Happy New Year!

Well, despite what it says at the bottom of this post, it isn't early afternoon it's almost 11pm on 31st December 2013 here in the UK (haven't quite figured out how to change the time bit yet haha!).

2013 has been a funny old year for me really - it's had some wonderful moments but also some really sad ones and some that have taken a little time to reflect on and digest.

Mostly, I'm very grateful to have such a wonderful family and some lovely, loyal friends who I wouldn't be without.

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year and hope that 2014 brings you health, happiness and everything else that you may wish for

AFUK x

Review: Disney on Ice and Sky Backstage at the O2 Arena, London

Back in the summer, an advert caught my eye for the latest Disney on Ice tour 'Dare to Dream'. I did a little research and knew that our little man would love it so managed to convince my husband that it would be a lovely family outing for the three of us.  The nearest show to us was at the O2 Arena in London and was on in between Christmas and New Year, which I thought would be perfect - lovely way to get over the Christmas blues and carry on the magic from our trip to Disneyland Paris at the end of November..

Little man had no idea that we were going and my sister and brother in law decided to also come as a surprise for their four children.  So on Saturday afternoon my sister's family 'went for a drive' and we told little man that we were going to 'the river' for dinner - I love surprises like this, the anticipation of seeing their little faces when they realise what's happening is just priceless!  Well, we 'bumped into' the rest of the family there and still the children had no idea what was happening - they thought we'd just come for a look round! I was bubbling with excitement at this point, so much fun! 

Anyway, we all had an early dinner and then decided that we would head off to the Sky Studios to look around.  It is situated to the left hand side of the atrium, next to the arena entrance doors 'B'.  The Sky Studios experience is free to everyone so you can browse around, sit in a 'real' Sky News studio and read from an auto cue whilst being filmed, play games, watch Sky Sports News etc 

View of the O2 Arena atrium from the Sky Studios

Unbeknownst to the others, I had booked us 'Sky Backstage' passes.  This is a free service available to all Sky TV customers who have an arena event ticket and I had discovered it quite by accident whilst trying to view my bill online one day!  

You access the backstage area from the second floor of the Sky Studios and this is your way into the arena so you can't exit once through.  Security check your tickets and bags before giving you a 'Sky Backstage' wristband, which caused much excitement with the children who felt like VIP's! We were then shown along a red carpet and upstairs to the welcome area.  We were met by a lovely lady who explained the experience and she then showed us where we could have our photo's taken against a Sky backdrop - little man loved this as there was a wall of 'Paparazzi' with flashing camera lights and cheering etc  You get given a card so you can view and download your complimentary photo when you get home but it's immediately shown up on a screen so you can see it straight away.

Our complimentary photo!

After this we were free to roam around and it was a fantastic experience - free face painting with dressing up for the children (we skipped this bit as the queue was long), a huge tv screen showing clips / songs from well loved Disney movies, a sound booth where you could sing karaoke and they film / record you to view when you get home, a large pool table and lots of colouring / stickers for the children.  There's also a large bar serving drinks and food plus lots of plush, comfy sofas with tables, chairs and stools too.  

Sky Backstage - bar area

About 25 minutes before the show was due to start we headed back downstairs and we were on the right level to access our seats - perfect! It was a really lovely, relaxing way to start our evening, it was quite quiet although I suspect that was mainly because it was a family event - I would think for concerts it gets very busy but I will definitely do it again if we go to another event at the O2.

We were sitting in different areas of the arena so we separated and headed for our respective blocks - me, hubby and little man were in Block 107 and were sitting in row FF, which was about 7 seven rows back from the ice.  Great view but if we were to go again I'd probably sit a little bit further back as the big spotlights around the 'stage' did obstruct our view occasionally. We had a look around trying to spot the others, who were in block 111 and cue lots of mad waving when we located them! I could see the excitement on the children's faces now they knew what was happening.

The show started a few minutes later and the first characters to skate out onto the ice were Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy - little man was over the moon and couldn't contain himself, cheering and clapping as they came nearer to the front of the ice.  They were joined by numerous other skaters who performed a group number to one of the songs from Princess and the Frog.

Dare to Dream is split up into sections with scenes from some of the best known Disney princess movies being performed by the ice dancers.  The interpretation of the films by the professional skaters and the costumes were just mesmerising - they really looked like the genuine thing. 

After the traditional characters left the ice the first scene started and it was Snow White complete with Wicked Queen and a moving magic mirror - little man was a bit nervous of these as they were a little bit scary but he soon forgot that when the dwarves arrived, my goodness they were adorable! 

The next scene was Cinderella and I knew little man was going to love this one in particular as he had taken a real shine to Suzy and Perla (the girl mice) when we were in Disneyland Paris. He was speechless when they came onto the ice and thought they were there especially to see him!  Again, the costuming was superb and the story was condensed really well into a twenty minute section with some stunning skating, spins and jumps (I know they have 'proper' names but no idea which ones they were!) and a little slip from Prince Charming during one particularly tricky jump, which landed him on his bottom - ouch!!  The most spectacular bit for me during this scene was the horses and carriage - the horses were performers in beautiful costumes but the carriage was just stunning, very fitting for a princess.

A quick intermission, where you could buy merchandise, ice cream (very rude female seller in our block, would have been furious if she'd spoken to me like she did to some of the customers!) etc and then back to the action with my favourite scene of the whole show; Tangled!

Anyone who has seen this film, would be blown away by the magic which lasted for the whole of the second half of the show.  It started with Flynn Rider dropping in from the ceiling to steal the crown, just like in the film and also featured Mother Gothel, a tower, yards and yards of 'hair', the infamous frying pan and my best bit, flying lanterns.

The 'I've Got a Dream' scene in the bar with the 'thugs and ruffians' incorporated most of the cast and was just magical, really had the audience singing and dancing along with it.  There was even Maximus the horse who was scarily realistic and portrayed really, really well by two skaters who must have practised for hours to get their legs so coordinated and synchronised! 

Perhaps the most incredible section of the whole show was when Flynn and Rapunzel were running away from the guards and they flew, literally flew, on her hair around the arena whilst spinning and twisting high up in the air.  Amazing!! 

A little bit of artistic licence in changing the timeline, the penultimate scene from Tangled saw Flynn cut Rapunzel's hair and it fell from the tower and the ceiling; the whole crowd gasped! They both then lit a lantern with the help of a little girl from the audience and set it free before lots more of them appeared up at the ceiling bringing a lump to my throat just as it does in the film, it really was fabulous

The show finale included all of the characters from the show in their 'royal' outfits and they got a rousing ovation. The skill of these skaters / dancers / actors is just indescribable, I wish I could take you all so you could see it for yourselves!

The whole show, including the intermission, lasted approximately two hours and really was worth every penny - I'm sure it will be something all of the little princes and princesses present will remember forever and I hope we can go to another one some day soon.

AFUK x

UK Storm

Well, it's only been a few days since I last posted but what a few days it has been!

Monday 23rd December started as a fairly normal day - the hospital had said my dad could be released later that day (hooray!) and I was due to drop my little boy off at my parents house in the nearest town as both my husband and I were working early on Christmas Eve.  It had been pouring with rain all day and the wind was steadily increasing.  We left at about 6pm to take my son to my parents - we live in a rural area so it's not unusual for some of the streams / rivers to flood the many fields we have out here when the weather is bad and there was already some roads that were covered in water.  We made it there just as my parents arrived home from the hospital so was lovely to have as all together for a bit.

As we were leaving to go home my little got really, really upset and begged me to stay - that was very unusual in itself as he loves going to his grandparents house for a sleepover.  After half an hour of trying to leave and him getting more and more worked up I realised that I was going to have to stay too but I had no clothes or my work uniform for the next day so I promised him that I would return and headed home for supplies.  It had only been two hours since we left home but the storm had turned vicious in that time.  On the way home we had to drive through flooded roads and saw a fire engine pumping water out of one of the cottages higher up the hill, the water never normally reaches this high!

I stuffed some clothes and my uniform in a bag and then had to make the journey back on my own as my husband was staying at home to go to work in the morning.  It was a scary journey and took twice as long as normal - as well as everything already mentioned the drains were now like fountains along the sides of the road where the force of the water was backing up.  I was driving through literal rivers of water and just praying that my car would make it through.

Thankfully I made it back ok but it was a sleepless night worrying about what was happening outside.  My husband sent me a message at 1am to say that our entire village had lost power and he then got called out to work at 2am - he works at an international airport and the storm flooding had caused chaos, in fact 4 days later as I write this it's still not resolved and he's been working long hours with his colleagues trying to battle the elements.

I left for work at 5.45am on Christmas Eve - it was the scariest drive of my life!! It was immediately apparent that the power cut wasn't isolated to our village - it was pitch black pretty much the whole journey, which made it almost impossible to see the flood water until you were in it! It was also like driving through an obstacle course - I had to dodge fallen branches / trees, fence panels, traffic island cones and wheelie bins and this was on a major 'A' road, not the little country lanes that criss-cross most of this part of the county!!  I eventually made it but it was clear that the adjacent villages were also without power and that there had been a lot of damage sustained.

The main 'A' road between our village and the next one

It was an easier drive back to my parents house in the daylight but very sad to see what had happened overnight - I have never seen so much flood water and damage in this area and that includes the 'Great Storm' of 1987 (I was very young then!!).

Although the electricity companies were working hard it was clear with so many areas cut off that it wasn't going to be an easy fix.  3 of the 4 roads in & out of our village were flooded and closed by the police so I made a decision to try the last route home to check on our cats and collect more clothes as it didn't look like we were going to get to spend Christmas at home.  I managed to get through the last road but the river had burst it's banks and was right up to the top of the bridge so I knew I was going to have to be very quick or I would be totally cut off.  I threw enough clothes for the three of us to last a couple of days into bags, packed up as many Christmas presents as would fit in the car and got out as quickly as I could.

There was no getting home down this road either!

So that's it really.  We finally managed to get home yesterday afternoon. The electricity here was out for 23 hours in total and all the Christmas food in the fridge & freezer is ruined but in the grand scheme of things we've been very, very lucky. Sadly, a number of our friends and family's houses have been damaged by the wind and / or flood water and I think there is more to come so we are bracing ourselves as much as possible.  I've posted some photos that other local people have taken and posted on Facebook, I can't (and won't) take credit for them at all - I was far too scared to stop and look when I ventured out!

We still had a lovely Christmas surrounded by loved ones and that is more than we could have asked for right now.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas too and have managed to stay as safe as possible x

Trying something new!

Do you ever tell yourself that you're going to try something new? Maybe a different hair style, go to that new gym class etc etc? I do it ALL the time!!  I have good intentions but I never seem to find time in my busy life to actually fit these things in and they fall by the wayside.

Well, as we're approaching a New Year I thought I should think about a resolution - I never normally make them as I have zero willpower and I know that I won't stick to it!  I'm not sure that this year will be any different to be honest but if I don't try I won't know if I can do it. So...

A couple of years ago a colleague told me about the 'Hooping' classes she goes to and how good it is for exercise and core strength.  Now, I am possibly the least fit person you will ever know.  I've tried gyms, classes, home dvd's / equipment etc but nothing has ever stuck - I don't really have time in my day to day life to go to the gym / classes as there's always something going on; preschool drop off / collection, work, volunteering at a toddler group / children & family centre, housework, appointments etc and quite frankly doing the home dvd's bores me to tears so I do it once or twice and then give up.  But Hooping? Well that sounds kind of fun! 

So, two years have passed with me saying, 'I'm going to try that' and 'yes, I'm really going to make time to give it a go' without me actually doing anything about it but that's all about to change!  Tonight, I have taken the plunge and ordered myself a fitness hoop and instructional dvd (ahem, ignore what I just said about doing it once or twice before giving up...) and I'm going to try to teach myself to hula hoop.  

I am at my heaviest weight since I was 7 months pregnant, 4 and a half years ago (good grief, it's even more depressing actually writing that down!!) so I'm hoping that this will be the fun, motivational start I need to get myself back into some sort of shape and make a change for the better.  

I'm excited for my hoop to arrive and get started now - please remind me of this in six weeks time when I've stuffed it at the back of a cupboard and the dvd is gathering dust in the bookcase!!

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...

...well, nothing like putting myself on the spot and trying to think of something to make myself seem a little more interesting!

I'm first and foremost a Mummy to a four year old boy, who is my absolute world - I can't remember or imagine my life without him.  I'm also a wife, employee, volunteer, social media addict and 'suffer' with the disease Retinitis Pigmentosa (more about that later).

So, there's only five little sleeps left to go until Christmas and despite having not sent all of my Christmas cards yet, having a mountain of gifts still to wrap (some of which haven't yet arrived - eek!), having a father in hospital (get well soon Dad!) and a four year old to try and keep from exploding with excitement, I thought now would be the ideal time to set up a blog to have somewhere to write down my random thoughts & musings in a somewhat anonymous, guilt free place - yep, my timing is epic as always ;)

I've no idea what I'm doing or what I will write but it's nice to have somewhere to 'offload', to let out the thoughts occupying valuable brain space and to have a place to moan about anything and everything without worrying / annoying / being tactful (*delete as appropriate) to those around me.

Let the fun times commence!