay I thought I’d take the risk…

What a fabulous suit! This is the first thing that Rudy has asked us to buy him specifically and since Cy bought a Ben Ten Wii game recently for Bradley but couldn’t find anything suitable for Rudy without spending for the sake of it, I suggested I’d try and source the suit as a suprise and make Rudy a very happy boy. I did! I’ve had to improvise with the ‘incredible’ eye-wear as the black goggles weren’t included. They boys are happy to accept my laser eye treatment goggles which I’ve added to the dressing up bag!

Bradley did made me laugh tonight bless him, he was a bit jealous and I said he could have the suit when Rudy was in bed. The boys went upstairs to play and the next thing I heard Bradley asking a Mr Incredible clad Rudy “Are you tired yet?” Rudy: “No.” Bradley was getting a bit upset so I asked Rudy if Bradley could share the suit and try it as we have more things if we share and he said yes! (Pic of Rudy in the suit below)

Bradley made us laugh on Friday night, after Cy got back from work, he called me to come and look at Bradley’s face as he handed over a new Wii game as a suprise. Ben 10! Bradley’s favourite, his face was a picture of gratitude and excitement, just the sort of face that melts every parents heart and makes you realise why you had children! It was a bad move though for Cy to do this at 6.30pm, we’d just arranged to take the boys down to the green outside a local pub for an hour to meet friends of ours, and theirs. Bradley insisted on taking the game to the pub and was showing it off to his friends, inviting them all round to come and play it! When we arrived home at 7.30pm, Bradley was begging me to play it, but I said why not take it to bed and put it on his shelf, I’d even swap the scart leads over and leave the plugs on, so he could could just come down and play it. Silly really of me to expect him to just get on with the game, when he’s only just learning to read! Anyway, thanks Cy, Bradley was so excited, he came back downstairs at 9pm so we let him watch a bit of Dr Who, then back up to bed and asleep at 10pm…

6am, Bradley arrived eyes wide open, all excited asking to play Ben 10. Usually I get my own way anyway (hee hee) with having the first lie in of the weekend, but I was definately having this one since Cy caused the early arrival of child in bedroom. I was very dragon like I have to say, I recall Cy even joking saying don’t disturb the dragon. I was, I know.

Anyway, the game is quite good but difficult, even for my husband who is getting more frustrated with it than Bradley is. Apprarantley it’s not a patch on the Star Wars Lego.

I recently watched this film at my parents house as they had recorded it for my little ones. It takes a lot for met to be hooked on a film, usually I end up getting bored and wander off to do something else. I was mesmerised!

The film is about Bob Parr and his wife Helen, who used to be amongst the world’s greatest crime fighters, saving lives and battling evil on a daily basis. Fifteen years later, they had been forced to adopt civilian identities and retreat to the suberbs where they live “normal” lives with their three kids, Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. Itching to get back into action, Bob gets his chance when a mysterious communication summons him to a remote island for a top secret assignment. He soon discovers that it will take a super family effort to rescue the world from total destruction. (Words extracted from the DVD)

It’s action packed with brilliant adult/child humour! I bought it from Toyr R Us for a part Easter present for me, er, I mean my boys and they loved it! My littlest who’s almost 3, keeps asking me to buy him an Incredibles suit – of course I will because he’ll look so cute!! I’ve never seen a real life incredibles suit on anyone, child or adult for that matter, it’s usually batman and spiderman etc…. over to ebay and all the on-line fancy dress shops….

It’s back to School tomorrow after the 2 week (and a bit more with Good Friday) Easter Holidays. Don’t know about anyone else, but it feels like they’ve been off for 2 months! And I haven’t even been off with them during the week! I managed to sort all my child care out with separating the boys to send them to different family members so they could have time apart and lots of attention – and they’ve loved it. We’ve kept them well entertained with various things, what with all the family they’ve seen, a trip to Gullivers Kingdom, softplay, a childs party, a 40th party, a wedding reception, plenty of outdoor play in parks and playing out in the garden. I think they might be ready to get back to normality. Although when I mentioned School to Bradley just before he went to bed earlier, he did try the “but Mummy, my throat hurts” cough cough!

What a fantastic theme park for younger children (and those adults who don’t like big theme parks, like me)! Bradley is just under 5 and Rudy just under 3 – it was perfect for them. I’d probably even take them up to age 7/8 maybe more.

We went as a family the weekend after Easter on the Saturday, the weather was fab and it wasn’t even busy! The park opened at 10:30am which is just the time we arrived so queued less than 10 minutes to get into the park. There are height restrictions in place for some rides having to have an adult ride too, only 2 of the rides the boys weren’t allowed on but nothing major, see website for full details. Rudy was just tall enough to be able to go on all but 2, and it cost £12.50 each for the 4 of us, but I think we saved £2 with a family ticket 2 adults and 2 children.

We overheard a member of staff advising someone to get the ski/chair lift up to the top and work your way down as the theme park is set on a very steep hill (take a pushchair to put all your stuff on, we forgot ours but it was still fine). The ride to the top is 3 minutes and takes you over the top of some of the tracks, rapids and some dinosaurs! We arrived into Fantasy Terrace and had a whizz round on the dogems, then walked down to Western World where the log flume and various diggers, cowboy town and the Indian Reserve play area are and much more. were really lucky at the log flume as there was no one in the queue so I asked if we could stay on, which we could!

The most we queued was about 5 minutes to get on the rapids, which isn’t as rapid as it sounds but just floats you along past indian statues and under rocks. Over at Dinosaur Kingdom, there were several huge plastic dino’s dotted about, and some Dino Explorer Cars which made you feel like you were in Jurrasic Park, the cars were on a track, steered by the operator which allowed Bradley to drive with Rudy as front seat passenger and Mum and Dad in the back seat. They boys were delighted to see the Ski/Chair lifts going over the top of the track and waving at them to show they were driving.

We also came across a couple of outdoor undercover softplay areas and a sandpit, a maze and various slides and climbing frames dotted around the place. At Bourbon Street there was the horse carousel, balloon ferris wheel and Dora and Diego, the children’s TV cartoon characters. I have to say I am somewhat baffled as the characters were under 5ft in costume and I wondered if they had children dressed in the suits, perhaps just very small adults? It’s a mystery. But still, even at that height and as friendly and welcoming as they were, they seemed a bit intimidating for my 4 year old who didn’t want to go over to them. The Pirate ship was also here, which my 3 year old did get a bit frightened of, so I spent the whole ride turned round to him from the seat infront with my hand on his tummy as he kept complaining his tummy was funny, bless him!

The roller coaster was fab for the boys, just fast enough for the thrill and slow enough not to put them off for life! The lady operator did say it’s faster somedays depending who’s riding in it, but it was fine for us and the boys loved it!

We took a picnic and our own drinks so it was a cheaper family day out although we did glance at the menu and it really wasn’t too bad. One person is allowed out the park if you want to get things from the car, but I’d advise a pushchair as it could be a long way to go back just to get what you want. The day cost us just over £50 as the only thing we paid for was a couple of fruit shots ice lollies for the boys.

2 weeks later they are still asking to go back, Bradley wants a party there. I’ve just asked the boys what their favourite rides are, Rudy (3) said “the lady birds” and the “horses”. Bradley said “all of them!”

Get full details from the Gullivers Kingdom website:

http://www.gulliversfun.co.uk/gullivers.php?parkname=Matlock_Bath

Highly recommend!!!!

Dinosaur Kingdom

This is a fantastic buy! A great plane set for age 3+, features chunky pieces for little hands. Includes plane with opening cargo door, pilot and flight attendant and luggage cart with handler and luggage.

My (almost) 3 year old Rudy loves it! I bought it for an Easter present and he’s not really put it down since. We also invested in the Dickie Rescue Helicopter (with identical savings) for my 3.5 year old Bradley (see my previous blog on this product), and they tend to alternate the toys between them.

The Plane takes about 10 minutes to put together as there are fiddly little plastic seat belt you have to slot into the chairs, but once in they should stay (my older one worked out how to remove – arrgh, he only did it once though). There’s the wings, tail, wheels and engines to slot on. There are only 3 characters but enough, 2 pilots and the man that works on the runway with his lollipops and orange boiler suit – what’s his name? It’ll come to me!

All in all, a fab solid toy, the tail and other parts sometimes come off with heavy play, but if it’s boys playing with it what do you expect? it’s all part of the fun ‘trying to fix it Mummy’ (Rudy’s words).

For more info and photos on product at Toys R Us website: http://www.toysrus.co.uk/Toys-R-Us/Toys/Preschool-Toys/Superplay-Plane-Set%280046078%29

P.S The orange suited man is called a luggage handler in this particular set, I’m still thinking there’s a proper name for him. Anyone?

This great Dickie Rescue helicopter includes working search light and sounds, electric working winch with hook for stretcher, 2 figures, and moving electric rotors.

What a fantastic toy this is, and currently half price (April 2010) reduced to £12.49 from £24.99. I bought it as an Easter present for Bradley (4.5) as when visiting my friend and little boy, same age as Bradley, my two boys loved it and even Rudy (2.5) wanted it. I bought Rudy the Superplay Plane Set (also half price, see next blog). I highly recommend this toy, it hasn’t been put down since – even I can’t help pressing the buttons to make the propellors go round and the radio message come on! Cool toy!

I get the impression this offer is a reoccuring one with this product, as one of my friends had invested in one 6 months ago from Toys R Us at the same price, then rang me the day after our conversation to tell me she had just seen it again for half price!

Visit webpage at Toys R Us for more pics

We had a lovely Easter Sunday at my mum & dads. Mum put on an Easter egg hunt and I must admit I was quite excited myself searching for the minuature foil wrapped eggs, ladybirds and beatles in their garden! They were hidden in the flower beds, on the garden wall and even dropped all over the grass. Mum had kindly bought round some baskets to make for the egg collecting, so Cy had fun helping the boys make them while I was making the dinner. Mum had even written a tally of each egg type to make sure we found them all, but I gave up checking as the boys kept eating the eggs as they were going along!