On your bikes for sky ride

I've just been hearing all about Sky Ride, a fantastic initiative which involves Britain's streets and parks being turned into safe traffic free cycle routes. It's such a wonderful idea and a great family day out so I really wanted to help promote it. As one of 17 nationwide events, my local sky ride is coming to Milton Keynes this Sunday the 26th August, so if you live in the area why not come and join in? They really want to inspire the nation to get out on two wheels so I'm planning to strap my little girl in her bike seat and give it a go! We quite often go on bike rides as a family, it's such a lovely thing to do together, outdoors... and it's free (we like that!).

If you want to find out more take a look at the website here and register for free.

Now just wish me luck, I am the opposite of speedy and normally have my daughter shouting faster faster faster in the back seat!!

Partying hard at sunny Lollibop!

At the final hour on Friday I managed to win us a family ticket to Lollibop in Regents Park. I was sooo chuffed, I was desperate to take Squiggle, she loves a good party!

We had a fantastic day, she wasn't going to let us do anything until she got her face painted, there were lovely choices of designs but I suggested a nice small butterfly on the cheek as it was so hot (mean mummy). She was happy with that though and we had a delighted and excited little girl.

She is dinosaur mad at the moment, her favourite being the stegosaurus and they had an amazing kind of human puppet one there. This was one of my highlights, S got to feed her favourite dino a fern which was amazing and something I never thought I'd be able to arrange!!

Another fantastic moment was Mr Maker, she had been really looking forward to seeing him, and when he came out her face just lit up so much I almost burst :) so lovely when you see your little ones that happy!

The arts and crafts were great too, the lady helping S was fab and really let her work things out for herself while she was making her bird puppet. She named him 'flappy' and was VERY pleased with herself. She also enjoyed the B&Q tent painting her piece of wood and getting covered in glitter. Daddy took it off to dry before she was quite finished... he had to fetch it back as she was so particular that it needed one more splodge of yellow, so funny!

The festival was full if things to do, for quite a mix of ages... she rode a bike round a track, did yogo with the Waybaloo, read a story with them too, stroked a very realistic polar bear, danced with a cat, had a go at swing ball and tug of war, and watched some cooking.

My only shock of the day is that I'd given her £2 to get an ice cream. I said she could use it to buy a balloon if she preferred... Oh what planet am I living on? It was £6!! And then the lovely ballerina balloon spent the rest of the day bashing daddy and passers by on the head. He almost took out a whole queue of ice cream buyers.

Just as we were completely pooped Squiggle announced that she'd forgotten to see the Zingzillas. We only had to wait 10 minutes and they were on the main stage. The perfect end to it all for her!

Thanks for giving my little girl a great day Lollibop! X

I'm Not Scared – my perfect summer read

I'm writing this review as part of the Tots 100 summer reading challenge in association with Tesco in which they are rounding up some of our favourite summer reads. I love reading but life is so manic I hardly get a chance to sit down with a book, so I'm going to make sure I pick one from the list and make some time to do so.

I'm delighted to share one of my favourite books with you but I've never reviewed an actual grown up book before so I hope I do it justice!

It took me a while to narrow down my perfect summer read to just one book... I was all ready to write an enthusiastic post on 'The Poisonwood Bible' (an awesome book). It's good and thick and certainly lasted me a summer, but as I know it's not for everyone I decided that didn't really qualify as a summer read... maybe not what people are looking for whilst relaxing on the beach!

The book I have chosen is one I loved and one I think really anyone would enjoy – 'I'm Not Scared' by Niccolo Ammaniti. Set in Italy during a brutal and scorching summer, the story follows 9 year old Michele, his gang of friends, and their childhood antics. The writing sets the scenes so perfectly you feel as though you have been there running through the wheat fields yourself. It captures all the different childhood relationships really well and took me back to my long summers running through fields with all the local kids. All much more innocent, we imagined and invented our dramas and mysteries... Michele's however, soon become all too real.

As Michele tells the story you're with him all the way, and the group's childhood dares and adventures soon lead him to a discovery that sets his world spiralling around him (I don't want to give any more of the story line than that away!). You're soon swept in to a absorbing mystery that will keep you hooked until the end.

I just loved reading this book and as soon as I had finished I tried to get everyone I knew to give it a go! It is so easy to read and completely sucks you in. I didn't want to put it down and, although I'm a pretty slow reader I finished it quickly. It's not too long, so if like me you don't often get time to read, it's not at all daunting to start! Well told, charming, intriguing, exciting and sad, it's a perfect little tale which has it all for a summer's day on the deck chair.

If you do read it I'd love to know what you think... and I'd love to hear from anyone who's read it already? I hope my post tempts you to read it, I'm no great writer myself, which I think is why I love reading what other people have written so much, I just find it amazing!

I'm looking forward to reading the Tots 100 round up and getting some new ideas and inspired for my next read.

Salcey Forest - fun above the tree tops

Last weekend we spent the morning at Salcey Forest in Northamptonshire, I had never been before but had it recommended to me as a nice place to take kiddies for a walk.

It really was lovely, Squiggle got her wellies on and went on a puddle hunt. It didn't disappoint - there were muddy puddles galore and lots of trails to explore. She had lots of fun following the pink signs on elephant walk until we found the treetop walkway. This is something we don't get at our local woods! S loves any kind of bridge/ pathway she can run along so this was a huge hit! It gently slopes up and up until you are above the treetops with a fantastic view. We were hoping to spot a squirrel down below and we did! We also discovered tadpoles, pond skaters and water boatmen in one of the ponds. We really had such an enjoyable family walk!

We then headed back to the parking area for our picnic as there is a lovely wooden playground full of things to climb. There is also a cafe there in case you don't pack anything or it rains!

Entry is free but it's £3 to park for the day which was great value we felt.

All in all a great time for a budget morning out in the fresh air!