How to survive the Natural History museum ( and on a budget!)

Yesterday we all went to The Natural History Museum in London It's actually quite a reasonable day out. One of biggest expenses was travel. The UK isn't the cheapest for getting around but there's a few tricks we know.

Firstly we do our journey in two parts, we drive up to the London outskirts (in our case Richmond) then park for the day (£12.50) and take the tube in (2x adult day tickets £12)

£24.50 to get a family of five into the centre of London.

Our next task is to negotiate the maze of corridors and exhibitions. Luckily there is an app for that! And it's free!!! The app saved us so much time finding pushchair accessible routes, the nearest loo or baby change, the dinosaur room etc.

I highly recommend popping it on your phone before you go.

Important frugal tip! Take a pack lunch, the museum has a fantastic air conditioned picnic area in the basement. It can be loud if there are schools visiting but there are toilets galore, bins everywhere,  comfy benches and even vending machines slightly cheaper than the cafés.

Don't forget to make your donation to the museum. I know its free to enter and a donation is only suggested but. .. This place costs money to run! It needs lighting and heating and loo roll just like any where else so pop something in the donation bin as you pass. We donated £10.

Dun dun dunnnnnn! The gift shop is a place of fear and high prices for parents. Here's a huge frugal tip that will save you loads! Don't go (but pretend you did!)

During our day out OH mysteriously disappeared for ten minutes. In reality he was taking some photos from a viewing gallery but we told the children they had been so good he was getting them a treat from the gift shop. 

We bought the colouring sets a few days ago in the pound shop! 

And last but not least, plan your day!

Some exhibits are more popular than others. Plan to visit them either first as soon as it opens or at the end before it closes. 

The dinosaurs and the creep crawlies ate hugely popular at the Natural History museum, we avoid them until 4.30 and walked straight into both. 

When we visited The Vault at 10.30am we were the only ones there and had a nice chat with the security guard on duty about the exhibits he was watching. 

So there you have it, a few sanity and money saving tips for your trip to the Natural History Museum.

X x x

P.S; don't forget to rub Darwins beard for luck!

Baby D turns 3!

We have had a wonderful day celebrating Baby D's third birthday. Several members of the family got together for a trip to Peppa pig world.

We took a huge picnic and plenty of blankets for lunch, and gallons of drinks. 

It was a scorching hot day both girls were well coated in sun lotion and offered drinks constantly.

Baby D enjoyed meeting her favourite characters and going on the rides.

I have photos of her hugging every character we came across, in each one she is beaming from ear to ear. 

Tomorrow is definetly going to be a pajama day to recover.

Happy birthday D!

X x x

2 years on....

Today it has been two years since we lost OH'S Uncle D.

Time hasn't made the hole left behind any smaller or less gaping, but we are reminded that life must continue on with the arrival of Gman in May.

Gman will never get to meet Uncle D but when he is older he will be told all the family stories and shown all the photos. 

And he will know why we choose to give him Uncle D's name as his middle name. 

X x x

Pajamas and comfort food.

 It's been a dark and stormy day down south. The girls were finding the thunder quite scary but Gman was beaming away completely unbothered. Daddy was back at work today and all three of the children had post holiday grumps. I declared it jammy day and sat them in front of movies and  kindle apps all day. It kept the peace nicely and allowed everyone to nap at will. Baby D managed two naps today, something she's not done since a very young age, and she still went to bed by 7pm.
 Lunch was crumpets with jam and dinner was my favourite comfort food chilli con carne and rice.
  Tomorrow is hubbies birthday so I need them on top form for his birthday lunch.

X x x

Back from our jollies.

Gman  has enjoyed his first holiday in the New Forest. The highlight for him was the chewable mascot toys. We bought them all one each but somehow he always managed to snaffle them for a chew.

DD enjoyed meeting the mascots in person. Her highlight was definitely the evening shows, we couldn't keep her off the dance floor.

Baby D liked the treats. Her highlight was definetly swimming every morning after breakfast. We quickly learnt that if we went at 8am when it opened we had the entire pool to ourself for at least an hour!

I will post a bit more tomorrow once we have unpacked and worked out if we left anything  behind lol.

X x x

Creation Galore!

Today was my last day to finish the blanket above. It's a gift for one of DD'S friends, tomorrow is her birthday party. All I need to do is double check it for stray ends (there's always one!) and wrap it up.

I distracted the girls with the cutting and sticking tin. It's where I keep any colourful scraps for crafts. Wrapping paper, tissue paper, cut up magazine pictures.... it's filled with all sorts.

DD chose to make a shiny flower.

DD make a Peppa Pig playground. 

Both have been proudly attached to the playroom wall.

X x x