Wednesday

Not a fantastic start to the day as I knocked my phone into some water and killed it! I'm just not meant to have anything technological. I've had 2 phones and a laptop break on me in less than 6 months. I shouldn't be trusted with anything!

Had a lovely, but quick swim in Crown Pools in Ipswich. There were a few people in the pool but it wasn't so busy that I couldn't watch the children at all times. They went on the small slide a few times and loved the wave machine but mostly just splashed about in the water. Both children are becoming more and more confident in the water which is great. I can swim but I'm not hugely confident in the water.

Once we left the pool we went to buy lunch and then meet Nigel at Alderman Park. After that we caught a bus to the transport museum.

I'd never been before and wasn't sure what to expect but we had great fun there. The museum is run by volunteers as a charity and is funded through the lottery and donations etc. It's located in the old trolleybus depot and it has an extensive display of all types of transport-buses, fire engines, bikes, prams, horse-drawn vehicles etc. There was a lot of local transport information as the exhibits were either built or used in Ipswich and the surrounding area. I didn't get to look into much in detail as the children went running off to Dennis,the children's bus and they spent ages playing bus driver and passenger. There were also various buses that we could go on and the children loved exploring. We then sat at the tea rooms and had a drink and a snack before the children explored the buses again. We wandered around the rest of the museum and then wandered into the small shop. Charlie bought himself a bus and Molly bought a pen. We also bought a reel of old-style bus tickets for playing buses at home. A bargain at 30p a roll! The staff there were very helpful and we hope to go back again when they have one of their events. Later this month you get the opportunity to ride fire engines (some from the museum and some visiting from elsewhere) and in October you can ride the buses from the museum. Admission is slightly higher for the events but I reckon they'd be good value for money. Admission when we went was £4 for adults and £2.50 for children.

We left the museum and went to the park nearby. A nice park for the children with some great equipment except for the graffitti.

Thursday

Up bright and early again to go to Snakes & Ladders indoor play. We'd decided on there as it was supposed to rain a lot but unfortunately the weather forecast was wrong. That said, we had a fab time there. We got there at opening time and the staff were very welcoming. For the first hour or so it was really quite and the children pretty much had the run of the place. They even had me climbing up the main frame and going down the slides! Jade from Heart came to interview and film us later in the morning and then we had lunch. Lunch was reasonably priced and there was plenty of choice for us. I had a jacket potato and it was delicious. By lunchtime it had got quite busy because there were two parties but Molly and Charlie were still able to play safely. I sat in the middle of the room and could keep on eye on both children most the time but had to move when Charlie went to the toddler area.

Everywhere was very clean and the staff were quite good at keeping older children out of the toddler area, despite there being large notices for parents to make sure their children were the right age for each area. There was more than enough to keep all ages happy. There were a few rides that you had to pay for but luckily my two didn't craze to go on them, they were happy to sit and pretend.

We had been there before, when it was Jan's Madhouse, and I have to say that we were not impressed at all. It was dirty, poorly organised, the staff seemed not to notice children misbehaving or being in toddler areas and it was generally a shambles. Since Snakes & Ladders have taken over there have been many improvements and I would take my children again and I happily recommend it to others. I'd like to thank the manager, Harriet, for looking after us while we were there.

We left about 2pm and walked to Alderman Park to wait for Nigel to finish work. The children were suitably tired out, which wasn't great news as we were due to go out after dinner.

We went to Rendlesham forest to see Red Rose Chain's Theatre In The Forest. We were a little dubious about taking Charlie as we didn't think he'd sit still long enough but as it was in the forest he and Nigel were able to walk about a little when he got restless. From the minute we got there the staff were so helpful and friendly. When we got to the theatre we were offered some of the company's chairs for the children so that they could sit higher. It was very magical sitting in the forest watching the performance of A Winter's Tale, especially when it got darker and the lights came on and the children for their glowsticks out. The show was superb and we all really enjoyed it. The acting, singing and dancing were fabulous. There were puppets at various points of the show and the children loved them. Charlie fell asleep about 30 minutes before the end, Molly 10 minutes or so after that but on the walk back to the car Molly was full of talk about the princess, the bear, the sheep puppets and the singing. She wants to see it again and has made me promise that we will go again next year. I'd love to go again too and even Nigel, who has never watched Shakespeare before, would go. Take a look at Red Rose Chain's website and see for yourself...

http://www.redrosechain.com/page/theatre-in-the-forest

Friday
After a very late night we had a much-needed lie-in. We went down to the local park to meet up with a friend and her son. Molly and Charlie were still very tired though and grumpy so we were only there for an hour. We came home and crashed on the sofa for a while. We spent the rest of the day just pottering around and the children played in the garden for a while.