Lightwater Valley - review

#GIFTED

Last week when we were on our summer staycation visiting Lee's side of the family in Leeds we took our thrill-seeking boys to Lightwater Valley Theme Park in Ripon, North Yorkshire.

Having never been to Lightwater Valley before we checked out their website beforehand to see what attractions the park had to offer. Much to their delight they saw a number of rides and attractions they couldn't wait to try including the Wild River Rapids and Jumpin' Jack's Pillows.

Kids Eat Free at Coral Island, Blackpool plus win a Mini Cooper

#GIFTED

This summer we are going on a little staycation. After visiting family in Leeds we will be holidaying for a few days at Blackpool. The kids are very excited about going to Blackpool and have been looking at the Visit Blackpool website for ideas of attractions they want to.

As the boys love pirates especially H as he has just been learning all about pirates and the sea at school, once they saw the iconic pirate themed logo of Coral Island they declared we HAVE to visit there when holidaying in Blackpool.

The kids have already had a GOOD old look at the Coral Island website to see what attractions and amusements they can enjoy when we visit. H is very excited that they have a number or ride on kids rides and loves the look of the pirate ships and Circus ride. T is hyped up about the fact that Coral Island boasts Virtual Reality arcade rides, which in his opinion is “super awesome”. They also both want to go on the Ghost Train and Pirate Flyer whilst I can't wait to give the Camel Derby a try.

School's out summer shopping spree - saving money on the kids’ holiday wardrobe

As the school year comes to an end, our thoughts have turned to the summer holidays. The boys are super excited about many weeks at home over the school summer holidays. They are full of ideas of how to spend the summer and are especially excited about our UK staycation holiday where we will be visiting family in Leeds before a few fun days at Blackpool. We've got plans to visit family friendly attractions, dine at restaurant with rooms Yorkshire dales, visit museums and explore the heritage and natural wonders of Yorkshire.

As both boys have had a recent growth spurt and have grown out of most of their clothes, especially their summer clothes from last year they are in desperate need of a new wardrobe. In fact T is growing so quickly that the new swim shorts I bought him in May are already too small and tight! In the hope that we are going to have a sun-filled summer we need to buy them new clothes that are perfect for sunny days. Shorts, t-shirts, lightweight short sleeve shirts and even swimwear are needed. 

Chester Zoo 2019

Chester Zoo is one of my favourite family attractions in the UK and holds a special place in my heart. As a child we often visited Chester Zoo whilst on family holidays and it was always a fun and exciting time, as such our visits there are some of the fondest memories I have from my childhood.  It was also one of the family attractions we visited when on our first family holiday with our eldest child when he was a toddler. He was so excited to see the amazing animals as we explored the expansive zoo. 

Fast forward a few years and we again visited Chester Zoo again during our first holiday as a family of four. Again we created many fun memories that I treasure during our visit to Chester Zoo. Back in the summer of 2017 during our first family holiday as a family of four the boys loved seeing the magnificent animals, adored the boat ride on The Islands and had lots of fun playing in the PLAY! Space.

As we are planning a UK staycation family holiday for this summer where we will be travelling from Pembrokeshire up to North Wales and then across the North of England, we have decided to stop in Chester for a few days. As we love Chester Zoo and have had many wonderful visits there it is no surprise that we plan on visiting yet again this summer. With that in mind as part of planning for our summer 2019 family holiday I have been looking at what plans Chester Zoo has for this year.

Staycation 2019

This year we are planning a UK staycation family holiday for the summer where we will be travelling from Pembrokeshire up to North Wales and then across the North of England visiting a number of locations including Chester, Blackpool, Leeds and Scarborough.

Whilst it is going to be lots of travelling we are going to breaking up the journey with a few days at various locations where we will be exploring the area and visiting local family friendly attractions. Not only is it a lovely way for us to see and explore more of what wonderful Great Britain has to offer but by heading North it allows us to also visit Lee’s family in Leeds.