Bonjour Paris!

It's hard to think that France, a country with so much culture, history, fashion and lots of yummy patisseries is just round the corner (well not literally but you know what I mean!) It's a country that has a lot to offer with 4 different corners with different weather, cultures and things to do. I'm trying not to be biased by the way but it's so true!

You go to the west, you have the fishing towns with the English weather. You go East, and you can ski down the beautiful Alpine slopes. You go to the hot South and get ready to party like a celeb. There's something for everyone and especially kids.

It was the kids’ first time in France but we were there for a week only so stayed in Paris at my cousin's house, right next to Stade de France.  We took the coach as we tried to be more environmentally friendly but it's quite cheap also! On the day we arrived, we went to see Parc de Villette which is a very popular science museum. During summer time, there's also plenty of fairs happening and would highly encourage you to go to one as it's not like fairs in the UK. It's more like Winter Wonderland in Summer.

If you are back in the country, you have to visit your hometown right? And that's exactly what we've done on our 1st day there. Travelling by bus and train Paris is very easy and straightforward. We had to get tickets everyday but day passes made it cheaper. If you are stuck, the staff at the stations are ready to help and most of them talk English so don't be afraid to ask! Anyways, my hometown Colombes is situated just outside Paris so it took us a while. Once we got there, I showed my kids the nursery and schools I studied in, our flat we used to live in and basically everywhere we used to hang around especially the immense park Ile Marrant (the island of fun). The park changed a quite a but but it still had it's charm. I loved seeing my kids run around the park the same park I used to play in when I was their age and playing with other kids, despite the language barrier. The park has an indoor swimming pool where I used to do my swimming lesson, an indoor ice skating ring where learning ice skating was part of PE at school! After half a day there, we went to meet my BFF in the local shopping centre near La Defense, which is Europe's largest purpose-built business district. I took the kids to the exact supermarket I went with my parents and splashed a bit on French biscuits and patisseries! To end a very hectic day, we visited the Sacre Coeur. This church is very special to me because, even though we we were born Hindu, we visited the church every other month but my dad, would visit the church every Sunday! The merry-go round that me and my brothers used to go on was still there and now my kids were on there.  So we climbed up the hill and nothing can beat THAT view of Paris. It never ceases to amaze me. We went inside and that peace that always enveloped me as a child whenever I stepped in, still did the magic. The kids loved looking around the church and reading about the statues. I told them things I used to do and they also wanted to do it. Once out, we decided to take the stairs down again. Well, that's not exactly how we did it. We SLID  down the ramps. Mahi literally had a huge hole in the back of his shorts because he took sliding to another level (thank God I bought extra change of clothes). The kids loved exploring the tourists shops around. 

The next day, we went proper touristy. We did all the Parisian landmarks. We first visited the Jardin de Luxembourg, taking in the beautiful gardens and the vast amount of space for the kids to play around with their cousins. Next, we went to the Eiffel Tower. The kids didn't want to climb up as there was a queue and I'm pretty sure they were underwhelmed with what they actually saw and  what they see on TV. Anyway, when you got young kids who don't want to walk around, the best way to see Paris is the bateau mouche (river boat cruise) on the river Seine. There is commentary and it's a scenic way to see Paris. The kids enjoyed the cruise, getting excited in seeing places they only saw on TV.  It was about 1hr cruise and it was well worth it. Before we wrapped up for the day, my kids, sharing my love for Diana, we went to see the place where she was killed. Laksha was unusually quiet but I knew she was processing the significance of the place she was standing on. 

The following day, we went to Champs Elysees. I taught the kids the importance of the place and they were mesmerised by the flame which never goes off. We then headed to Versailles for a bit of history. The kids loved the waterworks, pretending to be kings and queens and dancing to the music playing in the background. They loved the maze-like grounds and were running around everywhere. They also had an activity trail they took part which turned into a race between the kids. There's a cute boating lake at the bottom of the royal gardens where we relaxed and saw the people on their pedalos.

The day before we were meant to leave, we went to Disney!!!!!!! We got there before the gates opened at 10am to make sure we have time to enjoy ourself. We did the studio only (I told Laksha that if she did well in her upcoming 11+ exams, I will take her to the main park. I know, I'm a mean mum!)  A whole day can easily be spent there. It is a magical place and no place can compare like it. We did all the rides, saw characters, saw a couple of shows including Lion King and Lilo and Stitch. People say you can do both parks in 1 day but the studios took us a day so do plan 2 days if you want to soak up the experience. The kids literally didn't want to leave as it truly is a magical place. Our time in Paris sadly came to an end.

There were places that I wanted to visit but couldn't due to time limits such as Parc d'Asterix, a theme park based on the comic book of Asterix and Obelix. Although we saw the Louvre when on our river cruise, we didn't go inside. The kids get bored of museums especially art ones so there were dead against going to any museums. They didn't want to do anything they could do in London so we didn't do the wax museum or the aquariums.

Back to school madness!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Who else feels like this? After 2 weeks of no school run, dropping/picking kids from their numerous classes across North West London, no bed time and lie ins, I always dread going back to school. I enjoy having my babies around, spending time with them not worrying about times and just being chilled. Yes sometime they drive me mad but it isn't as bad as parents fear. They still stick to a routine , especially when I am at work, so it keeps their madness down and it works. On my days off, we go out, away from any electronics, which does everyone good. I always go on short breaks because I need a break from everyday life!

A new school term also mean, the fees for the different classes to be paid and when i've done my calculations, without counting the monthly payments for some classes, I have to pay £600! Yes you read that right! £675 for 4 classes that need to be paid per term and I have 3 other classes which require monthly payments. So this is me, sitting right now, after Christmas/New Year festivities, having to fork our about £800!! This is why I also hate the kids going to school too.

Anyways, its now back to school and work. Let the madness begin  once again!

Good luck parents!

Walking around Brick Lane!

Who knew Brick Lane will offer sooo much, even for kids?

We went to Brick Lane to do a Graffiti workshop for my birthday! I found the workshop via Funzing website. It was on  the expensive side but it  was so much fun and in a relaxed community garden. The community garden itself has so much stuff to see. There was an unusual mini playground for the kids, a community cafe and lots and lots of colours through plants and art!

The graffiti instructor was very patient with all of us and great with kids! We were thought so much technique and as Mahish is the artist in the family, he loved learning and putting into practise the techniques he was taught. It was a 2 hour workshop and well worth it. We done our graffitis on canvas so it's great to have them put on our wall and admire our handiwork.

We then took a stroll around the streets of Brick Lane and stumbled on the Cereal Cafe. It is a cafe dedicated to cereals from the beginning of its time. It was like stepping back in time. The back of the cafe even had a bed which you could sit on (obviously!). It had a few video games and cereal boxes stacked on all walls bringing back my childhood memories. We ordered so goodies which was so warm and yum!

Once we came out, we then visited a bagel shop which did all kinds of bagels including the infamous rainbow bagels. The queues are long so beware. But it is worth the wait! My daughter loved her rainbow bagel!

We then visited lots of quirky shops along the road and before we knew it, the whole day was gone!

Leicester Square Festivities!

If you are planning to go to Leicester Square during the Christmas holiday then look no further for what to do!

There's the Christmas Market right in the centre of the Square. It is small but with plenty of eateries and arts/crafts stalls. Since it's quite small, it can get very crowded so patience is key!

There's also a Santa's Grotto which you can either book online or at the box office on the day. It costs us £20 for 2 kids and it lasts for 25mins. The grotto was small and Sanata was good however I thought it was a bit disorganised. With so many kids, it go t a bit messy with children walking aroundinstead of sitting down therefore we couldn't listen to what Santa was saying. I thought if they better communicated as to what was to follow then the experience would have been better. Nevertheless the grotto was well decorated and the kids were happy with the gifts they received.

We then headed to Prince Charles to have a wonderful time singing along to The Muppets Christmas Carol! We love a good song along and we’ve never seen this Muppet movie so off we went to get holly! A funny Santa came and presented the movies before the movie started, all the people wearing something Christmassy were called to the stage as a competing. My kids were obviously in their Christmas jumpers and hats so off they went to model on stage. The competition was fierce and although they didn’t win, they got a nice cash out of it! We warmed up our singing voices by practicing a song and off the movie started! All the songs have subtitles so don’t worry if you don’t know any songs. I would definitely recommend to go to a sing-along movie! The atmosphere is something else!

Of course, there’s the usual M&M world and Lego shop (expect queues during busy times). The Lego store is in 2 floors with again lots of places to free build. MM world is set on 3 floors and all fully dedicated to those round chocolate delights! Lots of photo opportunities in both stores!

Covent Garden, China Town and Piccadilly Circus are all walking distance of you want to walk around to look at the Christmas lights!

Christmas in Birmingham

We headed out to another short break over the Christmas holidays! This one much closer to London... Birmingham!!

We went after Christmas Day but although Santa was understandably nowhere to be seen, Christmas was still in the air!

We stayed in the City Centre do it was easier for us to get to our various places and there were a few! So here’s our list of what to do when in Birmingham!

1. Cadbury World (obviously!) - Bournville is such a cute little village and I didn’t know it was built by the Cadbury Family for their employees! How thoughtful! I only got to know about this when we were invited to the cinema to learn about the factory’s history! We booked tickets in advance and had to pick a slot! Before we even when I’m to our childcare te adventure, we were handed big handful of chocolates (reminder for next time: take a bag to carry all the chocolates that will be handed to you!). Once we entered, we traced the history of chocolate while doing a trail before we arrived at the cinema to learn about chocolate! We got to see different sides of the factory including where they decorate chocolates! You could get your own personalised chocolate which we did! There was also an  exhibit of all the Cadbury ads over the year including the drumming Gorilla! We didn’t go on the ride or the 4d cinema as the queue were so long so instead the kids let loose in the huge playgrounds! There was more to look around, the other side of the factory, but the kids wanted to play rather than do more looking around!  The shop had all sorts of  confectionary and was really hard to choose one thing each!

What’s another best place for kids in Birmingham?! The Lego discovery centre obviously! It was a good 30mins walk but with all the lights around to look at, it didn’t feel like it! The centre had a handful of rides,  4d cinema and of course lots of Lego’s and places to build! My Lego mad son was obviously in Lego heaven and the shop had a very good selection of toys!

As a family who loves history we had to fit in the Blists Hill Victorian Town which was just outside Birmingham, in Telford. It is an open air museum recreating the period between late 1800s to mid 1950s! First of all, we knew we were going to spend a few pounds so off we headed to the bank to convert our monies into older time monies. The kids stared at the coins in wonderment and trying to remember the values of each coins! Before we explored the village, we saw a little theatre show and make an own candles (at extra cost). We walked around the museum, sipping on and out of vintage shops and everyone was in character which added so much charm and authenticity to it! Everything was from back-in-the-days so the kids loved trying to figure out how to play some games, what some medicines were for and what confectionery there is! We even had some warm homemade bread! We also went inside a mine cave or a little train to hear mini stories (of kids included) which the kids were sad about! There was so much education and bff u not be had, before we knew it we spent a good 4/5hours there! The highlight was the cliff lift which we hopped on quite a few times!

The next and final day, we went to the Snowdome’s Winter Wonderland which was 30mins by car. Again this has to be prebooked and once we are done with that, you can have fun on the toboggan or sledging on the big snow slopes! So off we went to the indoor Winter Wonderland where we were greeted by the Snow King and entertained us while we waited for our time slot! Once, we were in, it was truly winter wonderland with snow everywhere! I took a sledge and pushed the kids everywhere which involved lots of falling and laughter! There were tiny slopes for us to go down and a ice sling ring (needs to be booked separately). We also saw a Christmas show which was funny and still keeping the Christmas spirit alive! Once we finished with all the toboggan and sledging, we went to visit the winter animals which included reindeers! Before we headed out, we wrote to Santa and left to go tobogganing on much bigger slopes! The kids looked so little carrying their toboggans up the big slope! They laughter was so infectious that I wanted to go and have fun too but unfortunately that was for kids only so I was watching them from the cafe with my warm food and hot chocolate! The kids didn’t want to leave so had to physically drag them out of the slopes!

With that, our trip to Birmingham has come to an end and we had a brilliant festive time!

Christmas in Torquay

Last year, for our 1st Christmas short break of the year, we packed our bags and headed down to Torquay in Devon. I was attracted to Torquay as I’m always in the hunt of finding dinosaur places for Mahish but as Laksha is growing up and doesn’t really believe in Santa, Torquay provides me with other more age appropriate activities.

We stayed in a Travelodge in Torquay for 4 days and travelled by train from London. We took a day bus pass to travel around the area. Everything was easy to reach and find. On our first day, we visited Dinosaur World which is right in the town centre near the harbour. It was small but perfect for my little palaeontologist. They did a Christmas trail which took us to all corners of the place. There were so many exhibits which we can could touch, feel and sit on making it great for photo opportunities. It had plenty of hands on exhibits and more information was fed to my dinosaur-mad son! It had a nice little shop where Mahish bought an unusual barn which he adores greatly. Mahish came out very ecstatic!


Up the hill we went to visit the Kent’s Cavern Prehistoric Caves. There was a Santa’s Grotto which we didn’t do. With our guide, we explored the caves. It felt like we stepped back in the Stone Ages as we traced their footsteps. Our guide was amazing and totally engrossed the children in the history of the cars. From seing beautiful stalactites, to seeing hiding places of prehistoric men, bears and hyenas. At one ooh t, we stood in complete darkness to imagine how it was to live in caves along with animals. There were narrow places but didn’t deter my kids from having fun and climbing through narrow spaces! After thanking our guide, we spent some time in the children’s area doing lots of activities such as digging, tracing and playing old games. We then spent quite a long time in the shop as the kids couldn’t decide what to pick amongst the extensive gifts on display. There was a cafe but didn’t go there. We instead headed out as there was a prehistoric trail which was quite interactive such as building our own dens with whatever we could find. There was quite a lot of up and downs which was great for the kids to let all their energy out!

The following day, we headed out to Bygones Museum, a family museum which represents the Victorian times with lots of artefacts collected and preserved across generations. We had a very important breakfast appointment before we explored the Museum. The breakfast appointment was none other than with Santa himself who spend sometime our on table engaging the kids in conversation while we had breakfast. It was very quiet and an intimiste meeting. Once we were done with breakfast and loaded with lots of presents and chocolates (chocolates in the morning doesn’t count when it’s Christmas), we explored the museum while doing a Christmas trail! We came across Victorian shops and could smell the streets and hear the noises of the past! There was a games arcade with games from Victorian time which was great fun! Once we done the trail, the kids had a prize of picking something from the toy shop and I myself collent help myself but buy some retro games!

Nearby was the Babbacombe Model Village! I love these model villages and no mater how many I’ve seen, I can’t stop my amazement at the intricate constructions and this one was also beautiful! The kids running up and down to see all the tiny villages and spotting places they’ve seen in real life wa a great to see. There was also a miniature golf and a little pantomime was also in show for us to enjoy! We spent a good 2 hours there as it was hard myself to tear ourselves from this pretty model village. We saw Santa again and he gifted us more presents. Babbacombe beach was right next to it but the chilly weather although sunny, stopped us from visiting it. Apparently there’s a cliff lift that takes us down to the beach.

On our final day, we just visited the town centre and harbour again. We also visited the pier at Paignton beach quickly before we headed back home! The kids loved running around the pier and playing in the arcade.

It didn’t cost us much as hotel and transport were booked 2 months in advance. The tickets for all attractions were booked online where in some attractions it was cheaper to book online. The weather was sunny despite it being chilly. I’ll recommend it for anyone to go throughout the year!

Elf Workshop at Camden Town

Who knew Camden Town did kid-friendly activities and that too over Christmas?!

To be honest, we didn't go with much expectations. I don't know why but we wanted to discover new places and new things to do so off we went to Camden Town.

You have to prebook the tickets with specific time slots on https://www.camdenmarket.com/events/christmas-grotto (the price looks a bit pricey but is it worth the price? Read further!)

When we got there, we were welcomed by very  animated elves. We were welcomed into this warm,  and cozy living room. The kids were sitting down and were entertained by elves by having a quiz and singing Christmas songs! Then the kids got to decorate some gingerbread biscuits and they tasted yummy too!

Then individually, we were called in to see the Big Man in his huge red library. Santa was so funny and took his time to give time and attention to the kids. We also had plenty of time to take photos and selfies.

The whole thing took about 1hr and the  kids liked it but I thought it was overpriced for what we got!