My Travel Bucket List - Transun Competition

Transun are running a competition at the moment for bloggers to talk about their travel bucket list and the winner gets a trip to see the Northern Lights - how amazing is that! There's something quite magical about the Northern Lights and I've always really wanted to witness it. This was a competition that I couldn't not enter :)

So here are my top 3:

1) Pacific Northwest Roadtrip

Our roadtrip would begin in Vancouver, somewhere I have always wanted to visit. We would spend a few days exploring before setting off over the border in the direction of Seattle. We would stop en route at Port Angeles for a whale watching excursion before heading on to Forks, home of Twilight!! I may be in my 30's but I got a bit obsessed with that book so if we were in the area it would rude not to stop at Forks for dinner and a few photos! And if we spotted a sparkly vampire on the way then that would be a bonus ;)
On from Forks we would drive down the coast to another location connected to one of my favourite films - Astoria, Oregon. Also know as where the Goonies was filmed! Every year on June 7th Astoria recognises and celebrates Goonies Day so of course we have to time our roadtrip to coincide with this!
From Astoria we would head back inland towards Portland before starting the 900 mile drive to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. From here we would be heading for our final destination - Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Ever since I saw the famous carved faces in Superman II it has been on my list of places to visit!

2) Spotting the 'Big 5' on Safari, Tanzania

This is one for Elliot really although it is definitely something I would like to do before I die! We've visited safari parks in the UK (Longleat is our fave) but there's nothing like seeing an animal in it's natural environment. Whilst on safari we could spot the big 5 - lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo and leopard. But also a whole host of other animals that Elliot has only seen in books before. I would like Elliot to experience different cultures so a visit to a local village would be a must. And it would be great to show him Mount Kilimanjaro and tell him that once upon a time, Daddy climbed right to the top!

3) Japan

My sister was lucky enough to visit Japan a few year ago and I'll admit, I was a bit envious! Everything just looks a world away from life in the UK - the ancient history, the Geishas, the temples, the food, the cutting edge technology, the karaoke bars (!!), the fashion of the Harajuku girls, the bullet train, the people.  It would be a fantastic opportunity to learn more about a different culture. I would also love to see the snow monkeys in the hot springs!

So there we have my top 3 travel destination - I didn't realise how difficult it would be trying to narrow my choices down. And I kept getting distracted by amazing photos online!

If you'd like more information on the competition, please visit the Transun website but be quick because it closes on the 30th April!

 

Getting our kicks on Route 66

Following on from my last post about our RV Roadtrip, I wanted to blog about our Route 66 roadtrip in 2009. Can't believe it was 6 years ago, one of the best experiences ever!

After our RV roadtrip we really had the travelling bug and decided to plan our next trip. Before we knew it, we'd booked our flights and were planning a 3 week holiday driving from Chicago to Los Angeles taking in 7 states! We had a lot of ground to cover so a lot of planning went into this holiday. I love the planning bit, it's almost as fun as the holiday! We decided to pre-book around a third of our accommodation and this gave us an idea of where we needed to be each night.

Our trip began in Chicago and we spent 2 nights squeezing as much sight seeing in as possible - what a great city! We admired the views from the John Hancock building (spectacular), visited the zoo (free!), ate the famous deep dish pizzas (yummy), saw the Millenium Park bean (shiny) and even rode Segways (cold!). The Segway tour was brilliant fun and a chance to see Chicago from a different perspective - we were the only ones on it too so it was like having our own personal tour guide!

Route 66 begins in Chicago so we picked up our hire car and off we went, with our trusty sat nav all programmed and ready to take us across America. We found some really good resources before we went which enabled us to programme our whole journey although we also had books and maps incase something went wrong which as you know can happen if you're relying on sat navs!

For those that don't know, Route 66 or the Mother Road as it's sometimes referred to was one of the original highways within the US Highway System. Starting in Chicago, Illinois it winds right across the US going through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and finally ending up in Santa Monica, California. It is 2448 miles long! Unfortunately, since the introductions of the interstates lots of towns along Route 66 have been completely bypassed and have struggled to survive. Which is a real shame because there's so many weird and wacky things to see along the way!

Lots of the museums and attractions along the route rely heavily on tourism and we found everybody to be so friendly, they were really interested in where we were from and what made us drive Route 66. One stop we made was at an old fashioned gas station in Missouri. We were taking some photos and the owner came out to talk to us - what was meant to be a 10 minute stop turned into a 2 hour chat! He was so knowledgeable about Route 66 and gave us so much information, as well as posing for pics! I've since learnt that he passed away this year so I'm glad we got to meet him and will always remember his little part of Route 66.

Some of the odder sights on Route 66 included a few giants along the way, a giant rocking chair, a derelict blue whale water slide, a bottle garden, cars buried in the ground, a shop that sold 100s of different fizzy drinks or 'pops'', barbed wire museums (yes really!!), wigwams, petrified forests and much much more. (We did actually visit the barbed wire museum to use their loos but who knew there were so many varieties?! )

We stopped off at some great cities on our route including St Louis, MO. You've probably seen it's iconic archway on TV before - I had but until I visited, I had no idea that tourists could actually go up in it! Not good if you're claustrophobic but great views at the top! We even got to watch a baseball game whilst we were there - didn't really have a clue what was going on but the atmosphere was great! We had a quick stopover in Amarillo and ate some amazing steak...and tried to get that bloody Amarillo song out of our heads! We even got to revisit some locations from our last roadtrip - being so close to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, it would have been silly not to stop again. The Grand Canyon was just as amazing as I remembered - and it was better weather the 2nd time around so the colours looked a lot brighter and clearer. Las Vegas was as tacky as we remembered but it was a fun couple of days rest and nice not to have to drive anywhere!

Albuquerque was another favourite City - we sampled some amazing New Mexican food here off the beaten track. (Thank you Trip Advisor!). We even got to visit the world famous balloon fiesta - never in my life have I ever seen so many hot air balloons in one place! We went to the evening parade and all the balloons were lit up and tethered, such an amazing sight in the darkness. We then went back the following morning at the crack of dawn and watched all the balloons take off - standing in a freezing cold field was definitely worth it! And having a green chilli burrito for breakfast was definitely a first.

The food played a big part in our trip - some of our foody highlights included frozen custard (like a really thick milkshake only better), quality burgers in some the best diners we've ever been in, amazing steaks, homemade cherry pie, hotdogs at the baseball game, the best buffet in the world at the Bellagio Las Vegas and some pretty spectacular breakfasts. Oh, and the carrot cake in Seligman that was big enough to feed an entire army - BEST CARROT CAKE EVER!! Lets just say it wasn't a good time to be on a diet ;)

Our Route 66 roadtrip ended up in Santa Monica, California and it felt like such an achievement seeing the final sign on the pier! It was such a great trip but we could have done with an extra few weeks to experience everything Route 66 had to offer. We would love to do it again in a few years but drive the other way round, so LA to Chicago.

The only negative of our entire trip was that we made a massive cock up and ended up leaving our laptop in Barstow, California!!! We checked in at our hotel in Santa Monica and panicked a bit when we couldn't find the laptop - I blamed my husband, he blamed me - there were a few cross words! Fortunately the hotel maid in Barstow had found our laptop in the room and they were so so helpful getting it back to us. We didn't have enough time to drive back but we eventually ended up paying for it to be shipped home. That bit cost more than the laptop itself but the photos of our holiday were just too precious to lose! So there's a lesson, always check your room before checking out ;)

RV Roadtrippin' USA

Whilst reading one of my favourite blogs, Life With Baby Kicks, I saw that Laura had written about her travel bucket list. It got me thinking! Before Elliot and before owning our own business, my husband and I were fortunate to have some pretty amazing holidays. We aren't really beach people and we generally like to explore, sample local dishes, do a bit of everything! We love a good roadtrip and two of my favourite ever holidays were driving holidays in the USA. I'll do a separate blog post with my bucket list but I thought I'd tell you all about our USA holidays.

In 2008 we hired a motorhome (or RV as the Americans call them!) and drove from LA taking in sights such as the Joshua Tree National Park, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Death Valley, Yosemite, Zion and Bryce National Parks, Vegas, San Francisco and the amazing Big Sur in California. We were on the road for 3 weeks and we had done some serious planning with our itinerary so we knew how much we had to drive each day and where we needed to camp each night. The was fine for most of the holiday but we did have a bit of an issue near Death Valley. The route we were meant to be taking included a road which was no way suitable for an RV - so we had to take a 7 hour detour!! That day consisted of mainly driving....we were fueled by beef jerky (hubby) and cheetos (me) and it was a bit relief to finally reach our camp site!

Seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time was just amazing, can't put into words how beautiful it is! Of course I'd seen it in pictures and on TV but it's so much more impressive in the flesh!

Monument Valley was another location that took my breath away. It's so familiar but so so awe inspiring and I could have sat there all day just taking the view in. We would have loved to have driven round the famous stacks but it just wasn't doable with an RV....next time!

One thing we weren't prepared for was the weather. We went in May and stupidly thought the climate would be warmish, similar to here. But no, some of the national parks were so cold that we had to buy extra hoodies to keep us warm!! And so much for worrying about getting too hot in the RV, we used the heater more. And let me tell you, walking from the shower block in shorts and flip flops back to the RV when there is snow on the ground was pretty chilly! Of course once we got to the coast it started to warm up although going over the Golden Gate bridge on an open top bus was one of the coldest moments of my life!

Of course we couldn't drive through Nevada and not visit Las Vegas so we planned a two night stopover. What can I say about Vegas...it's loud, it's in your face, it's brash - it's exhausting! The hotels are massive and there's so much to see....and it's great for people watching! Whilst in Vegas we got tickets for the Penn and Teller show - my husband loves magic and their show was brilliant. And I got pulled up on stage to be part of a pretty impressive trick involving my glasses and a sledgehammer!

We really enjoyed visiting the National Parks on our trip - everyone is different and the scenery just takes your breath away. Yosemite was our favourite - although we stayed for two nights, we only got to see a very small bit of it and would love to return one day. We even saw a baby bear! We won't be staying at the same campsite though - I felt like I was in a horror film and the showers had to be seen to be believed!! (It's making my shudder just thinking about it again!)

San Francisco was a brilliant place to visit and probably one of my favourite citys in the world. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit Alcatraz as we hadn't prebooked and the tours were full but this is definitely on our list for next time! We had lots of yummy food in SF including the best clam chowder ever and an amazing chinese buffet in Chinatown. We were sad to leave!

Driving down the Pacific Coastline from San Francisco to LA is one of the most scenic roadtips you can do and it certainly didn't disappoint. We spotted a couple of elephant seals on the beach whilst driving so pulled over to have a look....and then realised that the beach was absolutely full of them! It was the most amazing sight and one of the highlights of the trip.

Another highlight was seeing David Beckham! He was playing for LA Galaxy at the time so we managed to get some tickets for the match on our last day of the holiday. I'm not really into football but it was a totally different experience seeing it over there - the stadium was massive, the fans were really friendly and they even sung the Star Spangled Banner! We had amazing seats right near the pitch too and it was very surreal being that close to Beckham!

It was such an amazing holiday and I would totally recommend it. There is just so much to see in the USA and there are different landscapes around every corner! Travelling by RV was really fun and it was definitely an experience living out of a suitcase for 3 weeks!

Hope you've enjoyed reading about our roadtrip - I will do another blog post of our Route 66 Roadtrip soon :)

Monkeying Around at Monkey World, Dorset

Today we braved the changeable weather and visited Monkey World which is a 30 minute drive from where we live in Dorset.

Monkey World is a rescue and rehabilitation centre set in 65 acres of land and is home to over 250 primates, rescued from around the world.  It was originally set up in 1987 to provide a permanent, stable home for abused, Spanish beach chimps but nowadays visitors can see more than 20 different species. Monkey World even features in it's own tv show!

The last time I visited Monkey World was probably in the 90s so I was looking forward to coming back and seeing how the park had grown over the years. Elliot recently visited with my husband on a rare boys day out so he was itching to get back and show me his favourite monkeys!

We arrived at the park just after 10am when it opened and it was fairly quiet considering it was a weekend. Whilst we waiting for our friends to arrive we got a quick drink in the cafe and Elliot was overjoyed to see a little play area featuring lots of big soft play items. One of the monkey enclosures was located right next door so the kids could watch the monkeys swinging around whilst having a play. When Elliot was stood looking in the glass, one of the monkeys came leaping over and decided to do a wee against the glass - Elliot thought this was hilarious!! I'm sure it'll be one of the highlights he remembers from our day...like the time he saw a porcupine having a poo at Longleat! What is with little boys and bodily functions ;)

Once our friends arrived we set off in search of some more monkeys. Every enclosure is sign posted and you are given a map at the entrance so it's very easy to navigate. Even easier when you have a husband who's been before! And it's very buggy friendly with lots of paths and ramps.

One thing I noticed was that all the enclosures are very clean, the monkeys have lots of space to roam around and lots of things to climb/swing on. You can tell all the primates are well cared for and it's a world away from their previous lives.

Most of the enclosures have glass viewing panels so you can get some great views of the primates. The gibbons were especially fun, getting right up close to the glass and having a good look at us!

The park has several play areas dotted around the park including a large 'Great Ape' play area. Close by is a big picnic area which would have been lovely on a nice sunny day...unfortunately it started to rain when we got to this point so we didn't loiter!

Little legs were getting tired and hungry by around 1pm so we decided to head back to the restaurant for lunch. The boys had a kids meal consisting of fish fingers, chips and beans and us adults had jacket potatoes. Everything on the menu was great value and the portions generous!

Our final stop for the day was the gift shop and it was a monkey lovers paradise! My husband is a bit of a sucker for gift shops when Elliot is around and I knew we wouldn't be leaving empty handed but Elliot chose a packet of plastic lemurs to go with his other animals at home! Could have been worse, he could have set his heart on the giant stuffed monkeys ;)

We had a lovely time at Monkey World and will definitely be back soon. It's a great place to visit with children and we could have easily spent more time walking round if Elliot hadn't have needed food and a sleep!

For more information on the amazing work Monkey World do, please click here 

Plus size debates, Minions and Jack Bauer #LittleLoves

It's been a few weeks since I took part in this linky as we've been so busy - this month is just whizzing on by! Here's our round up of the week,  #LittleLoves style

Read

There has been a lot in the press this week about plus size fashion and then Jamelia opened her gob on Loose Women and insulted thousands of the nation's women. She said "I don't believe stores should stock clothes below or above a certain weight. They should be made to feel uncomfortable when they go in and can't find a size" . She then responded to the backlash by saying that she only meant extreme cases...people below a 6 or above a size 20 - oh well that's ok then!!! Idiot...

I've been reading lots about it, here's some of my favourite blogs:

The Not So Secret Diary of a Wannabe Princess: Jamelia - We Are The 'They' #WeAreTheThey

(Debz' hashtag exploded on Twitter and has been trending worldwide!)

Diamonds N Pearls - Lets Change The Conversation: An Open Letter to Jamelia's Ignorance

Mrs Bebe Blog - Opinion: My Plus Size Position

And lastly, a great write up on Huffington Post - here

Watched

Elliot has recently gone crazy for minions and we watched Despicable Me 2 yesterday. I thought he'd enjoy it being that it has minions in it but everytime the minions weren't on screen he said "this is boring!"...toddlers!!!! 

There's been a big void in our lives since we finished watching 24 last year but my husband has been binge watching House on Netflix. I hated it at first but he watches it every bloody evening so I've had no choice but to get into it! House is definitely no substitute for Jack Bauer though ;) 

Wore

My wardrobe has been pretty dull this week but Elliot's had a few new items. And we went a bit minion crazy!! The t-shirt and bag were from Asda and the hat and trainers were from Tesco - but they all match! I love the t-shirt, it's really bright and summery and looks very cute with the trainers. And he's been wearing the hat back to the front, because he's cool like that ;)

Heard

I have had this song on repeat all week - it's not a recent one but I just love it and it sounds so good up loud in the car with the windows down! 

Made

We made one of our faves this week, easy peasy fish pie. Recipe can be found here

Getting a bit bored with our weekly meals so I think I need to switch things up a bit. If Elliot had his way he'd have spaghetti hoops and sausages everyday! 

And lastly...

 We are in the process of selling our flat at the moment so I really need to make a start on the packing soon. Really don't know where to start though!! Hopefully moving into somewhere much bigger so looking forward to Elliot having more room to store his toys - our lounge might start to look like a lounge again and not Toys R Us!

Tomorrow I am taking part in a charity event with my choir. We are singing in the town square and I am hoping and praying for dry weather!!

Organix Goodies - Banana & Date Chunky Fruit Bars - Review

Organix have launched these new Chunky Fruit Bars as part of their Goodies range. They are available in two flavours; banana & date and apple & date. 

We were sent the Banana & Date bars to try and Elliot was very keen to see what was in the box! 

The bar is seperated into five bite sized chunks and can be easily broken off. Perfect for little fingers! The consistency is a little sticky but this is a good thing because it kept crumbs to a minimum and makes it an ideal snack to have in the car or on the go. 

As always with the Organix range, you know you are getting a great quality item and the fruit bar is even one of your child's 5 a day. The only things added are a teeny tiny bit of rice flour to stop stickiness and a a tiny drop of organic sunflower oil to help with the moulding. 

Elliot is a big fan of fruity snacks and he enjoyed these, he especially liked being able to break off the chunks. My husband tried them too and he also gave them a big thumbs up! I thought the bars tasted a bit fudge like, and that can't be a bad thing can it?! 

We will definitely be buying these again :) 

Disclaimer: We received the bars for the purpose of this honest review. All views are my own

A Day Out in Portland, Dorset

Sundays for us generally mean doing something together as a family. My husband works long hours in the week and Saturdays are normally football orientated so when Sunday rolls around we always like to have a nice day out. And especially as the weather has been amazing!

Last weekend we decided to visit Portland which is the southernmost point in Dorset. And if you're looking at a map of the UK, its the bit that sticks out like a little foot!

As you've probably guess from my previous posts, Elliot is a big fan of anything animal related and most of our days out centre around something animal-y! This time we decided to visit a place called Fancy's Farm which is a community farm and free to get in (they rely heavily on donations). We weren't really expecting too much from a free entry location but actually, we were pleasantly surprised!

The first animals we spotted were some horses, including a friendly shire horse who was being fed grass through the fence by some passersby. We grabbed some handfuls of grass and let him take it from us and he was so cute, he'd eat the long grass and then stamp his foot as if to say "more please!". I'm not usually a fan of horses (they scare me a bit!) but this one was very friendly.

The farm had lots of animals for us to see and they actually sell food for a £1 so we could feed most of them. The goats were funny - they came running over as soon as they spotted a cup of food!! Elliot was a bit unsure at first and most of his food ended up on the floor but he soon got the hang of it and found it hilarious when the goats tickled his fingers whilst nibbling the food!

Whilst looking at the baby goats inside the barn there was a bit of a commotion as a sheep was herded in, followed by one of the farm workers holding a lamb that had just been born!! We've never seen a lamb that new so that was definitely an experience..although Elliot seemed more interested in the chicks. (The feathered variety!)

There were lots of sheep to feed plus chickens, peacocks, wallabies, donkey, rabbits, pigs, ducks, geese...plus a friendly farm cat which Elliot took a shine to!

We spent a good hour and a half wandering around looking at the animals and the views are amazing being that it's the highest point on Portland.

After resisting the temptation to buy a bacon roll (pigs reared onsite!)  we drove a few minutes down the road to Portland Bill, one of three lighthouses on the island. We had a picnic and had a nice little walk around the lighthouse. We would have liked to have gone up it but it cost £7 per adult which was a bit pricy so we admired it from the bottom!

We couldn't go home without having an ice cream so Elliot decided on a mini milk..but after scoffing that he made a start on my Mr Whippy!

It was a lovely day out and Elliot slept like a log that night after all that fresh air :)

 

50 Things That Make Me Happy

I've seen lots of posts in the blogging world about things that make people happy...50 things to be precise! I've been tagged by Laura from Life With Baby Kicks and Amie from Mr P, Baby and Me so I thought I'd join and see if I can actually think of 50 things!! So, in no particular order....

1. Of course number one has to be Elliot and my husband Paul, especially as this blog wouldn't exist if Elliot wasn't around!

2. My family, we are very close :)

3. My friends, whether thats new ones or old ones!

4. Roadtrips

5. Getting a postcard

6. Naptimes!! (naptimes for me = blogging time)

7. My blog and all the lovely people I've met, or fun stuff we've been able to do

8. Jack Bauer (I miss 24...)

9. 30 Seconds to Mars gigs

10. BBQs

11. Going to Tesco on my own!

12. Cake

13. Ice cold cider on a sunny day

14. Finding a fiver hidden away in my wallet

15. Having the french doors open on a warm evening

16. Mums nights outs

17. karaoke

18. Pub lunches..actually eating out in general!

19. Family days out

20. Turtle Tots swimming lessons with Elliot

21. Seeing the scales go down at weight watchers

22. New clothes!

23. Having tea together as a family (don't get to do it in the week as my husband doesn't get home til late)

24. Fresh bed sheets

25. giggling about silly things with Elliot

26. Getting a tweet from someone I stalk..I mean admire! 

27. Holidays

28. Singing with my choir

29. An unseen episode of Peppa Pig (yes really....!)

30. Musicals - Les Miserables is my fave

31. Party Food (love it!!)

32. Hearing Elliot recite his ABC's :)

33. Hearing Elliot sing - so cute and funny!

34. Looking at old photos

35. Pub quizzes

36. Eurovision night with my family! 

37. Introducing Elliot to my favourite films, like ET

38. Sunny days

39. Singing Frozen songs in the car with Elliot

40. Cadburys caramel 

41. Watching Elliot interact with his friends

42. Lie ins (not that I ever get one!!)

43. Taking photos

44. New stationary

45. When Elliot says "I love you mummy!" without being prompted :)

46. hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows

47. Picnics

48. family get togethers

49. Reminiscing with old friends 

50. Getting home and putting my pjs on! 

So there you go, 50 things off the top of my head that make me happy. I'm sure there's lots more, it doesn't take a lot to put a smile on my face! 

I tag my sister Laura who blogs at Happy Days Out and Jeni from Poole Mamma xx

Panasonic Wish List

There used to be a time (before Elliot!) when we wouldn't think twice about purchasing a new bit of technology. And I'm sure he won't mind me saying but my husband is a bit of a geek and Stuff Magazine was his bible, gadgets have always been his thing! We even own three gadget repair shops here in Poole and get to see lots of different types of tech on a daily basis.

Despite all that, our technology at home is looking a bit dated. Our tv looks like a dinosaur compared with all the new slimmer models and my kitchen could definitely do with modernising! We're in the process of selling our flat and will be moving into somewhere bigger this Summer so a good excuse to do some window shopping on the Panasonic website...

Panasonic Lumix Bridge Cameras
I've been wanting to update my old Panasonic point & shoot camera for a while now and these ones are the next logical step up. Love the super high optical zoom, this is a really good feature if I'm snapping pictures at a concert and don't have seats near the front. 

Panasonic Juicer MJ-SJ01K
I'm guilty of not eating enough fruit and veg sometimes so having a juicer would definitely improve my intake!

Panasonic Washing Machine NA-168VS4
A washing machine with steam action that helps reduce wrinkles and ironing time gets my vote!! It even lets you refresh your clothes without washing!

Panasonic Coffee Maker NC-DF1
I'm not a coffee drinker but my husband can't function in the morning without one! Love the sleekness of this one, very smart

Panasonic Vacuum Cleaner MC-CL934
We have a rather bulky Dyson vacuum at the moment which is brilliant for sucking up cat fluff but not very portable. We live in a flat right now so it's not a big issue but if we move into a house then I'm going to need something a bit more lightweight for carrying up and down stairs.

Panasonic TX-65CR852B Curved 4K UHD TV
I don't know too much about televisions but judging by the online reviews, this looks likes the bees knees of TVs! It's a massive 65" and has four times as many pixels as standard HD televisions. Imagine the crystal clear clarity on screen - Peppa Pig never looked so good! For more info on 4K TVs, see below

* Disclosure - this is a sponsored post

Easy Fish Pie - Weight Watchers Friendly!

When I find a recipe that is simple and pleases everyone, it becomes a regular occurrence on my weekly meal plans. I haven't got the patience to faff about with loads of ingredients and the following recipe is so simple! It does take a little bit of prep time but trust me, it's worth it. It's also fairly healthy - I worked out the Weight Watchers points to be 36 for the whole thing so 9 per person isn't too bad at all.

Easy Fish Pie - Serves 4

Ingredients

1 packet of fish pie mix

1 packet of cooked prawns (optional, but we really like prawns!)

Colmans Cheese sauce mix

1/2 pint of skimmed milk

2/3 carrots

handful of peas and sweetcorn

2/3 large potatoes (I like to use sweet potatoes)

Method

1. Place your fish pie mix into a large ovenproof dish and add a drop of milk. Cover with foil and cook in a pre-heated oven (gas mark 5 should be fine) for around 25 mins

2. While your fish is cooking, chop your carrots into small chunks and place in boiling water. Turn heat down and cook for around 8 minutes

3. Peel and chop your potatoes and put in a saucepan with enough water to cover them. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender - around 15/20 mins should be ok

4. Once your fish is cooked, break up the chunks using a fork

5. Mix in your cooked carrots, peas, sweetcorn and prawns

6. Add parsley, salt and pepper

7. Your potatoes should be soft now so drain the water and mash

8. Make up the Colman's Cheese Sauce using the 1/2 pint of milk, this won't take long but you need to stir constantly so it doesn't go lumpy! 

9. Pour the sauce evenly over your fish/veg mix and cover with the mash

10. Cook in the oven for around 25-30 minutes, gas mark 6

I normally serve with broccoli to keep it healthy but it's up to you, a nice bit of crusty bread might be a good option! 

I'm not the greatest cook but this recipe is so simple and the whole family really enjoy it! I love the fact it's got loads of veg in it too. It also tastes nice heated up the next day for lunch....providing there's some left! 

Why Children Are Dangerous!

There are some things that people don't tell you when you're pregnant - what giving birth really feels like....how much sleep you're going to get (not much)....how much your life will change. But there's something I had no idea about before becoming a mum - that children are dangerous!!! Yep, you heard right. After getting whacked on the cheekbone by Elliot's head tonight (ouch...I might have cried) it made me think of all the other injuries that could happen with a small person around!

 1) Headbutting. Warning, this can begin as soon as your new bundle of joy starts lifting their head. It can occur when you're snuggled in bed having a cuddle with your baby and their head bashes back - your nose will usually bear the brunt of this! Equally, they'll headbutt you straight on - never seems to bother them but O.M.G it hurts like hell! True story, but Elliot accidentally headbutted my husband last year and fractured the root of his front tooth causing his crown to fall out. Ouch!!! (He wouldn't let me put a photo on here...)

2) Standing on Lego.  I'm sure we've all done it but standing on a rogue piece of lego when you're barefooted is one of the most painful things you will ever encounter!! You think you've cleared all the toys away but there's always that one bit that'll come back to bite you...literally

3) Eye poking. I've been poked in the eye by chubby little fingers, books, toot toot cars, breadsticks...the list goes on. The most painful one however was a stegosaurus's tail!

4) Scratching - Baby fingernails are as sharp as kitten claws but trimming them can be a real struggle...I had to resort to doing it whilst Elliot was asleep. And they grow SO FAST!!

5) Balls - Playing catch with a toddler sounds like fun but lets face it, their aim isn't too great. At some point, a ball is going to hit you in the face and it might hurt! This week we were out enjoying the sunshine at our local beach and Elliot was playing fetch with a little dog...well the dog was, Elliot was just throwing! Imagine a dirty chewed up tennis ball that was covered in sand and salty seawater - my poor mum got that ball thrown into her face!!

These are just the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure there's loads that I've not been lucky enough to experience yet! Have you been injured by your child?!