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Sunday 27 January 2013

Donny and Marie

Well I have to blog about the shows....what more can be said, totally fantastic!

My little girl Jennifer was totally made up that Marie spoke to her and asked her old she was at the Cardiff show, she joked with her about not knowing who she was and told her she was Cher lol...oh she knows who you all are lol.

Marie pointing out at Jennifer.

Jennifer was obviously feeling braver than the last time she met Marie at a VIP in Las Vegas 4 years ago. She was so upset last time she cried afterwards that she got shy as she was so excited to meet them...she still gets upset she didn't talk to them and would love another VIP to meet them...she would chat chat chat now lol. Maybe we will get to Vegas again whilst they still have their residency there, we missed them this December just gone when we went to get married as they were off doing their Christmas shows.

Jennie meeting D&M in Vegas on my birthday 9th October 2008.



Marie even offered Jennie to try her shoes on..she should have, they were lovely leopard print ones :)

I have slowly broken down half the family to love D&M, Jennie loves them, Roger loves them and wants to go to more and more shows (we would but can't due to our up coming honeymoon). I made a promise to Jules when he was born and was fighting for his life in the incubator that if he carried on getting better I would not sing him Donny songs (I sung carpenters insteads) but I never said anything about Marie songs :), he is 2.5 yrs old and I have just about kept to my word but I can't wait to take him to his first show. I bet he would love it but need to wait longer than with Jennie who was 3 and loved it, Jules needs longer due to his sensory issues let alone mobility issues and I don't know how his hearing aids would cope...guess we would take them out.

I am not sure where Donny and Marie get their energy but I need some...Marie has bought up 8 children and can do all that and look that good. I have had 5 and am in the knackers yard lol

Just have to take Natalie with me to Vegas again and try and get her to meet the choreographer that Marie introduces...he is gorgeous and the same age as my Natalie and looks like a very lovely young man lol.

and if Marie you happen to read this when I tweet this to you..here she is please show him her photo, she needs a lovely man to adore her xx







Wednesday 23 January 2013

Special needs prams...

Oh gosh, so confused. Next week we are due to pick up an Alvema Ito pram for Jules from wheelchair services. The pram is free but it comes with no extras, so no hood, no raincover, no underneath basket, no this no that...and each thing is over £100...ridiculous and seriously making money out of us parents with children with special needs.

Jules can't walk due to cerebral palsy, we have no idea if or when he may walk. There is limited help it seems and we have already been through quite a few prams trying to find one that is ideal and it has cost a fortune.

We had a bugaboo Cameleon...but he slumped in it and couldn't sit properly as he had/has weak stomach and back muscles. We then got a bugaboo bee and that was more suitable as it kind of cuddled him but alas despite them saying it should last till about 4 yrs old he outgrew it at 2.5yrs as he is quite tall and it was getting hard to get him up kerbs.

I just do not get the right feel about this Ito...the whole seat tilts and I do not think he will like that due to his sensory issues....so I have been looking again at what else is out there.

I am toying with the Easywalker after I read a blog about another mum using one for her child and even showed a picture of her 8 yr old in it.

http://www.easywalker.nl/

They look funky and look so lovely and easy to push plus are multi terrain which I do not think the Ito will be. We often go to Devon where Grandma and Grandad live so beach walks are in our life.

The other is the mountain buggy

http://mountainbuggy.com/

Similar kind of thing but more available 2nd hand on ebay so may well have to go this way.

Just need something something that is easy to push as he is 15kg or so and something that will last a while, we feel so stuck and my arms are currently aching from trying to push him in the maclaren XLR...they are not made for larger babies, I disliked them when I had my 2nd child and never went back after the one I had fell apart after 2 mths but people seemed to like them but the reality is Jules can tip this pram so easily it is a nightmare.

Feel a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place..anyone with any ideas? anyone selling one cheap? lol xx

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Pretty Pink Things.

I love pink things! Pink is such a happy colour. Well it makes me happy anyway. I hate the silly campaign pink stinks where silly mothers feel their sweet girls should not be in pink and campaign against girlie things being in pink, how sad their pretty girls will not know about pink things and what a silly pointless campaign when babies die or are injured due to NHS negligence or cutbacks or when people can not get the care or medicine needed due to lack of funds...start campaigning about real things silly ladies as you never know when you may need them, don't waste your energy on pointless things like an innocent colour. If that is all you have to worry about then I wish my life were so worry free!

Anyway, this love of pink things has and is spreading around the house. I do have to say at this point though our new bathroom has hints of orange and no pink! The kitchen however is another matter altogether.

We have just had a new kitchen and I have kept the pretty pink things. My last kitchen was pink to the max, even pink tiles, although I have black ones this time. I once had a guy in to do the boiler check and I did have a low cut top on that day and was shocked yet secretly pleased when he said to me 'eh you are just like that Jordan bird ain't ya' but before I could take comfort in thinking he thought I looked like a glamour model he added 'yeah she likes all that pink stuff don't she and look at you everything is pink ain't it'....and Helen's ego plummets to the gutter once more!

I have added to the pink things and these are really pretty pink things :) I have discovered 'Pip Studio' I can't wait to move hopefully fairly soon as I aim to have lots of the wallpaper and bedding in the new house. I aim to add to my collection and would love the whole dining set and tea set but that will happen just slowly slowly as we have other things to spend our money on right now like our forthcoming honeymoon to Singapore!

I have these two storage jars, they look so pretty with little rose like handles on the top too. I also have these cups and saucers too and they are so very very pretty and so delicate. I would also love this sugar bowl and milk jug oh and the mugs too!





When you have children you really do need a good oilcloth tablecloth so you can easily wipe it down or it would forever be in the washing machine if you have messy children like ours! I tried very hard to find a perfect one. I had found some in a department store but it was a very wishy washy pink and I wanted something more vibrant. I liked the ideal of floral or roses but wanted a better base for all the flowery beautiful pip studio bits so opted for this tablecloth, it is a lovely bright pink without needing sunglasses. I felt the price was good and it looks so very pretty.



I have pink washing up bowl, drainer and bin but felt I wanted a pink bread bin, that was a little harder to find I have to say but eventually found one that is a lovely shade again and looks great in the kitchen.




I bought these all on amazon for the grand total of zero...how comes you ask? Well I am a savvy mum on a budget and signed up to topcashback and get vouchers (as you get a bit more when you chose amazon for payment). It is easy to use, just go through their homepage to do the search. I earnt nearly £400 in a year, it certainly helps for kids birthday pressies or just for pretty things like this!! You can join by following the link below.



Las Vegas, rest of the trip 2012!

Well this was my 7th time to wonderful Las Vegas and Roger's third. I think it will be the last for a while because the wonderful city of NYC is calling us (hopefully for christmas festivities) and what with our Singapore honeymoon in March and the urge to view more eastwards it may well be a while before we hit Vegas again.

Two days before we were due to go I had a car accident. My car is a write off...not a great hardship as we already had a new car on order which is due in January and I have since had a generous settlement from the other guys insurance company for it but it did leave some hassle about how to get to the airport so the day before found us sorting things with his insurance company and getting a hire car....also the pain was an issue but a trip to the doctors and some stronger painkillers helped a bit.

Hmm would the children be allowed into America?

We chose this time to fly direct with British Airways, normally the cost is not worth it and normally fly with American Airlines but gold card or not we decided to fly BA as the prices had dropped and we had a lot of miles to use so we traveled on reward travel (although of course you still have to pay hefty tax and fees etc). I have to say the 10 hour flight went quite quickly. I have previously done a 10 hour flight to San Francisco (that was business class this was economy) I was really worried especially being with the bouncy bouncy 2 yr old how it would be. I was rather worried how he would be although he has always traveled well before, this time he has developed sensory issues, all part and parcel of his cerebral palsy/brain injury (he suffered from a severe lack of oxygen at birth.)

It was our first time flying through T5, to be honest I was far from impressed. I have worked in T3 and T2 (RIP) and flown through T3, T4 and T1 in recent years, also Gatwick...I have to say this was my least favourite experience. It feels like (and looks like) a massive warehouse (landside). Airside feels cramped and crowded and does not flow. There were family security channels but they were full of non family flyers and we only ended there by chance not guidance. We had non family flyers behind us getting inpatient with us which gets stressful, there were 3 children, lots of hand baggage, a buggy, laptops and as Jules has baby food that to check as well, we were never going to be quick! It was hard finding milk for the baby as well. I had made a call and sent emails to BAA on their website about reserving items as it says you can but no one emailed back or called me back. I had to walk here and there between boots and the other boots branch and in the end paid inflated Pret prices for 3 cups of milk for his bottles as we were hoping he would sleep. (He did yayyy). When you get to the satellite terminals it is all glass, was very warm and bright sun magnified through the glass made for a very unpleasant wait at the gate and there was no announcement for people needing extra time to board, which we needed with a disabled child. When she was trying to take the buggy she said why didn't you board earlier (in the middle of the general rabble crowd) and I said well we did not hear an announcement she said well it was on the tv screen...err what tv screen, what about blind people who may need extra time? BIG fail on BA's behalf, but how amusing to see a massive Virgin Airline advert in the middle of a BA terminal. There was only one baby change room at each end of the terminal (landside), we waited for about 20 minutes and a cleaner came out, there had been no movement, I think she had been asleep. We had by then given in and changed him on his mat on the floor of the disabled toilet. I have to say though after working in T3 with very loud baggage belts, T5 was very quiet compared with with it.


Jules in the warehouse.

The big bird that got us there safely.

The crew were fantastic, very friendly and helpful. I chatted to the senior first officer a lovely guy called Julian Hall who was in the galley when I went up for a drink. I explained about our Julian who has cerebral palsy, hearing and sensory issues and he agreed that when we got to Las Vegas he could have a visit upstairs and have some pictures taken.


Jules pressing buttons and having fun up front.


I have been travelling all my life what with my father who worked for British Airways and with working for United Airlines myself, I have flown the world on many many airlines over the past 40 yrs. I have to say the food we had on both sectors of this flight was awful. It was even worse than Virgin and that is saying something. I am one of those strange people who adores airline food...ok I loved United's first class 5 course meals far more than economy ones but all the same I love it... I like a lot of food mind you but flying can be so boring and the food is a little excitement yes? I can see where BA are cost cutting to save money, very little drink service compared with American Airlines and coming back breakfast was a muffin with a lifesaver mint stuck to the packet, which for those who do not know what a lifesaver mint is well it is a polo mint american style. After a 9 hour flight, over night, most airlines offer an omelette or some kind of breakfast even if it is a croissant with ham and cheese, something warm would have been nice. In fact I feel the food would put me off flying with BA again especially as they are not cheaper for like for like flights...rather fly a cheaper american carrier that offers nicer food, full size cans of drink on a more frequent basis.....hey we did not have 7 bathroom trips with a 3 year old Jennifer to Chicago on United because they scrimped on a soft drink...and this was when they were subject to chapter 11 bankruptcy action.

One other thing I need to point out is that for whatever reason BA does not have cool air blowers in the ceiling so if you are hot, tough luck. I have had a few long haul flight on BA now and it is awful. I have read they put the temperature up to make everyone go to sleep on a night flight, they certainly made it hotter on this return one, in fact coming home I was so hot, I spent most of the flight sitting on the crew fold down seat by the back door where it was cooler.


Dadda and Jules

Jules checking out the safety card.

Jules was amazingly well behaved, slept and watched the ipad.

Customs at Las Vegas was usual american wait...not as bad as ORD not as good as MSP. Luggage was of course going round and round waiting for us, lucky for us we flew the flag and did not lose our bag! The new international airport is bland and boring, far rather enter Vegas via the internal terminal. Seemed to be a lot of walking both arriving and departing. Luckily our buggy had been stashed in first class for the flight so it was there to grab at the door. Previous flights on BA have seen it go to the luggage claim even though it was gate checked (not great with a tired 3 yr old) and AA the same thing happened (not great with a 6 mth old, car seat, bags and 3 boxes of special needs prescription baby formula that could not be put in the hold due to temperature).


Welcome to LV!

Had a very long wait for the transfer bus to the car rental facility but it was quick once there and we picked up our rather large...in fact very large GM Yukon.


Bored tired Jules waiting for car rental transfer.

Lovely large comfy car.

Arrival at the Elara (Hilton vacations) was far from smooth. A very stroppy girl on the front desk who refused to honour the free upgrade from a junior suite to a one bedroom suite we had purchased through hotels.com. Their (hotels.com) customer service was not good and an hour later a supervisor told us to pay for the upgrade and they would refund 20% of the booking to cover it...it did not cover it but hilton refunded some money too and hotels.com refunded some and gave us discount off our next booking too but after being awake for 24 hrs, having tired children and being in pain we just wanted to check in.

Our room was amazing. Spa bath, 8ft projector screen tv, 4 other tv's, full kitchen, dishwasher, washer/dryer, large bathroom and shower....fantastic. Maid service was hormonal to say the least bless her and after care from the hotel has been awful. My daughter sent a wedding card to us, it arrived on the 12th (according to tracking), we left on the 15th and asked and was told there was nothing for us and no message as to something at the front desk was left for us and on calling them when we got back they will only send it to us via fed express which from what I can see seems to be approx £80 to be sent back. I have asked them to please put it in the regular mail but they refuse.













To say we suffered jet lag is an understatement. Jules was ok, he has melatonin as he has issues with switching off and going to sleep due to his brain injury he suffered at birth but we were flat out for days it felt and I feel we did not do a lot for the first few days. I certainly felt out of it for days and very dizzy but then I suffer from Meniere's disease and often have problems like this, still suffering a few weeks on despite stronger tablets. We did various things, the most important being getting the wedding licence to enable us to legally get married in Las Vegas....we had people tell us our wedding in Las Vegas was not going to be legal...well it was always going to be because we did it the legal way and always planned to. The wait was not long at all. I had applied online so it was really quick, despite warnings of being busy due to the date of 12.12.12 coming up.





Roger has also been dreaming for two years of going back to the South Point for country fried steak so we did that for breakfast on the first day. They like the Orleans have a fantastic 24 hour cafe. Meals are cheap and fantastic value and very large and very tasty.





We also took the children to Skyzone which is fantastic, it is a place full of trampolines where they can just bounce and bounce from one to the other. My 10 yr old Jennifer and my 16 yr old Jordan both loved it. We also had Sunday brunch at the Cheesecake  Factory...again Roger had dreams of the Monte Christo for 2 yrs whilst I just dreamed about cheesecakes and chocolate milkshakes. The customer service there was fantastic, the food was delicious and in passing we mentioned we were about to get married and when he bought out my cheesecake he had decorated it.















Julian has sensory issues and we thought he would love the big fish tank in Caesars palace outside the CF, he was a bit unsure at first but eventually loved it and loved watching the fish...he even learnt a new word and said FISH! yayy go Jules!








We both love the shops at Caesars for people watching and just relaxing, plus this time I finally got to show Roger the curly wurly escalator. I got them to go and up and down till they realised I was taking the pee lol.









I love how you see some strange things in America, these perfumes were found in Walgreen's and amused us no end lol.













Roger felt like he should model this t shirt, not quite sure why? lol cheeky bugger that he is. I so wish I had tried this drink machine out, how many flavours? Why don't we have fun things like this over here?





We are not great gamblers, either volume or success....Roger seemed very happy and impressed with his mighty win though...only cost him $10 to get this!



We took a while to find the love sign in the Mirage, we were thinking of having some wedding photos taken there but did not get round to it but did find some funky things round by the entrance to the LOVE show.














On the Sunday evening Roger's parents arrived over ready for our wedding. Jennifer was really excited to see them and made them a lovely welcome sign....she also wanted a good excuse to use some funky marker pens she had purchased with her spending money, she is so her mummy's daughter. I always headed right for the stationary departments when we were on holiday in America as a kid, still look now, everything is so much more fun and funky.




We had a lovely breakfast at Oyster Bay in the Miracle Mile shops, very friendly service, unlike where we had dinner the next night across the way at Ocean One bar and grill...where pulled pork was a raw pork chop and the manager shrugged his shoulders. You can tell the difference in these places of an evening, Oyster Bay is full, Ocean Bar is empty! Awful place the Ocean Bar.





Roger took Gordon, Jackie, Jordan and Jennifer to Red Rock Canyon...I took the chance to go to Ross and do some shopping. This was the strip one down near Planet Hollywood...unfortunately the lift was broken to get from one floor to the other so my shopping was severely curtailed and they lost profits as there was no offer other than you can leave the stroller here and walk up, still no help when I explained he has cerebral palsy and can't walk and I can't carry him up stairs. We had a lovely stroll along the strip together. Jules loved watching everything and interacted with some of the daytrip sellers trying to sell trips. We also did some tacky shit shopping in the tacky shit shops along there. Everyone enjoyed RRC especially as they caught it at sunset, how perfect.




Apparently the kids ran off in the distance this is 18 x zoom!


My new mother in law, Jackie.

?? really ??

We wanted to take Gordon and Jackie to the Venetian to enjoy it and relax before we went there on our wedding day. Plus we wanted to confirm the table for the meal. We always have to have a gelato in St. Mark's square...it's the law.


We hit the hat shop.




















Jennifer bought some eyeshadow....loved the way she matched it to her dress when we went out for dinner that night ;)




I have been to Vegas 6 times before but never been up the Eiffel Tower there (mainly because I have been up the real one I guess). I have to say though it was a lovely experience, wonderful views and a very knowledgeable lift attendant who gave us lots of facts and figures about various things and costs of hotels and casinos on the strip. The cakes after were a bonus of course! Before we went up the tower we went to the Sugar Factory. It was ok, nothing over the top special, food average....would not bother going again if we went back there though. Very nice restaurant to look at in a good location but I feel you pay for the location rather than the food.





































  
Gordon and Jackie saw the Beatles tribute show in the miracle mile (Saxe theatre) and Jennie and I saw the Nathan Burton show...free ticket voucher for that but of course they had no free tickets for 2 weeks only the ones you have to pay for was it $10 or $12? anyway with box office fees and tax it jumped to nearly $40, interestingly when I went back later that evening for the show I heard the girl on the box office saying they did have free ones for later on in the week just not that day so who knows... Gordon and Jackie seemed to enjoy the Beatles show mainly and we enjoyed the magic show...bit cheesy but he made girls appear and vamoshhhhhh....Jennifer loved it but then she is 10 years old. It was not the worst hour I have spent but rather have seen Donny and Marie...again (but sadly out of town this trip).

...and then it was 12.12.12 our wedding day....We had a lovely day, Canaletto was fantastic, the minister was great and said some lovely words, I cried all the way through. Giving the date and the fact I am a Donny Osmond fan, we walked in to Twelfth of Never and Roger chose the Ramones, "Baby I Love You" to walk out to...it was perfect. We got married at La Bella in the Las Vegas Hotel. The flowers with the package were far nicer than I thought they would be, everyone was friendly. We had a bit of a wait and delay for the photos to come through to us...they said 1-2 days but it took 3-4 weeks and customer service lacked a bit. It was apparently due to technical difficulties. We are still waiting for the CD and DVD in the post but have at least seen the pictures and video online.


This is our wedding video...I cried all through it.







I cried a lot more that evening when Roger show me a video he had made as a gift for me, this is it.



Gordon and Jackie left us on the Thursday and that evening we headed to the speedway track for their 2 miles of lights around the track, it was pretty good and the kids loved it, well Jules fell asleep he was that impressed lol.








For our last night we escaped and left Jordan in charge when the other two went to sleep and slipped down into the miracle mile shops to enjoy a meal on our own (kids had already eaten we did not starve them honest). We did first walk over to the wicked spoon buffet in the cosmopolitan. We went to try that and also to have a look and see what it was all about being new and opening since our last visit. I have to say I was not overly impressed and neither was Roger. It seemed to be very empty, it did not feel like it had a heart or soul. Seems you can put all the money you want into a project, it does not mean it will work. We got to the buffet at about 20.30 and they were not accepting anyone else in...it was closing and they were cashing up the till. This just about finished off our opinion of the cosmo...we then left and saw bubba gumps back above the miracle mile but apparently it was not opening until the next night...shame because we had enjoyed our meal at the one in times sq nyc...so in the end Roger joked about the sports bar in the miracle mile so he could ogle the cheerleader waitresses, so at which point I gave up said yes and we sat there. I people watched everyone walking past and he watched the sport over my head and the legs of the cheerleaders and he enjoyed good large beers. What a good wifey I am eh! We had a starter of dough balls with garlic but I really think it should have been called garlic with dough balls...check out the picture below...vampires certainly did not get us that night!











It was with a heavy heart that we packed to leave....had to purchase another suitcase (what is new there?). Another mess up with Hilton, clearly says we only had an internet charge on our bill yet we were charged all those room upgrades (we thought they had finally sorted it for us) but alas this was apparently another issue due to an upgrade to a new computer system...we had a problem with the maid bursting into our room needing to use our room phone to log she had cleaned it (not to mention her leaving wet towels all over the kitchen floor one day too).


Suitcase full of goodies for Taylor.

We went to Silverton to see the mermaid 'show'. Jules loved seeing the fish and played through the glass with the mermaid but it was hardly a 'show' it was a woman in a fin waving at people.














We had a lovely meal at TGI Friday's for old times sake at the Orleans and headed sadly to the airport :(


Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare so spent some time spending the remainder of our dollars and feeding the children in case they didn't like the plane food (which they didn't). Again a friendly crew, we were first to board and we were asked did we win a million and Roger replied no but I won a wife, we got married...an hour or so into the flight we were presented with a full size bottle of champagne which was lovely. Jules was a good boy and slept well, other kids were no problem and I managed to watch a few films and catch a few Zzzzz's.


This is made of of butterflies and looked amazing.

Very very long walks everywhere in the terminal.

Our plane to take us home.

Safely back at LHR.

The full wedding post is also on this page, please see the list of posts to the left hand side.