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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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

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.

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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Doc McStuffins Medical and Doctor's Role Play Set Review

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Little J loves Doc McStuffins and he has done since he was a baby. He has all the stuffed animals and he will sit and watch Doc every day on Disney Junior. Now he is older he understands Doc more and what she does. For those that don't know Dottie 'Doc' McStuffins is a six year old girl who fixes' toys with a little help from her stuffed animal friends. A few weeks ago we were sent Doc's Medical set and Doc's Role Play Set to review so you can imagine how happy little J was.

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What Would You Choose? #ImpossibleExperiences

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If you could do anything or go anywhere in the world what would you choose? For me it would be a family holiday to Disney World in Florida. I've dreamt about going there all my life but what if I could do something even better. What if I could create #ImpossibleExperiences. Have you ever thought "I wish I could do that?' or "If I won the lottery I would...". We have all had those thoughts at some point but what would your impossible experience be?

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Chad Valley Underwater Rescue Base Review

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You may know already that last year we were chosen to be on the Chad Valley Play Panel. It was so exciting for us as we love Chad Valley and obviously we were very honoured to be given such an amazing opportunity. Over the last few months we have received some amazing toys including Chad Valley Wooden Police and Fire Station and Chad Valley Airport. We also gave our readers the chance to win Argos vouchers. I am sad to say that we have just received our final package for review.

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Jamie Raven Live 2017

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On Tuesday Daddy and I headed to Southport to see Jamie Raven. 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. We have been to a few magic and illusion shows and whilst they have been okay we have always left the theatre feeling quite underwhelmed. Hopefully Jamie would amaze us and we would be heading home with confused looks on our faces and wondering "How on earth did he do that?'

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Schleich Wild Life Starter Set Review

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You may remember that last year we reviewed the Schleich Farm and how much we loved it. We still do and out of all of little J's toys this really has been played with the most and it is still in perfect condition. Quality is everything when it comes to toys, obviously you want them to be enjoyable but they also need to be durable. Last week we received a Schleich Wild Life Starter set which includes 4 animals. Little J is really enjoying playing with his animals at the moment and it wasn't long before they were introduced to his lion playset.

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Tech Tuesday - Valentines Day on Netflix #StreamTeam

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We don't really do anything exciting for Valentines Day, usually we will grab a takeaway and pick a movie to watch. We usually have to decide which movie a few days in advance otherwise we will end up scrolling through 100's of movies on Valentines Day deciding what to watch. This year we have Netflix so even more movies to choose from, however Netflix have provided us with a list of best Valentines Day films to watch for all types of romantics. 

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Tech Tuesday - Nintendo Switch : Do We Need Another Console?

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The Nintendo Switch is being released on 3rd March in the UK.  With a price tag of £279.99 for the basic package it will be interesting to see how this fares with gamers. I remember buying the original Wii console not long after release.  It was expensive at the time, I can’t remember how expensive, but expensive enough for us not to have bought at initial release.  Honestly, with Wii for us did bring us years of enjoyment, mostly on Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort, but also with Wii party, played almost exclusively at Christmas - but so much fun.  Wii Fit was also a firm favourite - even it was just to tell me I have put another pound on.

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La La Land Review - City of Stars, Are You Shining Just For Me?

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La La Land was a film that I had wanted to see for a few months after seeing trailers online, reading about it on Social Media and although I had an idea of what it was about nothing could have prepared me for just how fantastic this movie is. Most of my childhood saw me acting out the dance scene from West Side Story in my front living room or singing Grease songs in front of the bathroom mirror. La La Land took me back to those memories and how good musicals were and how sad it is that they just don't make movies like that anymore, until now. 

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Tech Tuesday - 4K Definition The Future Of Streaming

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You may have recently read my review of the Xbox One S in which I talk about the difference I have seen with 4K and HDR definitions.  One of the features is the ability to stream HDR and 4K definition through the Xbox One S with 4K compatible providers like Netflix. As part of the StreamTeam, I have written recently about Stranger Things - the superb TV series with a retro feel to it. We watched that in 1080p through Netflix and the quality was brilliant. If I had waited a few months until we got the new 4K TV then we could have watched it in 4K definition on Netflix. 

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