Rosie Scribble

2011 - The year that was

It was the year one seven-year-old girl predicted the end of the world, but later admitted she'd got her dates wrong. Apparently it’s next year. Just as well we lived 2011 to the full then.

There have been some noticeable highlights in another blogging year that has proved even more unpredictable and varied than the last. According to IJ these include watching me lug a massive box of Scalextric half way across London, touching dinosaur vomit at the Guinness World Records HQ and our day out at London Zoo courtesy of Vosene.

Not forgetting a visit to Alexandra Palace where Jumbo Toys introduced us to their new ipieces range for the ipad, and IJ took to the ice for the first time.

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas!

It's the night before Christmas and we are suitably attired in our festive knitwear - a dazzling combination of matching jumpers, scarfs, socks and bobble hats.

I've opted for a brown reindeer jumper design on a luminous orange background. IJ, embarrassed by my refusal to take off my striped bobble hat, has opted for a more toned down version of the same design with a more muted colour scheme.

Not really.

However some of our behaviour genuinely has been totally out of character. We have been engaging in a spot of Christmas crafting. Clearly the sense of occasion has overwhelmed us. Or possibly we are coming down with something. Nevertheless paint has touched paper and glitter has been thrown in for good measure.

IJ has been having some last minute Santa doubts.  Apparently most of her friends are under the impression that he isn't real. This of course is absolute nonsense. Have they not watched The Polar Express? Another viewing this evening will help cast those doubts aside.

So we are just about ready. All presents have been wrapped. Extended family are on their way and everything is in perfect running order, although a quite glance at our fireplace reveals that I still haven't changed the clock since the hour changed some months ago. But no matter. Santa will be none the wiser I’m sure.

I’m logging off, not because it’s late or because there’s been a small consumption of Christmas sherry, but because I had hear bells and hooves and if I am very very quiet there seems to be someone on our roof.

So I’m off to unblock the chimney.

Wishing you and your loved ones a very Happy Christmas!

Missing the happy in Happy Feet Two

There’s nothing quite like a trip to London and the chance to see the Oxford Street lights to get you in the festive spirit just days before the big day itself. Of course we were completely unaware of this until the team at Kinder Surprise invited us to London for the day to watch a screening of Happy Feet Two.

We had a really lovely day topped off by a visit to Hamleys on the way home, but the film itself was less of a success. It is fair to say that we didn’t like it at all, although I can only base our feedback on the first 40 minutes of the film as we didn’t watch the rest.

In a nutshell, IJ simply found it too scary in parts, which overshadowed the stunning animation and some outstanding musical numbers. It is easy to assume, as I did, that Happy Feet Two is Certificate U like its predecessor. It isn’t. It’s Certificate PG and quite rightly so.

There is an awful moment when an elephant seal falls into a crevasse in front of his two pups and tells them to leave him to die, which we both found particularly alarming. There are also several fight scenes between various forms of sea life, which are noisy, threatening and catch viewers off guard.

For IJ, who is going through a particularly anxious phase, it was too much so we took ourselves away and tried out a few craft activities instead.

I am told the second half did get better although after 40 minutes I was unable to decipher the storyline and it seemed more than a little disjointed.

The official storyline is as follows:

Happy Feet Two returns audiences to the magnificent landscape of Antarctica in superb 3D. Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny son, Erik, is choreo-phobic. Reluctant to dance, Erik runs away and encounters The Mighty Sven-a penguin who can fly! Mumble has no hope of competing with this charismatic new role model. But things get worse when the world is shaken by powerful forces. Erik learns of his father's "guts and grit" as Mumble brings together the penguin nations and all manner of fabulous creatures-from tiny Krill to giant Elephant Seals-to put things right. Happy Feet Two is directed by George Miller, who won an Oscar® as the creator of the original Happy Feet.

The film is marketed as ‘fun-packed laugh-out-loud adventure that the whole family will enjoy". Except we didn’t.  We did enjoy the chance to take to the artificial ice-rink provided at the Kinder Surprise event and IJ was more than a little excited with her branded goody bag and supply of chocolate Kinder Eggs.

All in all it really was a great day out and we’ll be making a festive trip to London an annual event from now on. As for Happy Feet Two, the animation was brilliant but the storyline disjointed and we felt it lacked the happy.

Kinder Surprise paid our train travel to attend this event.

The obligatory Christmas post

With Christmas just a week away and IJ two days away from the start of her official Christmas holidays, cards have been written, presents wrapped and there’s a definite hum in the air.

So I decided to offer up the contents of this post to one eight-year-old girl who is so full of Christmas spirit I was hoping some of it would spill over on to my blog.

Yes dear reader, I have opened up the floor to an eight-year-old child. It’s not quite a guest post opportunity but I have certainly allowed her, as a one off, to decide exactly what I should post here.

I was hoping for a gem of a quote about Christmas being a special time of year spent together with family and good friends. I thought there might be some mention of the real meaning of Christmas as she has just watched her younger friends take part in their school nativity. I thought she might even relay the first few lines of a carol that I could share with you here. It could have been the start of something very special.

Instead, I can only apologise.

Apparently the best thing about Christmas and the only thing worth passing on at this time of peace and goodwill to all men (and women), is this:

Better luck next year*.

I’m not signing off for Christmas yet, but just in case you are busy with other things, wishing all the lovely people that have stumbled across this post, a very Merry Christmas.

*Okay, I admit it. It’s a personal favourite of mine too.

Center Parcs, Sherwood Forest

Santa speeding across a lake in a boat, festive fireworks on the beach, real-life reindeers and even a professional photography lesson were just some of the highlights of our recent weekend at Center Parcs. It was our fifth visit to their Sherwood Forest venue and despite living only a short distance away, it always feels like a million miles away from home.

We were thrilled to be offered a complementary three night stay to enjoy their Winter Wonderland this year; especially as we’d never visited during December. For six weeks of the year Center Parcs is decorated with lights, decorations, Christmas trees and even a little fake snow. There’s also Santa’s Woodland Workshop, festive pony rides, carriage rides, a pantomime and lots of Christmas craft activities, so we were keen to see if it would get us into the Christmas spirit.