Holiday Extras’ new Travelling with a Baby guide.   I’m already a huge fan of Holiday Extras after their fantastic effort during the Icelandic volcanic ash disruptions.  Their CEO was posting travel updates every day on their website – a service that was invaluable to loads of people (including me) stranded all over the globe.   If you’ve ever travelled with a baby (or are planning to), you’ll know what a flibbin’ nightmare it is.  This guide is invaluable, so check out the website for tips on packing, choosing hotels, flying with a baby and much more.  (Oh and if you’re a fan of green travel and want to make greener choices when travelling, I noticed that they do a Green Travel guide too).

Coveting…

…Nicky Howard’s adorable animal pictures.  I saw them in an advert in the back of Country Living:

Have a look on the website and choose your favourite.  I love this one, but oh, I love ‘Wendy’ too, and ‘Norma’…

Feeling very proud…

…of my ol’ muckers from Northern Ireland, the Ulster Weavers, who’ve just won the textile licence for the London 2012 Olympics and have already launched a limited edition tea towel for the two year countdown.

For the month of September, Ulster Weavers are giving away a waffle weave tea towel to anyone who spends £25 or more, plus FREE UK Delivery on all orders over £30.

And as an exclusive treat for you lovely lot, they’re offering a special 15% OFF for the whole of September for Englishmum.com readers who quote code: ENGMUM09 when ordering!

Watching the skies…

…for black balloons.  My lovely mates at Disney have given me the heads up that they were at Bristol Balloon Fiesta (a hot-air balloon festival) recently with Mickey Mouse, where he launched a balloon race involving 5,000 balloons. Attached to each balloon is a ticket which, if found, can be redeemed for a special edition Mickey Mouse Campervan toy from Fisher Price!  Keep your eyes peeled for those black balloons!

Oohing and ahhing…

…at the beautiful new Icklebabe.com website.  Lovely Helen sent me some gorgeous little lavender hearts and a cute little egg cosy when I ordered my tea cosy too!  And check out the retro aprons!)

and finally,

Sparing a thought…

…for those children who don’t have a warm bed, happy fun-filled school holidays, the loving arms of a parent, the benefit of a safe home and financial security – all those things we wrap around our children.  Put it Right is a five year initiative by UNICEF UK to galvanise us all into action to protect the rights of children everywhere.   The haunting track is by Radiohead.  Please watch, and give what you can.

I’m moving so I might be awol for a while, but I’ll be back soon.  In the meantime, have a great September xx

So what do you do if Xbox call you up and ask if you’re busy next week? You pack up your kids and your Hubby and arrive at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Stansted with absolutely no idea what you’re letting yourself in for, that’s what. Arriving confused at Cologne airport, all was revealed. Turned out, we were to be the ‘Xbox Kinect Family’ at the Cologne gaming convention, Gamescom 2010, and had an absolute ball. Here’s the rub:

First up, we were whisked away to a secret location where Xbox were holding their ‘Play Day’ for Kinect. This is a proud moment for the Xbox Kinect team: showing off their new baby to assorted press and journalists.  Kinect is basically a brand new concept in gaming. The game recognises your body as the ‘controller’ so there are now wires or handsets, just you.  I’ll explain it by showing #2 playing the skateboarding bit of Kinect Sonic Free Riders – see how he’s moving his body?

We played Kinect Games (specifically football, obviously) with ex-Arsenal and German international goalie Jens Lehmann while flashes popped and cameras whirred (we saw ourselves on German TV that night!).   Afterwards, #1 sat and had a chat with Jens who talked all about still being in touch with Theo Walcott and Ces Fabregas, and signed footballs for them both. What a nice chap.

Then, job done, we got to have a look around ourselves (the poor Xbox PRs had a hell of a job keeping #1 away from the new Fable III game and Halo Reach – sadly he was too young to play).

He did, however, get to play the beta version of the not-yet-released and sparkly brand new Age of Empires game with its creator, Jerome.

We also met the mysterious co-creator of Xbox Kinect, a man called Kudo. He was constantly surrounded by PRs and permanently behind a pair of shades, but he actually seemed quite normal when we spoke to him.

I had a little go on Dance Central, the new dancing game on Kinect – a collaboration with MTV games.  We started on an easy one and dancing isn’t exactly my strong point, but I can imagine that everyone’s going to want this on their Christmas list – it would make a fabulous party game.

The best game as far as both #2 and I were concerned was Kinectimals.  We had a chat with Simon Harris, one of the designers heading up the team of 30 that worked on this project.  Simon showed us how to play and explained that the (utterly gorgeous) baby animals form bonds with you and learn more behaviour as you play.  Your arms are shown on the screen at one point and you can tickle your furry friend behind the ears and get them to roll over and play dead.  There will also be soft toys on sale bearing a special code that, when shown to the Kinect, will unlock more animals:

Here’s Simon showing #2 how to play:

We really had an absolute ball and the Xbox people were all so lovely.  Here’s our amazing trip in pictures:

Much more to come, but for now, big, huge thanks to Xbox and all the Kinect teams at Gamescom 2010 xx

So it’s been a pretty mixed summer.  We had plenty of sunshine early on (in fact, nearly melting in my conservatory/oven became such a regular feature that I abandoned it for good for a while), but lately it’s been rainy and a bit miserable. Typical British weather.

Still, I managed to take this snap of #1 bowling at a cricket match (note his Grandad, my Disreputable Dad, complete with ancient baggy shorts, taking his umpire role very seriously).  This was the annual parents vs kids end of season cricket match.  Myself and Madame Turtle, my impossibly glamorous niece, were the scorers.  Needless to say between chatting and comparing manicures, we probably missed a few balls.  The sun did come out, but later the clouds rolled over and hid it away.  Still, it didn’t spoil the fun, as you can tell.

I’ve decided to enter it in the Lloyds TSB British weather photographer of the year competition.  I doubt it has a chance (although please do vote for me!), but I reckon boiling grey clouds above a beautiful green cricket pitch is probably about as English as it gets, don’t you?

You can vote for me (and enter your own shots) here:

http://www.lloydstsbweathercompetition.co.uk

About the competition:

The competition runs from 13th April to 20th September 2010.  12 finalists will be chosen in November.  You can enter as many photographs as you wish, although they must be taken in the United Kingdom and you must be a UK resident aged 18 or over.  There’s also a £100 weekly prize for the photograph with the most ‘favourite’ votes.  The 12 finalists will have their photographs displayed at a public exhibition for a week and the overall winner wins £10,000!  What have you got to lose?

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And the children’s winner, the utterly gorgeous ‘Top Ender’ and ‘Baby Boy’ (and their mummy, Pippa from A Mother’s Ramblings) and their Wheat Free Cupcakes:

Many, many congratulations to you all, and to all the runners up too, and thanks to everyone for taking part.  Thanks, also, to Green and Black’s for their generous sponsorship.

You can see a full breakdown on the winners over at wonderful judge Heather’s blog:  Eggs, Cream and Honey.

I’m currently trying to persuade Heather to joint-host (it’s a lot of work!) another Big Bakeoff soon, maybe an Autumn themed one.  What do you think?

The winners are now listed on Eggs Cream and Honey! Contratulations to little Top Ender and Baby Boy who scooped the children’s prize, and lovely Amy Lane who won the overall prize with her delicious strawberry cupcakes!

And finally *wipes brow*, here are the amazing entries to the Big Bakeoff.  Click on each individual entry to get a bigger picture.  Kids’ entries are clearly marked.  How our lovely judge is going to be able to pick a winner I have no idea, but pick she must as Green and Black’s are just busting to give away a fabulous cook’s hamper busting with their amazing cook’s chocolate and loads of other goodies besides.

I will warn you, however, that this whole thing was a logistical nightmare, and during my slow decline into hysteria yesterday I might well have made a mistake.  If you entered and can’t see it, or if I’ve labelled it wrong, please do drop me a line and I’ll sort it out.  Some of the entries have come from serious cooks, some from bloggers (in which case you can find their links in the comments section of the original Bake Off post, linked above) and some from everyday bakers, or even little diddy novices, either way you won’t know as there are no links.

Oh and remember this is not a photography competition (the most talented Tara Cain does that so much better), it’s a foodie one!

So now it’s over to the lovely Heather from fabulous foodie website Eggs, Cream and Honey to pick an adult and a child winner.

…fabulous bags of Warburton’s ChippidyDooDaas – yummy scrummy bags of baked pitta chips, and SnackaDoodles – little crunchy doofers which are 70% wholegrain, making them healthier and with 60% LESS fat than regular crisps, meaning, naturally, that you can have two bags with your glass of wine *cough*

Fiddling…

…with my new mad gadgets from Oxo.  My faves:  the fabulously named ‘mango splitter’ (it really works!)

and the little strawberry huller too. No, I really can’t live without them…

Loving…

Apples for Jam:Recipes for Life by Tessa Kiros.  It’s so much more than a cookery book – it’s been by my side ever since it arrived (recommended by my friend Rachael who writes gorgeous website Tales from the Village).

There are childhood memories, lovely little stories and gorgeous recipes too.

and finally…

Squealing…

…at news of a very exciting trip coming up.  I’m going to keep you in suspenders for now though.  Have a fabulous August xx

So the entries have been coming in thick and fast, and if you want to take part in the Big Bakeoff, and have a chance of winning that fantastic Green and Black’s cook’s hamper, you must get your entry to me by midnight on 31st July!

Want to have a little sneak peak at the competition (chosen totally at random)?  Well it’s tough, I’ll tell you that.  First up (above) is Working Mum on the Verge‘s delicious jammy dodgers, then just take a look at The Glutton’s Mr Whippy Raspberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes:

Or maybe you’d prefer Paula from Battling On’s scrummy Lemon Lapiz Pudding?:

Or my friend Tums’ beautiful birthday cupcakes?:

Or how about something savoury? Here are Helen from Icklebabe’s delectable bacon and corn muffins:

So if you haven’t entered yet, get baking!  Oh and remember that the lovely Green and Black’s would like to know a little about your sneaky chocolate habits.  They’d especially love to hear from parents with kids aged 4-12, so if you’d be so kind as to fill in their little survey here:

Green and Black’s Survey

… they’d be very grateful.

And if you want to see all the entries in one place, check back here on 1st August.  Happy baking!   xx

There’s more information (and bonus vouchers) in a special 4-page pullout on Wednesday 28th’s Sun too.

As a bonus for you lovely lot, here’s a little competition for you.  Get it right and you’ll be entered into a draw to win a Merlin Annual Pass giving you basically a whole year of messing about at theme parks, attractions like Tussauds and SeaLife centres, completely free!

Have a shufty at this picture and then tell me in the comments section where you think it is out of one of these attractions:

• Thorpe Park
• Chessington World of Adventures
• Alton Towers
• Legoland
• Warwick Castle
• Madame Tussuads
• Lego Discovery Centre

Good luck! Oh, and if you win, remember your friends eh?

(In the Lifestyle section please – I know I’m a fashion guru as well, but y’know, I don’t want to spread myself too thin.)

Poras Chaudhary, India

Daisy Gillardini, Switzerland

Courtney Krawec, Australia

So here’s one for my lovely photography-mad friend, Tara Cain, and her absolutely fantastic ‘Gallery‘ contributors: The 2010 International Travel Photographer of the Year awards (TPOTY) are now open for business!

The competition is open to anyone, anywhere – whether you’re a professional photographer, or just an enthusiastic amateur, and whether you’re 4 or seventy four!

There are some utterly amazing prizes to be won, from worldwide travel to software and for new and emerging photographers there’s even the chance of bursaries and representation by professional photographic agencies.

All the previous winners of the TPOTY awards can be seen in the Winners’ Galleries on www.tpoty.com, and in the ‘Journey’ series of books from Travel Photographer of the Year.

Full details of the awards categories, entry fees, bursaries and all the information about how to enter can be found on www.tpoty.com.  Entries close on October 9th 2010 and the results will be announced in December. Images can be uploaded online or entrants can submit prints.

And to whet your appetite, I’ve got the latest in the Journey series of books, containing entries and winners from 2007, 2008 and 2009, worth £25.00 to give away!  It’s a really beautiful, 29cm x 29cm heavyweight hardback book filled with gorgeous, glossy images.  Just leave a comment to be entered into the draw.

So what are you waiting for?  Grab that camera!