What's Happened? What's Happening? 22/10/2015

Welcome back to the latest #WHWH linky, we are deep into October and if you're anything like us, the heating is on and the winter coats are out! We've been enjoying reading about outdoor adventures this week and getting excited about our plans for the upcoming half term, as well as Halloween and bonfire night.

 We really appreciate you joining in and sharing your posts with us and it would make us both very happy to see you include our #WHWH badge in your post or on your site. The more people that join in with our lovely community the more exciting places we get to discover and fabulous events we get to read about. We can't wait to get busy pinning, sharing and commenting on all of your posts this week!

 'What's Happened?' this week took us to the movies, to a music festival and even to Disney World Florida, but the post that stood out to us the most was a fun yet educational day at Warwick Castle from In The Playroom and her family.  From the chance to try archery, see a working trebauchet and learn about medieval times which also having lots of fun in the fresh air, it sounds like the perfect Autumn day out!

Photo credit: In the Playroom

'What's Happening?' saw some great posts linked up, full of ideas for fast approaching school holidays. If you are looking for family fun in the Greater Manchester area then don't miss these posts on half term happenings from Red Rose Mummy and The Brick Castle.

The one post that had us both planning trips to West Yorkshire for some spooky Halloween fun was from Yorkshire Tots.  They have something for every family from spooky interactive films to Pumpkin Festivals and even Freaks in the Forest...

Photo credit: Yorkshire Tots

What have you been up to? What are you planning?


We'd love you to link up your blog posts to What's Happened? - featuring events, days out, holidays, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and any other 'happeneds'. What's Happening? is the place for you to link your event previews, ongoing events and ticket giveaways.


We read and comment on every one and share on Twitter, Facebook. Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon.


We've created a brand new #WHWH Facebook Page is where we'll be sharing all of your posts from now on so please head over and give it a 'like'.


There is also a Pinterest board where we pin all of your posts, feel free to follow it.

Follow What's Happened? What's Happening? on Pinterest.

As always, please grab our badge to show you've joined in and point your readers in our direction.

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What's Happened? What's Happening? 8/10/15

The madness of back to school led to a wee break for #WHWH but we're back this week to showcase all of your events posts once again. We really want to push this linky as it's your posts which make it successful and we're really hoping to be busy pinning, sharing and commenting on all of your posts from now on.

Our favourite posts from What's Happened last time around couldn't be more different. I love reading about people's travels as a family, the more exotic the better and the lovely Five Adventurers' post about their stay at a very exotic hotel in Malaysia - The Best Family Hotel in Chiang Mai - was a fascinating read. The amazing villa they stayed in, complete with their own pool, looked simply perfect for a family holiday. The hotel and it's extensive grounds and activities really seem to set it apart from the run of the mill. I really admire the way Nisbah travels the globe with her gorgeous family and her writing is great Head on over to take a look at her blog if you haven't visited before.

Photo Credit: Five Adventurers

The second post from last time that we loved was ET Speaks From Home's take on their traditional British seaside holiday to Southbourne Beach in Dorset. My co-host knows Eileen well and can't quite imagine her on a caravan holiday but it looks like they had a lovely time. Dorset is such a beautiful county and the kids had lots of fun in the sea and pool on their caravan site. I love the photo of the seafood platter dinner they ate, isn't it amazing?

Photo Credit: ET Speaks from Home



What's Happening saw two giveaways linked up. One has now closed but you can still enter my giveaway to win an amazing Great Yarmouth break in 2016. It just might be the perfect UK holiday so make sure you enter!



What have you been up to? What are you planning?


We'd love you to link up your blog posts to What's Happened? - featuring events, days out, holidays, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and any other 'happeneds'. What's Happening? is the place for you to link your event previews, ongoing events and ticket giveaways.


We read and comment on every one and share on Twitter, Facebook. Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon.


We've created a brand new #WHWH Facebook Page is where we'll be sharing all of your posts from now on so please head over and give it a 'like'.


There is also a Pinterest board where we pin all of your posts, feel free to follow it.

Follow What's Happened? What's Happening? on Pinterest.

As always, please grab our badge to show you've joined in and point your readers in our direction.

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An InLinkz Link-up

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What's Happened? What's Happening? #WHWH 10/09/15

The last week or two has all been about fitting a few final days out into the summer holidays and getting ready for the start of the new term. Like many other four year old's my daughter started reception last week and is loving it so far, choosing to go into class without me from the second day!

Both our families love the outdoors so we have been making the most of the summer and getting out and about visiting local parks, camping and exploring the countryside. It was lovely to see so many linked up posts showing outdoor adventures so we've chosen a nature theme for this weeks round up. 

We really enjoyed reading about LifewithNaomi's Hedgerow Safari at Gazegill farm near Rimmington. It sounds like a really fun activity that both our families would enjoy. There are some beautiful pictures of a pair of baby shrews and a young toad that you must check out. If you live in the area I would suggest contacting the farm and finding out when the next free event is planned.

The second post we are featuring is InthePlayroom's write up of their day at Drusilla’s Park in Sussex. As our children love animal this seems to be an ideal place to visit if we are ever in the area as it offer lots of interactive activities from sensory trails to the zoolympics. As well as interactive walk through animal exhibits both our girls would adore the Hello Kitty Secret Garden, Europe's only Hello Kitty themed attraction!

What's Happening? was a little lonely last week however we loved We're Going on an Adventure's Ten Reasons Why York Maze is Amazing, with the puntastic laughs, the money back map and the friendly staff, it's somewhere that's certainly on our must do list for the future.

What have you been up to? What are you planning?


We'd love you to link up your blog posts to What's Happened? - featuring events, days out, holidays, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and any other 'happeneds'. What's Happening? is the place for you to link your event previews, ongoing events and ticket giveaways.


We read and comment on every one and share on Twitter, Facebook. Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon.


We've created a brand new #WHWH Facebook Page is where we'll be sharing all of your posts from now on so please head over and give it a 'like'.


There is also a Pinterest board where we pin all of your posts, feel free to follow it.

Follow What's Happened? What's Happening? on Pinterest.

As always, please grab our badge to show you've joined in and point your readers in our direction.

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An InLinkz Link-up

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What's Happened? What's Happening? #WHWH 27/08/15

With the Summer holidays drawing to a close our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram timelines have been jammed with bloggers and their families getting out and about together both in the UK and abroad. It was great to see so many of you link up again last time and we're looking forward to seeing your further adventures this week. I apologize that I'm a little behind with commenting as I've spent a significant part of the last two weeks in a tent without internet access but I will be catching up this week, I promise!

There were so many lovely posts last time and we've chosen a holiday theme for this round up. Both The Brunette Says and Mummys Little Stars chose to holiday in the UK this Summer and their posts were a great recommendation for staying at home.

Mummy's Little Stars holidayed at Perran Sands in Cornwall with Haven. I'm a big fan of this site, having stayed there twice and highly rate it so it's good to see  another blogger who feels the same way. The week on the beach and being entertained around the site looked wonderful for the whole family. We can't wait to return next Easter!

Photo Credit: Mummy's Little Stars

Our second UK Summer holiday feature was shared by Lianne at The Brunette Says. With eleven years between her children it's important that their holiday destinations really keep the whole family entertained, They chose Butlins in Skegness this year and the lovely photos show that a great time was had by all. This is another UK holiday park that we have stayed at and enjoyed.

Photo Credit: The Brunette Says

What's Happening saw a few lists of ideas for things to do, pleasingly (for us anyway) they all had a Northern England bias and there are some top tips for getting out and about in there. We loved Helpful Mum's '16 Things to Do in North Yorkshire this Summer', with everything from ice cream to soft play and castles to butterflies covered, Sian gives a great local's view of her particular part of the world. We've visited a fair few of them already but there are some intriguing ideas that we weren't familiar with and they are suitable for a range of budgets too.

Photo Credit: Helpful Mum

What have you been up to? What are you planning?


We'd love you to link up your blog posts to What's Happened? - featuring events, days out, holidays, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and any other 'happeneds'. What's Happening? is the place for you to link your event previews, ongoing events and ticket giveaways.


We read and comment on every one and share on Twitter, Facebook. Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon.


We've created a brand new #WHWH Facebook Page is where we'll be sharing all of your posts from now on so please head over and give it a 'like'.


There is also a Pinterest board where we pin all of your posts, feel free to follow it.

Follow What's Happened? What's Happening? on Pinterest.

As always, please grab our badge to show you've joined in and point your readers in our direction.

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An InLinkz Link-up

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How to Survive Legoland on a Rainy Day

You'd be forgiven for thinking it was currently October rather than August considering the weather we've had recently. At the weekend we camped through a thunderstorm at a festival and today during a long anticipated and carefully panned trip to LEGOLAND Windsor we were treated to torrential rain for most of the day.

I noticed that many families left earlier than I expected and there were even people in guest services demanding refunds due to the weather. Maybe it's because we live in Manchester, known as being one of the wettest cities in the UK, but we are of the firm view that rain shouldn't stop play!

Despite it being a very soggy day we still had a fantastic time at LEGOLAND Windsor and are wholeheartedly looking forward to returning tomorrow. So I thought I'd share with you my top tips for surviving LEGOLAND Windsor on a rainy day....

Buy The Big Yellow Legoland Ponchos

This is a tip that was given to me by The Boy and Me who visited the theme park earlier this week, they may not be any thicker than a carrier bag and make you look like you're wearing a shiny yellow bin bag but these branded plastic ponchos really are worth the £3.50 each, As TBAM says, 'Everyone is wearing them and they're big enough that they go down to your knees, easily covers a rucksack (and a camera case) and when you sit down your rear is covered so you don't get a wet bottom!'

Go on ALL the Water Rides

Well you're wet anyway so why not? As soon as we got to the park we headed straight for the Viking's River Splash ( Rapids ) and walked right on to the ride without having to queue. we followed this up with the Pirate Falls: Treasure Quest ( Log Flume) and the S.Q.U.I.D Surfer. Many people were walking straight past these rides but as we were so wet anyway we thought we may as well enjoy the rides!

Queue for an Indoor Ride to Dry Off

LEGOLAND Windsor has a good proportion of indoor rides ad although you will find that these have longer queues in wet weather, many of the queues have activities or videos to entertain the children while you are waiting and this can give you a chance to dry off. We queued for Laser Raiders for around an hour but the children were entertained throughout and we were glad of the shelter.

Find Out Which Rides are Closed Due to the Weather

For health and safety reasons, LEGOLAND Windsor do have to close certain rides when the weather gets bad, so it's a good idea to pop by guest services and find out which ones are closed so you are not making a journey across the park towards a particular ride that ends up being closed.

Consider Eating in one of the All You Can Eat Restaurants 

I am usually an advocate of taking picnics on days out rather than paying the inflated resort prices for food that often has limited choice. However if you are sopping wet, an hours sit don in a restaurant to warm up and dry off can be worth the price, especially when the alternative is sitting on a wet bench eating soggy butties!  

And most of all, have fun and remember there's no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing!



I'll be sharing more pictures and fun from our LEGOLAND trip soon!

What's Happened? What's Happening? #WHWH 13/08/15

What's Happened? What's Happening? had a great response again a fortnight ago and we've both enjoyed reading all about your summer adventures, days out and holidays in What's Happened? We've loved seeing previews of forthcoming events in What's Happening? too. Each fortnight we will be choosing our favourites from the previous linky to showcase.

This week there were two days out that really stood out to us and made us wish we had been there. The first of these was Happy Homebird's account of her family's visit to Erasmus Darwin house in Lichfield,the Georgian house that was once home to Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus Darwin and is now a museum dedicated to the interesting life he led. The images in this post really bring the museum alive and we love how hands on and interactive the museum sounds, our families both love days out of this sort and it will definitely be on or list to visit if we are in the area. 

Photo Credit: Happy Homebird

The second post we decided to feature was a festival with a difference, Jibber Jabber UK's write up of Upfest, Europe's largest street art and graffiti festival that takes place in Bristol is full of vibrant images that really highlights the art that we often overlook in our cities.

Photo Credit: Jibber Jabber UK

Our What's Happening? choice for this week is a great post from A Family Day Out that showcases some fabulous days out across the UK from Balloon Festivals to Fireworks Championships.

Photo Credit: A Family Day Out

What have you been up to? What are you planning?

We'd love you to link up your blog posts to What's Happened? - featuring events, days out, holidays, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and any other 'happeneds'. What's Happening? is the place for you to link your event previews, ongoing events and ticket giveaways.

We read and comment on every one and share on Twitter, Facebook. Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon.

We've created a brand new  WHWH Facebook Page where we'll be sharing all of your posts from now on so please head over and give it a 'like'.

xxx



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What's Happened? What's Happening? #WHWH 30/07/15

What's Happened? What's Happening was back with a vengeance two weeks ago and we've loved reading your accounts of your days out, events, holidays and yummy meals out in What's Happened? We've loved seeing previews of forthcoming events in What's Happening? too.



Each fortnight we will be choosing our favourites from the linky before to showcase. We went with a Stately Home theme this week. Both of our families enjoy exploring historic venues and their grounds and we're lucky to have some fabulous examples within a nearby drive. Somewhere that's been on the 'to visit' list for a while is Blenheim Palace and Oxfordshire Bloggers' account of their visits over the years was written with real fondness for somewhere that's clearly important to Mary and her family.

Photo Credit: Over 40 and a Mum to One


Our second choice was a fun toddlers day out for Hello Archie. Neither of us have ever shied away from taking our toddlers anywhere and it's always good to see other people follow suit. Bowood House is somewhere we've heard of through it's links with Tractor Ted and it looks to be a great place to explore with children of any age.

Photo Credit: Hello Archie

Our What's Happening? choice was We're Going on an Adventure's trip to Cheshire Oaks which showcased their fantastic range of family fun activities. Although we've both visited Cheshire Oaks in the past I don't think either of us realised that they had so much planned for children over the Summer. I definitely think we might take a trip at some point. The photos in Colette's post were fab, how amazing to have a professional photographer follow you around on a shopping trip!

Photo Credit: We're Going on an Adventure

What have you been up to? What are you planning?



We'd love you to link up your blog posts to What's Happened? - featuring events, days out, holidays, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and any other 'happeneds'. What's Happening? is the place for you to link your event previews, ongoing events and ticket giveaways.



We read and comment on every one and share on Twitter, Facebook. Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon.

I you're new to the linky read all about What's Happened? What's Happening and find out how to take part..


We've created a Pinterest board where we pin all of your posts, feel free to follow it.

Follow What's Happened? What's Happening? on Pinterest.

As always, please grab our badge to show you've joined in and point your readers in our direction.

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An InLinkz Link-up

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What's Happened? What's Happening? #WHWH 16/07/2015

Welcome to What's Happened? What's Happening? It's the first week of the new linky all about days out and events, hosted by myself and Pippa from Red Rose Mummy! It's ideal timing as the children are about to break up for the summer holidays and there are lots of fun events and activities going on!

Each time we'll be featuring posts from the previous link ups, sometimes with a theme, sometimes simply because we wish we'd been there! We'll also be highlighting the best of what's happening so you don't miss out on any must see events! As this is the first week we've had a look around our favourite blogs and found some great posts to share with a summer holidays theme, there are some fantastic ideas around for things to do over the school holidays.


We love exploring the outdoors, so I was excited to read what Mary from Over 40 and a Mum to one and her son thought of Conkers, the outdoor adventure cente, it looks like the ideal summer holiday day out!

Pippa and I both live in the North-West and love to get hands on with nature so Karen from That Lancashire Lass' post showcasing the best of wildlife in Lancashire really appeals to both of us. I think we'll both be adding these to our 'to visit' lists.

Do you love the LEGO Movie? If so be sure to check out the special movie weekends at LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Manchester. You can meet Emmett and Wildstyle and they will be screening the movie from 10am each day. If you have a Minions fan then they may be excited to see the new movie out in the cinema this summer, you can read In The Playroom's review of it here.

Last week my daughter and I visited the Imperial War Museum North to experience their newest exhibition, Horrible Histories: Blitzed Brits, we really enjoyed and will be returning with my son during the school holidays, a great free day out. Another local museum that is worth a visit this summer is the Museum of Science and Industry who are hosting Play It! where you can get to grips with the best video games from the last 30 years from ping pong to Pac Man.

We're hoping you all have posts ready to link up, whether you've been away recently, or out for the day, perhaps you've been to a fantastic blog event? We would love to see what you have been up to. If you haven't got a recent post, why not share your favourite ever blog event, or a day out that you loved and wrote up a while ago? Link up these posts to What's Happened? We'd love to see a bumper linkup this week to welcome the linky back with a bang.

If you know of some great events happening soon, then come and shout about them at our What's Happening? Link up.

We read and comment on every one and share on Twitter, Facebook. Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon. 

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