Harry Potter Day at Stockeld Park

Last weekend we headed up to Stockeld Park after a tip off from a friend that they were having a Harry Potter weekend. After checking it out online we thought the boys would enjoy it and there were a few free events, so off we popped.

We eventually decided (upon arriving) to get a family day pass to the park, as there was a show in one section and a maze in another that we'd have had to pay for. That was the only negative of the day really, that getting into all the parts of the park was a bit cha-ching, and it wasn't really checked. We could definitely have gotten away with at the very least just buying a pass for me and Ethan. We were only checked twice, once on the way in to the 'Enchanted Forest' and once at the bean planting station (which would only have cost £1 without the pass). The maze and sorting weren't checked at all, which was a bit irritating after we forked out for it!

Anyway, back to the good stuff!

First off we had broomstick training, with 2 wizards and a witch from Hogwarts. They were brilliant. An aside, all the... actors? characters? anyway, they were all from Make a Wish Entertainment (facebook here) and they were amazing. More about them later.

This is Wesley Wizzo, who looks and acts freakishly like my brother-in-law Jonny. So much so that Sam shouted his name. Ethan did some magic spells, the group fought a swamp monster, practised flying, and helped a wizard earn his golden hood.

 There he is flying around, with adults acting as quidditch hoops and the whomping willow. He had a blast, and it was good imagination exercise!

Next there was bean planting, with very dry sparkly soil - points for lack of mess - and a white bean, planted with a wish in a small pot. Simple and enjoyable.

In the same area was an animal rescue/welfare group who'd brought some owls along for the event, and they were lovely about the children touching the owls and they both even got to hold the smallest one.

I can't adequately convey the pure joy this brought them, especially Sammy.

After this we stopped for a snack, and then went into the Maze. We were given a quiz and the answers were hidden in the maze, but, being Harry Potter questions, I knew them already ;)

We loved it, it wasn't too difficult, if you looked at the maps posted here and there throughout. There were a couple of bridges and a tower to see the maze from above too, which was fun. We made it through in about 20 minutes, though we did pass an arguing family who'd been in there an hour! 

 After the maze Ethan went for sorting, which was fab, the hat's face moved and it spoke, and he loved it. He got Gryffindor, so was made up. After this we had the Harry Potter Catwalk, which I have no pictures of because I was Sam-wrangling. All the dressed up kids basically did a fashion parade, with a guy introducing each one. I was impressed that they both had a crack at it, Ethan struck a spell pose, and Sam raced up and down. They were both outdone however by the only girl dressed up as Luna Lovegood. She was spot on, stripey tights, tutu-esque skirt, sprectre specs. She strutted down the catwalk, turned, and dropped into a perfect split. Naturally, she won, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Quick stop to hug a reindeer (Sam is slightly obsessed with these kind of costumed people), and then off to the Harry and Hagrid show in the Enchanted Forest. The show was fun, though Rich had to take Sammy out. When Hagrid called on Harry, he kept shouting "No Hagrid, I Harry Potter!" So they went off to look at the lights in the forest and Ethan and I watched the show. It was great, the actors were absolutely spot on, little bit of magic and great rapport with the kids.

Ethan was so excited, it was very cute. 

After we went through the Enchanted forest it was time to head home. There was a small ice skating rink, but it was busy and we needed to get back, which was a shame. Anyway, on our way out to the car, Harry and Hagrid were waiting for a pick up off somewhere else when we bumped into them and another witch (Polly Potions, from broomstick training) and the second we approached, they immediately turned it back on, and were more than happy to spend a few more minutes with the children. They were absolutely brilliant, and made the day. Very good with the children, really happy, enthusiastic and just seemed to really enjoy their work.

Then it was home to bed where two sleepy boys went to bed without Daddy washing off any Harry Potter scars :)

Make a Wish Entertainment apparently do parties and events, and I would absolutely recommend them and as soon as I can afford it I'll book them to do a birthday for Ethan!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Halloween

We were lucky enough to get two chances the dress the kids up this year, for the trunk and treat at church and for trick or treating. So first, for the trunk and treat...

We had last minute vampire who decided he wanted this cape from the 99p shop. Thrifty!

 We also had a last minute gruffalo who refused to wear the ghost costume he'd asked me to make. Still, he had a gruffalo dressing gown and slippers already so all it took was a green felt tip for the poisonous wart at the end of his nose, and we were done. We had a fun time at the trunk and treat, I made a coconut shy with skulls in the place of coconuts in our car boot for the kids to knock down, they got sweets, bosh, done.

Then for trick or treating on our street we managed to get Sam into his ghost costume.

 He's 'woo'-ing. Ethan wore this Harry Potter costume, only with scar and glasses.

 We had a fun time visiting the decorated houses on our street and getting far too many sweets and chocolates, but to be honest the boys enjoyed opening the door the most. Sam spent as much time as possible with the door open, leaning out and shouting "come trickle treating!" across the street.

Henry wore this for both occasions and had no opinion. Unless you count spewing on it, which I don't, considering he is non-discriminatory with his barfing habits.

I did 3 pumpkins,  one of which when I took the 'lid' off the insides were so perfect I saved them for pie.

The pie was delicious and supremely easy, I just googled for a recipe and done. Except for the part where I forgot I had already bought nutmeg and ginger ages ago and bought them again, giving me a cupboard full of it. 

And that was halloween :) Lots of fun, a bit of mess and thankfully no damage done to my hands while carving the pumpkins - a first!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

World Book Day

Today was World Book Day, and Ethan got to dress up as a character. He decided on Harry Potter (with a teeny nudge from me away from Batman and Thor) and we got him the costume. Sewing was not on the agenda this year, as I am still not firing on all cylinders. He looked so cute, and was so excited to do magic. "I made that car stop!" and "I waved my wand and the door opened!" and "Expelli-larmus!" Were the cries of the day. He got his scar drawn on, and decided it wasn't right, and we re-did it, and off he went to school.

It couldn't have come in a better week. Since starting school in September I have tried to get Ethan excited about reading. It wasn't going well, though in his defence, some of those early books are ridiculously dull. I was (prematurely) beginning to worry that he was going to be someone who didn't enjoy reading. While that may be fine and normal for many people, it is the one thing about Rich that I really cannot fathom.

How can you not enjoy reading? I could literally read my life away, given sufficient books. Luckily for my family I have not been provided with said books, though the ones I do have make a dent ;)

Anyway, back to this week. On Monday we still had last weeks books, one about a princess and a dragon and one about packing for a holiday (like I said, riveting stuff.) and we got them out. And oh. He read about the princess. And sounded out words by himself. And WANTED to do it! We were happy! On Tuesdays he gets new books. It happened again! Something must have just clicked and he read. No, they are not taxing books, but he read them. He figured them out by himself, and then read them to Rich when he got home from work. Then he did something that surprised me, and began really using intonation and making the question should like a question, and the pop! sound right.

And that was when I thought, this boy can get it. He can know how much fun it is to read. To disappear into the other world that is in a book. And I'm so excited for him, I might have got a tiny bit emotional. But that's allowed, because I'm pregnant ;)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Harry Potter Studio Tour

We had an AMAZING time at the Studio Tour, absolutely brilliant. I went with Rich, Jess and Jonny, though I think it was a little wasted on the men!

Harry's Cupboard - This is actually right at the start, at the side of where you queue to go in. Speaking of the queue, it looked very long, but went through quickly. You go through to a sort of holding area (lol) while you wait for the group before you to move on from the cinema, but even here there are screens with pictures and a guide giving light commentary and the very few rules. Then you go into the cinema. Another little bit by a tour guide, ours was quite funny. He told us all to take the seat belts from the left of our seats and strap in. dutifully, everyone went to do it, then looked confused when they couldn't find it. He had a good chuckle! 

The short film was the only bit that I thought was a bit naff. There were nice behind the scenes clips and things, but there was a fair bit of waffling from Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. I was eager to get on!

 Doors to the Great Hall. If it's your birthday when you go, you get to be the ones to push the doors! Then it's into the great hall, which has amazing details that you never even see in the films, paintings on the walls and carvings. It seemed much narrower than on screen, but it was amazing, and filled with costumes and all sorts. We learnt that the floating candles weren't all added digitally, they started with them all hanging from wires that were digitally removed. The candles were fake-ish - they were filled with oil that they burnt rather than an actual candle. They removed many of them though when they burned through the wires and fell on people! They still used some, but digitally added the rest.

 Neville's cardigan! They also had Harry's first robes, but I had to have a limit on photos!

 The detail on all the props and scenery was incredible, this lectern had amazing details right down to the floor.

 Ron's bed. All the bedside tables had individual touches.

 The mirror of Erised

 Gryffindor common room. All the sets had information about them nearby. One of the paintings in the Gryffindor common room is of a young professor McGonagall. You'd never know from the movies, but everything has a little back story.

 The giant clock.This was swinging, and it is HUGE. And a teeny bit ominous.

 The stairs to Dumbledore's office. This one was just the statue, but there was one built that functioned, with a 12 foot hole under it that the moving stairs came up out of.

 The door to the Chamber of Secrets. The snakes on it actually moved, when in front of it you can see the tracks. Next to it is a door from a Gringott's vault, the parts of which also moved. The craftsmanship on them was so intricate, it was so cool.

 The Black Family Tree. It's huge, it wrapped around the top of the room.

 The Marauder's Map. This was in a case absolutely rammed with props, books, Weasley Wizard Wheezes, copies of The Daily Prophet and all sorts. Including Harry's photo album from Hagrid.

 Tom Riddle Snr's grave.

 The Potter house.

 Dobby. Jess noticed that though his sack/clothes were covered in blood, there's no tear from the knife. Also I've just realised that surely by this film he should be wearing his odd assortment of clothes?

 Absolutely amazing concept art. There were walls and walls of it and it was all brilliant. When I'm a gazillionaire I'm going back to buy some.

 Giant Hogwarts at the end. Absolutely huge, and the lights change to reflect the differing lights of day and night, and little lights come on inside the windows and on little lanterns.

The time turner I chose in the gift shop. Ah, the gift shop. The snag in the brilliant afternoon. It was ridiculous. Very expensive, though that was sort of expected, no queueing system for the tills, things in multiple spots in the shop with no real order to it at all, skinny aisles, and basically no system at all. And a very grumpy woman who pushed in the queue because she was too stupid to look and see where she was supposed to go.

There was a refreshment place about halfway round selling a small selection of sandwiches and crisps and things, and there was also a butterbeer counter. It was disgusting. some kind of fruity fizzy drink with a sort of ice cream on top, only it just tasted like very cold cream. Jess liked it, I think Jonny thought it was ok, Rich refused to try it. I gave mine to Jess. But it was only £2.95, so I didn't begrudge trying it. Much. 

The tour was great, but I think I missed some bits. It's not laid out in a set way to walk around, which is good because you don't get stuck in a line the whole way, but I think it was quite easy to miss bits. I wouldn't take kids, we saw a few bored ones. I also wouldn't take anyone not particularly mad about Harry Potter, the husbands got bored and wandered off LONG before we did. 

But my sister Amy didn't get to come with us, so I'll get another chance to go. Yay!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Harry Potter night, or, how I am a massive Potterhead.

So about two weeks ago Rich noticed that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - part 2 was coming onto Sky Premiere last night, so, like the HP geeks we are, he set it to record at 4pm and we made plans to watch part 1 and 2 once the boys were in bed. Not too geeky you might say. Except in the two weeks in between, we slowly made plans.

First it was an off-hand remark from Rich that, since there is always a Christmas scene in Harry Potter, I should get some mince pies in (I love them more than is normal). Then I thought I'd make some, because hello, it's August. Then it was what food we'd get in for a treat. Then yesterday morning I thought, stuff it, we're doing Harry Potter night right!

From the top, Butterbeer and Firewhiskey, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, mince pies, cauldron cakes, and Chocolate Cockroach Cluster.

 Mince pies, made by my own fair hand from this recipe. I added an egg after reading the comments so I could roll it out. It wasn't exactly pretty, but tastes amazing and had I had some icing sugar to sprinkle it would have hidden a multitude of cracks, wrinkles and uneven egg brushing.

 Cauldron Cakes. By this point I was really running out of time, and so again, not the prettiest, but to be honest I was looking at it more as a practise run! I piped melted white chocolate into swirls for the steam, let them harden in the fridge, then poked them into the (delicious, cheap, shop bought -gasp!) mini cupcakes. In transferring the swirls, all of them warped a bit, and several flopped completely. I'd recommend using a high quality white chocolate, or milk or dark, as my cheap white chocolate did not re-harden well at all. If I'd had more time, I'd have removed the cake cases and dipped the entire thing in chocolate - hello sugar rush - to be more cauldron-y (it's a word), but as it was I just piped a rim around the top. The cheap cakes (Sainsburys btw) already had mini sugar stars on which fit the theme.

 Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. Simple this one. I found this image via google, printed it off and cut it out, then stuck it on a sandwich bag full of Jelly Bellys. No risk of earwax flavour, though there is a rank liquorice one. I picked them out.

 Chocolate Cockroach Clusters. AKA Mars bar cakes. These are simple and delicious. 4 mars bars, 4oz butter, 4oz rice crispies. And a whole bunch of chocolate for the tops. Melt the mars bars and butter, and mix in the crispies. Makes 18 cupcakes, chill, top with chocolate. It's actually better done in a tray, but I wanted easy access! These ones look slightly grey from condensation by the way, they aren't gross. I ran out of time (surprise!) again and so put them into the freezer to harden up in time. It was unnecessary, we nearly broke teeth on the chocolate.

 Butterbeer, AKA white grape Shloer. We decided against concocting actual Butterbeer, as every recipe I've ever seen looks like it tastes disgusting. Also the time thing again. And we love Shloer. Bonus - it was on offer. I downloaded (free) the label here.

 Ogden's old Firewhiskey. AKA Rosé Shloer. I found this label on Aviary, at first I was annoyed because it was really too big for the bottle, and I couldn't find a (quick) way to shrink it, but I actually like the way it made the bottle look a different shape. I simply taped the pictures onto the bottles. I do not own these images, obviously.

I had more planned, Fizzing Whizzbee's for one, but I couldn't find the supplies I needed in the short time I had.

So there you have it, quick and fairly easy Potter night. Again, a lot more attention to detail would have been possible if I hadn't decided to go for it with only 5 hours to do it in, while parenting two small boys. But a small bit of geekdom is better than none :)

Neville, for no real reason except it's him :)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Cannon Hall Farm

 Amy and I took the kids here yesterday and had a blast. They had all sorts going on, sheep racing, ferret racing, hamster racing, and a falconry show. They had a cute petting area with the fluffiest bunny in the world -

 And Sam squealed over and over in delight at being allowed to touch a guinea pig, though I managed to catch a sane-looking expression.

 

There were plenty of birds and animals to see too, but I didn't get many pictures as I was a little busy shepherding Sam, as I decided to let him out on reins rather than be stuck in the pushchair the whole day. There was an especially cute runty piglet keeping up with his siblings, and some pygmy goats with giant pregnant bellies who I sympathised with.

 We only had one proper ouch incident, Austin poked a finger through the cage of giant chickens and got pecked, poor thing! There are also lots of great play areas which the kids were desperate to get into. Then, at the end of the day we decided to go back to the falconry holding area to see all the birds on display, and one of the handlers had one out for kids to hold! eek! Amy and I the kids were really excited, and got to hold Bubbles, this small owl whose breed I don't remember.

 Clearly only meant for short distance letter deliveries ;)

Then Amy and I were talking about holding one (he brought out a medium sized one for the older kids to hold) and Amy said "you'll never get your hand in that glove" and as I was saying "I'll make it fit!" (anyone sensing my desperation?) The guy said he'd get out a big glove and oh, by the way, did I want to hold that one or any of the others? *Inner squeal!* And I could even hold Claude if I wanted. GASP. Seriously. Here's Claude -

 

Isn't she gorgeous? look at those eyes! 

And here am I, holding Claude

Do ignore the body, and focus on the face, can you tell that inside I'm squealing and flailing? I loved it.

After the birds we went for ice creams and headed home, just as raindrops started falling. All in all, a pretty awesome day! I'd definitely recommend it to anyone with kids.

Today's plan, errands and maybe fitting in the park, but basically getting out of the house, as the boys are not in a play well at home mood. Wish me luck.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!