I am a big fan of history and do enjoy walking around castles. There is something quite fun about looking around at ruins, especially those that use to look so daunting and impressive, but now have missing pieces, are no longer used, and are not up to current standards of living. I don’t often pass up an opportunity to share history with my children either, and with our National Trust cards in hand, I was excited to get along to some castles! One of the first on our list was Bodiam Castle, since it’s not that far from our home at all. This site end up being one of our favourite sites from the National Trust in Essex.
[Ad- gifted product] I remember my first pair of Moon Shoes, jumping around my parent’s house, on their wooden floor, feeling like I was an astronaut, somehow, within my own home. Moon Shoes were these toys that you basically strapped your feet into, allowing you to bounce around on mini-trampolines. There isn’t a huge upkeep as there would be with a large trampoline, but they bring just as much fun as having one! Moon Shoes came out, originally, around the 1950s as an effort from Nickelodeon to create toys – and were made of metal. When I was a child, they were plastic and much like Moon Shoes are now.
When it comes to putting together your shoes, they do come with the outer shoe, platform for your feet and the straps all separated – and it is effort to put them together. I didn’t realize my dad had done the stretching! There are a bunch of replacement bands, so if your bands start to wear out, you can just switch them out for a new set, and keep on jumping! Once our shoes were put together, the kids were pretty interested in something described as a trampoline and was also space themed. Moon Shoes are recommended for ages 7 and up, and the weight limit on Moon Shoes is 130lbs or 58.9 kg, so they are not meant for most adults. We went out back to try the shoes out on the grass, so if there were any learning curve falls, they would be on softer ground.
It’s been a full year since we started getting Pretty Suds subscriptions – which is actually the longest we have ever been subscribed to something! This month had the theme “In Rose Wonderland” – which has nods to Alice in Wonderland – full of cute bombs. Along with the normal box of bombs, there was a container of their egg bombs (the first bombs we actually ordered from this company) which are mystery boxes of six mini-bombs! It was a fun surprise.
[Ad- gifted product] Keith’s Favourite Vegan Recipes is a very easy to follow cookbook full of plant-based recipes. The cookbook has a well written intro defining, in a few words, why one might want to move towards a more plant-based diet. Then, it launches into breaking down several points – from the financial gain of cutting down on meat, to how it would impact the planet, to how much good it would do for your body. Then, Keith’s Favourite Vegan Recipes is full of recipes for soups, sides, mains, desserts, and even condiments. All of these recipes are quite easy to follow and seem to come together quickly – the ones with written introductions to them really set the scene. We tried out a Creamy Courgette Soup, as we were feeling quite in the mood for it!
[Ad- gifted product] When it comes to surprise boxes, they just seem to be apart of children’s toys now. From aliens that you explode to dolls that grow from pots, you can find them everywhere. Robin got two Blume Dolls to try out, one in the Sun series and the other in a Heart series. There are a bunch of different dolls, but they all follow the same concept when it comes to growing them out of their pot and their own surprises.
