Culture, Baby!

We had a lovely Friday in Covent Garden earlier this year. Thanks to a friend having some spare tickets, we were treated to a trip to the Royal Opera House. I've never been to the ROH and never realised how many different events are held there.

It is a huge, beautiful building and totally buggy friendly. We had tickets to see Sensory O, a Scottish Opera production for toddlers. It was a lovely, gentle story of a lion in the jungle. EDtot was a little concerned to establish that it was a friendly lion, but once that was settled she thoroughly enjoyed it. Each tot was given their own lion's tail to wear during the show and there were a lot of sensory props used during the performance that the kids could hold and touch.

EDtot was absolutely thrilled when she was able to play with the props after the show and even better, ride on the "train" that was used in the jungle. With a free CD of the music included with the ticket, it was really good value and a wonderful introduction to the Royal Opera House. To top it all off, we happened to be there at the same time as an afternoon Tea Dance was being held in the main hall below. EDtot loved watching the dancing and sobbed on the way home that she wanted to "go back to the operaaaaaaaa" much to the amusement of our fellow bus passengers.

The Planetarium

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is home to London's planetarium. We had heard about a show that was running for pre-school children, Space Safari and so decided to pop along one Sunday.

We drove over to Greenwich as there is ample parking in the park itself and the weather was billed as being fairly dire. As seems to be the case at the moment, this wasn't the case and the day started out beautifully sunny and warm. It did turn later though! The park is huge and hilly. We took EDtot's scooter along as we knew we'd be early and as she is not yet particularly fast on the scooter, we were able to go for a short walk before the show began.

The room itself is as expected... a large domed screen above rows of chairs. Although there is a slight advantage to being at the back of the room, it is small enough that you can see most things from any seat and the main action is kept at the front of the room. The story is that of a teddy, Ted, that heads out into the solar system. Ted is very successful at holding the attention of the under 5's audience as the different features of various planets are explained. I'm sure some of the parents were tempted at times to shout out answers to the questions asked by the narrator.

My main concern about the show was the basic format that would be in use at the planetarium...namely darkness. It was inevitable that the lights would be dimmed and there was every chance EDtot would be very unhappy about this turn of events. They actually dealt with the potential fear very well and slowly changed the lights to various different colours with the kids encouraged to shout out what colour they wanted next before it eventually was very dark. Nevertheless EDtot was not to be fooled by this light show and sure enough she started crying that she wanted to go home.

Thank goodness for Ted. He managed to convince her that it wasn't all scary and combined with a cuddle she was able to get through the show and really started enjoying it after she became used to the planets that come flying at you on a very big screen.

It was a lovely show and one which EDdad enjoyed immensely. EDtot is still talking about it weeks later and asking if her own teddies can head into space. For some reason they also seem to need to go skating in space...haven't figured out that one yet.

Godstone Farm

We have heard many glowing reports of Godstone Farm in Surrey. Just south of the M25 it looked like a doable day trip from ED. We waited for the promise of a sunny day and then set off by car for opening time at 10am.

Unfortunately the main route down through Croydon included a road that has been shut for some time now due to flooding. The detour wasn't too much of a problem on the way down, but heading back took an hour and a half. Not fun.

The farm has all your usual suspects...goats, sheep, cows, donkeys, pigs, chickens as well as the smaller furry friends...guinea pigs, rabbits, etc. There is also the opportunity to touch the little animals in the Holding Barn. We've been talking about the possibility of getting a pet and it took a lot of effort to walk away from the sweet little guinea pigs.

The lower area of the site also has a Dinosaur Trail (don't expect Crystal Palace Park style dinos - these fellas are slightly more colourful and a little smaller), an outdoor, but covered slide barn (think wooden soft play with lots of slides) and the main indoor playbarn. The playbarn has the usual climbing areas, but also has a toddler area with play houses, puzzles and much smaller slides. There are a lot of tables to sit at for a drink or snack, but you're not allowed to bring your own food in for a picnic. Whilst there are other barns you can use for your picnic in bad weather, they aren't quite as warm and dry as the playbarn.









At the top of the site, near the carpark, there are two large sandpits with various structures to climb on and around. There are also tractor rides and a very fun toboggan run. I'm sure there's more, but by the time we made it to the top play area, we didn't have long before the heavens opened and our promise of lovely weather was scuppered by a short hail storm.

I imagine if we lived nearby, we would make quite a few trips here, but unfortunately the cost jumps after your tot turns 2 and that combined with the distance means we're not able to make it a regular haunt.

Another Long Haul Adventure

The last time I posted about our trip abroad, it was with a tot that could still fit in the bassinet on the plane. This latest trip to the Far East saw us jetting off with a fully fledged toddler and a whole new set of sky high antics to contend with.

As EDtot is part of the two year old crew, we had to buy a seat for her on the plane and boy, they don't discount them by much, do they?! We virtually paid a full adult fare. Ouch. We did think, however, that she would at least have loads of room to sleep and with our usual night flight we arrived at the airport looking forward to possibly being able to watch a film on the flight.

Oh how wrong. Very, very wrong. EDtot slept for around an hour on the 12 hour flight. One teeny little hour. The rest of the time was spent playing with the toys from Cbeebies mag, spinning the drinks holder on the back of the tray table (thank you Cathay for that lovely little touch) and watching Mr Tumble on EDdad's tablet. Whilst there are quite a few TV shows on the plane, most are for an older audience and none were known to EDtot so did not hold her attention for long. It was a very long flight.

Can't complain too much though (!) as the destination was Hong Kong. Chinese New Year celebrations were in full swing when we arrived, but unfortunately tiredness meant we missed the parade and fireworks. The weather was unseasonably warm so we were very lucky to have a few trips out to the beach and therefore escape the hoards of people that descend on the city at this time of year.

The last time we were in Hong Kong was Chinese New Year 2012 and EDtot was just a baby. This was a very different experience. Keeping her close by in the crowded shopping malls and markets was an exhausting task. Thankfully EDdad wasn't as committed to hunting down bargains as I was so he was able to take point during operation Toddler Watch.



If you haven't been to Hong Kong before, I wouldn't say that a trip with very young children is your best introduction. Toddler activities aren't cheap and although the various forms of transport (ferry, tram, etc) are fun the first time, it can be a stressful experience if you're trying to manoeuvre a buggy around the overcrowded streets. The designers of buildings and facilities seem to have deemed escalators to be an aesthetic rather than useful feature. They place them in handy locations, but then add a few stairs at the top or bottom. Why???? EDdad spent a lot of time carrying the buggy up and down stairs.

There are some lovely child-friendly places to visit including the beautiful Nan Lian Gardens and the dinosaur exhibit at the Science Museum, but the main large scale attractions are Ocean Park and Disneyland. They are very expensive and as you can expect, food and drinks are not cheap once you're there. Although they can get very crowded, Hong Kong is not a morning city so head there first thing and you can almost have the parks to yourself. Unfortunately, we waited until our second week to head to Ocean Park and the weather turned. It went from a gorgeous 25 degrees to a brutal 7 degrees. It was cold and rainy and not long after EDtot fell ill and spent the last few days of the trip fighting a fever and generally feeling grotty.


Thankfully the fever broke before our flight home and EDtot managed a fair few hours sleep on the plane. Top tip... if you have a toddler sized duvet, take it on the plane. They are so small and light, then can easily fit in hand luggage and they make the seats a lot comfier to sleep on. As for the jetlag, it wasn't too bad at all coming back and EDtot was back into her normal routine within a couple of days. Roll on the next holiday...!

London as a Tourist

We recently had rellies over from Australia and therefore had the fun task of heading out sightseeing in London Town. That isn't sarcasm by the way. I love sightseeing in my home town. We don't get to do it often as we normally have to contend with all the real tourists at the weekend, but this time it was a weekday jaunt into town.

We didn't have any plan of action which made me a tad jittery. I don't fare well without a plan at the best of times let alone when we are about to tackle major landmarks with two kiddies in tow. It would have been a lot cheaper to formulate a plan to see everything on public transport, but we ended up jumping on a tour bus at London Bridge as it saved brain power. They are very expensive, but if you get one with a good guide (and on a day when the traffic isn't hellish), they can be fun. Unfortunately we managed to mainly catch ones that had no guide so you could only listen to the recorded tour...well, you could if you didn't have a toddler.

We only jumped off the bus a couple of times; once for the London Eye and once for Harrods. I have only ever been to Harrods when rellies are visiting. I never considered it a place to actually shop. However, it is certainly a fab place to drop into if you have a kiddy with you. Have you seen the toy section?? It is huge! We spent ages wandering round, saying hello to all the mahoosive stuffed animals and playing with the demo toys. Obviously the toy section isn't Hamleys size, but if you're in Knightsbridge, it's worth popping in.

     


A fun day out, but next time I will definitely be spending a little longer planning routes on the bus, train, river bus and tube to make it a cheaper and probably more fun experience for the kids. Oh, and in a taxi, as that seems to be the only way, other than walking, to go past the front of Buckingham Palace.