Lollibopping!

We had our first taste of Lollibop last Sunday. After looking into train times and prices it turned out much more time effective and cost effective to drive in and park in the nearby Westfield Stratford City shopping centre.

 

We set off earlyish and although it was getting busy as we arrived, that was nothing compared to how busy it got later on in the day!

 

Having contacted the organisers beforehand, they were very geared up for visitors with special needs and so we didn't have to wait at all to pick up our tickets which made life a lot easier for J. He was also able to get a wristband (which he wore on his ankle due to sensory issues) to be able to go onto an elevated area to be able to see the main stage better. That also proved very useful and helped make things easier for him.  

 

There were a number of Parentdish imagination stations and so we stopped to pick up ducks and decorate them. T has called her pink duck 'duck duck' and carries it all round the house with her!  



First stop, one of the Parentdish imagination stations to decorate ducks

The Science Museum had a tent with a number of hands-on challenges which J and D took part in.

One of the Science Museum's challenges

One of the boys highlights was getting freebie packs of Haribo sweets and meeting the Haribo bear. I don't think little T was too impressed though as she was rather terrified as we got closer to the bear for a photo!

Meeting the Haribo bear

Another HUGE highlight for the boys was to see two of their heroes Dick and Dom live on the main stage. Daddy, D and T ending up on 'Dick's team' and me and J ending up on 'Dom's team' did lead to a little bit of rivalry - but there will be more about that in a future blog post!

Dick and Dom

The food queues were pretty long as it was so busy and picnic table seating areas were also quickly filled (we will remember to take our own picnic rug next year) but after a tasty lunch, we stopped at a beat boxing workshop in the Tween Town tent. These guys from the London Urban Arts Academy were extremely talented and really encouraging and positive so we all ended up thinking we could actually beat box after that session. (Well we all know that D already can!)

London Urban Arts Academy beat boxing in the Tween town tent

We watched one of the Lollikitchen cooking demos from Tesco Real Food and although I enjoyed it, I think the boys got a bit bored (particularly as they do so much cooking at home, I think they found it less interesting just watching). But despite their whinging and asking to go and find the Haribo bear for more sweets, we were not moving as we were quite close to the front and Katy Ashworth from Cbeebies 'I can cook' was on next.

Although her show at Lollibop didn't actually involve any cooking, she did a great job jumping around and singing and dancing and all that at 8 months pregnant too - amazing woman!

The incredibly energetic Katy Ashworth from Cbeebies I can cook!

I don't think the boys remembered how much they used to love watching 'I can cook' because they didn't enjoy Katy as much as I did. I have so many fond memories of my favourite Cbeebies shows and I think it is a shame that they have moved mainly onto CBBC. Hopefully T will get into watching Cbeebies soon and so I can watch all my fave shows again! On that note, I would have loved to see Justin Fletcher on the main stage but the boys were tired and hungry at that point so that's when we stopped for our lunch break.

We headed home before the end as it really had got so busy that we started to worry about how much more enjoyment the kids would get out of it if we tried to persevere so we decided to quit while we were ahead having had a great day out and head home before it got past their bedtimes.