Mini Scientist Mission 5 - Skating @ Life Review and a Giveaway

I'm not terrible at Ice Skating but Im also not brilliant at it and the thoought of taking my lot on the ice was a scary prospect but Peanut and The Golden Child have asked almost continuously for 2 weeks to head along and go Skating at Life so I bit the bullet and we popped along last weekend.

 

We arrived and were allocated a time slot (straight away) and given the right coloured wristband. I'm going to be honest and say when we walked past the rink there were lots of groups of teenagers (dun dun dun) and I was concerned we would be jostled and knocked and I'd have to put my old mother scowl on! But my fears were fruitless as it turns out as there are Marshall's on the ice and it seems to keep everyone moving safely and behaving nicely.

 

We popped through to swap our shoes for skates then got ready for skating. My one grumble of the day would be that we weren't told we needed to hand in each of the bands to get back our shoes, more on that later but it's a good point to keep in mind for your visit.

 

 

There a nice seating area between the rink and the shoe exchange so Termite and daddy stayed there (she had to try some skates on though) and watched us skating round the ice.

 

I decided, as the double blade kid skates were too small for my big footed children, that it was safer to divide and conquer as the littlies aren't so good at skating, so they took turns to skate with mummy. Turns out that skating is a rather tiring affair and after about half an hour of spinning round the rink my big two were ready to have a rest and go play inside. Here's where we had a bit of a delay, being a super efficient mummy (pahahaha). I stripped us all of skates then carried them all (with just socks on my feet) to the exchange where I was asked for all the bands, explaining I didn't know we had to hand them in I thought I might be able to get our shoes and bring the bands back as we passed but that wasn't to be so I trudged back for the bands then back for the shoes and back to the kids again which resulted in cold wet feet! I shall know for next time though and really 'first world problems' it was an extra 2 minutes!

After skating we headed upstairs where the kids enjoyed a 'nature discovery' some 'cookery' and some 'fish chasing'! I love how they can just play freely with all the great role play stuff here

Overall we loved our day at Life the kids were suitably exhausted from the skating, they loved playing inside too and we all had lots of fun. As a parent of three I would have loved to be able to take them all on the ice together, logistically a nightmare though. So it would have been nice to have some bigger double bade skates, some skate Guides (like those wee push along penguins), or to have been able to wear the ice shoes, I did try my hardest to wheedle the lady in the skate hut to let me have some but she wasn't to be swayed! We will definitely go back again though and as we didn't fall over I'm giving the day a firm thumbs up!

 

If you'd like to try skating I have two family passes to give away to be in with a chance of winning one, pop over to our facebook page and leave a message on the wall saying you'd like to win, or click here to pop over to our twitter page to retweet this message

 

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Childless Adults Aren't Monsters , An Open a Letter To Legoland Discovery Centre

Dear Legoland Discovery,

I've just read this story. In it you basically defend and stand by your policy that adults are not permitted into your venue without a child! I read it and it made me feel really cross, first of all I'm not going to bring up disability rights and the awful treatment of a man who has been coming to your centre for SEVEN months. Before you decided to treat him in such a manner, I think that's quite awful but that's actually not my issue here.

Selfishly I'm cross for my previous self, the one who worked in visitor attractions, and loved visiting them, I'm not alone either I know lots of childless couples who would happily while away an afternoon wandering around a visitor attraction with their bestie/partner/spouse, and hell one with Lego to play with is just an added bonus! So I'd be mortified if I turned up and was turned away for not having kids because basically what your saying is anyone wanting to come look at cool Lego without kids is a paedophile/criminal/deviant/weirdo/troublemaker right? Lets not mess around here let's not sugar coat it ...

' a spokesman for Legoland Discovery Centre defended the policy and said the venue ran regular evening events for adults.

He said: "Our policy not to permit entry to groups of adults, adult couples, or lone adults, regardless of circumstances, who are not accompanied by a child or children under the age of 16 is we believe therefore appropriate and the best way to constantly maintain a welcoming environment for our young visitors.

"We make no apologies for this policy and believe it to be reasonable and appropriate, and one on which we make no exceptions.'

I just don't think you get the insult here to anyone, regardless of ability, if I wanted to have a day trip away and do some cheesy tourist things pre-children or even now should we ever find ourselves on a grown up weekend! I shouldn't be made to feel like some kind of depraved freak, What exactly is so unwelcoming about childless adults? Really I'd love for you to explain. Because let me tell you I've never encountered this policy in any attraction that I've been to without children, and there have been many ...

• London aquarium
• The London Eye
• Newcastle Discovery Museum
• The Great NorthMuseum
• Many London Museums
• Life Science Centre
• Edinburgh Dungeons
• Blackpool Zoo
• Edinburgh zoo
• Our Dynamic Life
• Royal Museum in Scotland
• Eureka
• Port Aventura
• Galleries and museums across the world

I could go on but I think I've made my point clear and sadly so have you. Basically all grown up visitors without children have an ulterior motive or no ability to behave appropriately and it's never occurred to you to just have vigilant staff keeping an eye on all customers to ensure that everyone enjoys the experience in a 'welcoming environment'.

 

Yours with disgust

The Monkeyfooted Mummy

 

 

 

 

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#Mummymakeover Weekly Weigh In - Week 3

You may have seen my post yesterday, apologising in advance to my lovely consultant, basically after what I thought was a terrible week I assumed I would be disappointed on the scales this weigh in. But I'm delighted to say I lost ....

Which made me re think the big fat grump I had yesterday and look at the food diary I (half) filled in this week. Turns out I'm now eating speed food without even thinking about it and the choices I've made HAVE made a difference. You know what else makes a difference? Staying to class listening to the other members talking about their food and how they overcome struggles. I will admit 'sprout soup' is a recipe I've decided to ignore BLEURGH! but I pick up lots of ideas for new dishes and this week even shared my newly discovered recipe for

'Fakeaway' chilli sauce, I swear it's just like the kebab shop!

So I've come out of today's Slimming World meeting spurred on to try even harder and eat even more free food and LESS chocolate!

See you all next week, there may be a celebratory 'award dance'!!

 

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H&A Bathtime Buddies -Review

As you can imagine, the monkeyfooted mini's jumped at the chance of reviewing these Squirting Ducks. They are part of the Bathtime a buddies Range which includes Crayons, Monkeys, Clocks and Bath Tidy's to name but a few.

These ducks are brightly coloured flexible pastic and just the right size for little hands, my littlies loved them and they had lots of fun deciding how to review them, this is the end result....

As you can see these are a real winner in Monkeyfeet HQ and have provided hours of fun both in and out of the bath. Available at Sainsbury, Tesco, Wilkos and Asda priced at only £2 I think these are a real bargain. Thumbs up all round from us!

 

We were sent these items to review

 

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#mummymakeover Excuses Excuses

An apology letter to my Slimming World Consultant

To My Lovely Consultant

Right now I'm preparing my excuses for when I see you at Slimming World tomorrow. 

• I put my back out so couldn't go shopping
• It's that time of the month
• I've not been as 'regular' as normal (don't you lve how much we memebers share with you?)

But here's the thing, I KNOW you've heard them all before, I know, you know that I'm making EXCUSES. I know you know that had I stuck to it 100% I would have lost and probably even got my Half stone Award. So I'm typing this now and making it public so that tomorrow I can just tell the truth...

• It is that time of the month and my inner brat has been whispering at me to eat the chocolate and I HAVE! I've had 4 Xurly Wurly's a Freddo and a wafer bar !
• That same inner brat has avoided going shopping because I plain old couldn't be bothered so I've not had as much speed Food as I should.
• And that leads nicely to yep I've not been as regular but no speed = slow tummy ! 

I have no idea why my inner brat turns to food when things aren't brilliant but she's always there whispering like a siren 'just buy the sweeties no one needs to know'. But I do, I know! I know I won't get my Easter bunny Bounce if I keep having weeks like these so, before I've even gotten on the scales I'm saying sorry and drawing a bit fat, nice slim line firmly under this week

I promise to try harder next week !

Apologetic Beat Wishes

The One Hiding In the Corner (but still staying for Image Therapy)

So yep you guessed it I'm not feeling positive for my half a stone award and tomorrow, why oh why do I let it all go to pot after one bad day?

How do you get back on track after a rubbish day or two? 

Eggs-ellent Lazy Lunch

I love Eggs, I find them especially versatile on Slimming World. There are so many boiled egg recipes that can be whipped up in no time and are totally syn free. This one is a particular favourite of mine, and goes lovely with soup....

• 6 eggs
  
• 12-18 slices of ham depending on size
  
• 6 Cherry Tomatoes
  

 

Preheat Oven to 180

1. Spray a muffin tray with fry light
   
2. Line each compartment with ham overlapping if very thin slices
   
3. Crack an egg into each compartment
   
4. Gently drop a cherry tomato in each egg
5. Bake for 20 minutes (egg should be set)
   
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes
   
7. Remove from tray and enjoy! 
   

An alternative twist is to finely chop and fry some onion, peppers and mushrooms then add the mixture to 6 eggs and mix well , divide the mix evenly, bake for 20 minutes.

*** there's no picture today because my family of Neanderthals ate them all before I could go upstairs for my camera!***

 

 

 

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Spring Is Coming - My Thankful Thursday

So there may be snow on the ground and my hat is firmly affixed to my head but Spring is just around the corner, the days are getting longer and the birds are singing, it won't be long peeps. And what better indication than this .......