Our 1st Camping and Caravan Club Rally

A few weeks ago we made the decision to join the Camping and Caravan Club as we love our tent that we purchased a couple of months ago, and we have really embraced camping. The Camping and Caravan Club costs around £45 a year to join, and you can get many benefits including discounts in shops, special rate campsites, and access to campsites only open to members. When you join you're assigned to a local district. The individual districts hold rallies throughout the year, some based on themes and others just to get together.

I noticed on our area's website that they had planned a family oriented rally and we thought this would be a great opportunity to meet up with other families; I have to say the weekend did not disappoint at all. 

On arrival we were warmly greeted and showed to our pitch, we were also given a welcome pack with all the activities that were planned for the weekend as well as some modelling clay that was to be used to build a children's character model, with a prize for the best one.

Whilst my hubbie and I were pitching our tent, Ruby and Lottie went on the bouncy castle and happily made friends with some of the other children. We then cooked dinner before it was time for the girls to go off to the disco; the girls had a lovely time dancing the night away and there was even a Disney quiz where we had to link the soundtrack to the Disney movie. The more answers we got right, the more tokens we were given to be used on the final day for a mini fair!

Come 9pm and both girls were very tired so they went to bed whilst hubbie and sat drinking hot chocolate under the stars. 

We were up very early on the Saturday morning as the campsite was near to where the girls have swimming lessons, so we decided to venture off site to take then to their lessons. When we arrived back at the campsite the marquee was set up with various different craft activities and then a movie was played to keep the children entertained.

On Saturday afternoon the sun was shinning; the decision was taken to get out a roll of plastic and several bottles of washing up liquid and bath bubbles to make a water slide. I'm not sure what was more entertaining, watching Ruby slide down, or seeing fully grown adults trying to compete to see who could travel the furthest! 

Saturday evening was fancy dress and party games time, Ruby had so much fun, especially during chocolate bar game where you have to eat as much chocolate as you can whilst wearing winter clothes. By 8pm Ruby was saying she wanted to go to bed so we headed back to the tent before she quickly fell asleep, I don't know about you, but Saturday nights are not the same at the moment unless you are watching X Factor, so we watched X Factor in our tent! I was amazed how well the tiny TV and portable aerial worked. It was really lovely to be snuggled up in blankets with a hot chocolate and the TV on :) 

I really don't like the morning of the last camping day, as it means packing everything away! So far, every time we have had to pack a wet tent away, well this weekend was a 1st time we had a dry tent! It made packing away so much less stressful. 

At 11am it was coffee morning in the marquee so we all went up for a hot drink and a chat with people before the mini fair opened.

 
There was numerous games that both girls had fun playing; the organisers made sure that every child won a prize!

I think it's easy to say we can't wait to be back out with our local branch of the Camping and Caravan Club, we were made to feel really welcome and Ruby certainly wanted to stay longer; I could have done too! 

Disney on Ice

I really don't know where the time has gone recently, we have just been so busy that I haven't even had a chance to tell you about going to see Disney on Ice a couple of weeks ago.

A few months ago I saw that Disney on Ice was touring, and thought it would be a great idea for an early Christmas present for Ruby. Ruby is absolutely mad about anything to do with Disney princesses, so I was sure she would like it.

Phil took a half days holiday from work and arrived home in time to pick ruby up from school. As soon as we got home from the school run, we quickly got changed and jumped into the car to head off to Sheffield for the show.

Ruby had dressed up in her favorite princess costume... Rapunzel from Tangled! Ruby was incredibly excited, and to be honest I was too, however I was a bit worried about how restless Lottie might become; I was assured by some friends that there would be so much to see and do, that there would be no way Lottie would be bored.

When we arrived at the arena, it was lovely to see that almost all of the young girls attending the show had dressed up as their favorite Disney princess. There were even some adults dressed up too.

Before the show we spent some time looking at the merchandise that was available to purchase; I was disappointed that there was not much choice, but we ended up buying an official program which came with a pink sparkly hat that Ruby loved, it was pricey though, at £10. I feel its important to buy a program as its nice for Ruby and I to look back on; it can also go into her memory box too.

The was opened by the classic Disney characters, including Mickey, Minnie and Pluto, who were joined by the rest of the cast to perform an intricate routine that concluded with a scene from the Princess and the Frog.

The rest of the first half of the show consisted of fairly short renditions of Snow White and Cinderella, which Ruby loved; it definitely warmed up the crowd for the main event. Even though she knows the stories inside and out, Ruby was a bit scared during Snow White, when the trees in the enchanted forest started to “get her”, but apart from that Ruby was enjoying every minute of it; it was lovely to see her getting involved by joining all of the other children in shouting at Snow White not to eat the apple, and various other crowd participation opportunities throughout the show.

Cinderella wrapped up shortly after the mid show interval, and Mickey and the gang came out once more to introduce the main event.... Disney's Tangled! I think it is fair to say that Tangled is Ruby's all time favourite film, and Ruby could not have been more excited when Rapunzel skated out onto the ice.

The rendition of Tangled was absolutely fantastic; I won't go into too much detail in case anyone is planning to see it soon, but there was one part of the performance in particular that had everyone on the edge of their seats; The skaters who were portraying Rapunzel and Flynn, performed an aerial routine (without harnesses), that had had them swinging through the air, at what must have been at least twenty feet from the floor, using Rapunzel's hair! It was amazing to see. The show was funny and enchanted, even Phil really enjoyed it.

Lottie behaved really well and was fascinated about everything that was taking place in front of her. I think it's fair to say that we all had a fantastic time at Disney on Ice, and I am sure we will be going to see them again on their next nationwide tour.