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Our pre-Christmas Break – Newcastle

January 13, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

As you might be able to tell from my lack of posts so far this week, it’s a busy one! I have so many things I want to write about but no time to actually get writing. However one thing that I wanted to make sure I wrote about, before we got too far away from Christmas, was two wonderful trips we had in December. The first (this post) was to Newcastle the weekend before Christmas and the second (my next post hopefully) was a trip to Disneyland Paris, the weekend after Christmas.

On Friday 18th December, the girls had already broken up from school the day before and so we had a fairly lazy day. However we packed and got ready to go away, setting off for my mum’s house around 6pm. There we met up with my partner Chris, who had just finished work and was leaving his car there and the four of us set off on our weekend away. We were staying in a Travelodge in Newcastle (technically Gateshead)and it was one I hadn’t been to before so I was excited. I vowed to not get stressed with the kids and really enjoy this family time we had near Christmas! The journey is a fairly long one, about 3 hours, but we broke it up by stopping for a Burger King dinner at a services on the way. This meant it was about 11pm when we got to the Travelodge but the lady on the desk was wonderful and friendly, meaning that even though it was late, check-in was stress free.

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We pretty much headed straight to bed and so in the morning we didn’t bother to set an alarm – just getting up when we woke naturally. Chris headed down to collect the Breakfast boxes, while the girls got dressed and I jumped into the shower. I have to admit to being a little disappointed with the Breakfast boxes – I’m sure there are people out there who like that type of thing (like a Graze box I guess) but for us they were just too much fruit/nut/seed, especially on the first morning.

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On the first morning there was only one “Good Morning” box left and so we had three “Rise and Shine” boxes. The contents of the Good Morning box were better than the other – having Cornflakes and milk, orange juice, a Nutri-grain bar (strawberry) and a blueberry muffin. The “Rise and Shine” box on the other hand had a heavily seeded, fruit and nut muffin, with an almond and something cereal bar, a yoghurt and some orange juice. Needless to say we didn’t eat much – Lily had the blueberry muffin and Megan had the cornflakes, while Chris tried a bit of everything and left it. I didn’t even attempt anything as I just knew I wouldn’t like it. Though this was a big disappointment, I have to admit it was the only one of the whole stay.

After getting dressed, we headed out in the car, down the road two minutes to the Metro Centre. Here we planned to spend the whole day, even meeting up with Amy for part of the day. When we arrived, it was easy to find short term parking so we entered on the ground floor and started to wander around. Since we’d not really managed breakfast that morning, we treated ourselves to fresh pretzels and that was amazing!

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We did quite a lot of shopping and bought a few bits. Megan had birthday money to spend and Next vouchers too so it was nice for the girls to feel free to buy things too. At around lunch time we met up with Amy and we all headed to KFC for food. It was quite busy but not too bad considering it was the weekend before Christmas!

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In the afternoon we wandered around the top level of the shopping centre. However when the girls got tired (and Chris wasn’t feeling 100%) we sat down for a coffee and to catch our breath. After a while Amy and I wandered off to Primark together and left the girls with Chris. Eventually we headed back and sat down again for a short time. We decided what we were going to do next and since it was almost time for Amy to leave, we said our goodbyes. I headed to the car to drop off the bags and Chris took the girls into the nearby arcade. Though we aren’t big into gambling or anything, we do love our 2p machines and the girls love anything that spits out tickets!

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After killing some time in the arcade (and spending plenty of money), we cashed in our tickets – the girls very kindly got Chris a Pac-Man tankard) – and headed back to the Travelodge. Here we all just lay on the beds and chilled out for a while. The girls claimed their free half an hour of wifi on their iPads, I read and Chris played on his phone. Eventually we decided we should eat dinner and so we headed out of the Travelodge again and went to the nearby TGI Fridays (literally a 2 minute walk).

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Despite the fact it was a Saturday night, TGI’s wasn’t too busy. They fitted us in to a nice booth and we got a lovely server who made balloon animals for the kids and gave really good service the whole night. Going to TGI’s is a real treat for us as at home our nearest one is at least an hour away. It was nice to spend time just chilling out, enjoying a glass of wine (because we walked) and eating amazing food.

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After dinner we were full and tired and so glad to not be far from the Travelodge. We walked back, the girls got changed for bed and then lay there playing on their iPads for a little while. I read again and Chris played on his phone and once we felt our food had gone down, we all went to sleep.

Again in the morning, we just woke when we woke naturally. Chris went for the breakfast boxes and this time we all managed to get the “Good Morning” boxes. This meant that Megan and I could both have cornflakes and Chris and Lily could have blueberry muffins. Sadly Chris was the only one to like Strawberry Nutri-Grain bars too so we just packed those to take home with us, along with some of the orange juice that was left. We packed up all our stuff, checked out and headed to the car. We’d have a lovely weekend away and the Gateshead Travelodge was so close and easy for the Metro Centre (and TGI) that we would definitely go back again!

We headed home and stopped for lunch at a services on the way. It was a lovely weekend break but it was good to get home too!

Filed Under: where we ate, where we went Tagged With: arcade, Christmas break, December, eating out, gateshead, going away, kfc, Metro Centre, newcastle, pretzels, shopping, TGI Fridays, Travelodge, weekend away

Week 14 – Monday Round-up

April 6, 2015 by Bel 3 Comments

This week Monday has passed me by so fast that I completely forgot to do my round up post. As I write this it’s Wednesday morning and we’re on our way to Kennedy Space Center. Since these posts are largely for my benefit, I’ll probably backdate this post to Monday anyway.

So as you probably know, we went away to Florida last week. It’s been a crazy, wonderful, exciting, hot, exhausting experience so far! However on Monday we were still at home. The girls were with their dad and Chris was at work, so I spent majority of the day sewing last minute dresses and skirts for the girls. At lunch time I headed over to Lincoln. I had parcels to post and last minute money to exchange into dollars. After that I headed to my mum’s where I would attempt to finish off the dress I was making for myself. At 6pm it was almost done but I needed to collect the girls from their dad at Grandma’s house. I lingered a while there but eventually we got away, getting the girls home and ready for bed. I spent the evening finishing off my dress and watching TV with Chris once he was home from work.

Tuesday was our last day at home so it was pretty mental. We packed, we cleaned, we shopped and I sewed some more. The day went past in a bit of a blur but Chris even fitted in a visit to his gran by the end of the day. Watching TV and sewing into the evening, Chris and I ended up awake till 2am, just so I could get everything done. We headed to bed exhausted, knowing we had to be awake again at 7am. When that time came around, we crawled out of bed and got ready for the day ahead.

Having set myself the deadline of 9.30am to leave the house, it was actually 10am when we left (I knew that would be the case though which is why my deadline was earlier than necessary). We travelled to mum’s and swapped all our bags to her car, before a last minute toilet swap and off. We headed down to London, stopping once at a services to eat our packed lunch and go to the toilet again. We then drove to the Hounslow West tube station, where we would park the car and head into London. One the tube we headed straight for Leicester Square and when we got there we located the Cinderella Exhibition. We queued for a short while before getting in and it then took around half an hour to look around. We took loads of pictures and even headed into the shop. We didn’t buy anything but a programme, but it was a nice experience to have had.


After the Exhibition we walked to Covent Garden, planning to visit the Disney Store. Unfortunately it was closed due to fire nearby and so we walked back to Leicester Square to catch the tube again. This time we got off at Gloucester Road and walked to the ASK Italian restaurant. We had dinner there and it was nice but just average really. Afterwards we caught the tube again, back to the car and then drove to the Travelodge we were staying at. After struggling to get a parking spot, we were finally there, checked in and overnight bags at the ready. Mum had her own room, so the four of us settled in for the night, watched some TV and I even sneaked a blog post in. By about 10pm we all went to sleep, knowing we would need to be up early again.

The next morning was Thursday and we all woke naturally just after 7am. I showered and got ready while the girls popped to see mum and then they got ready as well. By 8.30am we headed down for breakfast – all you can eat breakfast buffet. We filled ourselves up and then headed back to our rooms to grab our stuff. We went out to the car, loaded up and then drove to Purple Parking, for our airport parking. After sorting out the car, we unloaded our stuff, packed it into the trailer and minibus and then got on ourselves. We were driven to Heathrow airport, terminal 2, where we disembarked, grabbed our cases and headed inside! Check in was pretty easy, all done from this little self check-in machine. We got our boarding passes and luggage tags printed, before handing in our luggage and then going through security. Once in the terminal lounge, we had an hour to kill so the girls waited with mum and Chris and I took a wander around the shops. We headed back for a while, sat down and chilled out. Then at 12pm the boarding gate was announced so we all made our way there. Once there, it wasn’t very long till we actually boarded. We settled into our seats and got ready for takeoff.


Lily picked a movie out and got straight into watching it – Big Hero 6 again. Megan and mum watched it too but Chris and I watched different – mine was Mockingjay Part 1. The flight was just over 7 hours and while it was fine for the most part, Megan getting sick definitely took away from some of the enjoyment. We arrived at Montreal airport at 3.20pm local time (8.20pm on our body clocks) and since it was just a layover we didn’t have to collect luggage. However we did have to go through customs and security again and this took ages. Not only that but when we finally got through, we discovered the plane was delayed. As with all things like this, you never quite know how long you’ll have to wait and in the end it was almost an hour delayed. Once we were on the plane, Megan settled in to sleep while Lily looked wide awake. Megan did manage to sleep for majority of the flight and Lily fell asleep only for the last hour.

When we landed we collected our luggage and then went to collect the rental car. The line was huge and we waited over an hour – tired and grumpy! Finally we were all sorted, got the car and were on our way. It was 45 minutes to the villa so still a good chunk to go but when we got there, we all just collapsed exhausted. We unpacked the bare minimum and fell into bed. It was midnight local time but 5am for all of our bodies!

In the morning, majority of us were awake early – around the 6/7 mark. The girls had cereal as I’d brought some for them and we’d picked up milk on the way to the villa the night before. We scrapped together a cup of tea and coffee but otherwise there was nothing else. This meant we got up and ready, heading out food shopping for some essentials. We travelled only five minutes, till we reached a Publix – all of us heading inside. Despite it being an essentials shop we bought loads of rubbish too and all in all it came out almost $200. We headed back to the villa, unpacked the shopping and then had lunch. We spent the afternoon chilling out in the pool, unpacking our suitcases and basically just relaxing. We made dinner at the villa too, the girls having sausage burgers and chips, while we had regular burgers with chips and salad. Mum and I had blue cheese burgers while Chris’ were cheese and bacon. Finally it was bed time for the girls and as they headed off to sleep, we went back out to the poolside where it was now cool. We stayed there for an hour or so before finally calling it a night and heading to bed.


On Saturday the plan was to lay in as long as possible but I was awake for 6.30am. I headed for my computer and sorted out some photos and even the odd blog post for Twice the Mum. Everyone woke up bit by bit and we all had breakfast and tea/coffee. We were supposed to be meeting up with one of my friends at midday but they messaged to say they were ill and so this changed our plans. We’d had a lazy morning and we grabbed an early lunch before heading off to Magic Kingdom. It took just over half an hour to get there, then park, catch a tram, catch a monorail, go through bag check and finally use our tickets to get in. Megan’s ticket flagged up an error so we needed to sort that out and Megan got issued a new one. We then headed into the park, I was perhaps the most excited! We went into the Theater and had our Meet and Greet with Tinker Bell. We then queued to see Marie and then sat to wait for the parade which was about to start. First came the special Easter parade and next was the main Festival of Fantasy parade. The main one was awesome any my favourite part was the fire breathing Maleficent float.

Next we signed up for Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, an interactive card game that you play around the park. We did the first portal but then we had to head off into Adventureland as we had FastPasses booked for the Magic Carpet ride. It only took a few minutes to ride and afterwards we headed onto the Jungle Cruise. Next came a Meet and Greet with Peter Pan and this was my most favourite bit by far, so far. Next we wandered around the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse and then around a few shops. We headed back towards Cinderella’s Castle and actually managed to catch the Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Street parade. We stopped to watch this before continuing on and heading back to Main Street USA. Here we did a few more portals for our card game and defeated Cruella De Vil. We decided to leave it there and pick up on it another day. We headed out of the park and back to the car, where we drove back to the villa we’re staying in. However we were all so hungry that we stopped at the local takeaway and bought some pizza, garlic knots and chicken wings. We then rushed home to eat and relax, before getting the girls to bed and relaxing a bit before heading to bed ourselves.


Finally it was Sunday and the end of the week – though by this point we’d already lost all track of days. The plan for the day was Harry Potter in both Universal Studios and also Islands of Adventure. We headed out after breakfast and when we got to Universal Orlando we went straight for the Studios. Though it took a while to get through some of the park, we eventually made it to Harry Potter London and Diagon Alley. The girls spoke to Ernie at the Knightbus and had their picture taken outside 12 Grimmauld Place. We then headed into the shopping area of Diagon Alley, changed some money into Gringotts notes (not that I knew they existed – what happened to galleons, sickles and knuts??) and watched the street show of The Tale of the Three Brothers. We then queued up for the Gringotts ride – Escape from Gringotts – taking about 45 minutes in total. After that we went for lunch at The Leaky Cauldron and it was amazing. We tried Butterbeer in all three ways – regular, frozen and hot – as well as fish and chip, banger sandwich, lamb & beef stew and macaroni cheese. We were so stuffed afterwards!

Next we headed into Ollivanders, watched the show and both girls bought a wand. We headed out to look around all the other shops too and even made our way down Knockturn Alley. I bought an Avada Kedavra t-shirt and a Pygmy Puff key ring (to replace the one I lost when my car was stolen) and the girls bought full size Pygmy Puffs, one in pink and one in purple. Apparently the boys are pink and girls are purple so our two got named Ginny and Arnold. Next we made our way to the Hogwarts Express, via Kings Cross Station. It took a while to get on but the journey was fun, a ride in itself with story and screen on the windows and doors. Once we were off, we were in Hogmeade and of course near Hogwarts. We wandered around a little before deciding to do the Hogwarts ride – Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Despite the fact Lily couldn’t ride (and Chris didn’t want to) we were all allowed to queue together which meant we could all see inside. The ride was amazing though mum got off feeling sick and Megan was a little wobbly too. I would definitely recommend it to ride lovers but not for the faint hearted.


To recover ourselves we headed to The Three Broomsticks for a drink, this time including Gilly Water and Pumpkin Juice. Pumpkin Juice was disgusting but I kept the bottle as a souvenir anyway, I made a note to pick up a souvenir Butterbeer glass, the next time we had some. After another quick look around the shops, we went back to Hogsmeade station and caught the Hogwarts Express back to London. The story was different this time which was nice as well. When back at London, we were a bit lost for what to do. We needed to stay in the park for dinner in order to use our dining card but we were all still full from lunch. In the end we left mum sat on a bench with her book, while we headed into a ride called Disaster. The queue time was only 10 minutes and the ride was a lot of fun, so we were definitely glad we did it. Afterwards we headed back to mum and we were all ready to eat again. We went to Richter Burgers where we all had burgers and fries, milkshakes etc. as we had one snack left to use on our dinning card we headed back into Diagon Alley and grabbed some ice cream. We tried Butterbeer flavour amoungst others but unfortunately we were so full that no one managed all of theirs! We hung around long enough to see the dragon breathe fire at night and then we left. Everyone was tired and it was late so after eventually getting back to the villa, we all headed to bed. This ended our week, though technically we seem to be working on a Thursday to Wednesday week right now!

Please keep an eye out for the wonderful guest posts I have going live this week, as well as some scheduled wish lists and tags! I’ll hopefully remember my Monday round up post next week but I wouldn’t hold your breath as I have a busy Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday planned! Hope you’re all having a nice week – I know I am!

Filed Under: Monday Round-up Tagged With: Cinderella, cinderella exhibition, diagon alley, Disney, festival of fantasy, going away, harry potter, hogsmeade, Hogwarts, hogwarts express, holiday, islands of adventure, kings cross station, london, magic carpet, Magic Kingdom, marie, parade, Peter Pan, sewing, sorcerers of the magic kingdom, swiss family robinson, travel, tubes, Universal Orlando, Universal Studios, wizarding world

Hi, my name is Bel!


I’m a forty something, mother of two, self-confessed geek!

Here on my blog you’ll find;
books I’ve read, clothes I’ve made, movies I’ve watched, cakes I’ve baked, products I’ve tried, places I’ve been, pictures I’ve taken… plus lots and lots of DISNEY!!

I’m a lifestyle blogger – covering a little of everything I love <3

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