Silent Sunday

Reasons To Be Cheerful #R2BC

This is my first ever Reasons To Be Cheerful post, hosted by Mummy From The Heart  is mainly based around slimming! It's been a good week for us as a family all round & I'm looking forward to the weekend.

1. I've lost my first stone since joining Slimming World last month! There's still a long way to go but I'll get there.
2. My clothes are starting to feel a bit looser here & there, I'm quite impatient so this is all good & gives me a boost to keep on going.
3. Seeing Grace's face come alive when we're home-schooling, watching her enthusiasm for a subject is really rewarding, this week she's loved learning about Nazi Germany.

Book 9 #50Books2013

Have just finished book 9, which was a Kindle freebie & I loved it! I feel quite sad as I'd started to care for the characters which after a slow start I didn't think I would, but then I hadn't reached 'the twist' yet!

A Family Affair by Mary Campisi, is a great easy read, especially after the heaviness of Wuthering Heights, I enjoyed reading this each night in bed & think it'd make a brilliant holiday read, hard to put down & very compelling, with lots of family secrets being uncovered along the way!

1. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
3. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
4. Nightingale Woods, Kathryn Brown
5. Dysfunctional Romance, Derick Hudson
6. War Horse, Michael Morpurgo
7. Discovery at Rosehill, Kathryn Brown
8. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
9. A Family Affair, Mary Campisi
10. The One You Love, Paul Pilkington
11. Black Dog, Stephen Booth

My little girl

It's hard to remember my leggy 13 year old being a toddler, so when I come across old photos it just melts me! Here's a pic of my daughter when she was little, 10 years ago when we lived in Greece!

Book 8 #50Books2013

I started Wuthering Heights a while ago & have struggled with it. But I've persevered & now I'm glad that I have. I don't read 'classics' so for me this is an achievement, give me a gold star please!
What's not helped is that I knew how it ended before starting the book, never a good idea and I couldn't understand what the hell Joseph was saying, until I read it out loud and found myself speaking in a broad Yorkshire accent, Emily Brontë actually wrote in the local dialect for this character!
I wanted to read the book after enjoying the ITV adaptation staring Tom Hardy so much & haven't been disappointed!
So all in all, it's a recommendation from me, but very heavy going!

1. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
3. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
4. Nightingale Woods, Kathryn Brown
5. Dysfunctional Romance, Derick Hudson
6. War Horse, Michael Morpurgo
7. Discovery at Rosehill, Kathryn Brown
8. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
9. A Family Affair, Mary Campisi
10. The One You Love, Paul Pilkington
11. Black Dog, Stephen Booth

Silent Sunday

Walking to Conwy

What to do on a warm Bank Holiday Monday? Walk to Conwy of course! 
We took our usual route over the golf course to the sand dunes, where we slide down the sand to join the cycle path which hugs the coastline, avoiding walking along the road for most parts and leading straight into Conwy.

Apart from Charlie moaning that it was a long walk & demanding to be carried after 10 minutes, it was a brilliant  family walk, no arguing, nobody going off in their own room, just the 5 of us enjoying a glorious day!

I wish my photos could do the views justice as they really are breathtaking, mountains, the estuary, the sea & a medieval castle all on one walk!

After a quick pit stop in Deganwy to rest poor Charlie's feet & to buy a bottle of water, we were on our way  again, by this time, the dog had stopped pulling on his lead, Grace was doing a great job of distracting Charlie by chatting to him with Eddie, whilst me & The H had chance to hold hands & put the world to rights!

The castle is a great focus for the kids on a long walk, when they whine ask 'Where are we going?' you can just point to the distance! When you drive by the castle, its easy to ignore it's grandeur, walking by it on your way into Conwy makes you appreciate it so much.

After a walk around the town, there was only one destination to rest at, the Albion Alehouse of course. After a 3.5 mile walk in the sunshine, a visit to quench our thirst in North Wales' best pub was a must & the pint of Two Trees perry hit the spot nicely.

 After another BBQ at home later on, it was early to bed, with no complaints from anyone, the fresh air knocking us all out quite quickly!

Book 7 #50Books2013

Whilst away in France, I had nothing to read until I remembered the Kindle app on my iPad mini, duh!
So I read 'Discovery at Rosehill' most evenings and completed it on the last night. This was a Kindle freebie a while ago, so I couldn't really remember what it was about, but after getting stuck in to it, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I enjoyed the fact that it was completely different to Nightingale Woods and I really liked the supernatural parts too, even if I was a bit spooked at times! 
Highly recomended. 

1. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
3. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
4. Nightingale Woods, Kathryn Brown
5. Dysfunctional Romance, Derick Hudson
6. War Horse, Michael Morpurgo
7. Discovery at Rosehill, Kathryn Brown
8. Black Dog, Stephen Booth

My 1st Magic Moments post

I'm linking up for the first time with The Oliver's Madhouse magic moments.

The above photo is my magic moment. Taking our family to Disneyland Paris last month was amazing & I'll never forget the awe of seeing Sleeping Beauty's castle for the first time.

After being home for 2 weeks now, I feel very lucky that we were able to go away on this holiday and it was worth every penny to see the looks on my children's faces!

Davy Crockett Ranch review

A few weeks ago we went on a family holiday to Disneyland Paris! It's hard to believe that 2 weeks ago we were walking round with the kids in glorious sunshine, having a great time albeit with aching feet! This was a surprise for Charlie's 6th birthday, something we'd been keeping secret for months, all Charlie knew was that we were going to France on a boat!

I thought that I would review our accommodation, the brilliant Davy Crockett Ranch! After reading lots of reviews on Trip Advisor, it would be fair to say that the ranch gets a mixed response from guests. Its Disney's cheapest accommodation & you need a car to get from the ranch to the parks, which are about a 10 minute drive away, though very easy to get to, back on the motorway & off at the next junction, simples!

So, when we arrived at the ranch, we had to check in at reception, which was a gorgeous log cabin! We were presented with our park passes, map, accommodation guide & our cabin key, by very helpful staff.

As we drove down the road we passed wigwams hidden amongst the trees on the way to our trail! All cabins are grouped into different trails, each trail has about 40 cabins, this sounds like a lot but it was very peaceful and it didn't feel like we were being over looked by our neighbours! 

Our cabin was on 'Bobcat Trail', so after a long drive we piled out the car to inspect our new home! The cabin is actually a static caravan that's been decked out in brown plastic wood to create a cabin feel! Outside the cabin, was a parking place, a patio area with picnic table & BBQ.

We had booked a 2 bedroomed cabin, which turned out to be plenty big enough for a family of 5. The main bedroom had a double bed, bathroom, separate toilet room, sofa bed in the lounge & bunk beds in the other bedroom, with plenty of storage space thrown in.

Our kitchen was perfectly adequate, though I would have preferred an oven instead of a dishwasher that we didn't use! We mainly cooked on the BBQ due to the fabulous weather, so the kitchen wasn't used that much, other than preparing our lunch for the parks! A nice big fridge was handy as we went to the fabulous Val d' Europe and found a huge Auchan to get stocked up on food supplies!

The sofa pulled out into a bed, which was were Grace slept. We also had a small television & table and chairs, so no complaints there!

The main bed room had a dressing table, wardrobes & a crap bed! I had two uncomfortable nights sleep in this bed, waking up with back ache! The shower was the best one I've ever had, extremely powerful &  lots of hot water, ideal for hosing down sweaty boys!

We all loved our cabin & we looked forward to returning to it after a long day at the parks. It was especially nice to see the kids playing in the woods that surrounded our cabin, while we prepared dinner, chilling out with a bottle of sparkling wine or beer!

The ranch itself never felt busy or crowded, which after a busy day amongst the crowds this was a great place to unwind & chill out especially for Charlie who tends to get overloaded and becomes hyper, bless him. After a 15 minute stroll, we reached the camp village, where the tavern, saloon, swimming pool, Alamo trading post & play area are all located! 

We went to the swimming pool one afternoon, when it was reasonably quiet & had a great time. There were free arm bands, lockers available & towel hire too, so no need to take soggy towels back to the cabin!

The thing that struck me the most was that everything was spotlessly clean, even the small farm! It was great to go for a walk as a family & not shout out to 'mind that mess'. The Alamo trading post was predictably expensive especially for groceries, the Disney merchandise was pricey, just as it was in the parks! A great service that came in handy was any gifts/merchandise that you buy in the parks can be sent over to your Disney hotel for collection in the evening, saves dragging them around the parks!

All in all, it was a great few days away & for what's classed as a budget accommodation I was more than impressed, so much so that I've already started checking out deals to go again.

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored review.