Hello There!

Welcome to my Blog. I'm Kate and I'm mum to fantastic and hilarious, 3 year old identical twin girls Emily and Sophie . They aren't our first children and this isn't my first blog you can read that here.

We are very lucky to have lots of family support with our girls and I'm at that age where I have tons of friends with babies but even from the early days it became apparent that there were going to be extra challenges to having 2 bundles of joy.

For example, when they were tiny the pram didn't fit everywhere and feeding 2 out and about required decent facilities. When they got mobile keeping an eye on both of them careering around was my number one challenge and now they are preschoolers, some places that used to fab are now an expensive treat.

So that's why I started this blog- To share my experience with others and hope to make life a teeny bit easier for those of us lucky enough to be blessed with the chaos of twins or more.

Name Writing

As exciting as it is to go out lots we all need to have a bit of time at home too! A while ago the the girls started showing a real interest in letters so this summer I have been trying to teach Emily and Sophie to spell and recognise their names. However, they are only 3 and I want to make sure it is fun so most mornings we have spent 5 minutes playing one of these name games..

1) Pegs- I wrote each letter on a peg and made a name card to fix them on to so they could copy the order of letters. We did it together the first few times but now they can pretty much do it themselves. It is also really good for fine motor skills.. Also, they like saying "pinch pinch pinch" and pretending to be a crab!

2) Cars- I brought these extra cheap toy cars from the party bag section of the supermarket and put a letter on each. Then we play at driving them in to a line to make the name. The girls love to add sound effects as they do it!

So there you are. Quick, simple and educational and much more fun than a pencil and paper on a rainy day.

Exibition Park

I do like a good park and we are pretty spoilt as we have Saltwell Park on our doorstep but recently I rediscovered Exhibition park in Newcastle City Centre and was pleasantly surprised.

Now, until recently I hadn't been to Exhibition park since rollerblading there in the late 90's whilst revising (!) for my GCSEs so when we headed there for a bit of green space after a warm day in town I wasn't sure what to expect.

The main play areas (one for pre schoolers and one for bigger kids) are clean and well maintained with pretty standard pay equipment such as climbing frame, sand pit and swings. The sand pit has some quite funky diggers in it but it took me a while to figure out how they worked! Next to the play area there is a cafe www.cafeinthepark.org.uk which as well as sit in meals and snacks does coffee to take away and has toilet facilities. However what I really loved about our visit were the extra hidden bits!

If you head further in to the park from the play are there is some lovely play equipment that is accessible for wheel chair users but fun for everyone too. My kids especially loved the blocks that you jump on to make a noise. There is also some lovely natural play equipment such as logs arranged so you can balance on them, rocks with holes you can look through and tree stumps to climb and jump on.

The favourite part however what the water tables. There are several fountains and water tables to play on and little flood gates you can lift to make the water wheel turn. This kept my 2 and my friends 2 year old son occupied for ages! Bring a change of clothes though...especially shoes as my friend found out!

There is lots to do for older kids too with a skate park and free tennis courts. We finished off with a walk round the duck pond where the girls were excited to see a baby coot in its nest.  After this we headed to the Great North Museum (another post coming soon) which is very near by so you can easily combine the two.

We parked at Claremont Road pay and display and it was reasonably priced. You could also walk from the Haymarket end of town fairly easily.

All in all, for a breath of fresh air in a busy city it is a fab place to play and let of steam!

Jumparena Gateshead

My girls have always been keen on bouncing since way before they could walk...in fact the music from the blinking jumperoo still haunts my dreams, so I have been keeping a close eye on the various trampoline parks that have been opening up locally with great interest.

We hadn't managed to get to one yet due to a combination of session times, their nursery hours and my work hours so when I saw that the newest addition to the local trampoline scene, Jumpareana Gateshead, had toddler sessions on during the school holidays I jumped (see what I did there!) at the chance to book.

I pre-booked on line which was fairly easy and I was quite impressed with the price too- at £5 per child including accompanying adult it is cheaper than some local softplays. Jumpareana also give you a health and safety waiver to sign at booking- It was rather epic and a bit scary to read but working in a field where I regularly have to risk asses things I can see why they do it!

I managed to find Jumparena quite easily, it is just behind the Metrocentre pretty close to Costco and there was ample free parking outside. On arrival we registered and brought some socks for £2 each This was the only real additional cost and they are yours to keep so we will use them again. My friend who I went with had socks from another trampoline park and that was fine too.  We then watched a brief safety video which did mention danger of death quite a few times but was largely common sense- i.e don't dive head first in to a foam pit.

We then went through in to the main hall which was new, clean and well organised. There were also lockers (£1 refundable) where you could leave valuables. It consisted of several areas, a huge area of small trampoline beds joined together, an obstacle course, an area with balls and baskets and a trampoline floor, a gladiator style beam, and a trampoline that you could leap from on to a huge air pillow. Well the girls and their friend were in their element. They absolutely loved bouncing up and down and running from trampoline to to trampoline. They even loved the air pillow bit which surprised me as they tend to be quite cautious.  It all seemed very safe and the marshals who were scattered around seemed capable and friendly. You have to be under 5 to go to the toddler sessions so there were no big kids leaping around either!

As an extra bonus, this week at Jumparena super heroes are visiting daily so Spiderman made a visit to our session bouncing around and playing with the kids! Now Emily loves Spiderman but is normally utterly petrified of people dressed up as characters and even she braved giving him a high five after an initial few minutes of awestruck shyness so I think it was a nice touch.

There is a cafe on site where we went for a drink and a snack afterwards and watched the bigger children in the next session. There wasn't a huge amount of choice but it was clean, reasonably priced and did coffee, cake and kids smoothies so we were happy. I have to say that having watched the next session which was an open jump I'm very glad we went to the toddler one as it was somewhat higher octane but it still looked like great fun for bigger kids.

I apologise for my lack of photos on this post. This was due to the practicalities of jumping without losing my phone! There are lots of brilliant non blurry pictures on the Jumparena website.

I think it is fair to say that we had a fab morning at Jumparena and will definitely be visiting again!
http://www.jumparena.co.uk/

Alnwick Gardens- Northumberland

In our pre twins days we got both engaged and married at Alnwick  Gardens so it will always have a special place in our hearts...I can't believe there isn't a blue plaque up there yet! It is also where our boys have a memorial tree so we try and get up every few months. I think it is a great place for a family day out and we always have loads of fun, whatever the time of year.

The Alnwick Garden is quite easy to get to in that it is just off the A1 and there is loads of parking- We have annual membership which is worth it if you plan on going more than twice a year and part of the deal is free parking. If not then you need to pay an additional £3. At the time of writing you can save a bit of money by booking your tickets on line before you go and children under 4 are free!

Entrance to the Garden covers all the bits of the garden and The Treehouse but not The Castle (you can buy combined tickets)  The gardens itself is split in to several parts. The ride on diggers in front of the fountains and the water features are our girls favourite. As is the model of Humpty Dumpty at the bottom of the wall of the formal garden. You can get very wet in the water features- It is definitely worth taking wellies for toddlers and maybe a change of clothes just in case!

Recently, there have been lots of fairy tale additions to the gardens think fairy doors, magic lanterns etc which are fantastic for children. They also sometimes have actors in role as fairy tale characters as part of the trail they have running. Emily and Sophie were pretty freaked out by the Wicked Queen last time we went but it was a nice touch.

Another recent addition is the swinging seats that have been put in the cherry orchard. Nice and relaxing as well as being fun.

For food the restaurant in The Treehouse is amazing and very atmospheric. However whilst it is child friendly in the sense that it is accessible and they do children's portions, it is quite formal. If you fancy the experience of eating up in the trees but have hungry and temperamental kids with you there is also a small cafe on the decking outside among the branches- Even if you don't eat there it is essential to visit and have a run around the rope bridges- (Or reminisce about being younger and more glam if you are us!)

The cafe in the gardens itself is big with plenty of seats and high chairs. The food is tasty and they have one of they typical pick and mix animal lunch box selections- You also get a discount with annual membership.

Alnwick Gardens is very accessible with a double buggy- you can even get in to the Treehouse and around the maze with one. There are plenty of changing and loos at the main entrance but not dotted around once inside the garden- We learned this the hard way with a recently potty trained child so it is worth remembering!

They also have loads of events on all year round ranging from appearances by Peppa Pig to magical Christmas markets so it is worth checking their website to see what's on!

https://alnwickgarden.com/

Centre For Life-Newcastle

The past 2 years we have brought annual passes for Life in Newcastle. It is pretty expensive if you pay per visit (unless you go on a pre-school day more about that later!) but for what you get for a year I think it is pretty good value.

Down stairs there are lots of interactive science games and exhibits- All very hands on and lots of fun! My girls really love the "Magic Shopping Trolley" and the "Freezing Cold Ice Wall" There are also science shows too and a number of them are suitable for little ones. Our favourite is "Little Bear Goes North" which is a planetarium show aimed at the under 7s... very relaxing for parents as well.

Also on the ground floor is the area where temporary exhibitions are held. Currently this is Dino Jaws on tour from the Natural History Museum. It is great! A collection of moving model dinosaurs and loads of hands on stuff- not to mention a huge model pile of dinosaur poo! It has been a huge hit with our girls and we must have been at least 3 times. Prior to this there was a Lego exhibition which was also good and before that a huge collection of playable video games which worked really well as a husband creche!

Where the membership becomes even more useful is when you head upstairs to the Young Explorer's Zone. A huge area with a brilliant role play set up, soft play blocks, dressing up, model making and colouring tables etc too. You could easily spend over an hour in here and we have done on many a rainy afternoon.

Earlier I mentioned pre school days. Throughout the year on specific Tuesdays The Centre for Life is taken over by toddlers! It is really good value as it only costs £7.50 for grown ups and under 4's are free. This is a saving of about £5 on the standard entry. All of the normal things are running plus extras for the under 5's like animal handling, water play, music sessions etc. We have loads of fun on these days but they do get extremely busy so go...but turn up early.
https://www.life.org.uk/events/pre-school-days

One slight issue I do have with Life is that the main of the 2 cafes is often closed at non peak times (mid week mainly) and that means that the smaller one gets rammed with people at lunch time. However in the basement there is a comfortable packed lunch room which is always a good option. It is also worth mentioning that if you get annual membership then part of the package is a discount at the catering outlets.

On a practical note there are lockers next to the entrance where you can stash your coats etc for a small fee which is really useful when you carry round as much stuff as I do! There is also loads of changing facilities.

https://www.life.org.uk/

Role Play- Hebburn

In the past few years several role play type places have opened within a half an hour drive of our house. We have been to several of them and always had a great time. However, I just love Role Play at Hebburn, for me it is simply the best of a pretty good bunch and here is why..

Firstly, it is really secure, you have to be let in and out and therefore one twin can't escape when you are dealing with the other. The building itself is an old hall of some description and the role play areas are organised around the outside with the tables for parents in the middle so you can see everywhere from where you are sat. This means that, to date, it is the only place that me and my fellow identical twin mum friend have managed to have a proper catch up with all 4 children!

The role play areas themselves  include a cafe, post office, hair dressers, builders and shop. They are imaginative, well resourced and surprisingly tidy. the picnic baskets under the tree are a nice touch as is the area with books- Emily sometimes likes a bit of a quiet place to chill (don't we all) . The fact that you book a 1.5 hr session and the room is tidied in between times means that it is always pretty tidy and well organised which given that it is full of small children is impressive!

Cost wise at £4/£5 a session Role Play is roughly the same price as soft plays etc nearby and in many ways much nicer. Once you are in refreshment's are pretty cheap too. It would be good if they did a sibling discount but the price point I think is good value for what they offer.

I also love the fact that they do a story time under the tree at the end to finish the session. The last 2 times we have been we have had tears over leaving.....whilst that has meant I have had to use chocolate buttons as a distraction for walking back to the car it obviously means that a fab time has been had by all.

Role Play doesn't have car parking on site but there is absolutely tons at the shopping precinct opposite and on the streets nearby.

http://www.roleplayhebburn.co.uk