This day I love.......: shoes

Disclaimer : I won the lodge holiday and was not asked to write or share any information regarding it. I chose to do so. The shoes from Hotter were sent for review but no other compensation has been received.

Last year I had to pleasure of running alongside Anna McNuff as she completed running across Britain barefoot. She is such a genuinely lovely person who was incredibly warm and welcoming to us joining her on her run. I has been following her progress across social media for some time so it was great to finally meet her.

Social media has a funny way of connecting people. Had I not have been following her I probably would not have seen the competition to win a stay at the Lodges at Artlegarth. I entered the competition not expecting to win anything and so was unbelievably surprised to find out I won! We booked the weekend of Little Man's birthday, which meant we would have a nice break away for his birthday.

The lodges are near to the Lake district. I was very excited as it meant we would be able to get out and explore and take some nice walks with the dogs and the kids. I was even more excited that I got to put my gifted shoes from Hotter shoes to the test.

Hotter shoes had kindly sent me their Mist shoe in blue river/Navy and our walking holiday was the perfect opportunity to try them out. First Mist shoes are enhanced with waterproof and breathable Gore-Tex® product technology, this was something I was particularly pleased about given how wet the weather had been recently. Having water resistant and comfortable shoes are a must for long walks for me. The rugged and durable sole meant I was even comfortable walking over the stone surfaces with the dogs.

The shoes follow a similar design style to that of a hiking shoe. The profile is incredibly similar. Front fastening laces are fully adjustable to give a secure fit.

I always go up one size in shoes which are for walking or running. My feet tend to get warm and if I stay with my usual size I end up with blisters. A whole weekend of walking and exploring the oudoors, in pretty much every kind of weather including snow and I did not experience any blisters, cuts or other such issues from uncomfortable shoes. In fact I was really surprised as it is rare that a pair of shoes fits so well and causes no issues directly out of the box.

Our weekend was simply beautiful. Lots of walking and exploring new places, had the weather been even better we would have been out even more. The dogs loved it and so did the kids. The girls have not stopped asking when they can go back again. I am just looking forward to the time when I can take the dogs and kids out again to spend the day exploring and walking. Thank you Hotter for sending the shoes and also thanks to the Lodges at Artlegarth for choosing us as your winners.

On a side note I have just seen Hotter shoes have an amazing offer on

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The girls were each gifted a pair of shoes in order for us to create this post. No other compensation was received.

The end of term is insight. My children are tired and ready for a break, and whilst their uniform still fits them their school shoes on the other hand have seen better days. Every year is the same, in fact one year a £10 pair of shoes lasted a week. I have no idea what my children do to them but they don't seem to last

I have heard about Treads school shoes. They offer a variety of styles to match even the fussiest of school children and their shoes come with a 12 months indestructible guarantee. Now that is some claim to make. Delivery is free, returns are free and you can even try them for 30 days risk free. These are quite bold statements to make, I know my children and they simply destroy shoes so I was extremely interested to see what the Treads claim was all about.

Treads shoes are available from a 10.5 which means little man is still just a bit too young to own a pair, the girls however each received a pair to try. The girls both have very different tastes in shoes. My eldest likes Brogue style shoes. Ever since she learnt to fasten laces this has been the style she has gravitated towards. My youngest daughter prefers pretty patterns and velcro straps. She really does not like laces and prefers the convenience of straps but she also does not want them to look too childish. Both daughters needs were met and they picked the pair they liked to order.

The 'Strobel' construction of Treads shoes means they are stronger and give additional flexibility, for active children like mine this is really important. They also have shock absorbing insoles, great for all the running my eldest does and are easy wipe clean which is perfect for my very messy youngest daughter.

Treads shoes can be used with orthotic insoles and thanks to their dual fit technology the width of the shoe can be increased to fit those with need wider fitting shoes.

The shoes arrived incredibly quickly, which is impressive given it is December and everything seems to take longer to arrive. The girls were keen to open the box and take a look at their shoes. My eldest ordered the Montana and my youngest ordered Adelaide

Both girls faces lit up and they were impressed with their shoes as was I. They look incredibly sturdy and well made. The insole feels soft and cushioned but with support and they look incredibly smart too. The girls are keen to try their shoes for school, but with this week to go they can wait until after Christmas to wear them. Start a new term with a new pair of shoes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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It feels rather strange when you close the tab in your browser that for the past 16 weeks has been sat open. The tab contains the training plan which you have trained your hardest to follow. Some weeks spot on perfect and others life just got in the way, but that's just the way it is and nothing could be done to change it. In some ways you breath a small sigh of relief as you can now be less careful and have a little bit more fun.

My true love with running lies off road. Just running off the track, exploring and seeing where I end up. Usually lost and covered in mud, but that's all part of the fun. Training for the marathons I had to put these kinds of runs to one side. The risk of injury is great, and it was a risk I had to eliminate. Now, however I have a small window of opportunity before training begins again and I plan to be off exploring.

When I explore I like to make sure I take full kit with me. This includes map, compass, whistle, food, water, foil blanket, spare clothes and waterproofs. In addition I like to ensure I am wearing the right kit. I am most comfortable in trainers, I spend all day in them, so ensure when I go off road I have a suitable trainer type shoe to cope with all the different terrains. Bouncing from one surface to another, steep hills and the uneven ground means any shoe I wear has got to have good grip.

I shall admit that I fell in love with the North Face Womens Hedgehog Fastpack Lite II GTX trail shoe. Lightweight, waterproof and with some excellent grip they sounded perfect. They would be sure to give me the support and grip I need offroad.

I actually squealed when the postman delivered them to the door. I had been sent them from Simply Hike and they arrived really quickly. I haven't yet had chance to try them out and explore as London marathon was only a week ago, however I cannot wait. I cannot wait to be covered in mud, lost in the hills and exploring off the beaten track!

Thank you to North Face and Simply Hike, all words are my own opinion

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The summer holidays have simply flown, I cannot believe we are now on our last week. This time next year I will be applying for Little Man to start nursery, now that is a scary thought! With the final week comes the mad rush to get everything ready to start school again. I have tried to be as organised as possible this year, as I have two returning back to school.

First on our to do list was getting the girls eyes tested. Personally I didn't think either of them needed glasses and both could see fine, but with them both asking to have their eyes tested I thought the summer holidays would be the perfect time. We headed to Specsavers for the girls to have their eye tests done. Both were really well behaved and passed the eye exams with flying colours. This had a reaction of disappointment from both girls as they had wanted a pair of the Despicable Me 3 glasses.

There was such a great selection of colour and designs not only in Despicable Me 3 but with other well known characters I could fully understand the girls disappointment with not needing glasses. After eye tests came shoe shopping. Luckily neither girl needed new shoes but Little Man had gone up 2 whole sizes!

New school uniform has been bought, washed and ironed ready for the start of term. This term I am determined not to loose any items and am busy labelling the girls clothes. Luckily this is a really easy process as I am using labels from Neatlynamed. I have name labels that I can peel and stick onto the girls water bottles, and as my eldest moves into KS2 she will also be taking packed lunches from home too so she needs a labelled lunch box.

I have learnt from past experience to label everything, and I mean everything. I have shoe labels that I can stick in shoes from Neatlynamed too, this is particularly handy as there is often at least 1 child with the same shoes. You can also stick the names in such a way to help your child remember which shoe goes on which foot!

Neatlynamed also have traditional iron in name labels should you prefer, but I find it so much easier and quicker to use the stick in labels.

The last thing to organise is the diary. With my marathon training now in full swing, I have to plan this around the girls various sports clubs and activities. To do this I colour co ordinate my diary. Each child has a different colour and each type of my run is in a different colour too [Long runs are in red!]. I do this to give me a visual representation of what is happening and when so I can plan things more efficiently.

When at home if I need to write in my diary I have a huge colour range available to me from BIC. The BIC Intensity pen doesn't leak ink through the pages in my diary so every page can stay neat and organised. It also means I can clearly read what we are up to. The ink is also water based which means when Little Man gets his hands on them I also know I can wash his art work off a surface should I need to.

If however, I am out and about I use the BIC 4COLOURS™ 3+1 HB Multifunction Pen. This rather clever pen gives me the option of 3 colours but should I not be able to use one of the colours I need for my colour co ordination, then I can write in my diary with the pencil that is built in and correct when at home later.

One week left before the girls head back to school, and so far I am feeling organised. Wish me luck!

This is a collaborative post.

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Yesterday Aldi launched its Back to School range, before the summer holidays have even started! We still have just over a week before our school holidays start and it is clear that both girls are getting tired and ready for a break. Launching the Back to School range now has meant that I have had time to get things ready for September without the stress of last minute buying with the children in tow. The question is is it really value for money?

You can purchase a full uniform package – including two polo shirts, one round neck jumper and either a pair of trousers or a skirt – for just under £5 but if you need to do this every week because an item shrinks in the wash, or simply doesn't last the every day wear and tear of school life it becomes a false economy. We therefore have been putting a few items to the test over the past few weeks, to see how well Aldi's Back to School range copes.

First on our list was the school trousers, the sample we were sent are a little large for my 5 year old and my skinny 6 year old found them too big. I have put them to one side for when my youngest daughter grows, so we have not tested these. I have however washed them and they did not shrink or loose colour!

We did however test school shoes. These all action, leather, scuff resistant shoes had a lot to live up to and are a real bargain at £6.99. The question is how did they do with my youngest daughter who spends most of her time falling over invisible objects.

The fit is great, and we have had no issues with rubbing or marking. They have stayed on her feet and not caused them to get sweaty. My youngest loves them because inside they are blue and sparkly! After 3 weeks of use at school they look as good as new. I perhaps could have cleaned them first, but there are no scuff marks as of yet!

As we are a very active family we spend rather a lot of money on trainers and outdoor wear. It was a real pleasure therefore to be asked to test Aldi's trainers which have a RRP of £4.99. My eldest daughter has worn them to parkrun 5km and junior parkrun, as well as to all her sporting clubs and simply loves them. No marks on her feet, no sweating and they are a great fit too!