I've noticed a disturbing trend in my photo albums recently, and it's reaching epic proportions. My Wetherspoons meal post was full of photobombs and I used them because, frankly, I wasn't left with much material otherwise....including this lovely photo of me....sheesh....


The SEA LIFE Centre post was miraculously photobomb free, despite the very first photo of the day being this one....


 A simple picture of the 'Chorizo on a Stick' at Tatton Park Foodies took 7 attempts, here are only 2 of the out-takes....
 


Of course occasionally the photobombers don't win....cue faceplant x 2...


And sometimes they REALLY do. Award for best photobomb of the month goes to the youngest member of our family. Heaven help us when he reaches 13....

Rocket Game is an excellent game made by Orchard Toys.

As with all Orchard Toys games and puzzles this is designed and manufactured in the UK from strong 100% recycled board. It has really bright colours, modern pictures and chunky pieces that don't bend or come apart during even quite boisterous play. Orchard Toys are built to be played with, and built to last.

Orchard Toys ~ Rocket Game
 

The gameplay for Rocket game seems quite tricky, but it plays very simply and intuitively. The player has a launch pad for their rocket, and has to build a flight path using double sided cards which are decided by the use of a spinner, e.g. spin a spaceman and choose a spaceman card from the table. On the reverse of each card is a vapour trail which may have anything from 0-3 loops.


If you pick out a card with a rocket on the reverse then you look at the colour, and if it matches your launch pad then you place it at the top of your vapour trail. With subsequent turns you try to turn over a rocket belonging to another player to end their vapour trail.


When everyone has ended their trail with their matching rocket then the game is over and the player with the most loops on their vapour trail is the winner, regardless of how many cards or turns it takes to achieve this.




Rocket Game retails at £7.50. It is suitable for 2 - 6 players and the suggested age range is 4-7. It promotes comprehension and understanding of the world, develops language skills and encourages conversation.It teaches turn-taking and links with the National Curriculum Maths Key Stage 1, developing counting and matching skills.
 

We really love this game, it's a real hit and clearly our young boys favourite Orchard Toys game so far. The rocket theme is fantastic and the aliens and planets are brilliant. It is an incredibly quick game and that means the time and investment put in, compared to the chance of winning, gives really positive game play with constant reward throughout. I cannot count how many times we have played this over the last 3 days and everyone enjoys it.

We give it a rare and very much deserved 5/5.

This is my 100th post, which seems stunning because I feel like I can remember every single one as if I wrote it yesterday, but I'd never for a second have assumed I'd have written so many!

I started blogging years ago, but it was just for me, it wasn't even really for my friends. It was cathartic and somewhere I could let it all out and rant and talk rubbish at 2am and if anyone was listening I didn't really mind.

This blog is different, it's not only public but it's also intentionally promoted. I plug my posts and write things with other people in mind, hoping that I will inform and amuse my readers and that you will find my life, or snippets of it at least, interesting enough that you'll return.

Before I had a public blog I expected to find a world full of people who were distant and a bit aloof, and that's the opposite of what I've found. I've made some absolutely fantastic friends and had some great days out and adventures already. My children's lives have been enriched and they have been able to take advantage of opportunities that they never would have without blogging. We spent a gorgeous sunny Sunday afternoon today picnicking at a nearby park with 2 other local bloggers and their families, and last Wednesday 6 of my children and I were able to preview the Manchester SEA LIFE Centre which still doesn't open for another few days.

If Al from Izziwizzi Kids had never asked me "could you put all of your toy review videos together on your blog", then I probably still wouldn't even be here, but I do feel very much that it's where I belong

I'm having a great time, I love this world and I'm delighted to be a part of it. Thank you for having me. Here's to you...

I was meant to review a tablet for under £50 for Travel Supermarket's Inspect-A-Gadget Competition, but it all went a bit wrong at first, so my review is finally here and so is my tablet!


We were given the choice of 5 different travel gadgets under £50 to review and we went for the tablet as we've never had one that the grown ups and little boys could use (previously it's only been a couple of our teenagers who had their own tablets), we thought it'd be an excellent thing. The tablet we chose has the impressively long name "7" inch Touch Screen Allwinner A13 1.0GHz CPU Android 4.0 Tablet PC 4GB HDD 512MB WiFi" which cost £40 including postage.



I ordered from Amazon, choosing purple from a huge range of available colours, delivery was really quick, and all was going swimmingly until after about 12 hours use my tablet screen suddenly turned blue and then it stopped working. Boo hoo. 


The children were gutted as they had already decided it was the best thing ever. We'd linked it to our wireless and my Google account, loaded a couple of Lego Duplo games onto it (plus the infamous Candy Crush) and the little boys had even watched a couple of BBC iPlayer programmes.


I got in touch with the seller and tried factory resets, but the problem seemed to be that the screen had failed and they were happy to replace it, but I would have to post my tablet to them at my cost before they sent a replacement.

So we sent it and we waited for 1 week....my 3  year old repeatedly asked if he could 'play with the tablet' and I'm pretty certain believes we took it off him because he was naughty in some way!

Hurrah! Today the postman brought our new tablet and everyone is delighted. It's taken about 10 minutes to get another screen protector on it, attach it to a Google account, download a Simpsons game and get everyone smiling. This tablet is much more sensitive and speedy than the previous one and the colours are much brighter, so I am happy to assume we were just unlucky and at first had a tablet that wasn't quite right from manufacture. 


We love it. If I had any inkling that I could buy a tablet so cheaply then I would definitely have bought one earlier as it stops my children asking to play games on my phone! It's going to be absolutely fantastic for when we're camping, especially when were trying to set up and pack away, as this is the time when the little ones get 'in the way' or just tend to wander off or be mischevious because they are bored.


Because we have 5 teenagers our 2 little ones have a good understanding of screens and games and want to join in, and I wouldn't be happy to let them play with something that I simply cannot afford to replace, nor is it ideal they use gadgets belonging to their bigger siblings. Although they are supervised accidents will always happen, and frankly if I'd paid £150 or more for a tablet I'd be reluctant to let any of my lot touch it!


It's small enough to fit in my handbag, but has a nice big screen with a really wide angle of vision, so 3 people can sit together watching something and all can see the picture just fine. It has a full touch screen and motion sensors so,  for example, when playing a driving game you can 'steer' by tilting the tablet and it has a headphone socket (thankfully) so that the user doesn't drown out conversations going on around them. The only real downsides are that the battery life is not great, I think around 3 hours play and it's flat, but as long a you expect that then it isn't as issue and the tablet has no means of charging from a USB, in fact the supplied mains charging cable is incredibly cheap and flimsy.


I paid £35.50 plus £4.50 postage, so exactly £40 and for that I feel this is an incredible bargain. It isn't as durable for youngsters as an Innotab, it isn't as quick as an iPad and it doesn't have the memory or battery life of a more expensive tablet, but for £40 it's fantastic.Buying from Amazon gives you a level of protection that is at least as great as from an electrical shop, and we could have even gone through Amazon for our return and not had to pay postage (but I didn't realise that at the time) and we still have a 12 month warranty and support from within the UK.


Here are the specs -

Brand	Generic
Item Weight	599 g
Product Dimensions	23.6 x 15.6 x 7.2 cm
Item model number	A 13
Color	White
Screen Size	7 inches
Processor Brand	ARM
Processor Type	ARM710a
Processor Speed	1 GHz
Processor Count	1
RAM Size	512 MB
Computer Memory Type	DDR3 SDRAM
Hard Drive Size	4 GB
Operating System	Android 4.2.2 Jellybean ~ although we were expecting 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich from the Amazon listing information, so we were pleasantly surprised.
Average Battery Life (in hours)	3 hours
Lithium Battery Weight	40 grams

We've been looking forward to the new SEA LIFE Centre in Manchester's Trafford Centre opening for a long while. We've followed their progress via their Facebook page with anticipation, and on our last two visits to Legoland Discovery Centre we've stopped and looked at the advertising boards excitedly.


It was brilliant to find out that Blogs Up North had managed to secure a visit BEFORE it even opened to the general public, and during half term week too!

Six Children And Me - On Our Way

The impressive full wall of artwork that greets you in the Barton Square Car Park

When we arrived we were a little early, and it was lovely to get together four Izziwizzi Kids Toy Testers in one photo, including two who I have never met - Tami from Mummy Of Two and Zoe from My Mummy's World, plus Pippa from Red Rose Mummy


We were even joined by Alex Winters, the CBeebies presenter and his family, and if you ever get the chance to meet him then please do because he is an incredibly patient and lovely man, and he told me off for suggesting that boy no.3's curls need cutting!


In the foyer, where you may have to wait for entry, are a map and a big tank to whet your appetite...

A really impressive tank, and this is only the foyer!

After entering you immediately go through to a long room where a really accessible and fun talk is given about Turtles, their eggs and hatchlings. It's all done with fantastic lighting effects and was very impressive. The children are encouraged to join in and, when we asked him to tell Daddy about it tonight, even my 3 year old could explain how the city lights make the baby turtles go the wrong way looking for the sea!




After the show you enter an amazing round room with a tank running all the way around it. There is a huge shoal of fish which constantly swim through the water. It was stunning.

There are an array of different tanks, windows and tunnels

And even a talking turtle who will answer your questions

Unfortunately the soft play area wasn't quite ready for us but, if the Legoland Discovery Centre next door is anything to go by, it's certain to be a hit!

The walls are full of information and great artwork

There is a huge square tank full of Rays....

And a fabulous Touch Pool where we looked at Hermit Crabs and Shore Crabs

Something to excite my youngest...

....Conger Eels!

 The SEA LIFE Centre was still in the final stages of preparation when we visited, but one of our children spotted something very exciting....

A Green Screen for special effects filming

The Sealife Centre, Manchester entry cost is £16.20 or £12 online per adult or child and combi tickets with the Legoland Discovery Centre are also available. It is open from 10am until 7pm daily, with last entry at 5pm.


Manchester SEA LIFE Centre will also be the first SEA LIFE Centre in Europe where you can experience SEATREK - with the use of a special dive suit with a waterproof helmet actually getting into the tank with all of the sea life!

"The SEA TREK experience will cost £60 per person (including admission to the attraction) and is available
to guests aged 8 and over.  The experience will last for approximately one hour with 10 minutes under the
water.  A maximum of five people can be in the tank at one time and they will be accompanied by support divers at all times.
All wet suit equipment is provided, guests just need their own swimming costume and towel.

I'm not certain it's for me, but I know a few people who'd jump at the chance - how about you?


Before we went back to the van we had to return to Cadwalladers 3 doors away for another ice cream. Today they were selling a child's cone in any flavour for only 50p! You can't ask for more really. The perfect end to a perfect afternoon.

Being a Mum to all my lot does mean that often I miss out on the niceties because there isn't the time or money or I'm too tired! One of the things I do like to spoil myself with is candles. I love to fill my house with the smell of Cinnamon or Vanilla, Toffee or something more exotic. Because we're over-run by young men florals don't go down so well in our house, but I can even get away with them sometimes.

I jumped at the chance to review two candles from Potters Crouch, a company who sell most of their candles online. All candles are handmade in the UK (in Hertfordshire to be exact). Each candle burns for around 50 hours and there are 70 different varieties to choose from in 4 different fragrance ranges - Fruits & Flowers, Fragrances Of Yesteryear, Fragrances Of The World. and Christmas Candles.


They are certainly very beautiful. I chose Sea Breeze and Summer Fruits, avoiding my more obvious favourites and trying something a bit different. The candles are presented in a tin, the lid of which serves as a stand to protect your surfaces. They tins are decorated with gorgeous paintings which are full of colour and fascinated my children, and are all original water colours painted by Jo, the person behind the company.


Inside the tin the candles themselves are also special. They have sparkly treasure and the Sea Breeze candle even has 3 little shells embedded into the wax. I also got to smell them for the first time. Both were very promising.

On the back of each tin were the care instructions, which is always handy, rather than having to remember where you put a small scrap of card.


Potters Crouch hope that you will have different smells for different rooms, you don't just fill your whole house with one anonymous scent. Each smell has moods and connotations and its own place in the house.
 I tried Sea Breeze first and found that in our huge living room the smell was lost. That was never my intention anyway, so I took the candle into the bathroom and let it rest for a while before I went in there to bath the little ones.


The smell was reminiscent of the sea, and perfect for a bathroom, but it did have a soapy clean smell, so it might be that the bathroom would be the only truly appropriate place to keep it. I don't mind, I've booked an hour in the bath at the weekend and it can keep me company!

The second candle we tried was Summer Fruits...


Summer Fruits was already deemed gorgeous before I even lit it. The smell is incredibly fruity and really bold without being sickly sweet or heady. It's fresh and juicy, but thankfully doesn't make you feel hungry! It was an all round hit and all of the children liked it as well as the adults.

The flame even has a slight pink tinge, which is soothing and warming, and the smell filled my living room much better than the Sea Breeze. This candle is gorgeous, we love it and I definitely recommend it for a living room, kitchen or hallway.


Each candle costs £8.50 and I think this is very fair for a 50 hour candle with a great range of different scents and such beautiful presentation. They make an excellent gift to give to other people (and not only to yourself because you've been so very, very good). Potters Crouch will also supply bespoke candles and candles for special occasions. Postage is very reasonable and starts at £3.50 for up to 4 candles. ...