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Monday 27 January 2014

Memory Monday 4/2014


Here is what we've been doing this past week, for Memory Monday this week it is Potty Training. Over the last few months on and off we've been asking Little Lady if she would like a nappy or knickers on & off, the answer would always be "nappy please" until last Wednesday. Since then she has had less accidents each day and is very proud after each wee, she surprised me by even going on the toilet at Tesco without any fuss at all. This is just one more milestone she is achieving, children grow so fast! I find it hard to believe that my baby, my last ever baby will be starting nursery this year, it doesn't seem too long ago that we were welcoming her into the world. 

If you would like to find out more about Memory Monday click here 


Shoe Zone Lilley womens brown boots

I was sent a gorgeous pair of boots from Shoe Zone to review, the boots are Lilley womens brown faux shearling riding boots. Priced at just £29.99 I think they are excellent value for money and I can honestly say I have worn them most days since receiving them. They are lined with cream faux shearling, I have found this helps to keep my legs nice and warm on a cold day. You can wear the boots with the top folded over showing the faux shearling or have them unfolded, both looks are great.



The boots have an inner zip fastening along with the out zip at the top of the boot, this makes getting them on & off much easier. The boots have buckle detailing to the outer side of the boots and has very low heel. The soles have a good grip, I live in the countryside and have found them to be great for outdoor walks too, even going over slippery wet grass. They are easy too clean too, just wipe down with a damp cloth, it couldn't be easier.

If you want a comfortable pair of boots that are great whether you are shopping or taking a stroll in the woods then I would recommend these boots. 

I received these boots from shoe zone for the purpose of the review only, all opinions are my own.

Thursday 9 January 2014

A family day out at Liverpool Football Club Picture post

So you have read part one and part two of our family day out at Liverpool Football club, here is just a few additional picture that I wanted to share.

The kits and boots all on display at the interactive museum


The Kop memorabilia and the stands how they once were, I enjoyed reading the writing on them.





 You'll Never Walk Alone on the Bill Shankly gates entrance and the Hillsborough Memorial to the side of those gates.

Little T having fun in the family park



The Kop stand 

The players start to warm up





Below is the funniest picture I have taken in a long time, every time I look at it I have to giggle because it looks like one of the players has decided to hide their head in the pitch and Luis Suarez is finding it funny too, my husband sees a player stretching, I see different!


These huge flags pass over the fans heads on the Kop Stand







Our whole day was amazing, we enjoyed every single second of it.


A family day out at Liverpool Football Club Part Two

Part two of our family day out at Liverpool Football club is here, if you have followed on from Part One welcome back and if you would like to read part one that covers the Stadium tour and the interactive Museum please click here
Family Park
Stomach rumbling we headed over to the Family Park to refuel, entry is free and in the park there is lots of activities going on. We easily found a table despite thousand being within the area and we found the food to be fairly priced, I expected to be paying much more. Whilst we were eating Mighty Red walked into the Park, they announced that he would be sticking around for a while which was a good because the boys were mid way through their meal. The boys quickly ate their meal and off we went to
 meet him. There were no queue so they both got to see him quickly, straight away he made the boys laugh, he accidentally dropped his picture that he was about to sign and then purposely dropped his pen, this had the boys and two girls who were waiting in fits of giggles. Mighty Red didn't rush the boys away either which was great, I really liked this because Big T normally has not figured out what he wants to say before being ushered away so being able to spend some time with Mighty Red was brilliant. 
He signed two cards for both the boys and they are now treasured along with the tickets and images. You can follow Might Red's adventures by heading over to Kop Kids. After meeting Mighty Red we had a go on the games consoles that were there and watched some of the other children testing their football skills. Even on a cold day it had many activities to keep the children entertained whilst you are waiting for the Turnstiles to open. With a full belly we headed off to the shop to purchase some goodies, I came across a pink and white scarf that I regretted not buying whilst at the match, I wanted to wave my scarf(maybe next time). On the way back to the turnstiles we found ourselves in a crowd, this crowd had gathered to watch the Liverpool players come off their coach and head through the player entrance that we had done so just a few hours earlier on the tour. The boys could not see a thing when suddenly a security guard ushered them to the front, I noticed that they had brought all the children to the front to see their team just a few feet in front of them. Big T was amazed and Little T got to see his Daddy's favourite player Steven Gerrard so it was worth getting stuck in a crowd. 
Whilst walking back to the turnstiles Little T started to lag so I offered to give him a piggy back ride, I had just bent down for him when I thought I heard my husband say "we're not in a rush" I stood with a 5 year old on my back and he said again "It's Ian Rush" just as a man was walking past, I managed to catch a glimpse of his head, I looked back at my husband and all he could say was "it's Ian Rush". Whether it was Ian Rush I guess we will never know but Daddy2five is 100% certain Ian Rush just walked out from the direction of the houses right past us and into the stadium.
The amazing match

We excitedly got to our seats super early, the stadium was starting to fill with the 44,781 fans. Our seats were located in the family section which is on the second tier, Big T was a bit apprehensive about being so high and took some reassuring but we do this many times with him having special needs. Once the stadium filled he nor I noticed how high up we were and I think our seats we in a great location for the toilets and snack bars. We watched the players warm up and managed to get some good pictures that you can see here.
The game was immense, I never in a million years thought I would enjoy it as much as I did and seeing both my boys cheering on their team was amazing. When all of the fans sang You'll never walk alone I picked up Little T and we sang along together, I felt like I was part of a huge family, a family that had all gathered to watch their team play. 

Every time Suarez got the ball and headed our way the crowd went wild, the boys got excited and followed the lead of all of the fans around them and proudly cheered. Families were seated all around us, directly seated in front of us was a few men with a young child and throughout the game they made sure that they didn't block the view of the boys. Every goal that was scored and there were 4, yes 4 had all the fans up on their feet cheering, the atmosphere was brilliant The whole game went by so quickly, I looked at the clock and it was almost full time, Liverpool had played a brilliant game and what a game it was for the boys to witness as their first match. 

 So at 16:47 on 7th December 2013 Liverpool had beat West Ham 4-1, my boys had memories they would keep forever, my husband had memories he would keep forever and I, well I had an amazing time and would do it all over again in a heart beat and one day we will, with child tickets being just £15 for the big games it is affordable, maybe next time we will bring the whole family and I will get my pink and white scarf.  

Whilst getting our memorabilia out to write this review Little T saw the tickets and "screamed you've got more tickets?" That is how much my little 5 year old enjoyed his day at Anfield, I had to tell him that no they were the old tickets but we will return as soon as we are able to buy tickets and he knows when we say we will take him back, we will one day take him back.

We were given tickets to the game free, all wording, images and opinions are my own

Wednesday 8 January 2014

A family day out at Liverpool Football Club Part One

Do you ever wish you had filmed a moment in your life? I wish I had filmed telling my husband and boys that they were going to go and watch Liverpool play West Ham at Anfield, not only were we about to watch a very exciting game but we were to tour the stadium and visit the Museum and family park. I will possibly never forget 7th December 2013 for all the right reasons, we had an amazing day. 
Our day started of with a bump when our sat nav failed to work, thankfully my husband knew where he was going, I was very pleased to see all the sign posts for the stadium just as I was starting to think we were going to be late, so if you don't know where you are going just follow the signs. 
Stadium Tour
Bronze Bill Shankly statue at Liverpool Football Club Anfield
We arrived just in time for our stadium tour, I was excited that the boys and my husband were excited too. My husband has been to Anfield before and also done the tour but for me and my boys it was a new experience, however my husband was just as excited as we were. We all gathered at the Bill Shankly statue to wait for our tour to begin, I snapped a picture of the men in my life whilst waiting as did other fans. Considering how many people were in the vicinity everyone was respectful and waited for you to take your treasured shots. Our two tour guides greeted us and took us on our way. Once we passed through security we entered the players entrance, this amazed the boys that the players a few hours later their favourite team would be walking down the same corridor. At each point of interest throughout the tour our guides were very informative, even a football novice like me found it fascinating. 
Anfield tour the kop
We couldn't have a peek in the dressing room with it being a match day but this did not take away from the experience. We were given plenty of time to soak in the atmosphere and take pictures & I took lots of those. Two things surprised me whilst stood outside the players dressing room, one was how tiny the recesses are where the players or managers have their interviews, they are oh so tiny. Secondly was how narrow the corridors are, whilst the players are waiting to go out onto the pitch they must be literally touching shoulders. I bet the atmosphere in this corridor as the players are waiting is tense, adrenalin pumping, all hoping to go out and win. The away team in this corridor will see the This is Anfield sign, it is sign that is hard to miss.
Anfield sign
It is here at the This is Anfileld sign where I took my favourite picture of the day, it is the moment my husband proudly lifted his son so he could touch the sign as many have done so before him & many will go on to do so. I am so pleased I snapped this moment as I am sure every father that supports Liverpool footbal club would be proud to lift their son or daughter to reach the sign for the very first time. Maybe one day my son will be lifting his child proudly in the same way his Daddy did. 
Once outside we Sat in the dugout and listened to the guides giving us information on the stadium, the stadium is pretty impressive empty as it is full. We also got to take a seat in the Kop stand, here we were given the history of how stadiums have changed over the years along, whilst sat here you can really appreciate the size of Anfield, rows upon rows of red seats that wiould soon be filled with all the fans ready to cheer on their team. I loved every part of the tour and would do it again, my boys also enjoyed the tour thoroughly.
Museum 
Interactive museum

On our way up to the museum after the tour the first thing I notice was the huge Hillsborough mosaic, this was created and placed here as a lasting memorial for all of the 96 Liverpool fans who lost their lives, it really does make you stop and think. In the museum you will be see more memorabilia than one football fan can take. You can choose to wear a headset which enables you to listen to commentary or you can just wander around the museum and take in the LFC story at your leisure. You can look back at the history of the club & view the cups that Liverpool football club have won. On display you will see the 4 replica UEFA Champion leagues cups and because Liverpool Football club have been so successful, they went on to win it for a fifth time in 2005 and got to keep the trophy permanently and claimed a multiple-winner badge, seeing this cup in all its glory is fantastic and something every Liverpool fan should see, it is the only place in the country you will see the actual trophy and not a replica. Along with the trophys I loved seeing the old boots and kits, beside each item you will find a plaque that gives a description of each item in that display case.  
Towards the end the boys started to get hungry so we knew there was only one thing for it, we headed to the Family park to refuel.


Stay tuned for part two, I will be sharing all of the fun we had at the Family Park and all the details of one amazing match we watched.

The tour and the museum is reasonably priced, a family ticket for them can be bought for £43.00 which I think is great value. I will return and do this tour again with my family. We were given free access for the purpose of the review, all images and opinions are of my own. 



Monday 6 January 2014

Memory Monday 1/2014

I can hardly believe it is 2014 already, last year flew by far too quickly. I find myself again trying to make a decision over where we go on holiday, this we do every January. I think we have settled on 1 week with Haven at Perran sands and 4 days in Devon just so we can visit the Donkey Sanctuary & have a Devonshire cream tea in Dawlish. Anyway back to Memory Monday, this week it is a picture of Little Lady taking safety to a whole new level on the swings. Daddy2five and I have both vowed to get out and do more family things together, even if it means getting covered in mud playing football with them. So on a freezing day you could find us at the park playing.


If you would like to find out more about Memory Monday click here