Zhu Zhu Ponies

You are probably aware of the range of Zhu Zhu hamsters, cute little robotic hamster that make squeaky noises and move around with a touch of intelligence enabling them to navigate around your floor all day long.

They are hugely popular toys and seem to attract children of all ages, we have a variety of hamsters, the boys have the battle arena and Chloe the grooming salon to entertain their furry friends, and they get played with a fair amount, the hamster more so than the play sets.

The range however has just expanded, now joining the Zhuniverse is a range of pretty little ponies.

The Zhu Zhu ponies are the latest in the Zhu Zhu range, and really are rather lovely, with their long flowing mane which can be brushed and styled, and their rather sweet noises and movement these are abit like furry moving my little ponies.

And as ponies are a huge hit for lots of girls these make a lovely gift.

The ponys are sold separately, and there are 6 to collect priced around £14.99 and to add to the collection is a set of pony stables which interconnect to make your own Zhu Zhu pony world.

Each individual pony comes with a brush and a couple of little accessories the pony we received came with two little clips for her hair.

The gable stable we received came with lots of accessories, 7 sections of fence, a bucket and several food items, there is also a little section of grass which the food can slot into and a drawer to store your accessories.

Wenlock - the Olympic Mascots

I am sure you have seen the London 2012 Olympic mascots by now,strange looking creatures with a huge all seeing eye.

There is lots of official merchandise including these strange mascots and we were sent a soft cuddly Wenlock to review.

This soft Wenlock is the perfect Souvenir for children who want to support the Olympics, and my three love him!

Holiday Get away

We're nearly at the end of the second week of the summer holidays already, and I am trying to plan ahead and hoping for a chance to up and leave on some form of adventure, hoping to go cruising along the canals.

Going off sounds lovely,  pack a few essentials and off you go, that is normally the routine I take,up and leaving for a couple of days camping with little forward planning at all.

But this time we are hoping to be able to go for longer than a weekend, so I do need to plan abit.

The household pets are the first thing I need to arrange a sitter for, Jackson can  come along with us, but I don't think the boat is big enough to accommodate the budgie and guinea pig aswell.

Then there is the essential bits and pieces without which the trip is destined to be a disaster.

Oh top of this priority list is the first aid supplies, having an asthmatic son it is vital we have enough inhaler to last before we can return home for a refill, not to mention his Epi Pen, so before going away it's a must to get the repeat prescription from the doctors, then the plasters, paracetamol and sickness relievers are those things that you always wish you had if you don't pre think to take them along, so I am desperate to be above the game and be prepared for every occasion.

Other essentials are a wash bag, its always important to have baby wipes or a hand towel to hand when you have children, toothbrushes and soap seem to be something I normally forget and then have to dash out to find once camped up.

Also travelling with children,and the great British weather, I think its important to have a 'play bag' filled with some of their all time favourite time passes, going camping in a tent, or cruising on the canal the one thing I always notice is the limited space, so I have a one bag for all rule, I find this works well and although they don't have the normal chest full of toys to pick through I do find a select few entertain them for longer anyway.

Things we are including in our play bag to entertain everyone no matter where we are, include a pack of cards, pens and notebooks, a few power rangers figures, a small tub of lego, DS  and a couple of games and a favourite teddy, That seems to be enough to keep my three entertained when the weathers not nice enough for them to run around outside.

Of course its all fine getting the holiday bags packed and ready to go, and the essentials may well make for a smooth getaway, but there is nothing worse than returning home and finding the house a mess, a pile of unpaid bills on the door mat to greet you and no food in the house.

So before we leave I will be sure to hoover round, change the beds, empty bins and I may even get out the duster, then I will ensure there is some food for us to eat on our return the most important being tea bags, milk and biscuits!

 Cravendale milk lasts upto 21 days unopened making it an essential purchase before you go away allowing you to return home to a cuppa.

I am linking this post upto the Britmums come home to a cuppa linky for a chance to win a years supply of Cravendale milk, do pop over to the Britmums blog to see how other people are preparing for their holidays.

Go Mini Stunt Racers

There is a new range of toys from Golden Bear, fun funky character Mini cars with a twist.

We were asked if we'd like to give these little cars a test, and my youngest was thrilled to receive the stunt launcher.

These cute little cars all have their own personality and a stunt to match, the stunt launcher enables you to 'charge' the car by pulling back the handle and watching the rev counter clock up to max, then press the start button and watch the car race off along the floor.

These are perfect toys for children who love cars, the stunt launcher requires no batteries which is a real bonus, although there are a couple of cars in the range which do require batteries to enable sounds and additional features.

Each car in the series has a stunt mode, which can be selected via a switch on the base, to activate the stunt, the car that comes with the stunt launcher does wheelies.

 The stunt launcher is priced around £19.99 and additional cars are priced from £4.99 you do not need the launcher to enjoy the cars as they can be charged up manually by dragging the Mini backwards across the floor, the box does state that they do not work on thick carpet pile and not to be used outdoors, but we have had fun with ours on the slabbed patio area with no problems.

The designs of these Mini cars are great, with the friendly faces and iconic style to the mini cars they are sure to become a favourite.

You can see the whole range at www.goldenbeartoys.com

Glimpse of Summer

The weather really has been lovely the past few days, blazing hot sun lovely evenings just perfect for the summer holidays and a huge contrast to the weather the past few weeks. So you would hope that everyone has been getting out and about and making the most of the sunshine.

But with the soaring temperatures it can sometimes be too hot to spend time outdoors, the thought of dragging hot children out for a walk can almost seem more hassle that its worth, children spend so much time in doors with modern technology to entertain them,  there always seems to be a excuse to break them from these comforts, too hot, too cold, too wet, windy, late or early!

But walking is something that really doesn't have to be a hassle, and can be enjoyable, a simple stroll through the local park in the evening, or walk to the local shop can be less hot and troublesome than starting the car up, not to mention the health benefits to walking!

Did you know that just 10 minutes walk can burn off 38 calories,  or a gentle stroll for half an hour can burn off over 70 calories?

It's so important to get up and get walking, not only does it have great health benefits but when more people use the streets it makes everyone realise that there is valid reasons to look after them and ensure they are safe, attractive and enjoyable for pedestrians, and that is exactly what Living Streets main aim is.

You may remember I wrote about Living Streets Walking Challenge back in May, when they were encouraging people to get walking in the Great British Walking Challenge, which was a great success, now they are encouraging people to take a look at the fab Ice Cream Calculator

Which will work out how many calories you have burned off each time you take to the streets, it is really easy to use, and is great fun, adding a evening walk to end your day can be an amazing way to wind down, and whats more it cools off in the evenings and you get to enjoy the wonderful evening sunlight and catch those glimpse of summer which you otherwise might miss.

 So why not join in, take a walk today - no excuses, and then see how many calories you've burned off, you are also in with a chance of winning a Zoku ice lolly maker if you use the Living Street Calculator, and if you take along your camera and capture any summer time photographs then be sure to tweet them to @livingStreets and use the hash tag #glimpseofsummer you may get your photo displayed on their pinterest board Helping to encourage everyone to make Britain a happier Healthier place this summer!

The haircut...

Anyone who knows me, will know I am not a fan of hairdressers, I have a real avoidance to haircuts, and love the longer, natural some would say scruffy, looking hair.

I wrote about my boys hair styles in the bloggers carnival 'boys have long hair too!'  if you read that post you will of seen that I said that no matter how much I love the longer hair, and how much I try to avoid the hairdressers, if my boys asked for a haircut I wouldn't stop them.

My youngest has the most beautiful blond hair, which grows fast and when he asks for a hair cut, we normally trim it abit but leave it fairly long, but as it reaches his shoulders and starts to look progressively 'longer' the 'girl' comments increase.

 Although these don't bother him as such, you can see him thinking differently about his hair each time someone says 'aww isn't SHE pretty' hes 5 and not quite decided on what he wants for himself and confident enough to stick to his reasoning, hes still happy to experiment in abit of this and abit of that, so when we were at my mums house and her mobile hairdresser was around my mum asked him if he'd like a haircut, he agreed and was eager to have his hair 'short' so with my heart in my mouth, I agreed to let him have it cut short.

Now I won't pretend I love it, I will always prefer the longer hair, but I can't force Mikey to feel the same, and I have to allow him to try whatever hair style he wants.  I will just secretly hope he eventually decides on the longer hair, like his older bother who even when asked refuses a haircut.

Blingles - Bling Studio Review

For tween girls like my daughter, it seems the more you can personalise something the better, she is terrible for doodling on all her books, sticking pom poms and glitter onto her shelves and generally adding a dash of bling to anything in any way she possibly can. She is not one for conventional toys, she won't really sit and play with anything for very long, so finding something to withheld the boredom isn't always easy, yet arty crafts pens and paper is something that she enjoys and will happily do by herself.

So when we were asked if we wanted to take a look at the new Blingles Bling Studio from Character, which is aimed at girls aged 6 and above we were eager to get our hands on it.

If you have a girl, or indeed a boy, who loves to get arty, you may well already be aware of the annoyance that can be caused by home craft kits, the ones with the annoying glitter glue that simply never actually sticks to anything, or the packs offering to enable you to make something wonderful that ultimately never materialises, or the tiny parts which end up no where useful but turn up under the sofa, in the bed, and everywhere they shouldn't be for weeks after.

Well the Bling Studio is different, it is a novel idea meant to make adding a touch of bling easier, and it really does work. In the Bling Studio set you get the Bling Studio itself with over 320 gems in various colours, a handy gem storage container, a gem pen, glue roll, transfer slides and instruction booklet and several design templates.

Now my daughter has used sellotape, prit stick, blue tack and just about ever other slightly sticky substance in the past in a desperate attempt to style her books, bags, phones and such like with glitter and gems and every time she does so she is proud of her efforts and comes skipping along to show me how she has defaced her DS and I can't help but show my disappointment in the tatty effect shes created, with strips of tape and splodges of glue hanging off messily.

But the Bling Studio allows you to add your own gem designs to pretty much any surface, the gem pen is a very effective way of picking up and positioning the tiny little gems into place on the special design mat which grabs hold of the gems keeping them in place where you want them (ie NOT all over the floor!)

Then you use the transfer sheet to pick up your design and place it on the glue roll which adds a strong sticky glue layer to the underside of your gems, when you then press them into place on your chosen item and  peel off the transfer sheet you are left with just the gems.

It is important to read the enclosed instructions carefully in order to get the order right, but it is very simple and I showed Chloe once and she was perfectly able to use the kit herself afterwards.

Included in the box is 4 template cards which are double sided, or you can make up your own designs.

You receive enough gems,  glue roll and transfer sheets to make 12  designs, Priced at £19.99 its worth keeping in mind that the supplies will soon be used up but replacements can be purchased in the form of additional accessory packs starting from £7.99

With that in mind, I still think this is a great idea for crafty tweens and Chloe really loved it, so much so in fact she took it into school on their last day when they were allowed to bring along an activity and although she returned home having used up all the supplies she said all the girls in her class loved it and wanted to bling everything! It was simple enough for her to demonstrate how to use to her friends, and impressive enough to hold every ones attention.

The finished designs are great and have stuck to a number of things, including Chloes mobile phone, the bling studio itself, paper notepads, fabric pencil cases and school bags and I will be buying some more accessories as birthday and Christmas gifts, the studio itself is sturdy and will happily sit on her shelf until it is refilled with additional gems, it really is effective in providing a way to move and position the tiny gems enabling you to have a very usable end result.