Blackpool Illuminations

We had already had a drive through the illuminations, but Mollys Rainbows group were walking through them so i decided to walk the boys through at the same time.

We met the Rainbows at Bispham , which is the start of the main illuminations and while they ate there chips, me and the boys headed out along the illuminations. They weren't turned on at this point, as they turn them on at different times depending on how dark it gets

First is always teddy bears picnic, it used to be bigger  but they sold some of the bears off, in fact there is one at a house near to me that we pass on the way to school, it badly need painting but its there.

Open seameme, i remember this from years ago, it used to really scare my nephew when he was little, but he is 25 now!

I think this is a very old one, its been here as long as i can remember

We all know these

 Just as we reached the end of the main ones, the lights came on, hows that for timing, i have never seen them turned on before! not that it was spectacular, they just all came on at once

Fred in particular loved it as he was at the right age to really see them for the first time, Fred was still awake and was clearly enjoying it to.

We met up with Molly again and she was really pleased to get Olivia, the rainbow doll to keep for the week.

Paul picked us all up on his way home and we got some chips

Yum yum xxx

Disneys Worlds of Enchantment

Finally my laptop is back to normal after i nagged Paul to reinstall windows 8, instead of 10 that he put on the other week, and i have been able to upload all my pictures and do other stuff that the evil windows 10 was not allowing me to and its stopped shutting down every 10 minutes!

This time last weekend, Molly and i were getting ready to head out on our weekend together, to see Disneys Worlds of Enchantment on ice. We had both been so excited, Molly had draw a chart counting down the days and then finally the day arrived, i had bought Molly some presents to open in the morning, a Frozen backpack, some frozen stationary and sweets for the journey. We had to set off early to do a quick shop for the week before getting to the train station. When we arrived at the station it turned out that the tickets we had got from trainline had completely the wrong times so we ordered a hot chocolate and i think Molly just enjoyed watching the trains come and go.

Another Pressie on the train, this time a Frozen drinks cup and bottle of Coke (treat time!)

This is the first time Molly as been on a proper train, we went on one when she was a baby, just to Preston as Ewan was such a train fan and we have been on Steam trains.

I found Victoria Station fascinating, this is the soldiers door, that all soldiers went through to get the trains that would take them, but in a lot of cases not bring them back

When we Paul and i can in January, we just walked through a large plastic tunnel as they were doing all the work, and i think they have done an amazing job of restoring the old parts and combining it with the modern new parts.

Next we made it to our Hotel, The Portland, however the room wasn't ready so we headed out for lunch and shopping

Burger King was the nearest

This food market would have been my choice the smells and sights were a real treat for the senses, i old Paul after we will have to go back and try them

I saw these pens for Paul, well if i had £300 to spend on a pen i would buy them for him, Starwars limited edition.

Again thinking of Paul

We tried and bought some "frozen" Sparkly eyeshadow for Molly. In case you were wondering her hair is pink!, she wanted to be like me, but i am sure its not acceptable at school to dye your childs hair red, so we poted for hair calks that i had got from Wilkos, its is literally a moist chalk that washes out, and she had wanted her hair in rags so we did that the night before we left, as well as our nails, a really girly getting ready night, good fun!

Shopping, we went to Primark and bought pressies for the boys, and Molly got treated to some Frozen things and wanted her own bag to put them in!

On the way out a protest group had formed by the door, but police were keeping them back, so we were told to go out of the fire exit

We got ice creams

Molly played on the park near our hotel, it was a really sweet park.

Then the moment Molly had been asking for all day, is the hotel ready? and it was!!!

When i was looking for hotels i had initially looked for a travel lodge type hotel, but The Portland which is a 4* and has a pool was only £10 more so i thought we could have a little luxury, and it was worth it, we booked a double as a twin was £50 more, why? i have no idea, but we didn't mind. Molly was so excited, mainly as it has its own desk, with pad and pen ( doesn't take much, to please a child)

I asked her to open the suitcase and on the top were more presents, a FRozen, nightie, dressing gown, swimming suit, an Anna hoodie, Slipper socks, glow in the dark wand and glow sticks, My mum had put in some spends and Frozen perfume.

Also i had packed Disney Princess Champage (non alcoholic party drink!) and Blue Champagne glasses

We spent some time in the hotel and listen to the Frozen soundtrack on the tablet, while molly danced to it and sang, i filmed her, it was really cute, she was just so happy and excited, she recorded a video for the boys, showing the room off, it was so nice to just spend time together with no disractions

It was finally time to get ready for the show, i had also bought molly an Anna dress which she wore with the Anna hoodie over it and we set off for tea

Molly choose Pizza Hut, as we were not the only ones headed for disney, we saw lots of Elsas!

 She literally skipped all the way to the area, her excitement was infectious, its even more exciting to enjoy something through your child's eyes, watching her so happy made me so happy.

But not that happy when i saw the prices of the things on the stall at the area!, i thought Blackpool illuminations wands were expensive.....

£22 for a light wand, the exact same ones that are £8-£10 here in Blackpool! lets just say i was stunned! Glad i had bought the Glow stick wands and Molly was more interested in the Frozen Dolls that were £23, which would at least last a nit longer than the wands, so we bought one. 

We headed up to our seats and i realized i had made a huge mistake...

 I had thought o had booked seats at the top of the lower tier.. but we were in the balcony. I just can't do the balcony, in theatres i love the dress circle, but any higher and i don't like it and i panicked, the same happened when i went to the Albert hall with Paul and i ended up sitting in the disabled space, which to be honest was better anyway, but this time i was conscious of Molly and really didn't want to spoil it for her, but i couldn't even look at the ice and i was tearing up, so just before the show started i asked them if i could move and they opened up one of the boxes for me! Bonus, best seats in the house ! couldn't have picked better seats

First up was Toy story, i don't know how the cast managed to skate in some of the costumes, and the Purple bear Latzo, did fall over once but the others picked him up and carried on.

Next was the little mermaid

Followed by Cars, which were fab and must have been remote controlled but they looked like full size cars so that can't have been easy.

Then finally came Frozen, and the whole audience cheered, it was what they had all been waiting for, i had never seen so many little Elsa's and Anna's in one place before!

Molly hugging her new doll, stripped of her hoodie to her reveal her New Anna Dress and sung her heart out! I actually had tears in my eyes it was so sweet, and i was so glad she had enjoyed it that much

No Frozen photos as my phone was nearly out of battery and i didn't want it to go, as after it had finished we still had to walk back to the hotel. On the was back we stopped in Morrisons opposite the hotel and bought Croissants and fruit for our breakfast. As i have said in a previous post the bed was possibly the most comfortable i have ever slept in and we both got a good nights sleep.

When we got up and had our breakfast, we headed to the pool and Jacuzzi, which i have to say was disappointingly not as powerful as our hot tub, but was still nice and we spoke to others that were staying there after the Disney show.

We then packed up and headed to a witherspoons to get a full English breakfast each before walking back to the train station to get the train home, this time we managed to get a table which pleased Molly no end.

So there you have it our trip to Manchester was amazing and we have agreed to go back next year, this time with Fred as i think he would love it too.

Its definitely good to get one on one time with the kids and i am looking forward to going to London with Ewan in the new year. We are taking the little ones on the Santa Express as there trip this year

Paul enjoyed his time with the boys as well and i have to say he managed really well and the house was really tidy when we got back, think he was proving a point, that he can manage. Mum had cooked a roast dinner for the boys and we got back just in time to have some too.

So that was our amazing girly trip to Disney on Ice xxx

Star Wars Paper

Just a quick post to show you all what i have been up today. After a really busy few weeks, i had a big clean and tidy yesterday with the intention of sitting down and doing nothing today, well perhaps some knitting, and as i have felt full of a cold the last few days, i thought this would be quite welcome. So i wander round this morning doing those bits that always need doing, loading the dishwasher, scraping cereal off the table, those jobs, but i just can't seem to settle and sit down. Thats when i remember the wall paper that we had bought back in August but never got round to putting up, Alex was due a sleep so why not i thought.

Our dining room/ playroom/my workroom, is a bit of a strange room really, its in the middle of the house and as we live in a terrace you have to go through it to get to the kitchen and it also had the stairs in it, with my work desk underneath. I like the lounge to be toy free at night when the kids are in bed so we keep those in there as well as a dinning table, its a well used room and always looks it. Its never really had a theme or specific design, in truth i have never really known what to do with it, as it has so many functions ( i need Kirstys vintage home!). Anyway two years ago i put up this Lime green stripey wall paper and from day one i didn't like it, but wasn't really sure what to change it to. In August we were in B&Q getting some bits and i decided to have a look at the papers, but they all said "New House" and were really samey ( the only way i can describe them). I really don't like the thought of seeing my living room in the argos catalouge, i mean i didn't want the on trend look. I did find though some amazing Marvel Comic paper and i am sure it was meant for a bedroom, but when i showed Paul with a wide eyed look and big smile, he said yes...that was until... around the corner Ewan spotted Star Wars Paper!!!!!

So this afternoon, i put it up on the small fireplace wall.

I just papered over the other paper as i didn't have any lining paper in. It did feel good to get rid of the old stuff

And Ta-dah!!

It was done

I had some canvases, so i covered them in the left over paper

The other picture we bought with the paper

I must admit, i quite like it in a quirky way, its definitely not dinning room paper, but its different and i know when Paul gets home he will love it, Its what he wanted as a child, but said they didn't have it back then, i have bought down some of his old Star Wars toys to put on the mantle piece to dress it. I think he deserves it, its a bit of fun.

After all that decorating it was time to collect the kids and it was nice to have a walk and get some fresh air, it felt really autumny today with all the leaves on the ground

Bye for now x