Meal Planning Monday - 16 September 2013

16 September! How on earth did that happen? I am sure I was only preparing for the summer holidays a few minutes ago and now here we are staring down the barrel towards Christmas (99 days people, 99 days). This week is one of those that I have been dreading. Everyone's column on the calendar is full and it's going to take a time turner to help me make it through the week with my sanity unscathed.

Just in case you didn't get the Harry Potter reference

This week we shall be eating:

Meatloaf, smashed potatoes and veg

Cream Cheese Filled Chicken (new recipe)

Slow cooker gammon roast

Creamy gammon and veg pie

savoury rice

Brinner (aka: breakfast for dinner)

Chicken burgers

I can bet that at least one of these won't get made but I've given myself every advantage of getting through the week by using my slow cooker and/or preparing as much as possible yesterday. My life would be so much easier if my family ate soup, my husband ate pasta, my eldest son ate sauce of any kind, and my youngest wasn't so fickle. See what I am up against?

What have you planned for this week? Head over to Mrs M's if you're looking for more Meal Planning Monday inspiration

Oops!

Goodness me, this blog has been sadly neglected! I have been flat out with pretty much no time for any frivolous extras such as doing things I like, but busy is good in the land of freelance and doing my tax return this year was a much more positive experience than it has been in the past!

We are halfway through the summer holidays and the kids go back in three weeks. They will be starting new schools and I have spent an eye-watering amount kitting them out. Let's just say there had better not be any lost jumpers during the first term! Both of them, with their impeccable timing, needed new shoes six weeks before the end of term. Oldest is fine, but the youngest has already scuffed through the toes of his (Marks & Spencer - I am surprised they didn't last longer but then I guess their testing is less robust than my son's).

This is what we have been up to these holidays:
Gromit hunting in Bristol
Royal Welsh Show
Legoland Windsor
A visit to London (including an awesome Duckboat tour!)
Warner Bros Harry Potter tour
National Trust 50 Things activities at Tredegar House
Seeing Monster's University and Wolverine
Eating out
Haynes Car Museum
Bovington Tank Museum
Celebrating birthdays
Hanging out


Phew! I feel exhausted (and broke) just reading that lot. The next few weeks will be quieter with only a few days camping in Dorset planned.

What have you been up to? I hope you're having fun. I'm going to do a more detailed review of some of our family days out that have been made even better as a result of the fab British summer we're having (and this year I'm not coating the phrase "British summer" with disdain and sarcasm). They're certainly worth a visit.

The Making of Harry Potter tour at Warner Bros Studios

This has definitely caught my eye this week, and is something I will be investigating further!

I am an avid Harry Potter fan. I've loved it ever since the first book and remember watching the first film in a
cinema packed with enthralled viewers, transfixed by how everything on the screen exactly matched the images JK Rowling created in my head. Every detail is just amazing and I rate the Philosopher's Stone as my favourite of the films. I love that it's such good escapism but contains enough real life detail to make it feel to a little bit of my brain that it's possible that maybe it might be true. The day I stop liking to let my imagination free is the day I die.

My eldest son is also a Harry Potter fan. Back in the days when he still wanted bedtime stories, I read him the entire series. Some nights we had to start bedtime an hour early just to fit 2 chapters in before he went to sleep. He's currently fixated with Harry Potter LEGO, partially due to the amazing models we saw at the Great Western LEGO show and has built some of his best models recently. 

To me the films are magic (no pun intended) and I was really excited to hear about the Warner Bros studio tour that's opening in spring 2012. Just hearing the music on the website gives me a thrill of excitement. It's certainly not cheap, at £83 for a family ticket. It costs less than a day at Legoland, but then it only lasts around 3 hours. I'm also not sure how suitable it will be for my 4 year old. I would hate to miss parts because he's bored and whingy and needs taking out.

We were planning a joint outing for the boy's birthday next year and this could be ideal. I just wish I lived closer and could sneak off and see it on my own while they are at school.

Review - Great Western LEGO Show

Last weekend was the annual Great Western LEGO Show. It's where members of the Brickish Association can display their models, and is the largest event of its kind in the UK. I found out about it when randomly searching for LEGO events earlier in the year. Having 2 LEGO mad children made it seem like the perfect outing. I stored the details away in the rusty old filing cabinet that is my memory and thankfully remembered a few days beforehand.

The venue is the STEAM Museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon. I've never been there before, having no interest in steam trains and (thankfully) having children who are not fussed about them either. I was really  impressed with the size and layout of the museum. It's definitely a place you want to go if you like old trains. It's right next to a designer shopping outlet so there's something for everyone... well, everyone who likes old trains or shopping. Oh, and parking is plentiful, nearby and just £1 - bargain.

The show itself was really good. I went with a friend and our 3 children, aged 9, 9 and 4. I have not seen my 9 year son as excited as that since we took him to Legoland for his birthday when he was 8. The first group of models we saw were mostly of Harry Potter scenes and they were just incredible. One woman told us her model took a year to build and I can well believe it. The attention to detail the builders gave their models, and their imagination and innovation when building them was impressive. It impressed me, and I don't 'do' LEGO, so you can imagine what the kids were like. The builders were very friendly and happy to talk to us about how and why they had built things they way they had. The boys got some great ideas.

The main hall had a huge array of all sorts of different types of models and they were all fantastic. There was also the chance for the children to make a mosaic panel and do a bit of building of their own. My favourite model was the Yoda with the light sabre that lit up, but the robot that moved and the massive cathedral at the front (sorry, can't remember which one it was a model of) also stand out. The introduction of LEGO minifigures adds a good dimension. Where else will you see a cowboy, a clown, and a cheerleader in church with an alien, a detective and an explorer?

Lego mosaic. Our panel is up in the top left somewhere.

 





The last part of the show was, of course, the shop. It's not your usual LEGO shop, but independent retailers selling LEGO. There's a good mix of used and new LEGO and the kids were incredibly happy with their purchases. I was happy as both of mine spent less than £10 each and got a lot of different bricks and pieces they put to use straight away.





If you're planning on going next year (it's on 6-7 Oct in 2012):

• Book your tickets in advance if you plan on getting there when it opens. We arrived about 10 minutes after the doors opened and walked past a queue of over 100 people. Well worth the £4 booking fee.
• take a camera
• don't expect to sit down for a few hours. There's no real seating as you go around. My 4 year old got a bit overwhelmed with all the people, colours and noise in the main hall, so we had to sit on the floor in the corner for a while with a restorative Mars bar. I don't mind sitting on floors, but you might.
• Talk to the people who built the models. They are justifiably proud of their creations and happy to share building tips and details with visitors. 
• Visit the shop first. It was uncomfortably full by the time we got there at around 12pm, and there were places where it was impossible to move.
• Watch out for the tables and cloths in the main hall area. The tables were not always sturdy, particularly with hoardes of enthusiastic children trying to get as to the models as possible without touching. They were also covered in cloths that were too long and puddled on the floor. It was easy for children to tread on them, pulling the cloth towards them and threatening the models.
• Be prepared to watch younger children like a hawk. Consider recording the phrases "Don't Touch!!" and "Stand BACK!" to replay at frequent intervals

The only drawback (apart from the hovering and watch the tablecloth-ing) was that we couldn't find any of the advertised building workshops and expert talks. The boys would have loved those.