Jawsome Sharks at Weymouth SEA LIFE Adventure Park

This year we became Blogger Ambassadors for our local SEA LIFE Adventure Park in Weymouth. It's somewhere that I've been visiting for as long as I can remember and it's lovely to be able to take my own children and know that we are going to have a guaranteed great day out!

We will be visiting lots this year to review all the exciting things happening but our first day out was to check out the Jawsome Sharks event. The first thing that caught my eye was the word PLAY-DOH - I don't know about your kids, but mine love the stuff so I knew this event would be a big hit!

Guests are invited to become a Jawsome Ranger by assisting Professor Finn who has lost all the model shark teeth around the park. Along the way, guests will discover facts about the different species of sharks and will have the chance to learn more about the SEA LIFE sharks and rays. 

We couldn't wait to get started! At the front desk we were given information sheets and pencils and off we went. The park is very easy to navigate and each creature zone is numbered so it's very simple to see everything. 

It didn't take us long to spot our first shark tooth in one of the tanks and we had to then decide which type of shark is came from. The information sheets have a picture of all the teeth so it's nice and simple for little ones to figure it out. 

One of the biggest draws of the park is the amazing play area Caribbean Cove - in my opinion it is one of the best in Dorset. It is always something Elliot looks forward to and this visit was no exception - he raced through the zones in record time to get to the the play area! 

Fortunately, Costa Coffee was open so I was able to relax with a sneaky hot chocolate while the children played! It's great that the play area is suitable for a variety of different ages - Elliot of course loves to climb up to the highest point and slide down the firemans pole but there's plenty for Erin too. She loves going down the toddler slide and sitting in the boat! 

I was wondering how I was going to drag the children away from the play area but fortunately there was a torrential downpour which had us running for cover of the Ocean Tunnel. I think we might still be there otherwise!

I love the Ocean Tunnel and it's definitely my favourite zone - I was about to write that it's relaxing watching all the creatures swimming serenely above....it probably is relaxing if you haven't got two little ones nagging to find another shark tooth! "Come on Mum!!!"

Fortunately the rain had stopped so we headed towards one of the newest attractions at the park, Fairy Penguin Island. Here lives twenty of the cutest penguins you will ever see - the smallest penguins in the world in fact!

Back to the Shark Mission...after finding our last tooth we were keen to head back to Professor Finn in the shark lab. There the children handed in their findings and were given a prize which was a pot of play-doh. In previous events they have received a special pop badge so this was a real treat and less likely to get lost in the boot of the car! I was expecting it to be a mini pot of Play-doh but actually it was full size and there were plenty of colours to choose from...Elliot swapped his about 6 times before settling for turquoise!

The Shark Lab was a great place to learn about Sharks with lots of teeth on show and various items that can be found along the shoreline. My kids however were more interested in the activity tables where they spent ages playing with the play-doh and creating their masterpieces. There were activity sheets detailing how to make your own Play-Doh shark but Elliot was happy to go freestyle!

After a quick pose in the impressive Lego shark head, it was time to head home. We had a brilliant day and learnt lots of about sharks. We can't wait to visit again!

The Jawsome Sharks event is running from 16th February - 6th May 2019. For more information and to book tickets, please check out the SEA LIFE Weymouth website.

If you would like to read about our previous visits to SEA LIFE Weymouth, see here

*Disclaimer: We are Weymouth SEA LIFE Ambassadors and received an annual pass in return for regular reviews, but all thoughts and opinions are my own

Science of Magic - Half Term Fun at Winchester Science Centre

You may remember that we visited the Winchester Science Centre back in December and it was easily one of the best days out we've had as a family.

We were invited back to experience the brand new activities for half term and Elliot was quite excited to hear that the live science show was centred around the Science of Magic! He has several of his own magic sets so he couldn't wait to see what tricks he would watch.

The live science shows are running at regular intervals throughout the day ( 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2.30pm and 3.30pm) and can be booked online when you purchase tickets for the Science Centre.

We opted for the 11am one so when we arrived we headed straight downstairs and took our seats in the science show room. There are plenty of seats but little ones might want to sit on the end of the row to get a better view!

The show began with a pretty impressive balloon trick featuring liquid hydrogen - science wasn't my strongest subject at school but the show taught me a few things! I won't give any of the secrets away but you can expect to see a scientific take on the cup and ball trick, and even the show's presenter setting his hand on fire! (Not to be tried at home obviously...!)

It's a great show and well worth seeing if you are visiting this half term. It lasts for 25 minutes which is just long enough to hold the attention of the younger members of the audience.

February half term also sees the return of the You Are Here!, a hugely popular 30-minute planetarium show that combines live performances with the immersive 360 full dome planetarium experience.

The show takes you on a journey through space to discover "the most incredible, remarkable, mind blowing thing in the universe". Aimed at children and their families, they will love zooming into the planets and learning some facts along the way. The light up umbrellas are pretty cool too! Elliot said he really enjoyed "You Are Here!" and he liked seeing Mars best.

In between watching the science show and learning about the planets in the Planetarium, we had lots of time to explore the interactive displays in the Science Centre. And there are so many things to see and do! The kids were immediately drawn to the Colon Cafe again where they learnt about good and bad bacteria and what goes in and out your body. Elliot also loved the Science of Sport Zone where he tested out wheelchair basketball, took part in a rowing race and even found out how high he could jump!

There are two floors of interactive exhibits, plus the new Explorer:Space zone featuring 20 fantastic modular exhibits. With so much to see, there is something for everyone. Even Erin - she might be too young to understand the exhibits but she enjoyed "helping" Elliot! She also loved the construction soft play area and spent lots of time in here whilst the boys explored the Space zone.

We had lunch in the Hub cafe again but there are plenty of seating areas on the lower level of the centre for people bringing picnics. I also spotted outdoor seating and play area so this will be great in the Summer!

We had another fantastic day at the Winchester Science Centre - it is fast becoming one of our favourite places to visit. It is perfect for a rainy weekend and I guarantee there will be something for all the family to enjoy. We can't wait to come back!

Ticket Info: 

Tickets cost £12 per person with under 3's going free. If you book online at least three days in advance you will save 25% off.

The Science of Magic activities are free with admission and run daily 10:00-17:00 from
Friday 15 – Monday 25 February.

You Are Here! planetarium shows are running at least twice daily 16 - 22 February. Tickets cost £5.50 per person with General Admission or £8.60 standalone.

There is a £2 charge for visitors wishing to park on site.

For more information, please visit https://www.winchestersciencecentre.org/

*Disclaimer - We were invited to Winchester Science Centre in order to conduct an honest review of the half term activities.

Erin Turns Two

When Erin was born I had all good intentions of documenting her mini milestones by writing regular updates on the blog. Her last update was 13 months so I'm not doing too well there am I ;)

Having read some lovely children updates by other bloggers (loved this one by Sabrina at Mummy Stylist), it gave me the nudge I needed to write one for Erin!

Last week Erin turned two which I quite can't believe. I know it's such a cliche but time really does whizz by and they grow out of the baby phase so quickly. Erin is a walking, talking, independant toddler now and it amazes me!

For her birthday we hired a hall and invited her little friends. Typical second child, most of her friends were Elliot's friends but recently she has made some lovely new friends of her own at her swimming class and it was nice to invite them along too.

We booked Libby from Erin's Moo Music class to entertain the children and she worked her magic for a solid two hours playing games, singing songs and generally wearing everyone out! Erin had a fantastic time :)

Growing

Erin seems to be following in her brother's footsteps and is right at the top of the chart for her age/weight. Elliot was the same but his weight/height balanced out by the time he was 4/5, I'm sure it will be the same for Erin! She is mostly in 2-3 clothes but some shops seem to be on the smaller size - the t-shirt in the photo above for example is a 3-4 from River Island and seems so small. Her feet are a 6.5H and seem to be growing fast!

Food

She is currently going through a fussy stage and will not touch anything green or remotely veggie! She loves fruit though still...phew. She loves having toast and fruit for breakfast but isn't really a fan of sandwiches for lunch. She'd much rather have a 'picky'plate with some cheese, fruit, crusty bread, crisps etc.

Dinner times can be a challenge, I try and introduce new things but she would literally eat sausage, chips and beans every night if I let her! If she doesn't like something she will say "yuck, that's disgusting" and push the plate away. I don't force her to eat things as I don't really want to make a big deal out of it and she certainly won't be starving anytime soon!

Sleep

Erin has moved from her cot and is now sharing a room with Elliot, her on the bottom bunk. This might not be ideal in a few years time but they like it for now and it means our 3rd bedroom can go back to being an office! She likes having a drink of milk before bed and she still has a dummy for comfort. (it will be going soon though!). She's a bit of a monkey and won't self settle so we can't put her straight into bed because she'll keep Elliot up. Instead we sit downstairs while she has her milk, and with the lights very low/off. She'll normally drift off with a little back rub! Sometimes she sleeps through, if she wakes up she'll just come into our room. The easiest thing is to just pop her in with us and she'll go straight back to sleep. We definitely could do with a kingsize bed though, my husband and I spend most of the night clinging onto the edge of the bed for dear life while she stretches out in the middle! 

She still has a nap most days but this is getting trickier to enforce. If we're home she will sometimes drop off to sleep if I pop her in our bed with The Highway Rat on to watch but usually she'll nap in the car. I can normally get her inside without waking her! I prefer naptimes to be earlier otherwise she can be a pain at bedtime - if she sleeps later than 2pm then we have problems! Some days she will snooze for two hours, other days 20 minutes.

Development

Erin is a proper little chatterbox and has no issues with getting her point across. Popular phrases we hear are "oi! that's my book/game/toy/biscuit", "Ok Mummy!", "Yuck, that's disgusting!", "Go play with Elliot?" and "where/what are you Mummy?". I think it definitely helps having an older sibling because Erin just copies everything Elliot says and does. In the last week she has been trying to get Alexa to play songs...but she says "Sexa! Play Baby Shark!"

Erin has learnt to count to ten and we're currently working on her colours...everything is pink at the moment though!

Last week Erin started pre-school. It's a lovely little pre-school and it's where Elliot went so we already know all the ladies. She's only doing a couple of sessions a week but she absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back tomorrow!

Life in General

Having two children certainly keeps me on my toes, life is always busy and we do have lots of fun! Fortunately Elliot and Erin get on really well and they are quite happy to play together. Elliot is so good with Erin although sometimes I have to intervene when playtime gets a bit rough before someone gets injured!!

We don't really go to any baby groups but Erin has a weekly music class with Moo Music which she adores. We also do swimming lessons and are regulars at our local soft play cafes :)

I don't think Erin and Elliot look much alike these days, Elliot looks alot like my husband and Erin seems to be looking more and more like me....poor thing! What do you think?

Things Erin Likes
- Sausages
- The Highway Rat and pretty much all of Julia Donaldson's TV adaptations!
- Sticker books
- Hey Duggee and the stick song
- Andy and The Odd Socks songs
- Dancing/wiggling her bum
- Jumping in puddles
- Books
- Seeing her friends
- Playing with her kitchen
- Magazines, but only for the free gift and stickers!
- Peppa Pig
- Playing with Elliot
- Splashing in the pool
- Spending time with Nanny and Grandad
- Mr Tumble

Things she Doesn't Like
- vegetables
- Being in her buggy too long
- Kisses (only occasionally and on her terms!)
- Having to listen to my music in the car ("play tumble! want Tumble!")
- Brushing her hair
- Brushing her teeth