And back to Britain's favourite discussion: The Weather

An Aussie friend of mine used to do the most hilarious sketch about our weather forecasters - highlighting how they go into overdrive at the slightest gust of wind or unexpected spell of sunshine.

But SNOW..well, that is a whole other story!

Front page news: Cold weather sweeps Britain!
Middle page news: Rail companies fail to keep the country moving
Back page news: Locals clear snow from football pitches

So finally it arrived! I was so excited at the prospect of snow falling on Friday night. All evening friends had been posting pictures of snowy gardens from up and down the country but it was yet to reach the South East and I went to bed hoping we would have a huge dump overnight. I awoke around 3am and like a child at Christmas, peeped out of the window and could see the entire garden. The glow of the pristine snow was illuminating the outside and I was excited.

I love snow - I think the snowy mountains can be the most beautiful place in the world on a sunny day. Snow in London by comparison was always an anti-climax; delayed trains, slushy boots on the pavement, car being sprayed by grit machines, parks full of the remains of snowmen long after the rest has melted.

But here in the country, it was clean, white and successfully filling our garden with beauty. The kid's faces when they saw it was amazing! Mr T can't really remember the snow last year and Little Miss didn't know what to think! We quickly taught her to say 'snow' and she has been pointing at it shouting 'no' ever since!

The first dilemma is how on earth do we dress the kids to go out? Mr T was going to wear his ski trousers for the first time and was excited and Little Miss was dressed up in layers of tights, leggings, fleeces, hat and overall. Gloves were harder to get on her but finally they embarked into the white blanket that covered the lawn. Little Miss stood knee deep for over 5 minutes in the same place unsure of how to walk - made for the perfect photo opportunity! Mr T was busy trying to build a snowman and help Dad clear the car.

Over the course of the morning we did the whole dressing scenario for a second time, this time for sledging! As we walked through the village we asked some locals where to go and sledge and were told to follow the path behind the church, past the donkey field and into the sheep field where we found half the village and their dogs! The kids lasted about 10 minutes and were luckily rescued by a well-deserved Sunday roast in the local pub.

This year the snow was no anti-climax; it created an opportunity for a lovely family day together; laughing and rosy-cheeked.

And it's still here - I did outdoor bootcamp in the snow and glorious sunshine, we went on the slide in the playground and landed in the snow and Little Miss is still heard shouting 'no', 'no' every time I open the front door!

Toys you love...and hate!

Having had a fairly uneventful week, I have decided to blog about toys today instead. Having 2 pre-schoolers of both flavour we have accumulated a fair few toys in our house over the years.

Today the weather is soo miserable that I decided we would stay inside all afternoon instead of going out. This poses a number of problems as far as keeping both kiddies occupied from 2pm til bedtime! It's a long time, they both have different attention spans and interests.

So I delved deep into the cupboard and found the Playdoh!

This invention for me is the worst thing ever! I know I am about to risk sounding completely OCD in a minute but I can't stand it for the following reasons:
1. I have a problem with the colours getting mixed up so spend the entire time making sure one colour is put away before the next one is played with
2. There always seems to be shards of it left all over the place afterwards - all bright and rock hard
3. If I forget to take my rings off then it looks like my engagement ring has turned a lurid sapphire colour never mind the fluorescent pink!
4. Even when I do remove my rings, I end up with 'doh-ed' fingernails which again seems impossible to remove.

But the kids love it and they get a chance to be creative so I bite my tongue, remove those rings and let them get on with it!

Another love/hate toy for me is Elefun - the butterfly catching game.

Can I just add - our games never look like this!
1. The nets always need fixing before you can commence
2. The trunk gets so creased after packing it away that it rarely stays up and needs to be held (by me!)
3. The unit needs to sit on a hard surface and a carpet doesn't activate the motor so it needs to sit on a book (something else to tidy away)
4. The butterflies normally fly up and out so fast that my athletic 3.5 year old doesn't even manage to catch them in his net.
5. Within a short while the batteries need replacing and they need C's I think - 3 of them. So batteries that are hard to find and then only 3 of them when they are sold in packs of 2 or 4 - who is colluding with Duracell eh?

My Little Miss loves to leave the trunk off and just try throwing the butterflies into the airstream - to be fair she has a good point - it is more fun! But again, for a short moment the kids love it and to them it is like the image on the left!!

My final one is puzzles - wonderfully educational but a pain in the butt to put away at the end of the day!
Again my recreational OCD rises to the surface and it's back to one puzzle at a time!

1. I can't bear having missing pieces so make sure all are accounted for before moving on.
2. Also, puzzle manufacturers take note - why do some toddler puzzles not have the image printed in the hole for the puzzle. My one year old has puzzles made for her age that don't have the picture underneath and this makes the puzzle very hard for them. It means the carer normally has to point in the rough direction of the hole the piece fits into or the child loses interest fast. And the really annoying thing is that the purchaser doesn't find out they have bought such a puzzle until the cellophane is ripped off and the pieces tipped out! Melissa & Doug make the best chunky puzzles in my opinion but they are pricier than some.

So, this sleety afternoon has been filled with 'dohing', Elefun and plenty of puzzles and my parenting stress levels have been stretched! But the kiddies are happy and that's all that matters!

Would love to hear about anyone else's love/hate toys!

Review: Rare Breeds Centre, Kent

On Sunday Mr C was off early to Heathrow on business so I decided to pack the kids in the car and head off to The South of England Rare Breeds Centre In Woodchurch, Kent. http://www.rarebreeds.org.uk/

We arrived bang on 10.30am when it opened so had the benefit of no visitors for a little while. The girl selling tickets happily greeted us and we paid our £6 admission price for anyone over 3.

My initial impression was that it was more like a farm and quite small but as I read the map, I could see there was more to enjoy beside the animals and on a warmer, sunnier day this would be enjoyable. My son led the way around the animals, past the ferrets, the owls, the chickens, turkeys and pigs. There were ginger pigs, little clean pink pigs, large hairy brown pigs wallowing in muddy styes - Little Miss enjoyed making oinking noises to all of them. There is a section called Creepy Crawly World which housed one of the biggest snakes I had seen and a few other reptiles. It was very warm in there and a few exhibits seemed to have 'escaped' or been moved which was a shame.

The Children's Farm area was lovely and noisy with goats, sheep, piglets, rabbits and visiting birds. At 11.30 they got some of the animals out of their pens and children were encouraged to pet them and this was the highlight of the morning and hence pretty busy. Little Miss loved the albino ferret with red eyes and Mr T enjoyed the rabbits which he stroked with his gloves on as he didn't want to get his hands dirty! The piglets had a good nibble and snuffle at our welly boots which caused great amusement.

After the animal session we wandered out to the duck pond and the aviary which had some beautiful birds in it but didn't excite my two much. I think the draw of the playground outside was too much and they had a good run about. In summer this would be a nice area for a picnic. We didn't walk on much further as the kiddies were peckish so we made a beeline for the restaurant just outside the farm.

The Granary Restaurant & Terrace was large but not very enticing. They did offer a couple of kids meals and a carvery but not much in the way of healthy snacks or fruit. There were no little apple or orange juices in the fridge but just sugar-laden Fruit Shoots. The staff were young jobbers and didn't really care and we had to wait too long for the kid's meals. Generally the food was ok for a quick visit but overall the experience could have been so much better and a restaurant like that should make a little more effort to supply healthier options for children. The walls showed pictures from Competition winners from August!

After that we headed back into the farm to have a go in the soft play area. There was a good climbing frame and slide set up for kids and one area was full of balls but hard to access with a baby. The baby section had some padded blocks for them to climb but it would have been nice to have some balls in there too in a ball pit. My son loved it but there wasn't a lot for my toddler to do without climbing up too high and getting stuck.

I was dismayed to see ride-on toys in there as kids always badger their parents for a ride on them instead of running around and thought £0.50 was a lot for a ride.

The farm is run as a charity but I feel a few easy changes could be made to make it more enjoyable. There could be maps put up on buildings to save on printing maps for every visitor showing 'You are here'. This encourages kids to read the map too. There could be some simple wooden signposting as we nearly missed the aviary and playground as we didn't initially read the map. Each cage or pen should have a label saying what animal was in there; many were missing which makes it difficult when little people ask what animal it is. The hand washing facilities were good and plentiful though mixer taps would prevent burnt fingers. The restaurant needs some attention too. My experience is that centres like this can make some really small changes to make it more educational and interesting. Without wanting it to jump on a band-wagon, I think it should encourage kids to learn by providing more information and encouraging eco, local and healthy messaging.

But overall we had a nice time and the kids were exhausted afterwards. We went on a Sunday in January - I feel the farm would get very busy in the Summer holidays and I imagine the Meet the Animal sessions would be over-run. It is nice to have a farm facility nearby for us to visit and I know we will be back despite the little niggles.