We have had a lovely long Easter weekend together.  Our weekend was spent...

Eating lots of Chocolate.

Feeding baby lambs at the farm.

Taking a walk in the wacky woods and seeing a bunny having a breather.

Getting our wellies (and everything else) very muddy.

Dressing in matching outfits for Easter Sunday.

Holding hands.

Easter Egg hunts.

Counting our loot.

Making husbands pose in bunny ears.

It all got too much for some.

All in all it was a great long weekend, why can't they always be four days long?

I have mentioned on here before how Mads is at an age where she just loves imaginative play.  Whether it is playing with her play kitchen, pushing her dolls around and pretending to wind them like I do with LL, or playing 'supermarkets- she just loves anything that involves using her imagination.

I love that streak about her, I used to get told all the time that I had a very overactive imagination (not always in a good way as I constantly worry that the most ridiculous things are going to happen- I was one of those who worried about the end of the world just before Christmas!) but it is a side of her that I am really keen to explore and help nurture.

Recently we have aquired two new items to our dressing up box.  The first being some fairy wings and a tutu to which she runs around the house saying 'Abracadabra- turn you into a frog!'  However the way she says it, it ends up coming out as 'Agarabra' which is very cute.

The second is a nurses outfit and doctors kit to which she becomes Dr Mads and proceeds to try and cut your toe off with the play scissors.  Whether you have a tummy ache, headache or are just generally 'poorly'- it is the toe that seems to cure all illnesses!

I love her imaginative side and I love playing with her.  She is at such a fun age.

Pssst...I am a finalist in three categories in the Mad Blog awards including Best Photography, plus Best Family Life Blog and Best Pregnancy Blog.  If you like my photos, my tales of family life and my pregnancy diaries please do take two minutes and vote!  Thank you. :)

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It's funny how much New Years Eve changes once you have a baby.  I have never been a huge fan of New Year, I don't see why you have to pay lots extra to go into a pub or bar that you go in all the time.  When I was younger of course I went out, or had house parties, but since having Mads our New Year celebrations have been very subdued.  

This one was no exception, it was the third one in a row that we stayed in, and the second one out of three that I haven't drunk.  Myself and Mr E snuggled on the sofa, watched a film, and made sure we gave Mads a kiss at midnight.

On New Years Day it has become somewhat of a tradition to have a party with my fellow NCT ladies and their husbands and children.  If you are pregnant then I thoroughly recommend doing NCT antenatal classes, although I couldn't tell you a thing that we learned in them, I have made some brilliant friends all with children the same age as Mads, and we see them a couple of times a week.

One of our friends is a gymnastics coach at the local gymnastics club and it has become a mini New Year tradition that we all go there on New Years Day and she opens it up especially for us.  This is no ordinary 'soft play', it basically is a highly regarded and excellent gymnastics club, and they open it up for 'play sessions' for toddlers to run around in order to help fund new equpiment - they put down soft play bits as well for them.  I dread to think of the health and safety involved with children jumping randomly on pommel horses and hanging off bars, but it's fun and we watch her so who cares!

It's claim to fame is that it is the club that trained Louis Smith for the Olympics, and often Mads and I have been down there when he was training- we both used to like to ogle the male gymnasts with their tops off, and I think they just got used to toddlers running around!

Anyway at New Year it is lots of fun because it is a huge place and we have it to ourselves, Mads always has a great time and Mr E is more of a chlid than she is.  She had great fun jumping on the trampolines, hanging off the bars into the foam pit, and generally causing chaos with her Daddy while Mummy gossiped with her friends!

Here are a few photos of our New Years Day.

Jumping into the foam pits with Daddy.

Future Gymnast?

When jumping on the trampoline just gets too much!

It is so much fun and Mads just loves going there.  We had a lovely little New Year celebration with our friends and started 2013 as we mean to go on- making lots more family memories.

This weekend just gone we took a trip to Woburn Safari Park.  We have been there quite a few times before, as it is only about 40 minutes away from us, and we love it there.  However we have always gone in the Summer, never in November before so I was interested as to what it was going to be like.

I need not have worried- the sun shined all day and I loved going out of season.  The animals around the safari trail were a lot more lively, rather than in the summer when they seem to snooze quite a lot, and because it was quiet we were able to get up close and personal with them a lot more so than if we were in a bigger queue of cars.

Mads was obsessed with the animals- she loved looking at them all and got especially excited by the monkeys and the lions.  

Having lots of fun staring out the window at all the animals.

Mads loved the 'ebras.'

We ended up having three monkeys on our car at one point and Mads was absolutely fascinated by them- she was giggling in delight although at first she looked a bit nervous as they were fighting on our roof!

I took these photos when they were sitting on our windscreen.

Woburn doesn't just have the safari trail but a huge amount of activities to do once you have parked up.  

We went for a walk on Daddy's shoulders.

There is a huge soft play arc at Woburn and Mads (and Daddy!) loved the big slide.  She just kept saying 'more' and wanting to go on it again and again.  I think my little girl is a big daredevil because they went very fast!

Happy smiles.

More slides- we played for ages in the play area, and because it was Winter it was really quiet.

We stopped and chatted to some lemurs and they got very close to us.

We also chatted to some penguins who photobombed us!

Finally we were so tired we had to get a lift on Daddy's shoulders back to the car, and fell asleep within 2 seconds of the engine being started.

As usual Woburn didn't disappoint.  For me it has the best both worlds, it has attractions you would normally find a walk round zoo, plus the obvious bonus of the safari park which means you can get up close and personal to the animals.  I also love the soft play place- Mads could play there for hours.

I didn't know what to expect going in November, but actually I think I prefered it to all the times we went in Summer- the animals were a lot more lively and playful, and it was just generally nicer to go when it was quieter.  I would definitely recommend Woburn as a family day out whatever the season.

I love little day trips with my little family.  There is nothing like seeing the joy on my little girl's face when we do something different.

I am entering this entry into a Money Supermarket competition to win a prize.  Now that would come in handy just before baby two arrives!