A couple of weeks ago, we visited Colchester zoo. We haven't been to the zoo for a long time so it was a nice change. The zoo had also changed rather a little since our last visit, with new enclosures and animals. There was plenty for us to see! We went with the whole family, my mum, step dad and siblings and there children and partners! It was a great family day out and although can be a little expensive, booking tickets (e-tickets) online saved us a fair bit of money. We also took our own picnic and left it in the car, coming back a couple of hours later for lunch. I'm quite a fussy eater and my children can also be quite picky so taking a picnic not only saved us money and queing but it also saved me the stress of finding something for everyone. However, there are plenty of places to eat at the zoo, which all sell a good variety of food - burgers, chips, hot dogs and so on. And plenty of places that sell cold drinks and ice creams!

It did rain a little bit but it didn't stop us having fun! There are plenty of animals in side too (I recommend the orangutan enclosure which is fairly new to the zoo and quite spacious too)

there are also a number of play areas for the children and plenty of benches and picnic tables to sit down if you need a rest! We needed to stop and have a rest a few times as the zoo is quite big and some of it is up hill so stopping for little rest stops was well needed! It was fairly busy but the zoo is so big, people are well spread out and there are so many animals to look at! We missed the animal feeding shows this time as we were busy just making our own way around but there are plenty of animals shows (The sealion show has been my favourite in the past)and feeding times. There are also plenty of zoo keepers and staff around to ask for information about the animals and the zoo in general.
There are so many animals to see elephants, giraffes, tigers, lions, red pandas, meer cats, sealions (The sealion tunnel is a must see!), penguins, goats (You can buy cups of food to feed the goats), ant eaters, monkeys of ALL kinds (personally I loved the chimps), otters just to name a few.























We really did have an absolute fantastic time and can't wait to go back again! We quite fancy feeding the elephants next time and I'd love to see the penguin show!

What are your favourite animals?

Sarah xXx

It's finally half term and it's more than welcome in our house! Having a break from the school routine does everyone the world of good! While the weather was nice we decided to take a trip to the park, it was a gorgeous day, the sun was shinning and it was 7 degrees which is quite shocking considering the day before it was snowing! Having a crisp sunny day reminded us of spring... Which isn't very far away at all and we can not wait.




Charlie took his scooter to the park as there is a ramp there which scooters can be used on! Harry took his bike and Ellie decided she was going to walk with me. The boys also took a football, too! They love playing football and while the weather was nice, they decided to make the most of it.
We had a go on the play area, by 'we' I mean the kids... Although I may or may not have had a go on the swings (Such a good leg workout, haha). We also had a walk around the edge of the woods and the kids had a go on some of the fitness trail equipment, I decided to give that a miss though, haha. And of course, the boys had a good kick around with the football, hehe.
It was quite mild in the sunshine, Harry even got too hot wearing his jacket whilst running around! Spring isn't very far away.. YAY!








We had a really lovely time at the park before heading home for lunch! We are hoping to make another trip to the park and perhaps venture in the woods this week! We hope you're enjoying half term so far, too!

Sarah xXx

This Sunday just gone, our village held a summer fair/fete. We have already been to one summer fete, to celebrate the queens 90th Birthday but this one we couldn't miss as it's literally five minutes walk from our house! The kids were SO excited! Even my teenager was excited - No, he doesn't look it in the photos because , well, he's a teenager and his constant face is "I'm a moody teenager and I'll never look happy even though I am" haha.


We got to the fair and had a little wonder around first. The wrist bands were £3 each and lasted the whole day! Unlimited goes on rides and bouncy castles! That was an absolute bargain and without those, there's no way we'd have been able to afford it! We got an ice cream and then the boys spotted some friends from school. They went around in a big group and I kept my eye on them and wasn't far behind them. Harry would pretend he hadn't seen me and when I asked him to pose for picture I got the "I'm a grumpy teenager" look, haha. I promise, he was enjoying himself! Especially once he found some friends to hang around with.


I couldn't take many photos as I hadn't taken my camera (It was too hot to lug that around!) and my phone was -typically- dying.


They all had many, many goes on the inflatables and bouncy castles etc. Ellie liked the Disney themed ones best, haha. As the day went on, it get busier and busier so we got a drink and a snack from the surrounding burger bars and food stalls! Which was surprisingly actually not over priced. And the kids got one of those refillable beakers, which worked out so much cheaper in the long run because it was £1 to refill with a slush puppy and they lasted AGES! Usually I wouldn't be impressed with the prices but honestly, they weren't bad at all!
We listened to some live music. There was a girl group who were 50s inspired but sang modern songs 50's style! They were "EPIC" - Charlie's words!



We also watched the dog show which was cool and also funny because a couple of the dogs were so excited to see so many people and other dogs, they just ran around the course doing there own thing - So funny and SO sweet! I actually think that may have been part of the "act" because it worked well, haha. Ellie won a rubiks cube on one of the tombolia type stalls. Charlie and Harry both won a balloon.. Sadly Ellie's blew away. Which she was upset about when we got home, bless her. I told her I'd buy a pack of balloons this week. Bless her.


We stayed for a good few hours and then decided we'd come home and have pizza for dinner and prepare for school the next day! The kids slept SO well, they were all so tired.
It was a fab day!