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This day I love.......

We were sent a map for review. All words are my own honest opinion. There was no financial incentive received for this review. 

One of my greatest passions is the outdoors. I absolutely love to be outside, exploring and having an adventure. When I run I take random roads and random paths just to see where they go and where I end up. My children also seem to have the same love of adventure. Getting on our bikes and seeing where we end up, although they are not such a fan when an uphill appears. The opportunity to review a map, which promises to be filled with amazing adventures and the funnest things to do was something I could not turn down.

Now that covid restrictions are starting to ease slightly and we have a little bit more freedom I think we are all ready to start exploring further afield and discover new places. I am not ready yet to travel too far afield, but I am ready to discover some new places close to home.

This new map from Marvelous maps is aimed at children and aims to spark imagination and give inspiration to any budding explorer. The map is absolutely bursting with information and had my children engaged for quite some time. 

Looking at a map

The map features:

AMAZING ANIMALS

Wild wildlife

Animal adventures

AWESOME ACTIVITIES

Action and adventure

Underground fun

Theme parks

Marvellous museums

Glorious food

BRILLIANT BEACHES

THRILLING QUESTS

Welly walks

Cycle routes

Train rides

Boat, plane and other journeys

SUPER-FUN FESTIVALS & EVENTS

FUNNY PLACE NAMES

LEGENDARY PLACES

Myths and monsters

Fabulous fiction

Amazing people and history

Cool castles

Record breakers

GREAT GAMES to play at home and on the road!

TICK BOXES to mark places you want to go / things you want to do!

GINORMOUS COLOURING-IN MAP on the back!

NOTES SECTIONS to create lists, write stories and generally mess about!  


I am truly blown away by all the information on the map, yet at the same time the map doesn't feel too overloaded with information. My children absolutely love it. Trying to find things to do, looking at places they have been and planning journeys. It has sparked conversations about things they remember seeing and places they want to go. It has created a fascination with maps and map reading and looking and planning for future adventures. 

The girls planned a day out after finding Nostell Priory on the map and we headed over for some Easter fun. 

Children on a path

We explored the gardens and made the most of the spring sunshine, even if it was a little cold. There was an Easter egg hunt on which was great to be a part of after none happened last year. We had only planned on spending a few hours but actually spent the whole day. We had a picnic in the gardens and then spent the rest of the day playing the playground. Of course every treat day out is finished with a hot chocolate.

Boy drinking

The girls have already started planning our next adventure and I have been googling some of the places on the map to learn more about them too. 

Map planning

I have created a video of our adventures which will be live soon!





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I have been gifted two hats for the purpose of this review

Those who know me know how much I love hats. Hats and chocolate are the perfect gift for me. I have a whole draw full of hats. My dream email landed recently from  Big Bobble Hats who asked if I wanted to review their hats. I couldn't say no, I was already a fan of theirs owning several designs already. I selected two Spill the Beanies and Yorkshire Lass.

Yorkshire Lass is of a similar style to my other Big Bobble hats. All big bobble hats are one size fits all. Yorkshire Lass was one I couldn't resist, given I am a Yorkshire Lass! I also love stripes so it was perfect. Like the traditional style Big Bobble Hats Yorkshire Lass features a large PomPom bobble on top and is incredibly warm to wear. 

Spill the Beanies is a little different to what I am familiar with with Big Bobble Hats. This one is true Beanie style and has no Pom Pom on it. It is made from a merino wool mix and is incredibly soft. I often forget that I am wearing it and have it on throughout the house.


Spill the Beanies has certainly kept me warm on my many adventures with the dogs. The fleece lining gives it such a soft feel inside too.


Whilst we are all in home isolation my hats are getting worn around the house and in the garden. Yes I do wear them indoors too! I cannot wait to go one adventures again.


If like me you also love hats I have a discount code for you to use at Big Bobble Hats - THISDAY15 and if you would like to win a Big Bobble Hat, make sure you like my Instagram page where I will be putting one live shortly!
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If you have followed this blog for a while you will know that I like to be outdoors. I like to be active and explore and the current weather has limited my opportunities to do so. Now that Little Man is getting older he is wanting to walk more and explore more too, which often means we do not take the pushchair.

His little legs do get tired though and he does still want a rest, but the pushchair really limits as to where we can go. When the girls are at school Little Man and I often take J for an adventure and we leave the pushchair behind, in fact all we need is our Kiddy Adventure Pack. 


I had a Kiddy Adventure pack with the girls and used it as part of my training for the Yorkshire 3 peaks. I even wrote a review on it. To be honest not much has changed between the style I had for the girls and the new style. There are additional features like slightly larger storage pockets, so you don't need to take an extra bag and a handy cup holder too.


The Adventure pack is comfortable to wear even when Little Man isn't in it, so I use it as a normal rucksack and then when he is tired it is quick and simple to put him in so he can rest his legs.


Just like his sister used to do Little Man plays with my hair and rubs my neck in the carrier. I also get lots of patting as he wants to point things out to me.


He loves been up high and spotting things in the distance. Talking to me and telling me all about what he can see.


We have taken the adventure pack on loads of adventures so far. Everywhere from the seaside to the forest. Unlike a pushchair we are not restricted by terrain and can explore off the beaten track.


 In fact we have even been onto the 'tops' to explore.


The adventure pack lives in my car boot so that no mater where we go I always have it with us. Little Man is safe and comfortable and enjoys exploring with me. 


 Although sometimes on our adventures it all gets a bit too much and he falls asleep!


I cannot wait for the weather to improve so we can get out and about even more!

I was sent the adventure pack in exchange for a written post, all words are my own opinion. 

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Now the weather is getting a little warmer the kids are wanting to join me more on my runs.  I love taking them with me and exploring the outdoors with them.  They love to be active and outdoors and are always looking for an adventure.  Whilst we spend all our weekends outdoors, our weekday time together is very limited as the girls are at school, so we try to make the time we do have fun.

We have started using scooters on our school run as it makes the journey to and from school much more fun.  The Y glider deluxe is a perfect scooter to introduce to the school run.  It has a unique 'lean to steer' mechanism, which helps my daughter to steer correctly.  The footplate is lovely and wide making it a perfect choice for younger riders, it gives them confidence to glide and enjoy scooting.  With size 12 feet at 4 years old, my youngest had no problems getting both feet onto the footplate and scooting to school.


The girls wear helmets when out on their scooters, and always school shoes or trainers.  We talk about busy roads and the safer places to ride scooters.

The wheels on the Yvolution Y glider deluxe helping the younger riders balance and gain confidence.  My youngest is very confident on the Y glider deluxe as the scooter seems a lot more stable than other similar scooters.

Getting outdoors now the summer is coming is a great way for kids to get active and explore.  Scooting is such a fun way to spend some time together as a family and a great way to see some of the local area.


I love that as I am running the girls can use their scooters alongside me, it means we get to see some fantastic places together.  There is a huge range of scooters and balance bikes available from Yvolution, something perfect for every child.  Why not get out and explore with your children this summer and see what treasures you can find in your local area.


The scooter mentioned was sent for review, all words are my own opinion. 
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After our first visit to Portugal the girls have been desperate to return, in fact we all have.  Portugal, or the Algarve to be more specific is a place we all feel at home and relaxed and so we were delighted when Martinhal Quinta invited us to visit.

I wrote a post about the resort and the family friendly facilities on site which you can read here and wanted to focus more on our holiday and the memories we created in this post.  


This was the first time Little Man had been on a plane and travelled abroad.  He seemed to enjoy the attention.  The bond between the girls grew stronger as they spent every moment playing with each other.


We chose not to hire a car and instead opted to walk everywhere.  The girls were happy to spend time at our villa playing in the pool and their daredevil antics of jumping as high as they could lasted for as long as they could withstand the cool water.



Our resort provided the perfect base to explore.  The girls and I would take Little Man for a walk around the resort for his morning and afternoon naps, exploring all the paths and playing games as we went.



Our villa gave us plenty of space to be together and also space for us to do do our own things, should we have wanted to.  The girls would skip happily up the cobbled street towards our villa, counting the numbers as they went until they reached the steps of ours. 


When the weather was sunny we spent our day by the side of the large outdoor pool.  The girls relaxing in the sun and playing in the water together.


The girls would combine splashing in the pool with playing on the Martinhal Van and trampolines.  Getting out the water to bounce or take the van on a pretend trip, before jumping right back in again.  Their imaginations running wild, laughing as they played.


The majority of our afternoons we would spend playing by our pool at our villa.  My youngest determined to make it all the way across the pool, I didn't want to spoil her fun trying to explain to her the inability to walk on water.


The grass area surrounding our pool was perfect for lounging on, Little Man enjoyed watching his sisters splashing and playing in the water.  


Escaping technology and playing bat and ball games, our afternoons were all about quality time together as a family.


With such mixed weather all week we chose to spend one of the days in Faro, to break up the holiday and so we could soak up more that Portugal had to offer.  Faro had so much for families to do, even in the rain.  We would like to go back and visit again as we focused mainly on the bad weather activities, but there were a lot of beautiful parks that we would love to explore.







Rain in Porutgal was simply beautiful.  The way it danced across the sky and provided relief from the warm air.  The atmosphere warm and humid, we would stand and watch the rain approach from the balcony.  The sky changing colour before our eyes.


Whilst the weather might not have always been favourable we always made the most of our time together.  




Sometimes that even meant sitting outdoors eating lunch and watching the rain fall all around us. 


One of my favourite photos I have ever taken of my eldest daughter was on our holiday in Portugal.  We were on one of our many walks around the resort, playing games and pushing Little Man so he would have a nap.  My eldest was map reading and looking lost in thought, I just love the moment.


Time away seems to strengthen the bond between the children.  They all have different relationships with each other and it is a real privilege to watch them develop as they grow older. 


Our time is Portugal was a week for escaping and unwinding.  Taking time just to stand back and soak in the views.



With the beach a short walk away we had to spend a day playing in the golden sand and dipping our toes in the water. 





Emerging yourself in the local cuisine and cultures, eating freshly caught fish whilst sat on the beach front and watching your children enjoy every bite then asking for more.


As we sat and ate our food we watched the local wildlife and tried to see who could spot the most lizards.


Connecting the beach to Quinta is a long wooden bridge, the bridge made for the perfect space to work off some energy from lunch and to play a game of tag.


Just a short walk from Martinhal was the lake.  The lake was a fabulous place for families.  Everything from pedalos to boats.  Soft white sand for the girls to play in, large beanbags for them to relax and play on.  Space for them to run around and be free, space for them to be children.  We had planned on having lunch on the beach but we had not counted on having to book in advance, and did not fancy the wait time of over an hour for a table.   At least we know for the future as the food smelled amazing.



Outside of the resort one of our favourite places to eat was KoKo lane.  With views overlooking the golf course, amazing food and a playground for the children it was the perfect place for the whole family.  The staff went out of their way to make us all feel welcome, taking time to talk to Little Man and talking to the girls.  The girls wanted to eat here every day, and of course play in the playground.



A trip to Quinta would not be complete without playing golf, given the great choice of golf facilities it would have been a shame not to.  Our golf skills are however limited to mini golf, safe to say though that this was a huge amount of fun.




The golf course was incredibly family friendly with different colour artificial grass to represent water and grass areas.  The girls loved the different challenges that each hole brought with everything from bridges to pretend streams to jump over.

Our time in Portugal saw us create some wonderful family memories and we had some amazing adventures together.  



We were invited to Martinhal Quinta, but enjoyed our stay so much that we paid for extra nights to extend our stay.  All words in this post are my own opinion. 
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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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