Illuminations & Other Fun Things

Every year since Lee & I moved back to Liverpool we discuss going to see Blackpool Illuminations. This year we finally did it! I had never seen them before & the boys loved the idea of going on trams & staying up late so we were all a bit excited as we headed off up the motorway one afternoon in half term. We pretty much got straight onto a tram & enjoyed riding up & down the Prom for an hour or so while the sun was setting. Beautiful!
All four children loved sitting at the top of the tram looking out at the views.
They liked the look of the pier too but we decided not to venture there. I enjoyed watching Jonathan Livingston Seagull swooping over the Big Wheel. Can you see him?

We bought chips & doughnuts for tea (having had a proper meal at lunch time at home) & sat on the sea front enjoying the sea breeze. Timmy spotted the moon peeking out from behind the clouds just after I took this photo. The boys were fascinated by the roller coaster. It frightens the living daylights out of me! Thank goodness they are too small for that just now & that we didn't have money for us all to go in the pleasure beach anyway!

We rode the trams again after tea, intending to see the illuminations from there but it got very very busy & the tram windows steamed up so we decided to go back to the car & drive the Golden Mile instead. Blackpool is certainly magical at night. The boys enjoyed a little splash in these fountain lights en route to the car park!

As a treat we bought the children light sabres. Annie-Joy was probably a bit young for one really but it was fun while it lasted!

the Golden Mile is actually 5 miles in total & due to the traffic & some broken traffic lights, the whole thing took us over an hour to drive along. It was fantastic though! We all loved the alien spaceships.

Blackpool Tower was spectacular lit up & had green lasers coming from the top of it too!

This 'Tum' illumination was one of the boys favourites along with the Daleks & the disco glitter balls.

But this illuminated tram took everyone's breath away as we saw it coming up the road! Luke could hardly contain his excitement when he saw then tram & then the driver sitting in the round engine window! We drove back to Liverpool late that night having had a fabulous time. I think we will be doing it again next year now. Perhaps it's the start of a family tradition?

I think I told you we went bowling for 1p each? Annie-Joy played her first game & looked so cute in the bowling shoes! Lee won, followed by Luke & AJ (who got 3 strikes!!). All good fun & it only cost us 6p!

Several ships have docked in Liverpool recently including the Queen Mary II & HMS Illustrious. We saw both but Lee took the boys for a special trip out to see HMS Illustrious one Sunday afternoon. Lee laughed at me as I kept calling it HMS Invincible; he thought it was a name that might tempt fate so to speak... I had the last laugh though when he googled it & there really is an HMS Invincible! :D The sea is in our blood on both sides of the family with both my Grandad & Lee's Grandad being in the Royal Navy so I often wonder if any of our children will follow in their footsteps. They certainly enjoyed meeting the sailors & seeing the ship.

Well, that's all folks! See you back here soon I hope! :o)