Manchester Museum Coffee Morning

Well...

I've met more bloggers in the last two weeks than you can shake a stick at, or shake a packet of low fat snacks at!

Today I took Presely and Cash to a particularly soggy Manchester to meet even more lovely bloggers, courtesy of Warbutons Snacks and Clarion Communications.

We met at the Couture Cafe in Manchester Museum. The organisers had thoughtfully provided crayons for the little ones and pictures to colour in. There was coffee, of course - what do you expect at a coffee morning?! There was also a gorgeous fruit platter and we did sample some of it, but the big draw for my boys were the plates of ChippidyDooDaas and wholegrain SnackaDoodles on every table.

Hats off to my children, they managed to consume their own body weight in snacks. I wasn't far behind them. Seriously, these new crisps - especially the ChippidyDooDaas, made from pitta bread - are delicious. 

 

My boys were well behaved, but it is tricky to chat when you're somewhere new and making sure they're both okay. I didn't even get to speak to some bloggers, for this I apologise.

If we did (or didn't) speak please say hi in the comments and we should try to organise another event in the North West.

Thank you to Warburtons for buying the boys some toys from the Museum and for my bag of goodies.

Oh and ChippidyDooDaa is a brilliant name for a snack!

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Manchester Museum Coffee Morning

Review: Legoland Discovery Centre, Manchester

We were lucky enough to be given review tickets for the hottest new family attraction in Manchester, the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre (LDC).

The LDC opened on 22nd March 2010 and judging by the queues it is staggeringly popular already. It's located in Barton Square at the Trafford Centre in Manchester.


We liked

The location. Ladies, it's at the North West shopping mecca that is the Trafford Centre!

The free parking.

Andy and I loved MINILAND where Northern landmarks had been recreated from LEGO. We could appreciate the skill involved. We wondered how much a professional LEGO builder was paid! The boys were fascinated by this area too, but were disappointed that they weren't allowed to touch any of the models.

The children loved the many areas where they could get their hands on some LEGO.

Here are Presley and Cash at the Earthquake Zone. The idea is you make a LEGO building and test it on the earthquake simulator.

We didn't like


The crowds and the queues. The LDC is a victim of its own success. We had trouble negotiating the main area with a double buggy. We couldn't even get to the DUPLO area. We also left the shop without buying the boys any new LEGO because the queue was too long.

The lack of signs. It wasn't made clear, for instance, that we could go straight into the main section. We queued for ages for the Kingdom Quest ride - that we had no intention of going on!

The map. I would have preferred a proper map, instead we were given a cartoon that was not representative of the LDC either in scale or layout.

There was little supervision of the activities. At the LEGO Racers Build and Test area wheels were in short supply.

Here is Presley holding on to a precious wheel!

I'm sure a lot of these issues are just teething problems that will be ironed out the longer the LDC is opened.


Summary

All the children we saw were clearly having a wonderful time. We overheard one little boy say to his mum that he was loving it.

Presley and Cash had a great time, even though a lot of the activities were for older children. We will go back, but only once the fuss has died down - if it ever does!


Facts and Figures


The LEGOLAND Discovery Centre,
Barton Square,
The Trafford Centre,
Manchester M17 8AS

Tickets are available on the door, but be prepared for queues:
Adults - £11.85
Children - £ 9.80
Age 2 and under - FREE

There are many other ticket options. You can book online and save 15%. This is recommended and the only way to guarantee entry, especially over the Easter holidays.

Review: Legoland Discovery Centre, Manchester

Mummy Bloggers Meet at MOSI in Manchester

On Sunday Presley and I drove to the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester to the British Mummy Bloggers Northern Meet up.

I was confident that we would enjoy meeting more Bloggers after the success of my Blogger Blind Date the week before.

Presley and I arrived early and had time for a look around the amazing MOSI. We would thoroughly recommend it and will be going back for a proper explore.

We all met in the cafe. The children played together and the Bloggers and their partners were able to have a chat. I managed to talk to everyone, albeit briefly. All Grown Up was there with her beautiful four week old baby. I resisted the temptation to ask for a cuddle, I feared my hormones would rise up and order me home to my husband immediately!

It was lovely to see Sally and Lindy again, wonderful to meet Josie and Parklover, and I was in awe of the Wife of Bold and Amy with their four daughters each, all behaving impeccably. Huge thanks to Amy for organising the event too.

Special thanks goes to NotSupermum who made sure Presley didn't get his roast dinner on his head at lunch time and who also emailed me the wonderful photograph she took of him playing.

After lunch there was a presentation from Silver Cross. They unveiled their snazzy new travel system. If I needed another pram this would be on my short list.

Silver Cross also revealed their new toy ranges. All the children were invited to play with them, Presley didn't need asking twice.

I proved that I only open my mouth to change feet by telling the Silver Cross rep that their toys looked like those you get in Mamas & Papas, but in a good way. The toys are lovely. Really. Oh dear.

Pretty soon after that I got my coat.

We had a fabulous time. If you're thinking about going to a British Mummy Bloggers meet up, I can thoroughly recommend it.

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In other news.... I'm staggered to see Baby Baby at number 21 in the index of Top UK Parent Blogs. I don't know how it got there, but I'm delighted.

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And finally.... There's a carnival over at Conversations With Moms. Maria has kindly included one of my posts.

Mummy Bloggers Meet at MOSI in Manchester