Adventure

Beatrice and I decided to have an adventure today.  

ad·ven·ture

[ad-ven-cher] 

noun- an exciting or very unusual experience.participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure.a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.

Without doubt it was both exciting and unusual and Bea certainly did take part, but was it a bold undertaking?  Was the outcome uncertain?

Well we had discovered that Alex from Cbeebies was hosting the Teddy Bear's Picnic in Legg Park today and we thought it might just be an adventure to journey down to meet him.  However, the weather was somewhat unseasonable...and by that I mean the rain was making you doubly wet as it bounced off the ground to soak you on the way up if it happened to miss you on the way down.  The chance of being hit by Noah's ark enroute was the risk involved (I only say that because I am convinced it has been raining continuously for the past 40 days).

When we arrived at Legg Park it was empty, completely empty.  We acknowledged that this was the uncertain outcome and so we amended our plan and headed into the castle.  Bea was slightly disappointed but ready to roll with the punches and have fun despite the fact that the array of teeny celebrities she was hoping to spot had been replaced with fiberglass historic models.  I was in the process of handing over our admission fee when I chanced to ask the assistant if she knew why the Teddy Bear's Picnic had been cancelled.  She informed us that it had just relocated to the Civic Centre.  

We sploshed in that direction very cheerily.  The hazardous weather was no issue for us in our summer raincoats and wellies.  As we arrived, there was Alex from cBeebies and Mr Topper with their two giant teddy bears singing songs and playing games with a room full of littles.

Meet Bertie Bear

"Drink banana, drink, drink banana"

For forty minutes we laughed, danced and sang the drink banana song.  Then Alex, Mr Topper and the Teddy Bears disappeared, promising to return in an hour.  We hastily utilised satellite technology to inform others of this new, dry location (removing the hazard of venturing out in the inclement) and bought some lunch.  As we waited on our grub, Bea was able to ride the vintage carousel, have a balloon flower modelled for her and dance with Peppa Pig, Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Goofy and Fireman Sam.  We also had a chance to review our photos...this is my favourite....

 

Bea's new bff

...and look at Bea's latest addition to her Disney autograph book which says "To Princess Beatrice, Thanks for having fun today, Love Alex"  We also discovered that four weeks ago he got his own little Bea. 

Then the Strongs and the Gastons arrived and the show resumed.  This time they got to learn "agado" and take part in the Teddy Bear Parade.  The mayor of Carrickfergus judged the host of teddys before him and decreed that Max's monkey was the most colourful.  The presentation of a Teletubby lunch box to Max resulted in the colourful monkey being abandoned with Molly and the lunchbox continuing the parade.

Dancing the conga

Now if you are not already jealous, I'll just add that there were also bouncy castles and face painters there...oh yes, and it was free.  Merci Carrickfergus Borough Council.

Now go, and have your own adventures!

Under the Sea

It is no secret that Miss Gaston loves Ariel.  I suspect she may have changed her name to Ariel and just not told her Daddy yet.  Thus it was no surprise that she choose an "under the sea" party to celebrate her 6th birthday.

You know I always enjoy the little details, so here are a few...

Table confetti
(yes, Bea has brought some home)

Little Mermaid toppers

An aquatic feast

Happy Feet and Flippers

Once again we had a fabulous time at a perfect party.  When we arrived home, Bea was gushing in her description of the party to her Daddy, stressing that "I got so much stuff*, look at all the things in my party bag, and this (holds up keyring) and I made an octopus"  The craft table was one of the highlights for Bea.

* YES...I know I have raised a materialist.

Psst...it's an octopus

The huge bouncy slide was also a hit (and thankfully not too many children hit the floor...)  The inflatable whales were also incredibly popular.  

Arriving at the church hall, Arlene noticed something, or rather, she noticed no thing.  There was no giant helium balloon!  Tim was quickly dispatched to remedy the situation and arrived back to the church with an overgrown "6" at exactly the same time that Alana's Granny and Granda arrived with an Ariel balloon.  He found this very funny.

Tim's balloon did cause quite a crisis later though...

Yes...you guessed...

When the six hits the ceiling, it's gotta be time for birthday cake...

I don't know about you, but I think the little icing frill just "makes the cake.

Then the little mermaids pulled some funky moves on the sea floor as they played musical statues.  Which was IMPOSSIBLE to judge!

Thankfully they all managed to earn a prize from Arlene's bottomless pit bag of "ariel" themed gifts.  There was just enough time to pose in the photo prop before I started to deflate the jumpolene.

Birthday Girl with Dad and Mum

Then when it had deflated an hour later, we headed home.

Well done Gastons, a very groovy sub-aquatic shindig!

Footy Fun

Nope...Max is not 10...he is actually 3.  If you would like the proof...here is his actual birthday party.  However, as his birthday fell during Castlewellan, his football birthday party was today.  If you would like to know how to host a super soccer shindig, this event was brought to you by "Shirley's Perfect Parties" (c) 

Firstly, create a blow football pitch using margarine tubs and your old bedroom furniture.  If that seems too easy make some origami players and give them a tray football pitch to play on.

Then have a blindfold, footballer stickers and a pin the footballer on the poster type of game.  Congratulations Miss Gaston whose sticker was stuck in the perfect place.

Then have some relay races.  (Please do not tell Bea that she is all alone on the pitch here as everyone else has finished...she had inherited the Richardson competitive streak and may huff for quite some time)

Have a very cheeky cheer to finish the games with....

(and for the record, Shirley smells lovely)

Have a tattoo parlour for the wanna-be Beckhams (both David and Victoria).

Bring lots of washable markers and football pages to colour in.

I think Phoebe is designing the new Dutch kit.

To begin the pre-season training, have a bouncy slide

and encourage the team to pull some fancy shapes...but don't teach them how to dive.

Then at half time remember that oranges are so passé...

...football shaped sandwiches are the way to go!

Remember to encourage your guests to play with their food.  I particularly like how Zachary has set up two grape teams, ref and linesmen sausages and a chocolate football football.

The birthday cake was quite obvious...and quite obviously Max was delighted with it.

Then to develop upper body strength, get the players to wallop a football pinata. 

and where possible, make sure the birthday boy smashes it.

It is as easy as that ;)

Summer Holiday

So begins our annual trip to Castlewellan. Why, given that the forestry service nicknames the week "Wellys and Bibles" do we attend year after year?  Perhaps the answer lies here?

Our holiday started off with heavy rains, winds which sent my hair horizontal and the laptop refusing to play our dvds...so on the second day of our holiday we headed off into Newcastle to eat some ice-cream and buy a tv/dvd player for the caravan.  We also stopped in at the cutest little toy shop Thumbellina where Bea selected a crazy flipping ladybird.

The November weather didn't stop us having fun though.  We visited the Butterfly Farm at Seaforde which was beautiful (if a touch expensive)

and had many walks around the forest park.  Bea spent a lot of time whizzing about on her bike too.

Watch the first part of our holiday by clicking here.  Slowly our friends began to arrive for the holiday week.  Firstly the Johnstons arrived with their sparkly new trailer tent....

...and then the Glovers pitched their holiday mansion...

The campsite began to fill by Thursday and lost it's abandoned look.  We, being creatures of habit, had pitched in the same site as last year, although Bea did feel the absence of our campsite neighbours the Scarletts who were staying in more palatial accommodation this year.

With the arrival of the castle folk on Saturday, the holiday week finally kicked off.  Every day was filled with club in the morning AND evening this year for Beatrice, plus the afternoon activities.  This year we had a duck hunt, a princess and pirate party, a well teddy clinic, the bug hunt and rugby tots.  To see some of the activities click here

Taking Charlie Bear to the Well Teddy Clinic

As always there was a lot of fun to be had on Open Day with the waterslide followed by Magic George  in the evening.  I suspect more of the adults laughed themselves hoarse at the children's entertainer.  To see Open Day, click here.

Perhaps the Bug Hunt is more your style, if so watch it here.  To view Max's birthday picnic click here

and the final part of the holiday week is here.

Happy viewing.