Tuesday, 21 February 2012

Doing the happy food dance with Organix

Organix very kindly sent us some of their new 'Mini Cheese Crackers' to try out. I love the Goodies range, we never leave home without a snack to hand and their no junk promise really fills you with confidence that you are not giving your little one anything that's bad for them. Plus they taste good!



Here is what they have to say about their latest product:

"Our tasty organic cheese crackers are a great savoury snack - made with real organic cheese, they are yummy on their own or scrumptious with a dip.  And of course they come with our No Junk Promise, which means they only contain simple, organic ingredients and absolutely zero junk!  Each box contains 4 handy bags for little hands and the RRP is £1.99 per box."


And here's what Squiggle had to say... (um hope it works for you, this is my first attempt at doing a video and it has been getting the better of me!)




The crackers are a nice small size for little ones, so they can easily help themselves. My little girl loved them, she did the happy food dance and made all the right mm mm mmm noises. I put a couple on a plate for her and she soon tipped the rest out of the packet to finish them off. I think they would be quite filling too which a lot of handbag sized snacks don't tend to be. I obviously and happily had to try a couple myself and they taste great. They're not too cheesey and don't taste salty like a lot of cheese biscuits so shouldn't leave your little one thirsty. The packs are just the right size to pop in your bag but also for independent little ones to hold themselves. We took them on our day out to the theme park at the weekend, when the rain came down I was able to use these as a bribe to get her in her pushchair and under the rain cover, hurray! A big hit with both of us!! 



They are available to buy on the Organix online shop, Waitrose and Boots stores and are coming to Asda next month so well worth popping in the trolley.


Sunday, 19 February 2012

Toddler Towers

Roller coasters at Alton Towers, 2 year old style!

I was so excited the other week to find I'd won a family ticket to Alton Towers complete with hotel stay in Derby from the Jurys Inn facebook page. The more I thought about our trip there, the more I started to worry, was there enough to entertain a two year old... in February?! Back from our fantastic trip I thought it might be helpful for others thinking about going to write up a little review of our experience.

The answer, in short, was yes – there was plenty to do!

We have had such a fantastic family day out, there was oodles to keep squiggle very happy and because it was so quiet at this time of year daddy and I were able to take turns and quickly run straight on some of the big rides too. We went with a family day in mind and didn't expect to get a ride on Oblivion and Nemesis so what a bonus.



For the adventurous 2 year old we found...

Nutty Squirrel Ride – a slow little ride up in the tree tops but so good apparently, she had to go on it twice.

The Frog Hopper – mini magic carpet style ride that goes up and down... little ones can ride this with an adult (daddy squeezed on!)

Shark Bait Sealife Centre – we loved this! It's not huge but is really nicely done. Squiggle is 'under the sea' mad at the moment (perhaps thanks to her Tiddler book and The Octonauts) so we ended up spending quite a long time in here. We saw sharks, sting rays, jelly fish, and spent a very long time watching the sea horses. It was really raining when we arrived so this was the perfect place to hide.

The Carousel – Squiggle always bursts with excitement when she sees the carousel.

Wobble World – An inflatable indoor play area which I'm sure most children would love (and it was full of happy little ones) but squiggle has a weird fear of inflatables so not a hit for us.

Tractor Ride – Little tractors on a track that little ones pretend to drive, you go past some hens and ducks so is very lovely.

Animals – They have a donkey, some guinea pigs and rabbits, no petting area though, maybe they do this in the summer.

The River Boat – She really liked this, a little toddler sized boat floats down a river passing models of farm animals as you float. There are animal noise buttons to push too, hurray we just love pushing buttons!!

The Runaway Train – This was always my favourite as a child and at just over 0.9m Squiggle is just was able to ride it which made it a fun ride we could all enjoy.

And that was our day, we were there 10 till 4 and it was all go. We are going back in the summer and taking a picnic as that's the only thing our February trip was missing and we want to try out Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Also I think there is an Ice Age 4D experience opening which sounds amazing. Glad we can still enjoy Alton Towers now we have a young family and the great thing is children are free up to the age of 4, scream if you want to go faster!

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Happy Valentines

Daddy's best ever valentines card, his words not mine
(worth breaking my no glitter rule for then!)

Embarrassing outfits

So here is my entry for this weeks gallery theme – Embarrassing Outfits.
I don't need to say too much about this one... at the time I felt it a genius way of keeping dry on a water ride... looking back at the photo evidence, pretty embarrassing!