Disney on Ice 2014

So we finally got to our seats in Wembley Arena and had a great view down on the ice rink. Joshua and Brandon had sweet talked me into first buying them a slushy in a LED flashing Disney cup and some pop corn. Now call me old tight but £23 for 2 drinks and some popcorn is a bit steep if you ask me!!!!!

Joshua and Brandon with there flashing Disney cups.

Brandon scoops out some cherry ice with his spoon/straw.

The show opened with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy coming out in an old banger which broke down and needed towing.

So with Mickey broken down who better to come to the rescue than Tow Mater himself. It was an amazing start to the show and the boys loved seeing full size versions of Flo, Ramone, Sally, Mater and Lightning driving around on the ice. Joshua kept asking if there was real people inside the cars driving them. The level of detail on the cars was amazing and they danced around on the ice, slipping and sliding around until they eventually got Mickey's car started again.

Flo, Mater, Sally and Ramone.

Sally and Lightning race around whilst Mickey;s car smokes away in the corner.

Its race on.....

After the Lightning McQueen there was another set based on the Little Mermaid which was really good. Brandon got a little bit scared of the big Octopus witch type of character and started to grab on to my arm. But as in the story Ariel got her kiss from the handsome price and got her voice back.

The characters from Little Mermaid.

After the Little Mermaid there was quite a lengthy scene from Tinkerbell which to be honest really isn't my cup of tea. The boys seemed to enjoy it still but for me I switched off a bit and subsequently didn't take any pictures of video. Maybe I will have more interest in Tinkerbell, Fairies and Princesses once Holly is old enough to come alone. Anyway after this is was the interval and then the second half was predominantly Toy Story themed and was really enjoyable. In particular the ice skating to soldiers were awesome. 

Toy soldiers marching on the ice.

Slinky dog makes his appearance.

Rex comes out to the theme tune from Jurassic Park.

Buzz Lightyear standing in front of Rex. The evil ted (sorry don't know his name) turned Buzz into a bad space ranger and then Barbie and Woody mistakenly turned him into a Spanish speaking Buzz!

The evil ted and Mrs Potato Head.

All the Toy Story characters on the ice.

The children come out to play with Andy's old toys in the nursery.

The bad octopus character that kept all Andy's toys locked up in prison.

The above was only a fraction of the pictures I took today and I also managed to get some great video for the boys to remember the day by. They thoroughly enjoyed the show and barely spoke a word or even blinked during the 2 hour performance. As we left they were already asking when the next show was going to be on. Joshua still doesn't believe they were skating on real ice and was amazed that the ice skaters could run on the ice and he was really impressed with some of the jumps and spins etc. Overall today was a very different way to spend your Easter Sunday and the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Our tube trip back was much more pleasant as we correctly got on the Met line taking us straight to Liverpool St where the boys tucked into a McDonald's dinner whilst we waited for our train.

London Aquarium

Easter Sunday and me and the boys headed into the city for a rare day out in London. As Holly is so young and still breast feeding, Tina decided to stay at home with her whilst me and the boys had tickets for the afternoon showing of Disney on Ice at Wembley Arena. Although the show was not until the afternoon we decided to make a day out of it and head over to one of the museum's in the morning, then have some lunch and then head over to Wembley. En route the boys decided they wanted to go to the London Aquarium rather than a museum and so we headed down to the embankment. Now I know it is half term and Easter Sunday, but I really didn't expect it to be quite so busy.

 

We crossed the millennium bridge and headed through the crowds and the rain to eventually get to the aquarium only to be turned away as they were completely full and only accepting pre-paid tickets. The boys were gutted. They said they would probably open up again some time later but could not advise a time. So we started to head off to get some lunch when we stumbled across the London Eye ticket booth which also sold tickets for the Aquarium. So I asked them if I could buy tickets for today and get in straight away and they said yes! Reluctantly I paid full whack for the tickets as the boys were very upset and as a result of this I didn't use my Kellogg's voucher which would have saved me £20 on the adult entry fee. Anyway we walk back to the aquarium all smug with our tickets in hand only to then find out that they had opened it up to the general public again and I could have saved £20 - gutted! It wasn't all a loss as they queue was massive by this stage and having pre-paid tickets meant we just walked straight past everyone and into the aquarium.

 

Anyway it has been over a decade since I last went to London Aquarium and my has it changed a lot. To start with you walk over a glass floor as you enter the aquarium with some monster size sharks and rays swimming right under your feet. Brandon was a little nervous at first and sort of tip toed over the glass fairly quickly.



 

The glass floor that you walk over as you enter the aquarium.

Joshua and Brandon head in to meet some fishy friends.

Brandon and Joshua trying to wake up a sleeping fish.

The boys were fascinated by the jelly fish and asking lots of questions about how they sting you.

This rather friendly ray kept popping his head out of the water to say hi to the boys.

Joshua and Brandon in the shark tunnel.

There was one huge grouper fish swim over our head whilst in the tunnel. Brandon commented that this fish could eat his head!

Joshua and B in front of the smaller of the shark tanks.

What a stunning looking shark, and this one was probably 7 or 8 ft long.

This was the biggest shark in the tank which must have been maybe 11ft long or so. Joshua was convinced it was a Great White despite me telling him that they cannot be kept captive.

Joshua with sharks swimming over his head.

More sharks.

A beautiful close up shot of the very pretty but very dangerous Lion fish.

A tiny little sea horse grips on to the bottom of the sea grass.

My boys in front of another tank of large looking fish.

I definitely do not remember there being penguins in the London Aquarium. Brandon absolutely loved watching them swimming through the glass panel.

Joshua and Brandon in a shark cage.

Another piccie of Josh and B in front of the smaller shark tank.

Brandon was somewhat nervous to get his photo taken with this monster crab, even with the glass between him and the crab!

So we rushed through the Aquarium as Joshua really wanted his lunch and then headed across Westminster Bridge and back to the Embankment to make our way towards Wembley.

 

Josh and B on Westminster Bridge with the Millennium Wheel in the background.

Joshua, Brandon, Ben and some rain!!!

 

The tube trip to Wembley was a bit of a nightmare. Instead of heading to Wembly Park we jumped on the Bakerloo line to Wembley Central only to find 3 stops before the end everyone was turfed off the train due to track repairs or something. So we were directed on a bus trip to Wembley Central which took much longer and then seemed to dump us off in the middle of nowhere with me not really sure which direction the arena was in. After a 30 mins walk in the pouring rain and carrying Brandon most of the way due to his legs being tired and slow, we finally arrived at Wembley Arena. We arrived with about 20 mins spare before the start of the show, but now it was time to chill and enjoy the show which we had waited so long to see.

Good Friday at Hyde Hall

Good Friday is here and Joshua woke up early to find out whether the Easter Bunny had been or not. This year instead of the normal Easter trail I had laid out an Easter Hunt where they had to search out 6 Easter egg tokens whilst wearing a bunny mask before they could have their Easter eggs.

 

Joshua and Brandon wearing their bunny masks and carrying their baskets ready to search for the Easter tokens.

Brandon finds his number 4 token.

Scattered around the house were these rabbit signs with clues showing where the tokens were hidden,

Bunny Brandon finds another one hidden behind the dinner table.

The two boys had fun on the hunt but surprisingly both said they preferred last years trail as opposed to the hunt. But they did both find all six tokens and were subsequently rewarded with their haul of Easter eggs.



Brandon ready to bite into his haul of Easter eggs.

Joshua shows his haul of Eater eggs.

Little Holly obviously couldn't join in the Easter hunt, but she certainly did well for her first Easter and has so far picked up 7 eggs of her own!!!!

Holly is swarmed by her haul of Easter eggs.



It was all too much for Holly and after breakfast she decided to have a nap in her door bouncy!

That looks mighty uncomfortable with her eye resting across the plastic windshield.

After finishing breakfast and tucking in to some all important Easter chocolate, we decided to spend Good Friday at Hyde Hall where they were having a Lindt Easter Bunny Trail.

 

 

Joshua and Brandon with a giant Lindt Bunny.

Hang on, now that's a giant Lindt Bunny.

 

The trail had 6 clues scattered around the gardens with 3 multiple choice answers for the kids to work out. The fourth clue was to count the number of Lindt rabbits hidden around the "Dry Garden".

 

Brandon finds 1 of the 8 rabbits hidden in the Dry Garden.

 

There were loads of Tina's favourite flowers blossoming all over the garden, namely tulips.

Brandon in a giant pergola.

The gardens are just beautiful and Joshua gave us the full guided tour having been the only one of us to come here before on a school trip.

Loads of big Koi in the pond, Joshua seemed to think one of them was called Josh.

A lovely picture of Joshua looking through a flowering tree.

Joshua and Brandon on the bridge.

A spot of tree climbing for Joshua.

Everyone knows just how tight I am, so here is a top tip for going to Hyde Hall. Let the kiddies take a kite each and they get in for free, happy days. Today was a perfect day for flying kites with some wide open fields in the gardens and some good winds up on the hills.

Brandon gets ready to fly his dragon kite.

Joshua playing in the kids play area.

Brandon on some balancing stepping platforms.

Holly had woken up so she went in the harness and I tool her up the kiddies climbing tower.

She then got to have a go on a slide for the very first time and seemed to really enjoy it.

The boys were fascinated with these little heart shape flowers.

Anyone for a chocolate bunny.

All this Easter Trail stuff had tired Holly out and it was time for an afternoon nap.

The lawns and hedges in the garden are just beautifully maintained.

Joshua and Brandon losing a tug of war with an old plough.

Who's that in the planting shed over at the vegetable garden.

The vegetable garden had some very scary looking scarecrows!

Two tired boys sink into the grass meadows.

Brandon being a scarecrow by wearing two baseball caps!!!

Me practising some macro photography on some beautiful flowers.

Brandon all smiles as we walk through the garden paths.

We all had a great day out and thoroughly enjoyed Hyde Hall gardens. Its amazing that we have lived here for so long and never been here before despite it being virtually on our doorstep. I would love to take the kids back in the summertime once a lot more of the flowers have blossomed as I would imagine it would be so colourful. At the end of our visit we picked up a few vegetable plants for our vegetable patch at home and Brandon bought a plant for the garden (amazing that he wanted a pant rather than a toy!!!).