I'm A Geronimo Official Blogger Ambassador

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Last year when I was given the chance to be a Lollipop blogger we were so excited. We had never been to a festival as a family before, we didn't know what to expect but it was amazing. This year there is a new festival coming up North called Geronimo and I am so pleased to announce that I will be an official Blogger Ambassador.  I can't wait to keep you up to date with the line up as they get released but for now, you can have a little read about whats confirmed so far.

Brand new to the festival scene for 2015 comes Geronimo, a long weekend of organised mayhem at one of England’s premier visitor attractions, Tatton Park in Cheshire.

Geronimo will make its debut over the May Bank Holiday weekend (Sat 23 – Mon 25 May) and is set to deliver an exciting programme of acts, amazing experiences and wonderful adventures, resulting in a fantastic family day out.

Festival Director Simon Goldman said: “As a father of seven, I know how hard it is to find quality days out that cater for the whole family.  With Geronimo, we’ve created a festival that’s going to keep the kids entertained all daylong, and create memories that will last a lot longer.

Making the most of the beautiful woodlands at TattonPark, the Adrenaline Zone will challenge even the bravest adventurers with a high ropes course, tree climbing, den making and a thrilling zip line that will reach speeds of up to 60KPH!

For those who like things a little less fast paced there’s also plenty of storytelling and the chance to picnic with characters from Alice in Wonderland. 

Geronimites are also invited to join a host of big names on the Geronostage. Already signed up to appear are Cbeebies favourite Mr. Bloom, who will be performing live twice a day. 

 CBeebies ‘I Can Cook’ presenter, Katy Ashworth, will also be making three live stage appearances daily, along with daily meet and greets. More live acts to be announced soon.

Creative kids can join in the many craft workshops in the Funky Junk Zone.  From cookie decorating to buggymakeovers, festival-goers are also invited to take part in Geronimo’s live art project throughout the weekend. Be prepared for a glitter overload! 

Gasp in awe at the breathtaking aerial trapeze artists or laugh out loud at the clowns in the Circus Zone with regular shows taking place throughout the day. Fancy learning a skill or two? Head to the circus skills workshop and learn the tricks of the trade or catch the family classic Punch & Judy shows that will be taking place daily - That’s the way to do it! And keep your eyes peeled, you might spot a mini circus act roaming throughout the festival!

Other activity confirmed includes a pop-up petting farm, giant sandpits, camel rides, marvelous bubble shows and asuper bouncy inflatable village in the 3ft & Under Zone.

For kids who love a dance the Groovy Zone offers great activities including zumba workshops, dressing up areas, dance classes with Baby Ballet and even Geronimo’s own disco – playing all the favourite party tunes!

Tatton Park is famous for its beautiful gardens and attractions, including the beautiful deer park, magical woodlands and a working farm. With good motorways links, extensive on site parking and just a half-mile walkfrom Knutsford railway station, Geronimo 2015 isaccessible for all.

Geronimo is aimed at families with children aged between 2 and 12 years old.  Geronimo Early Bird tickets go on sale on February 2 priced £16pp, with family passes starting from £75. To purchase tickets and for more information visit Geromino 

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Peppa Pig Holiday Time Grandpa Pig's Boat

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We recently saw an advert for the new Peppa Pig Holiday Time range from Character. Little J got all excited, mainly because he loves Peppa Pig at the moment. He now goes right up to the TV and points and claps. I love the fact that he recognises characters now and looks really happy when he sees his favourites. 

He got a very special treat this week from the new range of Peppa Toys, Grandpa Pig's Boat. He has started to enjoy playing with figures and playsets so I knew this would go down well. The boat comes with three figures, Peppa, her brother George and Grandpa Pig. 

Each of the figures fit perfectly in little J's hand. The body of the figures are nice and chunky but the arms are slightly smaller and they move back and forth. The legs are on a moulded base so they sit perfectly in the holes on the boat.

The boat itself is again quite chunky. It's all one piece which I love because I don't really like little bits that can be removed as I always find they get lost amongst other toys.

Little J was playing with the boat on the rug and easily learnt which figures go where on the boat. Grandpa pig is the captain of the boat and he has a larger base so there is only one place he can stand, by the steering wheel of the boat. Peppa and George stand at the back of the boat.

He happily played putting the figures in and out of the boat and pushing it along the floor. As I went to put the packaging in the bin I noticed that the boat floats on water too. Instant thought - perfect bath toy. 

Little J loves the bath and he does have a nice selection of toys but he hasn't got a boat, well not until now. So at bathtime we popped it in the bath and it floated around. Little J played with it similar to what he did on the rug, popping the figures in and out and pushing it along the water. He seemed to really enjoy playing. 

I love watching little J playing with toys like this, he's using his imagination playing with the figures and I can't wait for him to start talking to add his own little dialogue too. What We Liked.
Two in one toy. Great for the floor and bath too. The boat is nice and chunky. Colourful and lots of detail. One piece so no worries that small pieces will get lost. Includes 3 figures. What Could Improve.
The figure's arms are really thin and look like they could easily snap off. If water gets in the holes in the boat it will tip up, little J did however find that very funny. ************** Currently priced at £19.99 which I think is really reasonable for a Character branded toy. Like I said earlier I love that the boat can be used on the floor for daytime play and in the water too. You can find out more about the Peppa Pig Holiday Range by visiting Character Toys Here

*we received a Peppa Pig Holiday Time - Grandpa Pigs Boat for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photos above are our own*

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Steam Cleaning with Karcher

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I have to be honest now and say that I don't do any of the hoovering or mopping here its all done by Daddy. Its always been done by Daddy and if I do whizz the hoover round it normally gets done again as I'm not very good at it. I miss out parts of the floor when I do mop so its just best leaving it to Daddy. I think he actually enjoys doing this part of the housework and when I told him we were receiving a lovely new Kärcher SC2.500C Multi-Purpose Steam Cleaner With Continuous Steam Function, he seemed very happy. 

We already use a steam mop for our wooden floors downstairs so Daddy is used to cleaning using steam but he still read the manual first to make sure he knew everything there was to know about our new cleaner.

The Karcher was pretty much ready to use when he took it out the box. He just attached the wheels and adjusted the connections. It was really easy.

The water tank is shown above. Its really simple to unclip and fill. There is a maximum line so you don't overfill.

The hand tools were easy to slot together and shortly after opening he was ready to go.

Before you start I must stress that you have to hoover. This is a steam cleaner and does not vacuum so if you do not hoover you will find clumps of wet dust all over your floor. 

The Karcher comes with Terry cloths. These are attached to the end of the cleaner by using the clip fasteners. I have since washed these after use and they washed fine. I haven't yet looked if you can buy these separately but I am sure they will and even if they don't you could purchase something very similar - making sure its the right size. 

The Karcher needs to reach a certain heat before it begins to steam. There is a light that flashes to tell you that it has reached the correct temperature. This wasn't a problem when Daddy was steaming the floors as it heated quite quickly .

There is an adjustable steam control which can be used depending on the surface you are wanting to steam.

Daddy made his way through our living room and kitchen using the Karcher and he noticed straight away how powerful it was compared to our regular steam mop. If you haven't used a steam mop or cleaner before its important to remember that you clean from front to back not back to front like you would with a hoover. The main reasons for doing it this way is a) stopping you from standing in the wet and b) if it does pick up clumps of wet dust it is easier to wipe away.

Another point to remember is this is a steam cleaner so it will make things wet. If you are using this on tiles, mirrors or glass you will need to wipe them dry.

Last week Daddy decided to clean the oven which was a job long overdue. He got out the Karcher to see if it the steam would help make the job a little easier. He used a different tool that then did for the floor. This was more of a hand held tool so was easier to use on the oven. 

He fitted the cloth around and begin to steam to hopefully loosen the grease.

He still had to use a normal oven cleaner and give it a good scrub but the steam definitely helped as the grease (yuk) was just melting away from the oven.

After he finished cleaning the inside he decided to take off the cloth and steam the glass on the oven door. I am actually ashamed at just how dirty it looks in this photo. I honestly thought there would be no chance of removing this.

 After a couple of minutes Daddy shouted me over to have a look. I didn't want to because I knew that if the grime hadn't of come off I would have had to buy an new oven as I wouldn't cook in that. I honestly was shocked at just how clean it looked. He had purposely done half so I could see the difference. It only took him minutes because the steam was just eating through the grease and Daddy just had to wipe clean.

So glad at just how clean this looks. 

What We Liked.

The power of the steam cleaner. We noticed a massive difference to our regular steam mop. 

Our floor seemed to look cleaner for longer.

Easy to set up.

Easy to use. 

The variety of tools for different surfaces. 

Multi Purpose.

Compact.

What Could Improve 

More supply of cloths included.

The length of the cable from plug to cleaner. We had to change plug holes to clean our living room and kitchen.

Daddy is really looking forward to steam cleaning our bathroom over the next few weeks and I cannot wait to share our results. 

To find out more about The Karcher Steam Cleaner 2.500c you can visit the website HERE

*we were sent the Karcher Steam Cleaner 2.500c for review. All thoughts, opinions and photos above are our own*

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Project 365 Days 26-32

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 Here is our Project 365 for this week. Can't believe we are in February already.

26/365 - There are lots of bugs going round at the moment so Daddy steamed the house from top to bottom.

27/365 - Little J has been testing out Peppa Pig's - Grandpa Pig's Holiday Boat. Keep and eye out for our review.

28/365 - Big J enjoying a nice pre birthday meal with his Grandad

29/365 - Today is my Dad's birthday. We gave him his presents and ate some cake.

30/365 - Little J's new shoes and leg cast arrived at the hospital today so we went to collect them both. I know they don't look like the nicest pair of shoes but if it they fit around his toe and support his walking then thats all that matters.

31/365 - Today was a tidy the house day while big J went the cinema with his friends to see Big Hero 6

32/365 - We found some leftover snow today so little J decided to dive in it, head first. 

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My Upbeat #ProteinChallenge

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You may have seen my competition here to win some delicious Upbeat drinks as well as Upbeat Goodies. I mentioned that I have been trying Upbeat and also eating a protein diet during the last week. I was sent some yummy food and a recipe book to help me create some protein filled dishes. The booklet also had lots of information about protein which was great to read as I didn't really have a clue on how much protein  I should be having each day. Your protein intake should be 1g for every kg of body weight but this will depend on how active you are.  It was interesting to read how much protein was in certain foods for example half a tin of tuna had 16g and Upbeat has 20g per 250ml bottle. When my delivery arrived I was really excited to get going on the challenge and planned out my meals for the next seven days.

I received lots of goodies including chicken fillets, fresh salmon, salmon steaks, turkey mince, eggs, feta cheese, bananas, cherry tomatoes, porridge oats and blueberries.

My porridge with mashed banana.
I have never been a fan of porridge really but I thought I would give it a go for the 7 days as I like to make sure I have breakfast. It was actually really tasty and I topped it with blueberries or mashed up banana.

Iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes with feta cheese
Before I started this challenge I had been eating lots of chicken and salad for my lunch so I tried to stick to a salad during the week but alternated between chicken, feta cheese and egg. I used fresh iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn, grated carrot, peppers and a light dressing.

Strawberry Upbeat
My mid afternoon snack was an Upbeat drink. I love the mango and passionfruit and also Strawberry and so does big J so I had to buy more during the week. Upbeat drinks are high in protein and just 149kcals. They have half the sugar content of most fruit smoothies and low in fat. I actually found these quite filling and like I have mentioned before I am not a fan of smoothies or yoghurt drinks but these are actually quite tasty. Dinner time was easy as everything that was sent I was able to make in to a delicious main meal. I am not the best cook but I did the job and everything was yummy.  My favourite of the week was tasty chicken noodles and was very easy to make. Ingredients 2 tsp cornflour 2 tbsp fish or soy sauce 1 tbsp sugar 2 blocks of medium egg noodles 1 tbsp sunflower oil 1 large red pepper, chopped 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 4 spring onions, sliced 200g chicken 1 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp chilli powder 100g frozen peas 1/2 20g pack of basil or coriander, leaves roughly shredded Mix the cornflour with the sauce and sugar, then gradually add 8tbsp of water until smooth. Cook the noodles in a pan of boiling water for 4 mins. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok, then stir fry the pepper, garlic and spring onions for about 3 mins. tip in the chicken, spices and peas, stir fry for a couple of seconds more then pour in the sauce and flour mix. Stir until thickened, toss in the drained noodles and top with basil or coriander. Serves 2 and is approx 604kcal per serving. So after doing this for a week how do I feel? 
Well I have been less tired than usual. I am normally falling asleep during celebrity big brother but I managed to stay awake until the end of the evening show.  I do feel less bloated. I have been drinking plenty of water during the week and I think this has really helped shift that bloated feeling. I honestly did not feel like snacking at all. I was quite happy to enjoy my Upbeat drink mid afternoon. I didn't reach for the biscuit tin in the evening because my dinner really filled me up. Plus drinking the water really helps with my cravings.  I got weighed on Friday exactly 1 week after my last weigh in and my weight was exactly the same. I am a little disappointed as I felt that I had ate healthier and combined with little bits of exercise I thought I might of shed a pound or two but I didn't.  I have really enjoyed the #proteinchallenge and it has definitely made me consider my protein intake since I finished the 7 day challenge. The felt great, had more energy and i'm glad I did it.

*to help me take part in the #proteinchallenge I was sent a selection of groceries and Upbeat drinks. All thoughts, opinions and photos above are my own*

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Our January Monthly Review Round Up

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So January has come to an end and I am looking forward to February. I love February because its only a short month, the children have half term and its the month of love with Valentines Day on the 14th.  I managed to read a book this month which I am shocked about really because over the last few months I just haven't had the time to do anything for myself really.

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