|HOTEL REVIEW|travelodge Clacton-on-sea

We spent a lovely few days in Clacton-on-Sea a few weeks ago visiting friends.

We stayed in the Travelodge hotel which is a stones throw from the beach and pier.

It had been a while since I'd stayed in a Travelodge hotel, back in my ghosthunting days I regularly booked them as they were cheap and cheerful and I could generally always get a room in one.  I thought that Travelodge were bottom end and basically you got what you pay for.

You may have seen from the 'That's Travelodgical' adverts they have been giving their hotels a bit of a makeover too!

We arrived early evening to be greeted by an incredibly cheerful receptionist, Lorraine who checked us in nice and quickly and gave us some advice about places to visit if it rained which was super helpful, she also told us a few family friendly places to eat.  When she realised that we only had one child Lorraine said that she had set up 2 childrens beds and that she would pop down and take one down for us, we did say that we didn't want her to go to any trouble and it was ok to leave it.

We ordered our breakfast boxes and went to have a look at our room.

Our family room was a very good size, with a lovely comfortable king sized bed just as we were settling in Lorraine knocked at the door and came to take down the extra bed which was really kind of her.  The room was exceptionally clean, we did our usual dust and grime check around and it really was spotless! 

(Chief bathroom inspector!)

The bathroom was a decent size and had clearly been newly decorated and was fresh and clean.

The hospitality tray was well filled and contained everything you would expect, tea, coffee, decaf coffee.

Wifi was free for 30 minutes then £3 for 24 hours so not badly priced.

The hotel entry is open 24 hours a day, accessible by key card, the reception is manned 24 hours a day too.  There is no hotel car park, but a 'ringo' public car park opposite.

The door could be locked from inside which was great for us having a small child.

Breakfast was delivered exactly when we ordered it and was really good, personally we like to have a cooked breakfast when away, but this was certainly adequate and was enough to keep us full til lunchtime.  At £4.95 they are a little pricey considering you could have purchased all items individually for less, but they are extremely convenient and make a good breakfast choice.

T loved his breakfast in a box a really great optional extra especially if you have children would get up earlier than you!

My opinion of Travelodge has really changed, the hotels are family friendly, very reasonably priced and certainly value for money.  We'll definitely be booking again.

The good

There is parking right across the road

Very clean

Breakfast can be ordered

Wifi
Newly refurbished

The bad

You do have to pay for parking

A massive thumbs up for Travelodge for their fabulous refurb and for being a top family friendly hotel!

Disclaimer: we were given a complimentary stay by Travelodge in return for this honest review.

|#wotw|READY

After many weeks of soul searching, I think I'm finally ready to move forward with my blogging, it's been hard. Would I continue? Would I give up? Would I be able to free myself from this constant need to compare myself as inadequate against other bloggers? The answer is yes, I am ready to commit to blogging at whatever level I can at a time, I've realised that for me this might be an evolving process.  Although my new job is exhausting and takes up far more time and energy, it has given me a new lease of life.

I'll never be happy that I can't spend more time and effort on my blog, I'll never be content that it's not even close to being anywhere as professional looking as my perfectionist self wishes it to be, but I am ready to let go of this and accept it for what it is.  I love blogging, I love my blog and I'm now right back where I started, writing posts for me and my family.  Projects, activities and recipes that are our lives, striving to get as much out of every weekend as possible, and enjoying every minute.

I've missed you, 'word of the week' 

|FUN|10 reasons to welcome Autumn

Hooray!  Autumn is on the way!  Cuddle up, fill up on luxurious yummy food and drinks and enjoy!

I do love Autumn, it's my time for reflection, to have a jolly good clear out before Christmas and to beging Christmas and winter preparations.  Autumn, I'm ready for you!

1. You don't have to shave your legs

2. You can wear boots without getting funny looks

3. Having a bad hair day?  Wear a bobble hat!

4. Opaque tights (unless you are like me and didn't put them away this year!)

5. Slow cooking, especially stew & dumplings

6. Strictly starts

7. Warm bathroom in the morning!

8. Excuse to cuddle up on the sofa

9. Toffee apples and mulled cider

10. You can put your onesie on as soon as you get home!

If you haven't had enough of Autumn, have a look at our Autumn bucket list.

|FOOD|pepperoni & pesto pasta

Here's a lovely 'convertible' recipe which can be made either for meat eaters or cooked before the meat is added for vegetarians, making it a perfect meal if you are cooking for a vegetarian.

This is great for us as I can serve my meal and then add the cooked meat for the rest of the family.

Ingredients - serves 4

2 tins chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp vegetarian green pesto

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 crushed garlic cloves

2 tbsp tomato purée

50g pepperoni, chopped

Vegetarian Parmesan to serve

Method

1. In a large pan gently fry the onions and garlic until onion is soft.

2. Add chopped tomatoes, pesto & tomato purée, fill one of the tomato tins with water and add that to the pan.

3. Bring to the boil. Then simmer for 45 minutes to reduce, this make the sauce nice and rich.

4. Gently fry the pepperoni in a pan, keep the oil for later.

5. Cook pasta and serve the pesto sauce as it is for vegetarians.

6. Mix in the pepperoni and oil then serve the pepperoni and pesto pasta with some Parmesan shavings on the top!

|REVIEW & GIVEAWAY|Baker Ross rugby shirt coasters

 

We are fortunate enough to be Baker Ross Bloggers and in our pack this time were these Rugby coaster kits, this was a super quick and easy activity for T to do, almost independently.  Just in time for the rugby world cup!

Each kit comes with clear instructions and everything you need to complete the project (except for a pen!)  and are priced at £3.96 for the pack of 6, great for a party bag if you are having a world cup party!

 

T was able to remove the durable foam stickers and stick them onto the coaster all by himself which kept him very happy!  There are outlines on the coaster to show where to put the stickers which made this activity really simple for a 3 year old whilst allowing him to feel as though he didn't require any help.

 

 

As you can see, T even wanted to write his name without copying, which does sometimes lead to some unusual character forms (especially if he's rushing!) but this was a great little craft which T enjoyed very much.

We thought we'd giveaway the 5 remaining coaster kits from our pack and so we are running a small giveaway to our readers, this will run for one week from today, you are entering to win 1 individual coaster kit, not a pack of 6, I have 5 to giveaway.  I will draw the winners on Thursday 24 September and will post on Friday 25 September.

Good Luck!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

|#toddlerapprovedtuesday|week 47 15 September

Phew what a week!  This week has just flown by for us, lots of friends have gone back to school or even started school this year for the first time.  The nights and mornings are getting darker but the weather seems to still be warm and sunny, it's a funny time of year!  We've been doing lots of crafting this week, I love how much T enjoys it, even if he's a little whirlwind and onto something else in a flash!  Thanks so much for linking up this week.

Remember you can post your weekly post to the #toddlerapprovedtuesday Facebook page too, I like every one which will mean you continue to show up in my feed when you post new posts! 

If you are not yet in the Facebook group send us a request and we'll add you. Feel free to post anything in there all through the week if it's relevant.

 

 

This week we have a lovely craft from baker ross for you, we've been making rugby coasters for the rugby world cup which starts on Friday, I've even got some to giveaway if you'd like to enter!

 

 

Becky has a fab recipe for you this week, the monsters cooked dinner again at cookery club and Becky has shared the recipe, their vegetable, butterbean and sausage crumble looks delicious!

 

My showcase this week

 
 

I do like a good book related activity so I couldn't resist this 'Sam and Dave dig a hole' book review and very cute digging pack accessories from Monkey and Mouse it also reminded me that I need to do a book bag as I've not done one for far too long, so thanks Jenny x

 

 

My second showcase is for these awesome dragon and dinosaur cornflake nests, they look great and I know a little boy who would love to make them, so I just had to choose them.  Thanks to new linker Dancing Dandelions, we hope to see you this week too!

 

Here are the rules:- 
1. Link as many posts as you like (well with in reason!) BUT please remember to paste the #ToddlerApprovedTuesday badge on each post you would like to link up. No badge, no comment, no share, and your posts will be deleted sorry if this seems harsh but it's just not fair on others who do make the effort. We've yet to delete a post but you may have noticed that we have started to not comment if we see no badge! 

 

<div align="center">
<a href="http://larabee-uk.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/toddler%20approved%20tuesday" title="LarabeeUK"><img src="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e332/larabee_UK/TATbadgeLarabeeUK_zps34d17e7b.jpg" alt="LarabeeUK" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

2. Pop by and comment on two or three other posts, more would be great if you can. 

3. OPTIONAL: Share your post and the linky party (using the hashtag #ToddlerApprovedTuesday) on your social media, Becky and I will retweet all your posts via Twitter (make sure you mention us in your tweets @3princess_1dude/@larabeeuk). Even if you don't have a blog, please do join in by using the hashtag for your toddler approved tweets and Instagram posts, they will still be counted for the showcase! We have changed the way we share your posts, it takes so much time to pin and tweet and comment etc, so heres what is going to happen: We are opening up the Toddler Approved Tuesday Pinterest board to you guys too. Just send myself or Becky an email with your Pinterest name and we will add you, there is no limit on how many you add, it doesn't just have to be the post you link up with. 

 4. We will now only be retweeting posts Tweeted to us, and our showcased posts will also be retweeting too. We also have a fab new Facebook group for the Toddler Approved Tuesday community. Pop over and join us, share your posts, share any photos from inspiration you have had from a Toddler Approved Tuesday link up, share anything you like ;) 

An InLinkz Link-up

|FOOD|Savvy Shoppers - Leandra from LarabeeUK

Welcome to a new series of mine where I'll be 'interviewing' various savvy shoppers and sharing some of their best tips, hints, recipes, pinterest boards etc.  If you'd like to be one of our savvy shoppers please email me :)

I hope you enjoy it.  I thought I'd start things of by answering the questions myself to give you more of an insight to our shopping and meal planning process. 

1. Do you have a weekly budget for groceries?

I don't really have a budget.  Sometimes as little as £45 other weeks as much as £100, there are 3 of us during the week and every other weekend we have the teens who now eat adult portions.  I need to get more consistent so I can have a better budget.

2. What your meal plan this week?

M - caesar salad

T - fajitas and Mexican rice

W - minty lamb, tzatiki & wedges

T - fish fingers & chips

F - sausage hotpot

S - perpperoni pasta 

S - pizza

3. Where do you shop?

I shop around really, I do a 'freezer' shop at Iceland every few weeks, usually Aldi & Tesco for the weekly shop and top up fresh salad, milk etc at sainsburys during the week. I get snacks and storecupboard bits at the pound shop and B&M.

4. Do you have any tips for spreading the cost of your weekly shop?

A few months ago I was really good, I'd check out all the coupons, use the shopping apps to get money off, shop my cupboard's first and base my meal plan around what was on offer, but that does take time and I'm afraid I've let that slip.  So my biggest tip is to make time to do the ground work and print off vouchers, search for bargains and the obvious one, don't go shopping without a shopping list.

5. Do you have a Pinterest board for family friendly meals? (If so share)
This is my veggie family meals board.
This is my family meals board.

6. What would you say is your biggest shopping weakness?

Fresh fruit and veg, I buy too much in one go and then some gets wasted.

7. Does everyone in your family eat the same meals?

I'm vegetarian but try to eat 2 vegan meals a day and my husband and son both eat meat, the teens also eat meat.  My husband eats very few vegetables so that can be a bit of a challenge, although all 3 kids eat pretty much everything except mushrooms.

8. Do you coupon or use any of the shopping apps? Any advice, hints or preferences?

I used to coupon and now I really only use the tescos ones through the post.  I would love to get back into it, I just need to make the time as it is time consuming. I quite like the facebook groups for coupons but I also use shopitize and checkout smart apps.

9. What's the most important factor in deciding your family meals?

I'm in a massive rut at the moment and keep making the same old meals.  The Hubs and I want to try and be healthier, but with us both having diets at the opposite ends of the spectrum it takes a lot of effort and I struggle to make that a priority.

10. What's your go to storecupboard pudding.

Bananas and packet custard with sprinkles!

11. Do you stockpile? Any advice or tips?

We used to have quite a stockpile, but now with the pound shops and offers always on I don't tend to bother quite so much.  I do always have at least 1 of every cleaning product.  A tip? Watch out for price per unit, particularly in the pound shops, sometimes it's cheaper to get a 2 for 1 offer in the supermarket, as the sizes are generally a little bigger.  Don't overlook supermarket home brands.

12. Would you please share a favourite family recipe with us (can be a link to your blog, someone else's, a website or just type it here)
This sausage plait is a current favourite at the moment, they can't get enough of it's super cheap and can be made out of the freezer.

13. Do you do any meal prep to save time/money during the week.

Yes, I grate cheese and store in a food saver jar.  Once a month I also dice a load of onions and peel lots of garlic for the freezer, both save so much time when cooking during the week.  A cup is about the size of a large onion.  

14. Does you family have any dietary considerations?

Just me being veggie.

15. Do you batch cook and freeze meals?

I don't really anymore, I'd love to but we only have a tiny freezer, it's something I'd love to do more of again when I've cleaned out the freezer or have a new chest freezer.  I find it a godsend.

16. Finally, what's your favourite time saving kitchen gadget?

I need 2! Definitely the slow cooker, I love them.  I really love being able to throw everything in and forget about it until dinner time.  And the food saver, mine is ancient now but still works as good as new, fab for food storage.