On November the 2nd I will be doing a Firewalk in aid of Abbie’s Fund. Each year around our angel babies Birthday we try to do something in his memory and even though this is a little early I felt called to taking up the firewalk in November.
My story:
When Rob and I found out we had lost our baby we were devastated. Someone connected me with Katy Cowell who runs Abbie’s Fund and she supported me personally through the whole process and right on top of Christmas. We had gone into the hospital on Christmas Day for the first part of the process. It didn’t matter to Katy, she wanted to be there for me in virtual form as she messaged me throughout the days waiting to give birth to our angel baby- Harrison James Gilmour.
We were presented with a memory box, which we still have and go through, the memory box was something to take away from such a sad time in our lives. The box gave us comfort as we left a teddy with Harrison but had one to keep, a blanket, forget me not seeds, a candle, a poem, some support information and more.
If it wasn’t for Abbie’s Fund we would have found our time a lot more difficult and not knowing what was happening when. Abbie’s Fund has provided us comfort as a family and this is imperative to those who have been given the news.
Harrison James Gilmour born on the 28th December 2014 at 1:37am weighing 250g.
I have paid for the Firewalk myself so all donations will go towards Abbie’s Fund.
A trip to Retford for some Geocaching and adventures at Sundown. We couldn’t believe it when we woke up to find it was pouring down with rain. We did check the weather at Retford and it said it was cloudy with a small chance of rain, so we braved the idea and prepared just in case.
Thank goodness it cleared up and to the point of sunny and hot by the afternoon. It was the best outcome in a way because it did put some of the public off going along to Sundown Adventureland which became our first part of the day.
Thank you to Sundown Adventureland for gifting us the tickets.
We thoroughly enjoyed the rides, we felt Robyn was a perfect starting age at three years old, she didn’t want the rides to end. Riley enjoyed the storytelling of the rides and it certainly helped his imagination and role play throughout the day.
Sophie enjoyed the play areas and making games up to involve Riley and Robyn in play. They were happily playing in these areas and we found that we could have a short break as mum and dad.
Be careful though because your children might end up wanted. There was so much for them to do, interactive games, walls, buttons, rooms, acitvities, areas. The wild west themed part of Sundown was our favourite but it was a hard pick.
To describe the park is in its title Sundown Adventureland, the three children certainly had their own adventures and came together as a trio as well. They were all tuckered out by the end of Sundown but we did have some time for Geocaching.
We were especially excited to meet Honey and Sunny themselves at the summertime fun activities, the children enjoyed a boogie with them and joined in the conga line. Robyn didn’t want Honey and Sunny to go, this made her day even more special.
We think our video speaks for itself, you can also watch us Geocaching in action. Have you found the church micro in Bole?
Jen says “What a fantastic day out for young families, it has everything you could want. Make sure you explore the whole park though as there is plenty to discover”
Rob says “Fabulous family entertainment. A fair entry price and we look forward to seeing what the Christmas season is like at Sundown”
Sophie says “I think that you should go to Sundown because you get to have lots of fun with your family and make memories like I did”
Riley says “I liked Sundown because the rides are very cool and the water ride was the best”
Robyn says “Can we go again?”
Further information about the Summertime Fun…
“Summertime Fun” activities will run between 12pm and 6pm on the picnic field until Sunday 1 September.
Every day from 12pm, the park will be hosting children’s party games such as school disco classic ‘four corners’ and the limbo, giving every child the chance to win their very own bear. Visitors can meet Honey, Sunny, Kiki and Koko and pose for photos from 2pm, before they get the party started with conga lines, agadoo and the macarena on the picnic field until 6pm.
The park’s usual attractions, shops and restaurants will all be open until 6pm including a four-storey indoor play area Crash Landings, liquorice and sweet-smelling fairy-tale Lollipoppet Castle complete with its very own sleeping dragon, the Wild Ostrich Safari Ride which takes you through the African Savannah on the back of an ostrich, yodelling goats and talking potatoes at Sundown Market, and many more interactive rides and play areas.
This afternoon we enjoyed the sun and went along to the first day of Friends On Every Street pop up store. To be honest we have been excited to go along to this event since we discovered the reason behind the ‘Peter Levy Changed My Life- 29.06.2019’ when I posted our family feet pic on Insta. Glad to say that this photo has been used by Friends On Every Street and the Fruit Market as well.
As soon as we walked down Humber Street we could see where the pop-up shop was because of the people crowding around the entrance, we soon found out that Peter Levy himself was present. What a fab turn out and soon you could see a sea of people wearing the iconic shirts.
Anyway, we decided we couldn’t miss it and with the build up on social media it has been enticing. The kids were also intrigued to find out what all the fuss was about. There’s lots of photo’s to come because there was so much to take in, we have narrowed it down but it was difficult. It is well worth the visit if you don’t have anything to do tomorrow or just go anyway, it will be the last day and open from 12 midday. There’s refreshments and music which gives it a brilliant atmosphere.
There was a lot to observe and it felt like an alternative art gallery, there were lots of photo opportunities and with directions and instructions we couldn’t go wrong.
We were particularly excited about this photo opportunity, Robyn our youngest wanted to pose for the camera but Riley was taking the mick out of me because I had a snap taken laying down before (cheeky thing).
A snapshot of the wall’s and what there is to see, we spent a while observing and having a nosey around. As I mentioned before, it felt like an alternative art gallery that expressed the love of Hull (its people, places and slang).
Peter Levy was present and so it only felt right to grab a photo with him. We had met him last year at the Freedom Festival and Sophie had a picture with Peter then, Sophie wasn’t shy to let him know of this and I mentioned she had his signed sticker on her bed frame. It made it more memorable and Sophie won’t forget it, she gave him a hug which was quite sweet.
Sophie says “Peter Levy is a very nice guy who is very intelligent. The wall art was amazing because it had all the colours of the rainbow”
It wouldn’t have been complete without an Insta wall with a lot of the fun gimmicky work of Friends On Every Street. We spent a lot of time giggling to ourselves and perhaps sniggering as well, even coming home and looking back on the photo’s we found new re-created logo’s we hadn’t spotted before.
We couldn’t resist splashing the cash to buy some local swag and investing in a Levy’s shirt, pin badge and sticker pack! We congratulate Friends On Every Street for their genius work and have enjoyed seeing their journey so far, we look forward to seeing what’s yet to come.
My MacBook has had a make over and I certainly feel ‘cool’, yes I said it. My hubby has been subtle with his placement of his sticker as you can see, clearly didn’t want to potentially over kill it (like me).
Thank you so much for a fun afternoon and there will soon be another feet family photo on social media, keep your eye’s peeled and nose’s pinched.
In the last half term the three little Gilmour’s went to try out their first Spectac-u-lab workshop. We had in fact won a giveaway for one of their places and it was something we had seen online but hadn’t had the chance to try it out. We paid for the other two spaces so all three children could go and enjoy the workshop together.
We had selected the rocket workshop and was excited to find out what this would entail. Not only would they create the rockets but they would find out the science behind them. Katy is the owner of Spectac-u-lab and she is creative with the science. The children could understand why the reaction would create the result.
Table’s prepped, rockets selected, stickers at the ready. Oh wait and…
…Well equipped.
I have to say it was a huge success and all three kids enjoyed it, they continued to explode their rockets and create at home.
If we were closer to the venue we would certainly go to the Spectac-u-lab CREST Award, it’s perfect for my eldest.
The workshops are affordable, fun, creative, interesting and educational. Thank you Katy for a memorable morning.
Workshops are usually priced at £5 per child per workshop, each workshop is an hour.
So we mentioned the Egg Rolling Geocaching event in a recent previous blog post and we thought we better share what we got up to with you all.
We went along on Easter Sunday and it was our second year to visit this much loved event. It’s so much fun and the kids were looking forward to it. We decided to get rubber eggs this year, a tad naughty, we just wanted to have some extra fun. Each of us decorated our eggs as you can see, they are placed in age order as well.
Both sides were decorated, above are the reverse of the eggs. I think you will agree that we all put some great effort into them.
Egg Rolling is basically to roll an egg down the hill and to see which one gets the farthest. We wanted to share the fun with you so have put together a short video for you all…
Unfortunately I had an influx of work and had to do some traveling but now I am back I am able to update you on our happenings. I have a few draft blog posts ready to go and so you should hear from us again soon.
Last year we attended Bobo Frett’s Easter Egg Rolling event for the first time. A Geocaching event with a bit of fun added into it.
We will be returning to this years event which is next weekend on the 21st April 2-3pm.
This year we are a little better prepared as we know what to expect. All three kids have already decorated their eggs and are excited for this years event.
You can find out more over at GC852WV, let us know if you are coming as well.
A social gathering for geocachers to discuss geocaching.
The Brocklesby Egg Rolling Competition 2019
Roll up! Roll up! And once you’ve rolled up let’s roll down…again!
This is our fifth egg rolling competition down Mausoleum Hill on the Brocklesby Estate. Egg rolling is not compulsory.
Have a look at the fun we had at last year’s event:
Today we visited the Beverley Minster and because Abbie’s Fund led us there.
Four years ago on Christmas Eve we went along to our scan hoping to find out if we were having a boy or girl- to share the news on Christmas Day. We did find out we were having a boy but he had passed a couple of weeks before. Words cannot describe the pain and upset. Katy Cowell was by my side virtually as I went through the process, all the way of Christmas and late into the night, she showed her passion to help others.
Harrison James Gilmour was born on the 28th December 2014.
You can see Harrison’s bauble on display on the top left of the tree. Here is our rainbow baby – Robyn Laura.
The Christmas Tree festival was beautiful with over 85 trees decorated by local organisations, charities, businesses, community groups, schools and more. Theres not long left until it finishes but we highly recommend going to have a look if you have some time. £3 entry for adults and children are free, there’s also a competition for the children to enter and you can vote for your favourite tree.
One of our other favourite trees here:
Here are the times for you:
We also couldn’t refuse finding a nearby Geocache- Church Micro 8380.. Beverley- Minster (GC63G9D) Daddy found this one without looking at the clues and it was no effort at all. A quick cache find and a picture of the beautiful architect.
At the Flemingate Shopping Centre there were lots of festivities including these oh so cute donkeys, Sophie and Riley loved to give them a stroke but Robyn wasn’t so sure.
Hope you are having a great Saturday and are enjoying the festivities as we approach Christmas.
Yesterday evening we went a long to our second Freedom Festival event. Earlier this week we went along to The Print Shop in preparation for the weekends events.
The opening of the Museum of the Moon in the Hull Minster was Thursday evening and so we thought going along to beat some of the crowd at the weekend would make it more special. It was worth it!
The moon is made with real NASA imagery and 1cm of this moon represents 5km of the real moon itself. I think that in itself drew us to look at the detail. Photos are hard to capture because it looks like a 2D moon but it is a sphere.
The three children were in awe of it and wanted plenty of photographs with the moon.
Even we couldn’t resist it…
We are planning to come back and see the moon lit up at night as well. If you are local to Hull then we recommend you stopping by to see this installation for the festival. Over the weekend you can go along to see the moon from 12pm until 10pm. The moon is staying a little longer then the festival, FreedomKj1964 informs me it’s the 15th September.
The Freedom Festival is on now until late Sunday 2nd September. This is our third year of attendance and our first year planning out what we go to see rather than walking around and bumping into everything.
