Melton Food Festival

We went to the food festival in Melton . . . before my diet I thought I would ensure I went out with a bang! We enjoyed going around all the lovely stalls and sampling lots of lovely Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire local food including Farmers Fear cider (which we bought for our Christmas Spotlight Kid Party!

Trent Valley Bike Ride

We had a rare day en familie recently so we decided to take the Nottingham Big Track car free route and cycle to Beeston to the Victoria Hotel for our Sunday lunch. I think it is about 6 miles down the river from West Bridgford to Beeston, but it took us ages! Cas went in his bike seat on the back of Chris's bike, which was good, as spending an hour cycle with Cas trying to stick his hand down my jeans and laughing is off putting! Chris put up with it instead!

Who knew that beyond the Clifton bypass, we have such fantastic countryside along the river - right close to the City Centre . . well unless you Cycle or Walk you wouldn't - it is completely inaccessible by car, and clearly all the better for it.

Jimmy's Farm Harvest Festival

Hurray we went to the Harvest Festival at Jimmy's Farm and it was fantastic! The weather was just perfect which made the whole weekend really enjoyable. We went with our friends Sarah and Rob and their eldest little boy Sonny, who is the same age as Cas.

We stayed in our van and Sarah, Rob and Sonny put up their tent next to us.

It was a very civilised fest and even the toilets were fine - which is unheard of at a normal music festival! Even though it was a food festival as well there was not many food stall there . . . ! Most were at Bestival I guess. But the ones that were there were good ones.

There was loads for the kids to do. We did some den building in the woods.

And played with the really cool butterflies in the butterfly house.

We enjoyed the Charlie and Lola stage show . . .although we only lasted about 30 mins before Cas got bored and wandered off . .

In the day we walked around the food stall and looked at all the animals in the petting farm bits. There was also a big bouncy castle and a pirates playground. There was lots of story readings and little bits of street theatre for kids - but Cas is still a bit young to care to much about things that don't involve just jumping.

At night we put the kids in their PJ's and wrapped them up in their pushchairs and went to watch the music and dance at the bars - whilst quaffing from our wine box! Kept out the chill!

Would definately go to this festival or another kiddy type one next year - Camp Bestival maybe. Cas loved it and it was a fun for us cos we could enjoy time drinking and eating with our friends!

Cas's Photobook

Last year I did a Photobook of some of the best photos of Cas from his first year. Here is a link to the one I have done for his second year!
http://www.photobox.co.uk/creation/476503932

Brighton

We try and get to Brighton at least once a year for 2 reasons. Firstly because it is such a fantastic place to visit but moreover because our very good friends Will and Claire live right in the centre in the Lanes.

Cas enjoys Brighton for 2 main reasons, Ice Cream and throwing stones on the beach.

Will and Claire live above shops in the Lanes. This is the pub opposite where they live. The benefits of living in the centre is that on your door step is amazing shops and restaurants like Terreaterre and Choccywoccydodah - the downside is that, certainly in the summer, Brighton is very busy and it is noisy outside - especially with asmatic seagulls on your window ledge!

It was great to catch up with Will and Claire and meet their lovely and contented new baby Nancy. We enjoyed lots of walks along the sea front. Including stops at the Brighton Aquarium (great Victorian example of a tourist attraction!) and the Brighton Smokehouse, where we scoffed fantastic fresh smoked mackeral sandwiches - Cas loves Mackeral to eat and loves shouting and staring at the fish in the tanks at the aquarium!

Summer Sundae

We had a great time at the Leicester Summer Sundae festival. Not only is it just a good festival with indoor as well as outdoor stages (somewhere to shelter from the rain and indoor toilets) but it has lots of nice food stalls and a kids area. Cas was reasonably well behaved! He enjoyed dancing to some of the bands, however he REFUSED to wear his ear defenders so I didn't want to get to close to the stages. The photo above is about the only time he kept them on - for 1 minute!

Chris's band Spotlight Kid opened the indoor stage (which is the second stage). It was a fantastic show - video of one of the tracks below. However Cas was scared of the loud noise and the flashing lights - so we had to sit outside in the under fives indoor area. We still could listen through the doors though!

Cas enjoyed the Punch and Judy show, because he enjoys anti jewish domestic violence!! It was the only thing I have seen him sit down for for more than 2 mins ever!

Chris met some of his friends from work, one of which is Chris Parker who was Spencer in Eastenders! Here he is in an i phone speeded up film!

I hope that the festival at Jimmy's Farm which we are going to in September is as good!

Spotlight Kid - Can't let go