The Electric Forests

Every year, Bedgebury Pinetum gives us the opportunity to see its beautiful trees in a different light via an Electric Forest night walk. The trail is about 2km and we headed there around dusk so that the kids could have a bit of a play in the play areas while it was light. We then packed the tots into hiking backpacks and headed off into the illuminations. It was beautifully presented and great fun. There were themed, light-up kids natural play areas along the way and stations serving hot food and hot chocolate, so everyone remained happy throughout. The walk ended at the musical fountains ... what a lovely autumn evening out despite the cold :)

Make way for Noddy Party!

Wow where did that second year go!! Its amazing how time goes so slowly when youre pregnant and when babies are young and calm in the run up to their first year. Then suddenly they explode into little bundles of energy and similarly time flies along with them...

Anyway, as you would surely have realised by now figure Katherine has just turned 2. The invite perfectly summed up Katie as a "1 going on 2" year old ... a dolphin-mad, Bubboo-mad and Noddy-mad happy choppy!

Of course theres no denying I loved the theme, Noddy was actually my hero as a young kid too. I still distinctly remember my Noddy bedroom and duvet set that my mother diligently sewed up for me (my how the tables have turned!)

Anyway enough jibber jabber, moving onto the decorations.... Poundland kindly made this whole party feasible for me with the enormous Noddy posters they sell. I quite literally used them for everything :)

First one is here at the entrance of the party venue ...

Then here they are chopped up as centrepieces with brightly coloured balloons, and table cloth labels ...

And the party packs were as follows ...

Here are some cupcakes with the Noddy characters as rice paper toppers

Not to forget the large Dolphin cake with Rainbow jelly as requested by the Birthday Girl!!

The cake was modelled using Rice Crispy Treats and covered in fondant

Here is how the Jelly part came out ...

Here are some cakes with Noddy drawn by stencil using chocolate sprinkles

And lastly my favourite .... here is the look on the birthday girls face when she saw all the decorations :)

Barnes Wetland Centre

The London Wetland Centre is a 105 acre wildlife haven with many beautiful walkways set amongst lakes, ponds and meadows. It is home to many species of birds, bats, snakes, amphibians and insects, and you can spot wildlife from various tranquil "hides". Its a real oasis in the midst of the "Big Smoke" and great for kids to run free and explore, and for picnicking . There is a fab playground section for kids called "Explore", its got giant water vole tunnels, zip lines, a climbing wall, interactive water play area and fountain sprinkler to get them soaking! There is also an indoor 'Discover' section the "Pond Zone". All in all, an awesome day out, especially if the weather is good :)

Yes this is in London!!

Katie runs and runs and runs ....

Nothing beats a late summer picnic!

Katie & Luke playing in the teepees

Bird watching with Grannie

Enjoying Explore, birthday suit due to soaking clothes!!

Princess Diana Memorial Playground

The Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens is our favourite city destination when the sun is out brut force. Its the most incredible playground, with something for kids of all ages, and plenty of stimulating things to get little imaginations running wild.

The best part is the enormous beach upon which the gigantic pirate ship sits with climbable crows nest and portholes. Scattered around it are smaller pirate ships that swing, rock or are just there for make believe play. A water feature amongst the beach boulders keeps little toes cool in the summer sun.

Around this main feature are lots of little play areas including swings, seesaws, a very cool musical garden, lawns, wooden climbing sculptures, slides, walkways and wigwams. At the entrance is a small cafe and clean toilets.

The park has a main controlled gate so numbers are monitored at all times and only folk with kids are allowed in. The park does get full and once I managed to lose Katherine there (despite all the security, my heart skipped!!). I climbed the crows nest on the pirate ship with Chloe in one arm (much to the onlooking parents horror) but to no avail. Eventually i found her waiting at the pram, thank goodness she has some sense!

Oh well, back to the point, all in all highly recommended, its a kids dream!

The Main Pirate Ship

Captain Katie

A rocking pirate ship

Teepees for two please

The Musical park

Chloe at 2 weeks

Awesome tunnels  that go through hills

Feeding ducks afterwards at the Serpentine