I’m very excited to be posting up our first book review – we are big on books at Lancaster Towers.  Lil H completed The Bookstart Book Crawl, not once, not twice but ten times over by the time he was Three years old (please note I take no credit here, his Grandma takes him to the library every week!)

We read at least three books at bedtime and often many more during the day so a new read is always welcome here so when the PR guys supporting Guernsey Post who have recently launched their first children’s book offered to send us a copy of The Adventures of Penny the Postie we were pretty chuffed.  Lil H always loves a parcel in the post!

This particular Penny adventure is called “Penny and The Pirates” – result – my lil’ H loves a good Pirate tale!  The story starts with the discovery of an old postbox which transports Penny to a desert island where Penny helps one Pirate outwit another to win back his ship from Captain Bullybones, but however will she get back home to Guernsey?  We enjoyed it read it as you do three times back to back when it arrived, but the real test is always if it gets a bedtime request from H – it did!  So it gets the Lancaster Towers Thumbs Up!

The book is aimed at little ones around five years old, my H is coming up 3.5 years old but he is able to concentrate and enjoys longer stories now.  Plus he loves all things Pirate not to mention sharks of which there are some included in the illustrations – this book ticks a whole lot of boxes for Lil’ H.  On the site there are also a series of scenes from the book which you can download, print and colour in which are already printed here ready for the wet days of Autumn and Winter ahead!  Up here for thinking *points at head*, down there for dancing *points to feet*!

You can order your very own copy of Penny and The Pirates online here for just £4.95 which includes a sheet of souvenir stamps, I have a couple of little boys on my Christmas list who love a good Pirate story, this is so new it’s nice to buy a book for Christmas for them that I am certain they won’t already have.

Win shoes or a £3K holiday!

So where do you sign?  Exactly there is frankly not a lot not to like about that is there?!

The competition is being run by Clarks over on their Facebook page where you my lovely readers could win a pair of shoes every day until 18 October plus the chance to win a £3,000 holiday of a lifetime! 

So would you like to see who you have to beat my entry?  By the way I’d love a vote so place a click just here love ya! 

These my very first pair of shoes, they are Clarks “The First Shoe” circa 1974!  The original inner sole still lines the left one.  It is our family tradition to have all our first pairs copper or now silver coated.  Lil H’s have been done, given to Grandparents as Christmas Gifts to be returned to him on his 18th Birthday.  The soles of my little now copper shoes are barely worn.  What can I say?  Some feet are meant to walk, others are meant to get cabs!

I recieved some Clarks vouchers to buy H some shoes back in August and I blogged about Lil H’s new shoes, if you’d like to read the post it is here. 

So of course you want to enter too right?  Just head over to the Clarks Facebook Page there are loads of great entries already plus the chance to win a pair of shoes a day and ultimately an amazing trip has got to be worth 5 minutes at least of looking at foot candy!  The competition runs until 18 October – to enter simply visit http://www.facebook.com/clarks.shoes?v=app_125751337471199 and upload a picture of you and your shoes with a sentence or two about their story.  The grand prize will be announced on 27th October.

This week we have been mostly listening to The ZingZilla’s new album which arrived last week for us to review.  I do use the radio, music or story CD’s to Trying to keep screen time down to a minimum, at tea time the TV does often have a role at Lancaster Towers hence our familiarity with The ZingZilla’s.

I find Lil H, nearly 3.5 years old, plays for much longer simply by having some background music on.  I think maybe it stops him noticing he’s by himself although I busying about doing jobs.  I was concerned it was going to completely do my head in and abuse my ears but actually I found myself humming along whilst anti-bacterial wiping the contents of Baby G’s toy box, oh the glamour!  I reckon I could also cope with it in the car.  But it isn’t just what I think that matters, I asked the 3 year old himself:

Me:  This music is the ZingZilla’s CD
H:  Yes *zooms Buzz Lightyear around my head & crash lands him*
Me:  Do you like it?
H:  Yes
Me:  Why?  What’s good about it?
H:  Its good  *Buzz Lightyear now teamed up with Slinky Dog & Jessie*
Me:  What do you like about it
H:   I like it because its noisy & makes me want to run around really fast

Interview terminated due to an important Space Mission requiring completion upstairs!

ZingZilllas: The album is released on 4^th October, which will be available on CD and digital download. There are 26 tracks from all over the world we’ve enjoyed having it on at Lancaster Towers and you can pre-order copies and order from Monday 4th October at Amazon here:  Zingzillas – The Album