Our Post Lockdown Travel Bucket List

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I first published this post last year during the first lockdown and I remember writing it with lots of hope that in 2021 our travel diaries would be jam packed full of days out, weekends away and at least one trip to a Disney park booked. Unfortunately our travel plans are exactly the same as last year - zero. 

As it's just the beginning of the year we would have only normally visited local parks and beaches anyway but it's the short breaks, days out and holidays planned we are really missing out on and struggling with. 

Whilst it's rubbish that we haven't been able to travel we are safe and healthy at home and the extra time at home has been great for saving for holidays and break aways when it is safe to do so. I'm not sure what travel will look like this year but I really do hope we manage to tick off at least a few from our post lockdown travel bucket list.

Southport Pier

I'm thinking we may be a little nervous travelling outside our local area for the first time so I know we will want to stay close. Some of our favourite memories as a couple, a family of three then a family of four are at Southport Pier. A nice stroll along the pier, a visit to the penny arcade and fish and chips overlooking the beach might be just what we need.

Alton Towers

As a theme park loving family this is what we are missing the most, a visit to Alton Towers or any of the Merlin theme parks . In between lockdowns and tiered systems in 2020 we did manage to squeeze a trip to Alton Towers Gardens and Alton Towers. Knowing what to expect when visiting Alton Towers after lockdown will really help us perpare for our next visit as is it very different. 

Disneyland Paris

We are all in need of a walk down Main Street at Disneyland Paris. Seeing the castle is my favourite thing and I just cannot wait till the day we can visit again. I absolutely love Disney but after watching all the Marvel movies in chronological order in 2019 we headed to Disneyland for the Marvel event, Season of the Superheroes and we were blown away. It added a little bit extra to the trip and meeting Captain America was a highlight for us all. We have just started watching the movies again so I have everything crossed the Marvel event will go ahead in May and June and we get to visit. 

The Lake District

A visit to The Lakes will definitely be a must if it's safe to visit during the Summer months. We have visited many areas of the lakes over the years but our favourite is definitely Bowness on Windermere with a nice boat trip over to Ambleside. We head up to the lake district a few times a year including a big family trip each Summer staying in a cottage it's such a beautiful place. 

Disneyland

At the beginning of the year we got talking about visiting Disneyland in California. We have visited Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in Paris so it was only natural to think about Disneyland in California. John wasn't too keen on the idea mainly due to the flight time but now I think if we ever get to travel to the USA again I think it will definitely be on our travel plans.

Unfortunately at this moment we have no idea what travel will look like in the future but we can still plan and dream that one day the world will go back to normal.

Michelle

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All About The Art | Living Arrows 6/52 (2021)

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The countdown to half term has begun. There is just one more week of home schooling and it can't come soon enough. John and I work it between us and I am in charge of Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I like knowing that I am here to help little J when he needs me. On Wednesdays, Art is on the timetable. I am not the best at Art but little J seems to love it. 

Last week little J was given a task of cutting out three pictures of flowers, sticking them on paper and then he had to match the colours by mixing paints together. I had no idea where to start but little J got stuck right in and starting mixing. He knew that all the colours could me made by using combinations of red, blue and yellow. 

I am sure at some point in my past I knew this but it's been a long time since I have done art so I'm glad he knew the colours to mix and didn't ask me for help, I would have had to use my trusted friend Google. 

Michelle

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Quizzie The Robot Giveaway

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Disclosure - We received a Quizzie for the purpose of this post and also another for a giveaway prize. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own. 

We are now the owners of a Quizzie Robot and he certainly cheered us up last week. Quizzie is a cute little robot standing approx 10cm tall with the cutest of faces however he does have a cheeky streak, so beware. 

Quizzie has three game modes that are all equally as fun and easy to play. 

Yes / No

Record up to five yes / no questions and then pass to a friend or family member so they can answer them. Quizzie will play back your question and the player has to guess if the answer is yes or no and press the corresponding button. If they guess correctly they can move on to the next question but if not then they will be squirted with water. 

Memory Game

Quizzie will change his face and you have to remember which face he was showing you. Was he smiling, winking or sad? Guess wrong and its a squirt of water in the face for you. 

Lucky Chance

This is a little like pass the bomb. You pass Quizzie between players and if he stops on you then prepare to get wet. 

I have teamed up with Wicked Uncle to give you the chance to win your own Quizzie Robot. All you need to do is enter our giveaway below using the form and make you sure you keep popping back as I will add bonus chances to win throughout the giveaway. 

Good Luck

Win Quizzie Robot 

Michelle

Competition closes on Sunday 21st February 2021

Entrants must have a valid UK address. 

Bulk, third party or any other entries using automated software will be disqualified. 

All entrants and entries are checked and verified. 

1 lucky winner will be chosen at random by the Gleam application. 

Playdays and Runways will contact the lucky winners within 7 days of the competition closing. 

The winners will be emailed to the email address given at the time of entering. 

The winners must respond within 28 days, if no response a new winner will be chosen. 

This prize is non-transferable and there is no cash alternative 

The Prize : Quizzie The Robot

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Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

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Disclosure - We were gifted some of the products mentioned below. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own. This post include affiliate links.

Valentine's Day will soon be here and although it's not something we go over the top with to celebrate we do always make sure we do something together. It might be a movie night and a take away or a home cooked meal. However this year as there isn't really much to look forward to we have decided to celebrate Valentine's Day and buy each other a gift. If you celebrate Valentine's Day with your loved one then I've popped some Valentine's Day gift ideas below. 

Clear Confidence Co’s plastic-free bamboo safety razor will take your shaving experience to a new level. It’s authentic, effective and sustainably manufactured using natural materials. Team up the razor with the plastic-free shaving brush. The unique shaving brush uses grass-based bristles and offers a great alternative to badger or boar hair shaving brushes. 

A delightfully mellow and perfectly balanced small batch from Four Roses. Utilising four original and limited Bourbon recipes to create this sweet and spicy small batch. Savor its unique aromas and flavours neat, on the rocks or in your favourite Bourbon cocktail.

Add a boost of hydration to your skincare routine with Forever's Hydrating Serum. Absorbs quickly into surface layers of the skin and visibly plumps appearance of skin while enhancing texture. It can boost your skins hydration whilst shielding it against environmental stressors. It will also help to minimise appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Enjoy an afternoon tea at home from Piglet's Pantry. The traditional afternoon tea for four people includes a selection of treats will be delivered straight to your door. Enjoy sausage rolls, fresh cakes, scotch eggs, cheese and chive quiches and fluffy fruit scones smothered with clotted cream and strawberry conserve. Set out your table at home or relax in your garden with a cup of Earl Grey. This is the perfect excuse to get together at home and satisfy your cravings with some mouth-watering sweet and savoury bites.

Your favourite Escape Rooms may be closed at the moment but you can enjoy an Escape Room at home  with Escape Room The Game 2.  3 exciting escape rooms to choose from including panic on the Titanic, Alice In Wonderland and Dawn of the Zombies.

A selection of delicious Cadbury milk chocolates with NEW additions of the Salted Caramel Charm, Truffle Heart and Apple Crunch. Two layers of ten milk chocolate varieties in box makes a perfect chocolate gift. 

Pamper your hands the Shanghai luxury way with the Artistry Studio Soft as Silk Hand Cream Trio. They’re balmy, delightfully lightweight and floral fresh. All-day moisture and protection keep your hands feeling soft as silk on any adventure. Scents include Lotus Blossom, Pomelo, and Vanilla.

Spice Pots Luxury Indian Spice Tin makes the perfect gift this Valentine's Day. Treat your loved one to a delicious meal at home. Each Luxury Tin contains  5 perfectly balanced, 100% natural spice blends, 150 page cookbook and a bespoke cook's candle to help eliminate cooking odours.  All presented in a gorgeous tin.

The 7 Inch hand-painted resin 'You and Me' figure by Willow Tree expresses love, closeness, healing, courage and hope. Artist Susan Lordi hand carves the original of each Willow Tree piece from her studio in Kansas City. You and Me is cast from Susan's original carving and painted by hand, the perfect Valentine’s Day gift.

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? What plans do you have?

Michelle

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January 2021 - Looking Back

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I'm a little late posting our January 2021 looking back post and if I'm honest I didn't think I would have a lot to share, but amongst all the home schooling and stay at home days we did have a nice January.

I try to take photos as often as possible and I am so glad I do, as looking back at photos is a great reminder at what we get up to.

Bike Rides

During the first lockdown John taught little J how to ride a bike. He hadn't shown any interest in a bike before, he preferred his scooter. Now he would much prefer to head out on his bike and the boys have enjoyed lots of lovely bike rides in our local area. 

I don't own a bike and sometimes I feel like I'm missing out but it has become something that just the three of them do so I don't want to ruin that so I stay at home and go on my exercise bike instead. 

Baking

Both boys have enjoyed baking this month. Little J had a maths activity that involved weighing so we decided to make it a little more interesting and turned it in to a baking activity. He made delicious cookies and it got him away from the table for a while. 

Big J decided he wanted to make us a meal which was a lovely treat. He made us a chicken dish and it was really tasty. He created it all from scratch and I think he enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next one. 

It was also nice to have another night off from cooking when the boys all made their own pizzas. All three of them love pizzas and creating their own is their favourite meal. 

Snow Days

We had a few snow days this month and although it wasn't very deep it was enough for us to head out and have snowball fights and make snow angels. The days don't seem to vary much at the moment even the weekends are a bit meh, so it was nice to have some snow and it really did cheer us up. 

Home School 

Home schooling is pretty much our life at the moment. Little J begins the day with a zoom call with his teacher and classmates and then has four lessons to complete with another zoom call at the end of the day. John and I are in a nice routine with John doing Monday, Thursday and Friday mornings and I do Tuesday morning, all day Wednesday and Monday,Thursday and Friday afternoons. Little J usually has his work wrapped up by lunchtime so it leaves the afternoons free for us to play games, build lego or just chill in front of the TV. 

Weekend Walks

This used to be the highlight of our week but as we are limited to where we can visit it's not as much fun anymore. We joined The National Trust just before Christmas and we were looking forward to exploring the UK but that will have to wait. 

Having said that we have managed to enjoy a few local walks including a trip to the beach, a snowy visit to Speke Hall and a cold and a windy walk along the waterfront.

In Other News...

John and I have tried to spend some time together as all we seem to do is work and homeschool at the moment. We have enjoyed an Escape Room at home but mostly we have just been watching tv and films together. We've watched so much this month which is quite unusual for us as we are usually busy doing other things. We managed to watch all Mandalorian, Finding Alice, The Pembrokeshire Murders and up to episode 4 of Marvel's Mini Series WandaVision which is just amazing and we can't wait for Friday to come around so we can watch another. As well as series we have also watched Star Wars Episode II, III, Rogue One and Episode IV. It's crazy that we have all this free time to watch these programmes and films. Usually this amount would take us months, maybe longer.

I have been working hard this month to be positive and to try and exercise. Lockdown is tough and it can be quite difficult at times to think of positives in what seems like a permanent doom and gloom situation. The planner helps me pick out positivity activities to do each day and also plan in some self care. My bigger goal this year is to get fit. I have tried diets over the years and they fizzle out so my self care for year is to try and get fit and if weight loss comes with that then it will be a bonus. 

Big J has been so busy in his placement in a school training to be a teacher. At first he wasn't sure how it would work with the school only open for smaller numbers however on some days he has had over 20 kids in so almost like a full class. He is really enjoying it and seems to be able to plan and execute the lessons with ease. This is his first placement and I said to him that it will be after this one when he will realise if this is actually the job for him, he's sure it is which is great to hear. 

Lastly we have given the living room a little colour makeover. We have gone for yellow and grey. We bought a new rug, cushions, lamp and other bits of furnishing. It's nice to change it round every few months as it feels so much brighter and fresh. 

So in the end January wasn't as dull and boring as I first thought and it's definitely my least favourite month of the year so I am glad it's done. 

Michelle

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Another Weekend, Another Walk | Living Arrows 5/52 (2021)

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Another week has passed and the juggling of work and homeschool continued and we all couldn't wait for the weekend. Weekend means walk and this weekend we headed to the waterfront for a change of scenery. 

We had some jobs to do around the house first so didn't manage to get out till quite late, I think it was almost 3pm. By the time we got there it was so cold and windy. It was the type of cold wind that hurts your face as you walk. We almost turned around to go back home to where it is warm but we know how important it is to get some fresh air and exercise so we persevered and we actually enjoyed it, in the end. 

Little J took his scooter as there is lots of open space to scoot around and I was surprised how many young adults there were on skateboards. I suppose there isn't much for anyone to do at the moment so why not go skateboarding by the waterfront.

We had promised little J an ice cream but unfortunately the van was there but there was no one inside. Maybe it was too cold but he did manage to pick some sweets off another van selling lots of sweets and candy floss. 

As we were walking we saw lots of people holding Costa cups so we knew the Costa was open for takeaway. John grabbed himself a coffee. It was on those type of days I really wished I like coffee as it would have warmed me up. 

After a while the cold didn't seem to bother the boys but I am really looking forward to some warmer weather. 

Michelle

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Snow Fun | Living Arrows 4/52 (2021)

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This past week was exactly the same as the weeks before with the juggling of work, home schooling and trying to keep things fun. We got to midweek and I could see that sitting at the table doing school work is just so boring for little J. He loves school but doing school work at home isn't fun. There is no one his own age to bounce off during class discussions, there is no one to play with at break time and there is no escape from us. He needs to see his friends, he needs to chat to kids his own age, he needs to be a 7 year old boy and as much as we all love each other he needs space and time away from us, its natural to need a break from people even if just for a few hours.

I was dreading the weekend if I am honest as there is no difference really from midweek to weekend at the moment. Every day feels the same however over night on Friday we had some snowfall. 

Our snowfall wasn't as heavy as other parts of the country but it was enough to perk up our moods and we headed straight out in the garden for some snow fun.

Little J didn't want to make a snowman, all he wanted to do was have snowball fights, make snow angels and be pulled around on his sledge. 

After a morning of fun we headed out for an afternoon snowy winter walk at Speke Hall. It was so lovely to see the hall and grounds covered in snow. We became members of National Trust just a few months ago and haven't had chance to visit many of the NT properties yet so it was nice to visit. 

We enjoyed snowball fights on the main lawn and enjoyed a walk overlooking the airport runways. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any planes take off or land but we did see some parked on the runway. 

Our walk was cut short when it started to hail and the temperature dropped quickly but it was lovely to get some much needed fresh air.

Michelle

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How To Make Home Schooling Fun

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Disclosure - This post contains mentions of previously gifted items

Nearly a year ago now we became home school teachers. We had no idea what we were doing, neither did the schools at the time as home schooling or learning at home was something none of us have experienced before. We got through it somehow but now we are back in the same situation as before and although this time the school seems so much more prepared, our children may not. Sitting in front of the screen all day isn't appealing to some children but there are other ways that we can teach them that seems more fun. Children follow the curriculum in school but at home it is a completely different environment and I think we need to remember that.

Maths

There are so many ways you can incorporate maths in to your day. We use numbers and shapes all the time and it can be fun.

Playing shop with real money. This can help little ones learn numbers and basic addition and subtraction.
Complete a jigsaw. Jigsaws help concentration and help encourage problem solving.
Baking. Measuring out ingredients is a great way to encourage children to learn about simple measurements and counting.
Singing. There are lots of 'number' nursery rhymes and  songs.
Apps. There are lots of apps that can encourage basic maths skills.

English
There are lots of ways to make English fun.

Watch a short movie and then ask the child to write a short story based on what they can remember. Pixar 'Shorts' 'are only between 4-7 mins long and they cover a range of topics. Encourage the child to write about the beginning, something important that happened in the middle and the end.
Treasure Hunt. Ask your child to create a treasure hunt and encourage them to write their own clues.
Reading. This can be together or the child reading alone.
Spellings. Create a spelling sheet for your child using words that they are familiar with.

Other areas of learning. 
This is such a simple idea and can cover so much.

If you ask your child to think of a place. It can be a city, a country, a landmark, a theme park, anything. You can use the internet or books to find out everything you can about the place they have chosen. This could cover

Geography - Where in the world is it? 
History - When was it built?
Technology - Research as much as you can online.
Mathematics - How many people live or visit there each year?
Reading - Finding out the facts.
Art - Ask your child to draw what they think it looks like.
Imagination - Create a role play area based on their chosen place.
Fine Motor Skills - Write out a list of facts they have found.


Making use of resources around the home. We will be using....

Geomag Mechanics Gravity Magnetic Track - Encourages STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics learning. Exploring science without the need of batteries or electricity.

Osmo - Osmo is educational without the kids knowing. It encourages basic maths and english, problem solving concentration and it's fun.

Games - We have lots of educational games that are fun and we can learn from them to.

Lego / or similar building blocks. Helps with imagination and fine motor skills.

Garden - Physical activity is very important and if you have a garden making use of this space for outside play/exercise also helps get fresh air.

Daily Challenge

Each day we are going to have one daily challenge that we need to complete. The daily challenges will be fun and could include baking a cake, making a den or creating an obstacle course. Educating your child doesn't always mean sitting a desk writing, if they are using their imagination, their fine motor skills or being creative this all adds to their development.

Our children learn every day without them knowing.

If you found this post useful there are a few ways that you could say thanks and support Playdays and Runways.

Comments - I love reading your opinions and thoughts - Are you still home schooling? Leave us a comment below and let us know what you have been doing to make it fun. 

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Michelle

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