Jamie Raven Sleight Of Hand Magic Set Review

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You may have read that recently we went to see Jamie Raven live on stage in Southport. For those that don't know who he is, Jamie came runner up in the 2015 Britain's Got Talent final. He narrowly lost out to Jules and Matisse by just 2 per cent of the vote. We remembered his performances and loved watching him so we were quite excited to see his live show. He mentioned that he would be releasing a range of magic trick sets soon and both Daddy and I got excited as we both love magic. We have had so many magic sets over the years and they are so much fun. For the past few weeks we have been trying out Jamie Raven Sleight Of Hand Magic Set which is one of the four sets that has been released recently. 
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Giant Gazillion Giant Power Wand Review

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Now that the weather has started to improve and the days are getting longer we have been sorting out the summer toys ready for the late nights and longer weekends.  This weekend we wanted to try out the Giant Gazillion Giant Power Wand as Little J loves bubbles and especially big bubbles that he can chase around the garden. 
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Stickle Bricks Big Red Bucket Review

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A few weeks ago we were asked if we would like to review Stickle Bricks - Big Red Bucket. I read the email and smiled to myself because I absolutely love Stickle Bricks. Yes, I know I am an adult and I know the idea was for little J to give them a try but I love Stickle Bricks so the answer was a big fat yes. I'm guessing a lot of my readers around a similar age as me must have played with Stickle Bricks when they were younger, I know I did. For those that didn't, oh my goodness you missed out on some serious building, sticking, stacking fun.  
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Capital FM Summertime Ball 2016

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This post has been sitting in my drafts since the Summer and I'm not sure why I didn't publish it. As time went on I didn't feel the time was right to post about something we did months ago. As the tickets for this years Summertime Ball will be going on sale shortly I thought it would be perfect to share on day now for those who are thinking of attending this year.

 Now that big J is growing up buying for his birthday isn't as easy as it was. We asked him what he would like and even he couldn't think of anything. After listening to the radio one morning he heard about the Capital FM Summertime Ball so he asked us for tickets for his birthday.
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When Breastfeeding Just Doesn't Happen

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I usually don't get involved with conversations regarding breastfeeding as it's a personal choice whether you do it or don't. I would never like to judge anyone who didn't breastfeed because their reasons have nothing to do with me. I was somehow roped in to a conversation recently between two Mums talking about feeding their babies. One had breastfed and one had tried but couldn't. They both looked at me to share my feeding story however I felt slightly embarrassed and I'm not sure why.
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Steps Are Back - #20YearsOfSteps

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Well today when I got home and started to browse through Facebook I did not expect to see this news trending - STEPS ARE BACK. Woohoo I am so excited. I have been a very loyal fan for 20 years so I am delighted that not only are they back with a new album but a tour too. I have seen Steps live many times and obviously their music is poptastic but they were born to perform on stage, their live shows are amazing. #20YearsOfSteps here we come.

Steps tour poster
So over the years I have continued to listen to Steps, watch various programmes featuring individual members of the band and also their reunion a few years back. There have been rumours since late last year that they would reform but sometimes those type of rumours fizzle out so I didn't want to get my hopes up. 

I quickly popped over to the Steps Official page and there was the news that their album Tears On The Dancefloor will be arriving on April 21st and the tour will commence in November 2017. Tickets go on sale March 10th and I've popped a list of dates below.

Mon Nov 13 - Dublin 3Arena
Tue Nov 14 - Belfast SSE Arena
Thu Nov 16 - Glasgow SSE Hydro
Fri Nov 17 - Aberdeen AECC
Sat Nov 18 - Liverpool Echo Arena
Mon Nov 20 - Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Tue Nov 21 - Leeds First Direct Arena
Thu Nov 23 - Brighton Centre
Fri Nov 24 - London The O2
Sat Nov 25 - London The SSE Arena, Wembley
Mon Nov 27 - Bournemouth BIC
Tue Nov 28 - Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Wed Nov 29 - Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
Fri Dec 1 - Birmingham Barclaycard Arena
Sat Dec 2 - Manchester Arena

So the big question is are you excited that #20YearsOfSteps are back and if so are you going to buy the album or tickets to the tour. I'm guessing it's obvious that I will be doing both. Can't wait - roll on April and November.

Michelle

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What To Expect On The Gruffalo Orienteering Trail

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A few weeks ago I was reading another blog and noticed that The Gruffalo Trail was at Delamere Forest. I was so excited because I knew little J would love hunting through the woods in search for the Gruffalo. It's been one of his favourite books for a few years now and last year he even had a Gruffalo birthday party. So last weekend we headed to Delamere Forest in search for the Gruffalo.

The gruffalo sculpture


If you have been to Delamere before you will know that there are quite a few car parks, however we decided to head straight to the Forest Centre car park as we wanted to buy a map of the Gruffalo trail. 

The Forest Centre car park is situated by cafe, toilets, bicycle hire and the starting point to all trails. It is a sharable car park with an all day charge of £6. You can pay less if you are only staying for a hour or two.

Once we were parked we headed to the shop to purchase our map which was £1.50. The starting point is just outside by the picnic benches. There are 12 points to follow on the trail so once we had a quick toilet stop we were ready to go. I would recommend going to the toilet beforehand as once on the trail there are no toilets available. It is approx one and a half miles however it does seem longer especially if you venture off track and go exploring in the woods and den building. 

boy in wellies
The trail is accessible for all ages and abilities however it was very muddy and I did see people struggling with prams at some points throughout the trail. 

We wandered in to the woods a few times firstly to do den building although there was a den already built so after playing in it for a little while we knocked it down. We found big logs and sticks and had lightsaber fights with them.

a gruffalo sign
There is a point at the beginning of the trail were you walk over a bridge. The bridge is over the railway tracks although we didn't get to see a train unfortunately. As you go along the trail there are 12 sign posts to look out for - this lets you know you are going the right way. They have questions on and if you have bought the map you can answer them in the activity booklet.

We got almost half way before we stopped to have a snack. It was the first time we had seen a bench so took the opportunity to have a quick drink and a cake that I had brought with us. 

Boy holding a leaf
We went in to the woods a few more times looking for leaves and pine cones. Little J loves exploring and getting muddy. 

boy in the woods
Shortly after we had got back on to the path we saw a crowd gathered ahead so we assumed the Gruffalo was close by, we were right.

The Gruffalo sculpture
When we got to the Gruffalo little J was so excited. He was huge and looked like the real thing. 

After we had posed for a photo we noticed just behind the Gruffalo there was another den. Was a this were the Gruffalo sleeps at night? We went down to have a look and little J climbed inside. 

The Gruffalo isn't actually at the end of the trail there are still 3 more sign posts to look for until you come to the official end of the trail.

It took us about one and half hours to complete the trail although like I said earlier we did go off the trail quite a bit so I suppose the time it takes depends on whether you stick to the trail or not. 

When we headed back to to the Forest Centre we were going to stop for a hot drink in the cafe however the queue was huge. In fact every time we have visited Delamere the queue in the cafe has been large. We brought our own lunch so decided to give it a miss. 

We will definitely be back to Delamere Forest again for more Gruffalo adventures after April 1st 2017 when the Gruffalo Spotters Trail begins.

You can also now take part in the Highway Rat activity trail, check out Captain Bobcat's Highway Rat Adventure.  Have Kids Will travel also did the Fforest Fawr Sculpture trail which looks fun, check it out.

Michelle

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Kaspersky Kids Safe App

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I have to admit that both boys are regular online users. It's the world we live in now and with so many devices around our hime having instant access to the world wide web it is impossible to stop them. Little J is a big fan of You Tube Kids and it's perfect for little ones as it has videos and adverts that are designed just for children. Big J however is a teenager and is able to access all sorts of information online which sometimes can be quite worrying.  In a recent European study* of 5040 children aged 10-15 conducted by global cyber security company, Kaspersky, discovered some alarming stats about how children are using the internet, and how they may not be protecting themselves as they should. 
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What Are Your #LovelyMoments?

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I have just been reading about Swizzels and how they would like the nation to share their #LovelyMoments for the chance to win a dream day. I suppose owning my own blog I already do share my #LovelyMoments with you all already but if I could pick just one moment from my life I wouldn't know which one to pick. 
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