This week we have been mainly busy with a little bit of tied up on the side. I always make lots of plans to do lots of things all at the same and I never seem to learn that I just can’t fit everything in! On top of trying to organise various different quotes for my Tabibs and writing and looking after Florence of course, I have also had a house full of guests going in and out what seems to be a revolving door lately. I love having family and friends stay and I’m definitely glad to have seen our string of recent house guests but I hate all the washing it entails, especially living in a flat in London without a garden to dry it all in! I’ve been missing a garden so much this week for loads of reasons; the sun’s been shining and I hate always having to traipse over to the park to let Florence have a run around. It would be so nice to have a bit of out door space so that she could have a paddling pool but alas, such is life. One day we will move back to Norfolk and then we’ll be able to have the garden of my dreams but for now I’ll have to settle for Wanstead Park and the Laundrette… Urrgh, the laundrette! It may sound a trifle snobby but I have to say the laundrette really is a very unpleasant place to be, especially on a hot day!

Washing aside it has been really lovely seeing old friends and having family staying and Florence has absolutely adored having her little friends and cousins here! It’s always fascinating to watch her with older children, looking up to them and copying what they do – including eating her dinner, something that’s very rare for her! My husband and his cousin’s little boy were having a rough and tumble five minutes and Florence thought it was brilliant although she did get a little bit Daddy clingy afterwards so I think she might have had some jealousy stirrings! Jonny’s cousin had come down to stay in order to accompany us and some other friends to the Lollibop Festival yesterday which was absolutely terrific!

Many months ago when I was doing my initial research into the subjects for my reviews I came across the Lollibop festival and having got in touch with the kind people behind the scenes was invited with some of my little friends to come and see it for myself. I’m a big fan of festivals (in a non camping capacity, I’ve never been into sleeping under wet canvas) and I used to enjoy going to them for the day to see my favourite bands. I know you can take children with you but I can’t for the life of me think what Florence would do at say, Reading Festival apart from be slightly bored and fight with me about wearing ear blockers. Because of that the idea of a family friendly festival with things for children to do as well very much appealed. So when I heard about Lollibop and read what they had planned for this summer in Regents Park I was absolutely blown away. For this is not a family friendly festival that has laid on a few nice things for the children, no Sireee! This is a festival entirely dedicated to children with a few things thrown in for the adults if they didn’t get a kick out of the kids stuff… Although if they didn’t I’d be very surprised!

When we arrived at Great Portland Street yesterday the streets outside the tube were a buzz with the chatter and excited squeals of children. We weren’t entirely sure whereabouts to go in Regent’s Park but didn’t need to consult our map because like little ants there were buggies scurrying all in one direction in a great big line making it perfectly obvious which way we needed to be walking! It was extremely exciting and all the children, in my party they ranged in age from 18 months to 9 years old, were no exception. We’d all been looking on the website and showing them pictures from last year, our cousin’s little boy had been watching the promotional video daily and the older boys had done their research thoroughly as to what to do first. I had started to worry that we may have built it up a bit too much thinking that if you go expecting something to be brilliant it rarely reaches your expectations. Fortunately, in this case I couldn’t have been further from the mark with that thought, for what we experienced can only be described as expectation exceeding! From 11am through to the very end at 7pm we had 100% fun and here I’m going to tell you why.

Everything you could possibly imagine had been thought out and well planned. Yesterday, Lollibop was an absolute triumph; even things I thought people may complain about were simply not an issue! We were very lucky and managed to not end up in any queues, the entrance for instance looked like a very long wait. The staff wanted you to write your mobile number on wrist bands for your children in case they got lost which is a great idea and very practical but obviously time consuming. I spoke to lots of parents throughout the day and not one of them had minded the wait at all; one family told me that they simply just had an early lunch in the queue thus not eating into their time at the festival at all. Their spirits had clearly remained happy and of course why wouldn’t they be because they were about to experience something truly magical with their children. Other things I had suspected people might have to say in a negative light were also brushed away. I had wondered if people might balk a little at the cost of tickets for Lollibop but in fact everyone I spoke to seemed to think it was really very reasonable and were more than happy to have paid the ticket prices which started at £20. Having been myself now I think I absolutely would recommend going at the price Lollibop charge, for we found it to be more than worth it when you consider you get 8 hours of solid fun!

When we initially got into the festival we were spoilt for choice and even with our paper guide we couldn’t decide what to do first so we just decided to wing it and wander around without too much planning. I had wanted to see everything and experience a little bit of all that was on offer because I wanted to be able to tell you everything. In reality there was just too much to do it all and I quickly realised that I was going to have simply do what I could and regret that there weren’t going to be enough hours in the day! I literally could have spent a week in there and I think so could the children! The older boys in our group were off doing Horrible Histories and Science Museum stuff while the very little ones enjoyed dancing at Baby Loves Disco (Simply brilliant concept and I cannot wait to go to their main event) in Minimission! Us adults really got a kick out of the cleverly thought out names for the tents and the children just loved what was inside them. As well as Charlie and Lola’s Best Bested play at the Lollipalladium and of course what was happening on the main stage, be it DJ’s Dick and Dom shouting ‘Bogey’s!’ or The Zing Zilla’s playing their set there was absolutely tons to do out in the sunshine. We had loads of fun in the sandpit and bouncing on the most giant bouncy things we’ve ever seen! We did a Smart Trike trek (boy those Smart Trikes are awesome!), we played with some great WOW toys, we danced like there was no tomorrow and we really did party hard! Florence loved learning how to salsa, our four year old group member particularly loved meeting Rasta Mouse and Sid from Cbeebies and I was just in my element dancing to the acts performing on the main stage! Yes, I who used to love nothing more than seeing Razorlight live and have always been somewhat of a music snob, enjoyed dancing to the tunes of my daughter’s favourite TV programmes, dare I say this, more! When you have a child life changes and the things you enjoy change and I don’t think there’s anything more lovely than seeing your child’s face light up. Yesterday I saw Florence’s face beam from beginning to end and even when we were having down time while I made notes she was happy to draw and do crafts. One of my friends said she had tears of joy watching her little girl enjoying Waybuloo. What better pleasure is their in life than the pleasure of your little one?

We took a picnic, if you read my blog regularly you’ll know what a fan I am of taking your own food but actually I went and had a look at all the food stalls and I have to say that they were very reasonably priced indeed. For less than a fiver you’d be able to get something for yourself and your little one and up until a certain point in the day they were giving away Fruit Shoots like there was no tomorrow! It was while I was checking out the food stalls that I bumped into someone I used to go to Drama School with and embarrassed myself majorly! I recognised him from school which admittedly means I haven’t seen him or him me for 15 years but I just instantly and without thinking said ‘Hi, blimey how the hell are you?” He looked at me like I was a crazed fan (He’s somewhat famous now) and I had to say ‘Oh you don’t remember me from Conti’s, never mind’ and I bustled on whilst turning puce! How mortifying! It was with pleasure that I could then retreat to the VIP tent to dampen my blushes while he who’s in Hollywood films had to wait outside… took the edge off the mortification!

We had just the best time yesterday! There really was something for everyone and children of all ages are extremely well catered for, more than catered for in fact. Plus, there was beer tent for us adults, nice one Lollibop – you really did think of it all! from giant inflatable lobsters to bean bag races, Gymboree to Baby Sensory, plays, dancing, music and everything in between the day was an absolute blast! You could spend as little or as much money as you liked really. You could buy big bubble swords or just dance in the bubbles made by other people and lots of other things like face painting, or leg painting for Florence, were included in the ticket price! Would I go back to Lollibop next year? You just try and stop me! It was simply and utterly fantastic. We all stayed till they were chucking people out and we watched Rastamouse and da Easy Crew headline the festival. It was the perfect end to the perfect day. You can have all your Glastonburys and Readings thank you very much! My festival choice for the summer from now on will be Lollibop! Don’t wanna wait around till next year before you experience the delights? Then quick hurry! There’s one day left tomorrow. Get yourself off down to Regent’s Park and enjoy the last day of the best festival ever! See more details on their website www.lollibopfestival.com.

Just before I go I want to share with you a brill product called the ‘Mommy I’m here child locator’. I think like any parent I worry about Florence getting lost at big events like this. While the organisers of Lollibop had thought of writing your mobile number on your child’s wristbands, can you imagine if you did take your eyes off them for a second and they darted off and you had to wait even five minutes for that phone call? It would be heart stoppingly agonising which is why I was really pleased to be asked to trial this new product for my friends at www.kidstravel2.com. Kidstravel2 is a fantastic website which caters to all your needs for having children and being on the move. The ‘Mommy I’m here child locator’ is a cute, small teddy bear which you can attach to your little ones wrist, ankle or clothing and at the touch of a button shouts to you that your child is there helping you to locate them. It is priced at £29.99 on kidstravel2’s website which you should check out for this plus loads of other helpful products!

Thank goodness we didn’t need to use the locator and all our memories from the day are fabby ones! We left with such a skip in our step and some fantastic memories. Unfortunately we also left the park with what I thought might be a little heat rash but this morning it has presented itself as Chicken Pox! We’re really sorry to anyone we came into contact with yesterday… It would seem our busy time, like it or not is now going to be a bit of time stuck in the house! Oh well, these things happen… We were supposed to go to the Apple Cart Festival in Victoria Park as a family tomorrow but now my husband’s gonna go and have a boys’ day instead, I’m sure he doesn’t really mind but what a shame! Still, at least we’ve got our brilliant Lollibop day to look back on.

I’ve had some really exciting news regarding my writing this week so watch this space as we’ve got some more fun things to look forward to just as soon as this poxy pox has gone! I’m gonna write a bit more about Lollibop on www.kidsfunlondon.co.uk so see us there where you can take a butchers at some of the pics from Lollibop and of course we shall see you all next week!