A Winter Wonderland Discovery

Being at home with just Megan 3 days a week is proving to be pretty chilled out. I don’t know if its the weather or just her personality (possibly both) but most days she is happy to have a lazy start and then a trip to the park, swimming or somewhere that’s really not too far. She is still having her say on things she wants to do and enjoys making plans with cousins, but some days will come to me and say “What do I want to do Mummy?” and so I will give her 2 or 3 options of things I think she would like!
It makes a huge change to our previous schedule where we would all be manic in the morning to get out of the house for playgroups, all day long adventures and anything to stop me loosing my mind being cooped up with 2 crazy kids… together they are most definitely better outside!

On Tuesday we met my sister in law and 1 little cousin for lunch at the local country baskets and Megs enjoyed gathering sparkly things off the shelves in little festive baskets, before a lovely lunch together. As we went our separate ways I decided to carry on 5 minutes down the road to Carr gate garden centre, where she was excited to be able to feed the fish in the aquatics centre (something the 3 of us would often do when Ethan was home) and to feed her constant desire to be around creatures.
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To our surprise after feeding the fish (which is only £1) we found ourselves wandering into a beautiful winter wonderland bursting with sparkles, mechanical animals and fake snow…Megan was certainly in her element!
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We wandered around soaking it up and feeling oh so very festive, talking about each animal, Christmas and winter and planning some possible crafts or projects we could do around these things.
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Her favourite part, which she kept telling me she loved, was to see the Giant from Jack and the beanstalk (according to her) and there sit on a bench as he gleefully sang Christmas songs to us…she petted reindeer, polar bears and penguins before remembering that this place also had a soft play.
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The winter wonderland seems to be paving the way in preparation for Santa’s arrival next month and wasn’t quite finished, but she was eager to return for that and bring Ethan too “because he will love this”…
And yes she was right, we ended our visit in the cute little soft play that is just £2 per child!
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A brilliant afternoon together that barely cost anything; we had magical adventures, admired various fish and sea horses and let off steam scrambling over soft play equipment (her not me) all whilst being warm indoors. I forget how family friendly garden centres are and would never usually think of them as a day out destination, but with Megan’s love for nature and relaxed approach it was the most certainly the prefect afternoon out and another one for her list!
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#YorkshireFamily with Yorkshire Tots

4 Comments

  1. Angela Milnes
    November 19, 2015 / 10:31 am

    Mary this does look fun! We took sylvia to a winter wonderland 2 years ago and it was fabulous! – Angela

  2. erinalice
    November 21, 2015 / 8:35 pm

    I have just one at home during the day now too and adventures are really different with one! Looks like you guys had a fantastic day! We’ve been to Carr Gate Winter Wonderland but not for a few years – it reminds me we should go back it looks like fun. I don’t think we could feed the fish then either which Leo would love to do! Thank you for linking up with #YorkshireFamily

  3. December 1, 2015 / 9:49 pm

    I love Carr Gate. I literally live a 5 minute drive from it and it’s a great place to entertain my son for a few hours on an afternoon at a low price! 🙂 #YorkshireTots

  4. December 8, 2015 / 7:48 pm

    What a lovely place to visit!
    #YorkshireFamily

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