Summer Crocs We Love

This weekend we've been camping.  A new experience for all of us.  The girls have spent the entire weekend in their Crocs as they're so flexible for easy play, comfy evenings and fast turnaround when you have to take a late-night trip to the facilities!

The girls were sent a pair of Crocs from the summer range of children's Crocs, designed to help you #FindYourFun this summer.

Holly's Crocs are a pair of Girls Creative Frozen Clogs with a solid panel over the top of the foot showing her two favourite heroines, Anna and Elsa!  There are sparkly snowflakes and lettering across the foot and on the foot strap.  Holly was speechless when she first saw them and has worn her Crocs more or less non-stop each weekend as they're sturdy enough to be suitable for almost anything we throw at them during a normal weekend!  On our camping trip, they were so easy for Holly to slip on and off whenever she went in and out of the tent.  She was equally happy climbing trees in them as she was racing off across the fields.

Frozen is just one of the children's themes you'll find on Crocs this summer, look out for Minions, Star Wars, Turtles and Hello Kitty.  The Frozen clogs are available from an infant size 4, through to a junior size 1.

Lara's Crocs are a thing of beauty.  And, once again, Lara would quite happily live in these if she were allowed to wear them to school!  The brightly coloured butterly and heart design isn't the only feature of these traditional Crocs that appeals to Lara - they light up as well!  These are CrocsLights.

CrocsLights clogs are available in a number of bright children's designs and they feature a series of LEDs around the butterfly design which light up as you walk.  I had thought that our light-up shoe days were behind us and was surprised to see that CrocsLights were available in larger children's sizes (they are available from size 8, upto a junior 3).  To be very honest, I think both Lara and I have been far more impressed with the design of the shoes than with the lights!  On most sunny days you can't even notice the lights but during our camping trip, as the light dipped you could see the lightning flash of LEDs travel around the band on the shoes as she ran across the field.

These CrocsLight butterfly clogs are a beautiful, comfortable shoe that is light and flexible and perfect for summer days, holidays and... I can now confirm... camping trips!

The CrocsLight butterfly clogs cost £34.99 and the Creative Frozen Clogs cost £26.99 are are available from crocs.co.uk

ChillFactor Squeeze Cup Slushy Maker Review

My 5 year old is surprisingly conservative when it comes to drinks so I'm often looking for ways to get her to be a little bit more adventurous.  This Slushy Maker cup from Chillfactor is just the ticket - it adds a little excitement to her drinks by putting her in control to make iced slush drinks on her own, simply by squeezing the cup.  The new Tutti Fruity range of squeeze cups come in bright orange, blue, purple and pink.

The Chillfactor Squeeze Cup Slushy Maker can turn most liquid drinks into an ice slush.  You place the cup in the freezer for a few hours, then pour in your drink and then squish, squish, squish the cup to turn it into slush.  Lara thought this was EXCELLENT.  Her first choice of drink to experiment with was chocolate milk.  We made up the chocolate milk mix as normal and then poured it into the Squeeze Cup.  Lara tried to squeeze the cup but it was too cold for her to touch, so I wrapped it in an oven glove!  Since then, I've learned to only place the ice-pack insert for the cup into the freezer so that it isn't so cold to touch.

It took about 1 minute of squishing and squeezing for the milk to fully turn to a thick slush which came up above the top of the cup, and into the round cup lid.

The cup is easy to assemble.  It comes in about 4 or 5 pieces which can be washed easily.

We have tried a strong orange squash mix and different milk flavours and Lara loves them. She likes the novelty and intrigue of the ice cold lumps.  She slurps until her heart's content and uses he other end of the straw (a little spoon) to scoop the best bits out.  The straw is the only part of the cup that I found tricky to wash because it is inflexible.

Lara isn't much into fizzy drinks or strongly flavoured drinks but I think she may give some bolder colours and flavours a go in this slushy maker.  Its so easy, and more or less mess-free so I can let her try new things without worrying about having to lift out a blender or crush up ice.  I'm looking forward to cherryade flavour slushies.

The Chillfactor Squeeze Cup Slushy Maker Tutti Fruity comes in lots of bright colour combinations and costs £12.99.

Lara's First Trike

This weekend marked a momentous occasion. We removed the waist support from Lara's Smart Trike and released the pedals so that she can pedal the trike herself. She's still a little bit all over the place and could fall off at any minute, and her feet can't quite keep up with the pedals but she'll get there soon enough and before long she'll be racing away. Every time we take Lara out on her Smart Trike around the local roads, we get lots of lovely comments from passers by who seem amazed that such a thing exists - I think the long extending handle that allows me to control where Lara goes really impresses some of the older neighbours who wish they had owned something similar when their children were toddlers. One of our favourite places to take Lara on her Smart Trike is Virginia Water in Sunningdale, Berkshire. There are lots of wide, well-paved paths that we can push the trike down and Lara can either pedal, or just enjoy the ride. This is Lara last summer on the very first day that we tried out the Smart Trike at Virginia Water (she hasn't quite grasped the concept at this point!). It was a gorgeous sunny day and we really needed the sun shade. At Christmas time we removed the main strap as Lara had outgrown it. This weekend, we removed the waist support as Lara's belly had got too big for it AND because these days she is just so eager to gain her own independence that she hates being cooped up inside the trike. I won Lara our Smart Trike from Mummys Shoes last summer and it is one of the best prizes I've ever won her. It is going to last us another year or so and will grow with her. I love the fact that the parental handle bar extends high enough for me (I'm tall) and can go shorter when Mr. B. is using it. I love the fact that I can put my camera in the little container at the back of the trike so that I can take pictures of Lara when we're on the move (Lara likes to store tennis balls there)! And I love the fact that the trike can be tailored to your own child's size and ability by letting them take control of the pedals when they are ready, and to remove all of the supports, and the parental control when the time is right. This video is of Lara shortly after we first got the Smart Trike last summer; I call the video "Doggie or Duckie?" as I'm sure you'll see why. I think it really demonstrates the genius of the Smart Trike for smaller children. This, incidentally, was also the day Lara took her first steps.

I am thinking of buying Lara her first cycle helmet but so far I've been unable to find a helmet designed for children under 3 years. I can't wait until Lara is able to pedal about on her own and go exploring on her Smart Trike. Note: This isn't a sponsored post. We love our Smart Trike and just wanted to spread the love!

Making Bathtimes Funtimes with CuddleMat

As a Mummy, part of my mellow routine is long hot soak in a nice-smelling bath. To me, bathtime is chillout time.

Very soon after Lara was born we worked out that for Lara, bathtime is not a chillout time. To start off with, bathtimes were 'scream very loudly and get very worked up – times'. Over the months we did manage to calm her down somewhat by joining her in the bath – an annoying habit that we have yet to break. So these days we try and make bathtimes funtimes!

We have plenty of bath toys that Lara plays with. Our Brother Max toys have been a firm favourite but Lara is slowly beginning to lose interest in favour of her Bob The Builder car wash which attaches to the side of the bath.



One of the other ways we entertain her is with bubbles. With Lara's sensitive skin, I have to be a bit careful with bubbles. We've tried all sorts of organic and sensitive skin products which are lovely but my current favourite is the Boots Dreamtime calming bubble bath which is not organic or paraben-free but is hypoallergenic, smells great and has an added bonus – I'm convinced that ist helps us with the wind-down after bathtime ready for bed.

These days Lara quite enjoys her baths, in fact, the screaming starts when the fun stops and she has to get out of the bath. It seems such a shame, having worked out how to make the actual bathtime lots of fun, that the whole process has to end in tears.

Last week we became the proud owners of a brand new Cuddlemat from Cuddledry. The colour-changing bathmat is the answer to our problem! We have a purple bath mat which changes colour to a rather striking shade of neon pink when you dribble hot water on it! It is great fun for Lara (and Mummy and Daddy) when she gets out of the bath because she can see her wet footprints make coloured patterns on the mat. She is so busy making footprints that she doesn't notice us wrapping her up in a towel and drying her!.

Our splattery creation!

Now that she knows what it does, Lara pokes her head over the side of the bath and splatters water over the mat to make even more splodgy patterns! I'm really glad we've found something that can extend the funtime of bathtime even when Lara is out of the water.

The Cuddlemat is made from 100% cotton and the colour-changing effect won't diminish through a normal washing cycle. At £14.99 I think it would make a wonderful gift for any family and I really can't recommend it enough – great fun!