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This day I love.......

We decided to make the most of the warm sunny school holiday and head to Scarborough for the day. A day playing at the beach and exploring the North Bay sounded perfect. I bundled the kids into the car and made the 2 hour car journey to the North Yorkshire coast. The girls wanted to do the SeaLife centre first before spending the rest of their day playing on the beach. I agreed with the idea, as the girls could then spend all afternoon playing in the sand as the temperatures start to cool down



Little Man seemed to remember the last time we came and as soon as the car engine stopped he started pointing 'choo choo' and repeating over and over. I love the North Bay railway and have many happy memories from my childhood riding the train, so we headed over to take the train to the SeaLife centre.


The girls were in for a real treat as they were given the opportunity to help couple the train and to sit on the engine too. Oh and even wear the drivers hat!


I cannot get over how grown up my eldest looks in this photo!


We entered SeaLife and became Lego Ocean Explorers. A Lego diver had lost pieces of equipment in the centre and we needed to find them.


We searched high and low, looking in each of the tanks. The diver had lost quite a lot of his equipment. Some easier to spot than others, and some easier to work out than others too. It turns out it wasn't just 'diving' equipment he had lost either.


The girls and Little Man searched every tank and every exhibit. They searched every section they could to be certain they hadn't missed anything. 


Some species you had an idea that the Lego pieces wouldn't be there. I knew there would not be any Lego in with the Octopus, as their curiosity would get the better and they would break them. This in itself got me wondering what exactly an octopus would do with Lego. We continued searching in the tanks, my youngest daughter asked if this was made of Lego. 


The penguins are my favourite animals to visit at Scarborough SeaLife. Walking though their enclosure is such a wonderful experience. They didn't come to play today, which was a shame but we did get to watch them playing under the water!



After visiting the Seals we headed back inside to continue our Lego quest. We had taken a brief pause to play pirate golf which is included in the admission to the centre. Back inside we made our way through the tunnel, Little Man could not work out why the fish were swimming so close but yet he couldn't touch them.


After finding all the hidden pieces we were looking forward to playing in the brick pit and creating our own masterpieces but unfortunately we had arrived too late. I would recommend doing this part first and we know for the future. The girls had successfully found all the missing dive equipment and were awarded with their very own Lego minifigure!

We took the train back to North Bay and played on the beach after having some dinner. The girls and Little Man had had a wonderful day, so much so that Little Man fell asleep from such a fun filled day out. I think the sea air perhaps helped!


To see our day in Scarborough you can watch our video:


Thank you to SeaLife for inviting us to visit, we were provided with free entry. All words and opinions are my own. 

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Our Easter holidays seem to be flying by. The first few days the girls have been at football school, something they have been asking to attend for some time now. Wednesday saw them have a break and with that we headed to the seaside with Grandma and our friends. The weather wasn't the best, it was cold, windy and rainy but the week before it had been predicted snow, so in some ways we counted our blessings.

In all my  years visiting Scarborough I have never seen the sea as rough or as far in during the day. I was surprised to say the least. The girls were equally as surprised but yet watching the waves crash and spill over the defence walls was mesmerising and something we could not step away from.


Easter holidays seem to be staggered over the country and as a result Scarborough was incredibly quiet. We hardly saw any other people as we walked around the parks.


With many of the usual North Bay attractions closed due to the off peak season we were incredibly happy to see the North Bay railway was still running. It was a bit of a dash as we rushed to make the last train of the day, but Little Man absolutely loved every second. 


 Whilst he has been on the train before he was only a baby, this time he laughed and smiled. He pointed at the sea and he went choo choo every time the train blew its whistle. He smiled so much, I have never seen him smile as much before and it was just lovely to see.


After exploring the North Bay we headed over to the Sealfe centre, which had come under invasion. Claws. 


The new exhibition to SeaLife Scarborough features hands on learning and fact finding. 


My daugthers, aged 5 and 7, walked around reading each of the exhibits. Finding out if they were as strong as a crab, what the smallest creature was at SeaLife or even learning about armour.


In addition to the new Claws invasion all the other attractions at SeaLife are open and we spent a good 2 hours walking round, it was no wonder the kids wanted to put their feet up.


Little Man was simply having the best day. First trains and now fish, he even found a playground to play on.


After watching the Seals we headed back inside to look at the fish and marine animals again.


Some of them hiding and others I had never seen before were out and about. Some of them were a lot easier to spot than others.


We had spent a whole day in Scarborough and at 7.30 decided it was time to make the journey home. The kids in their PJ just in case they fell asleep on the way home, Little Man did but the girls did not, and dinner in the car on the journey home. 


We always have such a wonderful day out when we visit Scarborough, and this time was no exception. Whilst we may have visited SeaLife several times before it was still great to go again and see the invasion and to get hands on with the new exhibits. I am looking forward to our next trip to Scarborough when hopefully we will be able to play on the beach too!

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My eldest daughter had such a busy social life as a baby.  We did everything from baby massage, to baby yoga and baby sign.  My youngest daughter then attended all the same classes as her sister, as they were so close in age. Everything her sister had done she did, and more often the girls did it together.  For some reason Little Man has not been to any classes.  We do the sign classes at home but he shows little interest.  I do baby massage on him, and whilst we attempted a toddler group once he just didn't seem that interested.

I do love to spend time with him.  I love watching him as he plays or tries to work something out.  We were invited to a toddler morning at Scarborough SeaLife and given Scarborough is my favourite place I could not refuse.  I was looking forward to spending some quality time with Little Man outside of the house too!

Little Man was a bit shy at first.  I do wonder if he realises there are other small people like him in the world.  After a while he came round and we sat on the floor colouring pictures in together.


Stories and singing followed and Little Man took the opportunity to chill, you can tell he was feeling much more relaxed!


The lady who ran the group was fantastic.  You could really tell she loved children, incredibly animated and really passionate.  The children really fed from her energy too and got involved.  The stories, songs and colouring all had a sea creature theme to them.  Each element linking together and the older children in particular seemed to hang on each word.  It was certainly a fun hour and after a spot of lunch Little Man and I then ventured into the centre to have a look around.

My favourite part of the SeaLife centre is the penguin walk through.  We visited when this first opened, and many times since, and we love how the penguins are so inquisitive.


As well as all the wide variety of sea creatures to look at there is also a playground, which Little Man took the opportunity to burn off some steam.  Well you can't pass a slide and not go down it.


Little Man did spot the sea and want to go play, but we didn't have enough time as we needed to get back to pick his sisters up from school.  I loved spending the day with him.  Watching him learn and play.  I loved watching him chill out listening to all the stories and songs.  It really was a lovely day out.  I think if Scarborough was closer we would visit every week, but the nearly 90minute journey there means we shall save it for occasional visits. 

We would like to say a big thank you to SeaLife Scarborough for inviting us to visit.  We had a wonderful day.


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The Bricktacular event at LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre sounded like great fun so the girls, Little Man and I headed over the tops to Manchester to take a look.  The girls cannot resist cut out photo opportunities at the moment so had to stop and take one in the Lego Friends area,


LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre was certainly in the festive spirit.  The Lego brick machine was making special edition Christmas bricks, so if you are a Lego fan you will need to visit to make sure you get one of these.  We began our journey by finding all the elves hiding in Miniland, they were everywhere and the girls got very excited pointing them out.  We even went on a present hunt, trying to spot all the Lego presents hidden around the centre.  They were much harder to find and hidden everywhere!

After Dragon Quest, which even Little Man could have a ride on, the girls went to obtain their driving license round a very festive track.


A very kind lady agreed to ride Merlin's chair with my youngest daughter so both girls could ride at the same time.  The girls were incredibly happy they could ride at the same time.  We missed out on the last master builder by around 10 minutes, we will have to be quicker next time and so instead spent time in the play areas and of course built lots of things out of Lego.

Just outside the LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre is a small Christmas market.  With some time before our special event we bought German sausages for dinner and drank hot chocolate.  The view was quite good too.


Before we knew it it was time to enter SeaLife Manchester.  I had not told the girls why we had come or what we had come to see and they walked around engrossed in everything as normal.



That all changed when they went to the big tank where we usually stop to watch the sharks and wait for Ernie.  For in this tank were mermaids.  


The girls stood and watched in complete awe as the mermaids swam past.  They watched them dance, swim and blow kisses.  The girls eyes were dancing with excitement, it was amazing to watch but it then got even better as a certain someone swam past the window!


They just could not believe it and became stuck to the spot, eyes watching the waters and with huge smiles on their faces.  The mermaids were simply fantastic and ever so captivating. 


It was such a magical evening, and whilst we did not get home until after 10pm both girls have been talking about the mermaids non stop.  A wonderful day full of special memories!



This day I love the mermaids
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SEA LIFE Manchester has teamed up with Disney•Pixar to enable its visitors to share in the antics of this summer’s highly anticipated blockbuster, Finding Dory. Visitors will be led on an interactive trail by one of the new Disney•Pixar movie’s star sea creatures, Hank (voice of Ed O’Neill), a cantankerous Octopus.  We made our way across the tops to be one of the first try and find Dory.

Disney•Pixar’s Finding Dory tells the story of Dory’s quest to find her own family, with the help of Nemo and Marlin and new characters like Hank that she meets at a Californian marine rehabilitation centre and aquarium.

My youngest was unable to attend so it was my eldest and Little man who tried to find Dory.  My eldest carried her activity sheet with her as we went on the trail and in each tank we looked for Dory


As we followed the trail we collected more and more clues to complete our mystery word.  Little man was simply mesmerised by all the different fish, and although we had not yet found Dory we did find Nemo.


There were huge screams of delight and an eager shout of 'Look, Look' my eldest found Dory!


After walking around Sealife we also managed to complete the trail and gather all the clues.  We filled in our book and my eldest collected a very special prize.


Whilst at Sealife Centre we decided to make the most of our day and visited Legoland Discovery centre which is next door.  I realised when I got home that I had forgotten to take any photos whilst in there but we did come away with more Lego for our ever growing collection.

My eldest had been really well behaved all day and so as a special treat we went for milkshakes.


It was a wonderful day and we finished it by riding some of the fairground rides outside Sealife.


A perfect day out and a great way to start our summer holiday

This day I love Finding Dory
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This week seems to have flown by.  Our final day of half term is tomorrow and the girls have lots of ideas planned in.  This morning saw us have a very early start, at 5,45am to be precise, in order to head over the Pennines to Manchester.  The girls did not know where we were going, as I wanted to both surprise them and give them a reward for behaving so well over half term.

The girls began to get excited as we came up to the junction on the M62, instantly recognising where we were and recalling the last visit we had.  Needless to say when we stopped the car I had some very excited children who could not wait to get inside and explore.

Although this was not our first visit to the SeaLife Centre in Manchester, the girls were just as excited to return and wasted no time in exploring.

In the tank

We had been invited to visit the new Octopus hideout attraction at SeaLife Manchester, and every window we peered into the girls were on the look out for an Octopus.  

Checking for an Octopus

We made our way around SeaLife Manchester peering into all the nooks, and checking all the hiding places.

bright colours

My youngest suddenly got very excited by what she could see in the large tank, and my eldest came rushing over.  

what can she see?

It was Ernie swimming past!

Ernie swimming past

We also managed to find Nemo, but still no Octopus

Nemo in a tunnel

The bright colours in the tanks drew the girls in and they began pointing things they could see and asking questions about the other sea life.

colourful tank

Some of the creatures were simply intriguing 

sea creature

But all of them seemed very happy

happy sting ray

The girls then got very excited as we entered Octopus hideout.  First was trying to spot the Nautilus.  They were hiding at the top of the tank.

Nautilus

We then tried to spot the baby Cuttlefish hiding in the sand

Hiding cuttlefish

The teeny tiny Atlantic Long Arm Octopus, a small sea creature with arms longer than its 90 millimetre body, had decided to play hide and seek.  Unfortunately for us it was rather good at the game.


It was finally time to meet the star attraction of Octopus hideout, Hank.  Hank is one of the biggest octopus species in the world, the Giant Pacific Octopus.  They can weigh up to 50 kilograms and can grow to a huge five metres in length.  Hank seemed to be playing a little shy, but Dan told us he had been out playing earlier and gave us lots of useful information about him.

Hank, Octopus SeaLife Manchester

The girls had a wonderful time exploring SeaLife Manchester, and of course learning about how amazing and intelligent octopus are.  Thing 3 even enjoyed themselves, and we cannot wait to take them to visit again

bump and fish

Thank you SeaLife Manchester for inviting us to Octopus hideout, we had a wonderful day.

This day I love Exploring Octopus Hideout. 

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About me

About Me

Welcome to This Day I love.

My name is Leyla, also known as Mum to my 3 humans and dog Mum to J. I have a passion for the outdoors and love to run. I can often be found off road exploring the trails and fells and covering distances all the way up to 50 miles. As a family we love travelling and discovering new adventures, as I try and run around the world!

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