Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
Since the first time I watched Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 2001, I’ve been hook into this magical world or wizardry and witchcraft. I am not a bookworm and had not read any of J.K. Rowlings’ books but I did watch all the eight movies. On the other hand, Mr C had read the books and knew the story in much better detail than me.
Last week, we were invited to Alton Towers to try out Goodfella’s selfie-powered vending machine at Alton Towers. It was to celebrate the launch of the new Goodfella’s The Smiler Pizza named after Alton Towers’ hypnotic 14 loop rollercoaster.
CBeebies Land opened at Alton Towers resort on 24th May and it include rides, immersive play areas, live experiences and character appearances and will be a fun and safe environment for preschoolers to play and learn!
Hi all, I’m blogging to you all the way from Australia thanks to International Blog Swap Day hosted by Digital Parents and Tots100, oh and of course Eileen from ET Speaks from Home.
As a Nutritionist, Personal Trainer and Mum I blog on just about everything health, fitness and parent related – The Kids Menu. This weekend the kids and I had planned a trip to the local Botanical Gardens and I thought it was not only a great opportunity to get the children outdoors but also a perfect way showcase some beautiful Australian bush to you.
Recently, I wrote a local guide for Lichfield for tots100 – if you have not seen it, click here. Barton Marina is one of the places I mentioned. It is a unique Trent & Mersey canal-side attraction with fantastic cafés and restaurants, shopping and fabulous walks around the beautiful lakes and woodlands. We love to take our children there for a bike ride around the lakes and to eat ice cream.
Yesterday, we had our photo shoot to update our blog photo with our regular photographer – Susannah Conway Photography. I am so excited that I can’t wait to update it soon! After that, we drove down to Barton Marina for Thai food! It had been a long time since we last ate Thai food! They had a buffet menu and there was a good selection of foods. It was very delicious and I would recommend going again.
We were fortunate to be invited to attend The National SEA LIFE Centre in Birmingham, sneak preview to meet the new members – PENGUINS! The new Penguin Ice Adventure will open its doors on 7th April 2014.
The children were very excited as they knew that they are going to meet Santa and get a lot of presents from him. This was our third time going to Chasewater Railway Santa Special with friends. I am always excited to show my children about train heritage. Mr K loves train and loves to build his wooden train track all around his room.
Santa Special is always very busy during this time and luckily, we had pre-booked our tickets a while ago. After we met our friends there, we all went inside the carriage to be seated. All the children were not impressed with the old dank smell in the carriage but I thought this provided quite an authentic feel! The whole train trip was about 20 minutes, up the track and then back down. We were able go out the carriage to watch them swap the engine over from the front of the train to back of the train before hopping back inside to continue back to the start.
Mr K is always very keen on outdoor activities like rock climbing and football. I am so glad that Cannock Chase Go Ape have newly open the Tree Top Junior adventure earlier this year. I had only briefly read about them on their website but had no clue what to expect or if Mr K would like it or not. So it was a bit of a gamble.
If you are coming down to Birmingham to do your shopping or to visit the Frankfurt Christmas Market, why not pop by to the Winter Skate. They are open for a limited of time only, until 5 January 2014, every day from 10 am to 10 pm. This morning, we were all so excited to don our ice skating boots as the children had never tried it before and it had been over 20 years ago that Mr C and I were last on the ice.
This half term we were invited to a fantastic and rare opportunity to stay overnight at the animal park and experience the atmosphere and sounds of the wild as the sun goes down. Of course, if you like what you read below, you are able to book this experience with Paradise Wildlife Park. Snooze at the Zoo Experience also includes a sumptuous continental style breakfast in Tiger Treetops and a special hands on tour of the zoo.
Paradise Wildlife Park is a family-run animal park located in Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, England. It took us over 2 hours to drive there. They are situated 20 miles North of London, just off the A10 near to junction 25 of the M25. They do offer a minibus service from and to Broxbourne Train Station which costs you £1 or free for under 2 years if you don’t drive.
Last month, while we went to watch Postman Pat, we also went to Mercedes-Benz World as it was nearby. It is located on the famous Brooklands site in Weybridge, Surrey. As this was an impromptu visit, we had not planned on any driving experiences, although you can book them while you’re there, and we had just missed their vehicle show. So we went exploring the exhibitions and got up close to legendary Mercedes-Benz vehicles! We were able to sit in many cars less than £80,000. The more valuable cars were tightly locked! My son was fantasising with all the cars.
Last month, Mr C bought a deal through Groupon for a family ticket to Wonderland. We are only 45 minutes drive away from Telford and he decided to buy it. My first impression is that everything is quite dated and needing a facelift. Most of the rides are free and suitable for younger children as they are quite gentle. It is quite a small park and we completed the park with rides within one hour.
Hatton Adventure Farm is located in the Warwickshire countryside with many family activities to offer for young and old. We all had a great time there and I would highly recommend them to anyone.
This Summer at Birmingham Airport, a fun and exciting children’s adventure has launched to give the thousands of youngsters a fun and engaging experience before they fly, and peace for the parents! We were fortunate to get a chance to experience it without having to fly!
The Sky Side experience is free to join and will start from the moment the child arrives at check-in and ends when they arrive at a themed Sky Zone. Each child will get a booklet to complete the simple and fun mission. Look out for Zoom!
I’ve been fortunate to live in London and whilst there, I did try to make a regular trip to go and explore this great city. To get a better vista, why not try ascending one of these fabulous attractions for sweeping panoramic views of the city:
