Journeys Are My Diary

Life, Adventures, Entertainment and more - A little bit of everything blog!

Lush bath bombs and bubble bars

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Some time ago, after writing a Halloween Lush Wish List, I went to Lush in Doncaster and purchased a whole bunch of bath bombs and bubble bars. Since then I have managed to review Monster’s Ball, Lava Lamp and Ruby Red Slippers but I have actually used them all! I decided that instead of doing a separate post for each one, I would just post a few pictures (for the two I do have them for), the original description from the Lush website and my opinions one which I liked and would buy again etc.

Of the ones I haven’t reviewed yet, there were; Pumpkin, Autumn Leaf, Never Mind The Ballistics and Northern Lights – all of which were bath bombs. There was then Candy Mountain and Big Bang, which were both bubble bars. Northern Lights I have reviewed previously last year, though it looks slightly different now. I have also reviewed Big Bang previously too. As for Candy Mountain, I’ve been using that for years so there is no reviews on this blog but I love it so much that I buy every year, at least one and its my favourite Lush Product.

Never Mind The Ballistics (bath bomb) – These aren’t ingredients for anybody else except for yourself. Lime and sweet wild orange oils are fresh and peachy on the nose, exciting the senses and shaking up your mood. There’s no time for apathy in the bath, so this anarchic bath bomb fizzes and rolls and spews colour with no holds barred energy. Fair Trade cocoa butter melts alongside fresh bananas to soften both the water and your skin. God save the clean; this deserves a replay.

Never Mind the Ballistics is the only remaining bath bomb that I didn’t take pictures for and so it’s pretty hard to review. I enjoyed the smell and the half pink side made the bath water feel smooth and softening. However the pink side did give a similar effect that the Lava Lamp did, adding a sort of residue to the bath.

Autumn Leaf (bath bomb) – Autumn colours dapple your bath red and yellow, as falling leaves signify the start of winter. From the comfort of a hot bath, watch as the evenings draw in, and the trees don vibrant plumage. The scent of fresh grass evokes the crunch of crisp leaves underfoot as the last remnants of summer are stolen away.

One of my favourite things about Lush bath bombs are definitely the way they react when they touch the water and the colours they turn the bath. Autumn Leaves doesn’t disappoint, displaying many colours related to nature in a very pretty fizz. The smell is good too and the after colour of the bath once the bomb is completely dissolved. I don’t remember it having a specific scent, but whatever it was, was likeable.

Pumpkin (bath bomb) – Bath-o’-lantern. This year, we’re introducing a very traditional looking fizzer to our limited edition range: one look at those geometric features is all it takes to put you in a Halloween-y mood! With a spicy, sweet perfume full of exotic pimento, sweet vanilla and warming cinnamon, our jack-o’-lantern will have you imitating his toothy grin once he hits your bath water.

Pumpkin was a great fun bath bomb, both in design and colour. Though it didn’t do anything dramatic when dropped into the bath, the colour of the water was really dramatic – almost like orange juice. The smell was great too, very reminiscent of Halloween and spicy. Again, another bath bomb that I would be happy to recommend.

October Round-up

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october

Watching: I honestly don’t remember much of what I’ve watched this month. Here’s the list; Luke Cage (Series 1), Big Bang Theory (Seasons 1-10), Designated Survivor, New OUAT eps, Captain America – Civil War, Knights of Badassdom, X-Men First Class, Walking Dead (first ep, new season), Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
Reading: A Frozen Heart, Cinder.
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): As of the 19th October, I’d had 214 orders since the beginning of September and 41 were dresses. This compares to 56 for the same period of time last year, 35 of which were dresses. So mostly, I’ve been really really bloody busy! Mostly I sewed Wendy dresses but clearly there were another 150 or so orders on top of that too. I also made a Jane Porter cosplay for someone to wear to Disneyland Paris Halloween party and I was SO pleased with it.

And in other news…
– Adam came to visit for a week, after not seeing him since February.
– X-Factor Live shows started… (yeah sad, but I like it).
– Chris and I celebrated 4 years together. We had a night together by ourselves while the girls were with their dad but our actual anniversary was spent as a family.
– Insanely busy with Closet Geek as I mentioned above but finally it died off in the last week of October and it was actual heaven to have time to breathe again.
– Megan went back to school a day before Lily after half term and so Lil and I enjoyed a rare day together, just us. Sadly we both ended up ill the following day and Lily was off school for two more days!
– My new ear stand arrived. Chris bought me a Minnie Mouse Disney Tradition. We got a new coffee machine. Chip and Dale in Christmas form Tsum Tsums are now on our mantelpiece and I’ve really enjoyed some Lush baths!

Looking forward to in November:
– Being calmer to some extent, because Halloween is well out of the way and the drop in orders has been significant. However since I’m getting ready for Christmas market, I still feel a lot of pressure to work and build stock.
– Honestly there’s not much else to look forward to I don’t think. More Lush baths. The new “Harry Potter” movie. Celebrating mum and dad’s wedding anniversary. Nat’s birthday. Okay so I guess that’s more than I thought…

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Wedding Wanderlust – Fall

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I love traveling so much but I have to admit that recently my desire to save money for things closer to home, have stopped me even considering a holiday to attend the famous Atlanta Georgia sports venue. I’d love to move house, treat myself to a new car and of course I would really like to get divorced from my ex, since we’ve been separated for 6 years.

With my two best friends finding themselves in new relationships and another friendship couple getting engaged, I have to admit my mind wanders to weddings, despite not being especially fussed about getting re-married (for a third time) myself. That said, I thought it would be fun to make a post every season, with a few ideas for rings from Sydney diamond engagement rings, dresses and even venues/places that I would like.

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A while back I shared a post about some Disney rings that I would absolutely love, some of which would make nice engagement rings, especially with a Halloween theme. In all seriousness though, I would want a proper wedding band, definitely made from white gold or platinum as I’m not really a fan of the gold colour rings. Orla James makes some beautiful Platinum Wedding Rings which would definitely be a consideration and I would probably therefore have to have a more sensible engagement ring too. The Windsor Fine Jewelers can help you choose the perfect ring with the right diamond color for your partner

My partner is a huge fan of things like skulls and zombies, so with an Autumn wedding, a Halloween theme would work well for both of us. I’ve also been married twice before so doing the whole white dress thing would be a bit weird and I would love to do something more crazy or costume. There are loads of really great choices for a wedding dress and while I wouldn’t want to go full on corpse’s bride, I would love something black (and of course slimming).

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I throw murder mystery parties all of the time and I’ve often considered how fun being an events organiser would be. I think having a Halloween themed wedding would be incredible and there would be so much choice for decorating. You could go all black, orange and green, using many of the Halloween decorations found in stores, or you could go more classy with blacks and creams, with big candelabras, dripping wax and cauldrons with steam. I personally would sway more towards a Harry Potter theme I think, aiming for a wedding in the Great Hall feel.

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Of course with an Autumn wedding, you could go for a Fall theme colours with greens and oranges, burnt red, all the colours of the leaves too. I used to love wearing all those colours as a teenager as I felt they went with my hair/eyes/skin etc and so although I would prefer the extremeness of a Halloween themed wedding, I could definitely go for a general Autumn theme too. It would be quite beautiful having it somewhere outside with all the natural colours for your palette.

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Lush Halloween Wish List

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Halloween Lush

 

It’s come to that time of year again where I can’t help but lust after the new Lush products. I have been good all year and barely bought any Lush items (I think Valentine’s was the last time and I turned down the offer from Chris on my birthday in May to get a few bits). However limited items are really hard for me to resist and this brings me to my Halloween Lush Wish List.

I’m not a huge fan of most of the shower gels and I really dislike soap – not just Lush, all soap. However I am completely in love with bubble bars and I can definitely go for a few bath bombs too. Here are the items I’m after this Halloween.

From left to right; Pumpkin bath bomb – £3.95, Monster’s Ball bath bomb – £4.25, Boo bath melt – £3.50, Sparkly Pumpkin bubble bar – £3.95.
Bottom row, left to right; Goth Fairy shimmer bar – £5.50, Autumn Leaf bath bomb – £3.75

I also have my eye on a lot of Christmas Lush too so keep an eye out for that wish list!

Now is the Time to Plan Your Family’s October Half Term Holiday

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You may only be just starting to think about sending the kids back to school in September, but whether you’ve had the chance to take a family holiday or not these summer holidays, now’s the best time to start planning your break for the upcoming October half term. Putting together your plans now for your half-term break will mean for a more relaxing, less stressful and even cheaper time. There are many great reasons why being savvy and booking your October getaway as soon as possible is a great idea, and we’ve listed just some of them here.

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Get the Best Deals

The longer you wait to book your October half term getaway, the less deals you’ll have to choose from as you’re in with a bigger chance of losing out to parents who’ve all had the same idea. Booking your half-term stay from awaywiththekids.co.uk means that you’ll be one of the earliest to book, giving you a better selection of choices and perhaps even reduced prices due to a lower level of demand. The longer you wait, the more in-demand your holiday destinations will be – meaning you’ll have less of a selection.

Save Money

Planning and booking your October half-term family break in good time rather than at the last minute also means that you could save money in the long run. Even though it’s widely believed that you can often get the best deals by booking at the last minute, this isn’t always true and you have to run the risk of paying increased prices instead. Along with that, if you’re not going down the package route and are booking your flights and hotels separately, you may find that you get a good last-minute price on one, but not on the other.

Less Stress

The longer time you give yourself to plan your holiday, the less stressful the whole process will be. This is especially important for busy mums and dads who have a lot to think about anyway especially with the upcoming new school year. By planning your October half term family break now, you’ll be able to get it out of the way and focus on getting everything done for a successful holiday, such as exchanging money, booking transfers, and buying luggage.

Get Better Deals

Booking your half-term family break sooner rather than later means that you will be in with a better chance of getting more for your money. Booking early not only means that you’ll have access to more choices and deals available, you may also be able to take advantage of special offers and deals that travel agents and booking companies may not hold later on in the year.

Although the summer holidays are barely even over, it’s definitely a great time to start thinking about booking your next family break during the upcoming October half term. Booking now gives you more time to make sure that you have an enjoyable break and can also save you money on a better deal.

Closet Geek Update

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Obviously as you probably know, I now own a small business called Closet Geek, where I make handmade jewellery, pencil cases, hair bows and clothes. I also take custom orders – which recently has led to a prom dress and a Cinderella cosplay. Because of this it means I struggle to find time to blog sometimes, but I thought I would write a quick post about what’s going on over at the store!

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First thing to note is that my website itself (www.ClosetGeek.co.uk) isn’t having that many orders! I guess if I’d thought about it more in advance, I probably would have known this – but basically it feels like I opened up a little shop on a tiny off-the-beaten-track lane and the only customers I get are few and far between. However on a positive note, my Etsy store (which basically duplicates most of my store listings), has been really busy and it’s been so much fun sewing and making bows for orders. This last week I’ve had two “Little Miss Disgust” dresses to make (one even with a neck scarf), three hair bows and four necklaces. I even have an adult Little Miss Disgust dress on order.

I’ve pretty much completed the Back to the Future Prom Dress, which will hopefully be mailed off towards the end of this week. I’ve also properly started on the Cinderella dress (after a nightmare with fabrics). I’m hoping to make a batch of Villains hair bows, which will be a sort of “Halloween” launch, but permanently in the store once they’re launched. I’d also love to do a Superhero batch but I have no set period of time for that. Probably not quite in time for Halloween unfortunately, but in the not too distant future, I’d love to do a Disney Villains inspired batch of girls dresses too – which my girls are keen to model!

On top of all that, I’ve actually started working on ideas for Christmas. I’d love to make some geeky stockings and I’m currently in the process of working with some fellow bloggers on getting some designs made and reviewed. On the topic of reviews, I was also featured on Fashion Quirks YouTube channel this week. Carley, the girl who vlogs, featured my Golden Snitch necklace, a Cinderella carriage necklace (end of line), an Alice in Wonderland bow and also a Minnie and Mickey pencil case. The video is here if anyone would like a watch!

As well as all that, I have an order for several bows and scrunchies that I’m currently working on, I recently made a Harley Quinn dress for Lily which I hope to put in the store soon and also I have a Snow White rags, Woody, Minnie Mouse and Briar Rose dress to add to the store too. It’s all busy busy busy but I absolutely love it. I only wish I had clones of myself so I could make clothes, watch TV AND blog, all at the same time.

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Wizard – Lush Bubble Bar

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Several times over the last week I’ve been posting about the products I bought in a recent Lush haul – when I went to Edinburgh. Products I’ve covered have included Sparkler, Northern Lights, So White, Hot Toddy and over on Twice the Mum (later published on my own blog), even the Butterbear. Today is the turn of “Wizard”, a bubble bar that I bought, largely because of the name (huge Harry Potter fan here) and also cos it looked interesting!!

Unfortunately “Wizard” was just for Halloween, so its now unavailable (that’s why the link is actually to the US Lush site). This makes me twice as glad that I got to try it when I did and hopefully one day it might be back again!

Wizard bubble bar looks a lot like a wizard hat and not only that, its a funky colour. To be honest, if it wasn’t that colour, I think it could quite easily be confused with the Penguin bubble bar!

As I’ve mentioned before, I love the idea of a magical bath and as a Harry Potter lover I’m always sold on anything witch, wizard, magic related. This bubble bar was no different, almost excited to see how it turned out.

 

As I crumbled the bubble bar, the water turned a beautiful shade of purple. The smell was lovely too. However as the bath filled more, the water took on a slightly darker shade of purple which was still nice but just not as pretty as the shallow water. While I could place the scent at all (and having this eternal cold it seems) it did seem familiar and in the end I associated it with lavender. As with all Lush bubble bars, the water felt beautifully soft and moisturising, the bar creating loads and loads of bubbles.

Lush describe this product as:

As the weather casts a cold, frosty spell over us, there’s only one thing better than soaking in the bath: the Wizard. This magical, handmade companion will help keep your spirits bright even on the darkest days. Energizing tangerine, juniperberry and fennel essential oils help balance the skin, while its warming and uplifting scent banishes stress and helps you recover from the day. It’s pure magic for your mind, body and soul.

While there is no mention of lavender, I feel sure that there is something in the bubble bar with the same qualities.  After getting out of the bath I felt incredibly relaxed and then not long after, tired. I slept really well that night too and so I would have recommended it for people with sleeping problems.

This was a lovely bubble bar and I’m genuinely sad it was here only briefly. I hope it makes a re-appearance next Halloween as I’d definitely stock up on a couple for those exhausting days when you know you need a good night’s sleep.

Still to review: The Christmas Hedgehog, Father Christmas, Sparkly Pumpkin and my all time favourite, Candy Mountain!

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Week 44 – Monday Round-up

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Today has been a bit of a rough day so hand on heart, I’m not really feeling like blogging today. However I don’t want to get behind, especially on a weekly round-up post. I do apologise in advance though, if I lack enthusiasm or heart, within my post!

This last week was my second week off, out of two. It started with my day in London on Monday, which I posted about earlier this morning. After a really nice day by myself, I came home to my friend Adam who was visiting for the week. Him and Chris had spent the evening together as I was later home than I expected, but we all headed to bed fairly early. On Tuesday, the girls were still with their dad so everyone got a lie-in. When we did eventually get up, we chilled out watching crappy TV before deciding to go get breakfast at Morrisons. After heading back home to chill out some more, Chris got ready for work and then headed out. Not long afterwards Adam and I headed out to Lincoln to do a little shopping, before heading to get the girls from their dad. We went to BHS where I bought a beautiful new diary, to Primark where Adam bought some t-shirts and to Starbucks where we both got coffee. Once we picked up the kids, we all headed home and Adam and I spent the evening with Nat, who popped around for our weekly chat. My brother also made a brief appearance for a quick coffee and chat.

Wednesday was fairly chill for the morning. It was nice to have the girls back but they were lovely and quiet in the morning so we all still got a lay-in again. Chris was off work, which was good as I’d made plans for later in the day and needed him to occupy Adam. After lunch I headed out with the girls to drop them off at mum’s again, then meet Nat from work to go to Costa Bingo’s Musical Bingo Night (which I’ll be posting about tomorrow). We left Lincoln at 3.30pm and got to Birmingham for 6pm. It was then about 11pm when we left and 1.30am before I was home!

The next morning I was incredibly tired! Sadly I needed to be up early and get the girls from my mum. Even once there, I had to wait for their dad to arrive – the girls had left their new toys at his house and he was dropping them off. Unfortunately he forgot which meant we had to wait an hour longer. He did offer to get us lunch at his place of work though, so we headed there to pick them up. I just had a baguette but the girls had sausage and mash. Afterwards we headed home and it was time for Amy to arrive. We met her at the station and then came home, relaxing for the rest of the day. Once the kids were in bed, Adam, Amy and I ordered takeaway and then watched a whole heap of terrible (yet hilarious TV) until Chris came home.

Friday was Halloween and this meant a lot of planning and preparations! After a slow start, I got up and made a list of everything we needed to shop for. The girls and I then headed out to Tesco, to buy everything we needed for the evening party food. We got back and had lunch, before hitting the kitchen. Amy, Olivia, Lily and Megan – all started off by making cakes. However after a while both Lily and Olivia were bored and headed off to sit in the lounge. Amy and Adam helped out at various points but Megan was the only one to stick it out throughout the whole afternoon. I was really proud of Megan, the food and especially the cakes she decorated herself.

For the first hour or so, I let the girls stay up, as all my friends arrived. We ate and chatted – the girls even sang Frozen songs. However when they went to bed, we all moved through to the lounge, started drinking and played “Cards Against Humanity”. I didn’t actually end up drinking anywhere near as much as I thought I would but we did end up staying up till 1.30am.

Again, I managed a lie-in, in the morning. However I deliberately didn’t stay in bed too long as Adam and Amy were still visiting. Once I got up, I tidied the kitchen and then just chilled out. Chris was at work and we had all planned to go to Meadowhall, to break up the day. After lunch we all headed out to Sheffield and spent the whole afternoon in Meadowhall. When we finished shopping, it was about 6pm. Adam caught the train from here as it was nearer than our house, but the rest of us headed home. The girls pretty much went straight to bed and Amy and I ordered takeaway again and watched TV whilst sitting part-chatting and part on our phones and computer. When Chris came home, Amy went to bed and Chris and I sat watching The Walking Dead before going to bed.

Finally it was Sunday and unfortunately I just couldn’t sleep too late. I got up and made a cup of tea, but ended up going back to bed just to read my book. Eventually I did get up but I continued to read my book, trying to make the most of my last day off. At lunchtime the girls and I headed out to take Amy and Olivia to the station, before going shopping to Aldi for our weekly shop. When we got home, Megan and I watched the X Factor as we hadn’t had chance the night before. We then went on to watch The Apprentice before I made them some dinner. Once Lily was in bed, Chris, Megan and I settled down to watch some Cake Boss: Next Great Baker but when the X Factor results came on, Chris headed back upstairs and Megan and I watched it together. When Megan was in bed, Chris came back downstairs and we spent the rest of the evening together, catching up on TV. I felt sad my two weeks were over and I have to admit I was dreading going back to a very unknown situation at work.

This sums up my week and honestly the next one hasn’t got off to a great start. Fingers crossed it will get better… I’ll let you know next week.

My Geek Box (that still isn’t mine…)

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Last month I posted about Chris’ “My Geek Box” that he received. Sadly it wasn’t that great but he wanted to stick with it and see what the next month brought. On Saturday his latest box arrived and even though it was 11 o’clock at night when he get home, I quickly urged him to open it up so I could snap some pictures. Please excuse the quality of the photos, as they were taken on my phone and at night, though I did go back and take a few new ones the next day.

The box felt pretty light and I had prepared myself for it to be disappointing. I have to admit it was a better box than last month, but sadly it still wasn’t great.

The contents of the box were:

  • My Geek Box magazine
  • Jason Pop! Funko figure
  • Pumpkin Popping Candy
  • Zombi Zity figure
  • Zomblings blind bag
  • Red t-shirt
  • a poster
  • Nightmare Before Christmas magnet

I didn’t take another picture of the magazine but it was rubbish anyway. Inside was 2 pages of cosplay stuff and 4 pages of games review and basically seemed like a waste of glossy paper. However the second thing out of the box was this awesome Jason Voorhees figure. We’re getting quite a collection of Pop! Funko now and what I didn’t tell Chris when he opened this, was that I’ve also bought him the Jigsaw figure from the Saw movies, for Chritstmas. This will go awesome with this little fellow.

Popping Candy is at least better than a Twinkie, but still pretty weird. I have no idea what this pumpkin flavour will be like but it sounds pretty gross to me. Next up is the Zombie Zity figure which seems pretty pointless to me. No doubt Chris will sit him on his desk upstairs but in by opinion, just a waste of time.

Speaking of a waste of time, the Zombling blind bag was pretty pointless too. This strange looking cow thing is what came out of the bag and I see even less point to this than the Zombie Zity thing. Needless to say it’s actually in the bin now (along with the magazine coincidentally).

Couldn’t decide if last night’s picture was better or if today’s was, so posting them both. Sadly the t-shirts seems to come VERY creased but this month’s was at least a better colour than last months yellow. Chris likes it and it looks less like a tent, so that’s a plus.

This poster is pretty good but sadly its not really our style. Also, as much as its great to be sent some good prints, its often a hassle to go out and buy frames to make them look good. At our age we’re too old to be putting posters up so really it would be nice to get a canvas or something you’d be proud to place on your walls.

Finally, the only thing I really like. A Nightmare Before Christmas magnet that is now on our fridge…

Anyway, once again, its not my box so it doesn’t really matter to me – but personally I’d still have been disappointed, even though I thought it was better than last month. The Pop! Funko figure is really all that saves this box, and a marginally better t-shirt. I have no idea if Chris will continue his subscription or not but I’m definitely sticking to “My Little Box” instead of geek boxes for now.

Halloween at Adventure Farm

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You may remember that some time ago, my family and I visited National Forest Adventure Farm, to participate in their Scarecrow Record. We had a lovely day and really hope to visit again! I was recently contacted by Adventure Farm, to invite us again for their Halloween event. Sadly we won’t be able to attend but I did say that I would happily blog about it, to let all my lovely readers know about it!

Between Friday 24th October and Sunday 1st November, Adventure Farm is hosting a Half Term Halloween Spook-tacular. They have some great activities and it sounds like a lot of fun.

Their Half Term Halloween Spook-tacular is a treat for children. Every child can pick a free pumpkin from our patch and carve them into a spooky design! One tip to easily scrape and carve the pumpkins is to Buy reusable halloween pumpkin glove scraper. They’ll also have the terrifying Scare School and Broomstick Training workshops running every day so your little ones can learn how to be as terrifying as possible. Go dressed in your most terrifying outfit for a chance to win a prize, and don’t forget to visit the Haunted Hotel for a really scary experience.

Head to the funfield for bouncing pillows, go karts and Frisbee golf, daily activities include pony grooming, the famous pig Grand National and animal petting sessions. Even if it’s wet they’ve got a huge indoor play area featuring drop slides, ball pits and giant Lego. Open every day 10-6 there’s acres of fun for everyone!

If you have some spare time, I definitely recommend a visit. You can find more information on their website, so give it a look. If you end up visiting, I’d love to see your posts! Feel free to drop me a comment with your link.