Crazy Pregnancy

 I'm now 5 and a half months pregnant (second time round you tend forget to count in weeks and days!) and this pregnancy is different to my daughters pregnancy.
With her I craved meat and most savoury foods and everyone said "Oh you having a boy" and out popped a girl so I don't go in for any of these old wives tales that with boys you crave savoury and girls you crave sweet.
 This pregnancy I have had so many food fads that I can't even keep up with myself. Not sure if it's me or the baby who is being more the diva!
- Can't eat red meat, only in bolonaise or chilli sauce even then only a small amount, can't stand looking at raw or even cooked lumps of meat.
- Don't fancy fish- although have had the odd bit like when the inlaws were here.
- Don't like roast potatoes but will eat boiled new potatoes which I normally find dull.
- I have to eat a HUGE breakfast but not very interested in lunch and find dinner a chore.
- Ridiculous cravings for olives, salt and vinegar crisps, greek yoghurt and honey, cheese chocolate (not all together) oh and highly spiced food (which as you can imagine is not good for heartburn!)
- Not interested in cake
- very very forgetful
- can't walk past rotisserie chickens in supermarkets or burger vans without retching, therefore I have to walk all the way round the shop to avoid them.
In fact reading some of the things I have listed are making me feel quesey!

With the girl after the first 3 months the only thing I couldn't eat food wise was brocoli (still couldn't walk past the rotisserie chickens though!) and I was totally hooked on chocolate and ice lollies and had a thing for spicy food. Last time I wasn't bothered about not drinking beer but this time I am knocking back Becks Blue!
The pregnancy it'sself is exactly the same, boobs are huge, look fat, have dreadful heartburn and bad hips and love salty food just this time round its much more pronounced!

I guess taking everything into account it must be a boy!

Let's pack a picnic...

I'll cut to the chase here. I'm not very good at picnics. I really want to be but I find myself either not packing enough food or just finding the whole experience rather irritating.

It was reading Malory Towers books that mae me think picnics were a good idea, I remember reading about Darrell's family coming to visit and taking her out for a wonderful picnic that contained things like, cold roast chicken, fat pickles, crisp green salad, hard boiled eggs, pork pies, victoria sandwich and not forgetting the ginger beer. All comsumed while sat on a cliff top over looking the sea, the whole thing just sounds idyllic.

We try and do picnics but all I can ever manage is sandwiches, crisps and maybe some homemade cake. I'd love to be able to make all those wonderful things that you see in food and high end supermarket magazines but I can never be bothered. It all seems a lot of hassle for something that is essentially just a packed lunch, which to me is something you have on a school trip (I think years of working in schools and being a nanny has made me detest the preparation of a so called picnic, which always seems more hassle than it's worth!)

A friend of mine is fabulous at picnics, when a group of us went out with our children, she was the very organised person who had one of those wonderful picnic baskets you can get in the Adnams shop or John Lewis filled with delicious fare, she always packs far too much so always very generously shares it out. (Why can't I be more like that?) I had to buy a jacket potato from the cafe that day due to not having any picnic suitable items in the house. After lunch her husband pulled out a flask and teacups and served everyone cups of tea! I think I exhausted myself by making cupcakes for everyone that morning to take with us, thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

There is another reason why I have worken up and felt the need to post this, we are due to go for a picnic today. We found out yesterday that this delight was to be inflicted happening and thats not enough time to prepare! I only went shopping on monday, I don't want to go out to shopping AGAIN to buy picnic fare as the only choice is the high end supermarket which is so expensive. Yet I feel pressured into buying more stuff in order to sit on a rug somewhere to try and cut up a pork pie with a plastic knife and spear cherry tomatoes with a plastic fork, also am I buying to share or buying just for us?

Another thing with picnics is very much of the traditional picnic fare is deemed unsuitable for pregnant women. These include

• pate- which I can't bear as I think it tastes like feet so thats not an issue for me.
• cured and deli meats
• selection of cheeses- such as brie, camenbert, some goats cheeses etc
• some pre packaged salads

Most of those things I love so that just leaves me with the humble sandwich and crisps.
I don't get this whole picnic thing I really don't, mainly cos I am too lazy to prepare the fare for something that needs to be packed up to be taken elsewhere then once consumed taken back home to be thrown/put away.

So yes, who knows what I am going to come up with but I know one thing... I'd much rather go to the pub over the road for a nice meal.

Life in general...

Well as I said in my last post we won't be attending Camp Bestival next year because we cannot afford it :( especially with me now not working.
It's a shame cos even with the payment plan (which is a FANTASTIC idea and more festivals should take heed!) we can't commit to it.
So we will be living more of a frugal life from now on so I will be posting about soaking chickpeas and stockpiling food in the garage. And looking out for all the free festivals that we can attend with our children!

Camp Bestival Review

Yes, yes I know. It's been a while. Various stuff going on but here I am.

We attended Camp Bestival on the 28th, 29th, 30th ,31st July. As previously mentioned on here we haven't been to a festival for 6 years and it was the first time with the girl.

We were going to set off very early on Thursday morning but then a few days before hubby suggested we stay in a Travelodge on the wednesday so that we could take a leisurely drive down. So we managed to book one in Basingstoke for £30.

Best thing we did cos we then got up and set off at around 10ish and got to Lulworth at around lunctime. We were in traffic jams through villages and on roads before we actually got nearer to the site. It took about an hour of queuing to get in.

We were conviently parked up the top of a hill which we had to walk down and then up another to get to the wrist band exchange, on a very hot day when 4 months pregnant with a toddler in a pushchair this was hard work but one of those things. We got set up and then went and wandered round the site.

We thought going on thursday would give us a really big advantage and in some ways it did, we got a good camping spot in a quiet area near the edge and we had pleny of room but we noticed the people who came on friday ended up being not only parked nearer their campsite but were nearer the main arena.

We had a long walk to the main arena, well to be fair it wasn't terribly far but it was a walk down a hill and up another to get there which for a pregnant lady was quite hard and often I would get to the top and feel sick and dizzy and be out of breath. This couldn't be helped though because it was just the countryside!

As for the main arena, there wasn't really one. Ok so the campsites where separate from where the main action took place but there wasn't an area where you got your wristbands twanged and your bag searched which in some ways was nice cos it meant you could take a few of your own cans of beer in (which my hubby did) but it also meant that unruly teenagers (and there were many) could get in with stuff and get away with being louts. (they never caused a problem for us but people on the forum had bad experiences in certain campsites with them)

The entertainment and tents in the arena reminded very much of Glastobury with so much stuff going on everywhere and something for everyone. I never got to go to the Heavenly Healing area to do pilates and we didn't make it into the House Of Fairytales :(

My biggest issue was the capacity, ok so I had never been before but it just seemed very, very busy and you couldn't really find a place to just sit without feeling in the way. This would be the one thing that would put me off going in the future because it just seemed too overcrowded.

Ok so here are my best bits or I'll be here forever just recounting the whole weekend.
Music- ABC, Groove Armada, didn't really see much music but we heard lots.
Watching the girl charge around the Bollywood tent
Watching the River Cottage guys prepare mackeral in a variety of ways
Seeing Mr Tumble and the Zingzillas
Listening to Howard Marks talk about his life- very interesting man
The food was outstanding
The campsite was like being on a proper campsite, everyone was so civilised.
The WI tent.

Downers-
The cost of fairground rides :(
The queues for everything- not good when you have an impatient two year old!
The crowds
The price of food and drink
The amount of walking Could not even get in the kids craft tent due to pushy mummies pushing their child forward and yours out the way :(

The question is was it worth it? yes it was, I am so glad I went, really enjoyed it but wish we could have seen more, tiredness and crowding put paid to this. Would we go back? I'd go next year but we can't justify the cost, even with the payment plan maybe in the next few years we will be back with two children!

Long time no post!

I've been busy posting for http://www.festivalkidz.com/ and on behalf of the lovely Rachel at http://www.firebirdretro.co.uk/ while she was away. So I admit I have abandoned this a little...

ok a lot...

Anyway, Camp Bestival has been and gone and we are back in one piece and virtually back to normal. (The girls sleep patterns are still sorting themselves though)

I thought, while it's still fresh in the my mind the things that we felt worked well for us while festivalling with a toddler.

• Taking lots of little snacks that will be eaten with no - Ella's Kitchen Smoothies, Humzingers, mini cheeses, crisps and raisins were among the only things she would eat (apart from some pizza from a stall) also mini bags of Haribo were good bribes for sitting back in the pushchair! Also Capri Sun drinks were very handy and saved a few quid on buying her lots of drinks.
•  Pre packed meals for the girl- Organix, Hipp, although these had mixed success, they will last in the cupboard for a bit so it's not a waste.
• Meals for us- we decided to cater for breakfast and took a huge pack of rolls, some mushrooms, pre sliced onions and a huge pack of bacon and had bacon rolls everyday (although I was sick of them by sunday so taking a break from bacon now) I did two evening meals, both from the freezer, lamb curry and veggie mince chilli.
• Preparing the girl by putting up the tent for her to play in and letting her sleep in her ready bed before the event. We had no problem with putting her to bed and she was usually the last up!
• Make sure the zips of the tent zipped high up out of reach so that she couldn't reach them and
  escape.
• BUBBLES- as my husband said he wished he had bought her a bubblegun as felt bad when he saw lots of kids dads with bubble guns and we only had poundland bubble swords (but it was better than nowt!)

I'll be posting a review of the festival in due course along with some photographs.

A passenger on board...

I must apologise readers, life has been incredibly hectic at the moment and I have been writing for FestivalKidz as well as guest blogging for the lovely Rachel over at Firebird Vintage and Retro as well as doing the work thing.
I would also like to announce that I have a passanger on board, yes the latest festival fairy is due on the 10th January! So I will be festivalling not only with a toddler but with a bump!

Apologies...

To all five of my followers and occasional lurkers ;-)

It's been a while I know, I have had a lot going on and I'm nearly there so I will be posting a bit more real soon!

Cash Free Festival?

We were talking about this last week at Playfest and I am sure I heard something about it before last year. How brilliant would it be to be able to purchase a card and load cash onto it to use at festivals?
Obviously the stalls would need some kind of card reader or barcode scanner to authorise payment but it would mean you wouldn't have to carry cash round with you and would only have to worry about a card (or maybe have a few cards pre loaded with cash incase you lose one?) instead of money.
Here I have it all worked out-
1. You can put anything from £10 to £500 on a card, this means you can set yourself a budget and not have to resort to getting money out of one of the site cash machines which charge you a fiver for the pleasure of withdrawing the money.
2. You can use the card to buy food, drink and clothing (festival merchandise) so you don't have to worry about scrabbling round for change.
3. They would be ideal for teenagers as you can set them a budget and if they go over it then they will have to pay out themselves : p

I think it would take a long time for something like this to be established but I think it's a great idea, I for one hate carrying all my cash for the weekend around or leaving half in the car or something but a card would be easier to carry and to hide from potential thieves.

I'd love to know if anyone is doing this and if not can I patent it? as of now.

Playfest- My review

Yesterday we attended day 2 of East Anglias newest festival, Playfest

Set in the grounds of New Eccles Hall School, in Quidenham, Norfolk, Playfest is in a beautiful setting, lots of trees and little coves of trees.

We knew where we were going as we live about 20 minutes up the road, and it was well signposted off the A11.
Upon entering the carpark (an empty goose farm field) we were told to park to our right and then the steward muttered something else, as I drove off another steward shouted at me "put your hazards on" in quite an agressive manner! that must have been what the other steward had said that I didn't hear. (I noticed the car in front didn't have hazards on nor did a few other cars that came in, she didn't shout at them!)

It was quite a short walk to the gates from the carpark, it took longer as we were in a party with two toddlers walking and two pushchairs piled up with stuff.

We went and got our wristbands and then walked through the woods to the festival entrance.

At the "search point" we weren't quite sure what was happening and what we were meant to be doing as revellers were just standing around the the stewards not doing much at all. We soon realised (after overhearing) that men had to go in one side and women on the other. Our pushchairs were searched and I was asked if my peach sparkling water was alcohol!

In the main field (the schools playing field as you could see last years runing track etched in the grass) we wandered around until we found a spot to settle.


In this area there was the main stage and a tented stage, a few fairground rides, a few food stall, a tattooist (?!) a tea tent, a bar and a few ice cream vans. There were two stalls selling sweets and crafts.

I looked around and noticed NO GREEN CHAIRS! it was like Reading used to be, I thought how middle classed are we going to look when we put our chairs up, so we didn't then when we saw someone else with chairs we put ours up!

The site was very well laid out, off the main field there was a dance arena which consisted of a tent, a weird inflatable ball thing that looked like it was off the crystal maze, a cocktail bar called "Barlesque" with an inflatable mini dance tent and weird inflatable flowers that you could throw yourself on. This was a fun and funky area in the day and the children were very well recieved in the dance areas. One chap said to me "Is that your daughter- She's amazing man" I have to admit she looked rather cute in her pink Regatta fleece suit, pink ear defenders and glittery wellies. At night it became a different place, my friend and I went back for a rave and the atmosphere and smells were slightly hostile.

We took a while to find the acoustic stage though which was on the way out towards the campsite, this consisted of a radio caravan like you see at the Royal Norfolk Show and one of those silver american trailers. It was very basic, but when we were there a very upbeat folky type band was playing and all the people enjoying the band seemed to be having a great time and there was a lovely atmosphere, however it seemed to close really early. I'm not sure why this was but it seemed a shame that it didn't continue later on in the night for those who fancied something a little bit more mellow.

I think for a first year the Norwich Rock boys have done a great job on this little festival but here are a few points which I feel I have to make.

1. The food- It was awful, really bad. On their website PlayFest say the following-

Sorry due to restrictions of the fire and safety regulations at Play Fest cooking with naked flames or BBQ’s is not allowed. Due to this we have made a concerted effort to keep food prices low.

Ok far enough I get this but if you are going to impose this rule then you MUST provide a range of hot food at reasonable prices. A poor quality beefburger for a fiver is not a reasonable price. I would be happy to pay this if the burger was a better quality and salad was provided.
On their website they claim this:

A vast selection of delicious freshly cooked food lovingly prepared by an array of accomplished restaurant chefs to suit all tastes.

The food stall was terribly disorganised and they seemed to be running out of food all the time. My husband went to get me a jacket potato and was told there was a 5 minute wait, then he was told there was a half hour wait!
My friends husband went to get her a veggie burger (because they had run out of jacket potatoes) and came back with a burger in a plain bun because they had run out of cheese, onions and ketchup!
Everytime we went to get food there was a very long wait and each time they had either run out of something or they had their timings badly wrong. For what appeared to be a professional setup they were awful.
Had I been camping I would have been very upset at this, if I am not allowed to cook myself some food I at least want some decent grub at a decent price.


2. Tokens for food and beer.
The food stall and the main bar required that you bought tokens before purchasing anything. Now I have always hated this practice and it was one of the many things I hated about V festival.
The most laughable thing was the fact you purchased the tickets at the same stall you bought the food or drink from. Why not have a separate stall that does this to save the queuing? still I can't see the point so if any of the organisers would like to expalin this then I would be interested to hear, especially when the bar in dance arena accepted cash!


3. Toilets- I counted a total of 12 portaloos in the main arena and none anywhere else! admittedly there weren't many queues but there was in noway enough and they had no lights in them! There was one urinal portaloo on one side and an accessible toilet on the other side of the site, however they could have done with more urinals and an extra accessible toilet.


4. Children- On the website it is mentioned that children under 12 are admitted free of charge and on the map there is a dedicated family campsite, why not in this case provide something for children? a few dodgems and fairground games maybe ok for over 5s but what about something for the under 5s?
A craft tent would be easy to set up and very popular. The Applyard fayre, albeit it a much smaller event has a craft tent and my brothers children had hours of fun in there.
Ok so PlayFest may not be exclusively a child friendly festival but if you provide family camping then it suggest to me that you need to provide more facilities for children. My friend and I said we would quite happily volunteer for this job next year!


Ok so to be fair, it was the first year, and I did enjoy it and it was a good dry run for us with our little one.
She loved charging around with her ear defenders on and kept running in and out of the dance tent and as I mentioned earlier, people thought she was lovely and were dancing with her in the tents, never did anyone give us disapproving looks for taking our little ones in the dance tent (my friend and I are both former ravers so loved this!) and we got lots of "Aren't they cute?" comments. This made it a totally different experience for all of us as we are all seasoned festival goers and it was our first experience with children. (I have uploaded some photos, not sure how to put them within my post though, sorry for the wordiness!)


The question is would I go back? most definitely. It was well priced for tickets and very local, I would not camp though due to the food issue and would take a huge picnic in with me each day. I do hope though that the organisers do ask for feedback and act on it because I think with a bit of extra thought PlayFest could be totally amazing   WILL totally amazing in time.

So whats all this about then Daddy?

DSCF4383, a photo by mummyfestivalfairy on Flickr.

Just throwing myself into the festivalling vibe!

DSCF4394, a photo by mummyfestivalfairy on Flickr.

In the mini dance tent!

DSCF4395, a photo by mummyfestivalfairy on Flickr.

oooh what are these? inflatable flowers?

DSCF4387, a photo by mummyfestivalfairy on Flickr.

DSCF4382

DSCF4382, a photo by mummyfestivalfairy on Flickr.

Coming soon!

If you follow me on Twitter on know me on Facebook then you might have guessed that I am very very excited to be attending Playfest and Fairy Fair this week. I will be documenting our adventures at mini Norfolk festivals.

EEEEK!

Sleeping.

I bought this for MFF Toddler Ready Bed to take when we go to Camp Bestival.
I have been trying to get her used to all things to do with festivals and camping ( have the "camping" and "festival" episodes of Something Special on the Sky + box) I inflated the bed for her to investigate. She was very excited and kept jumping and down and wanted to help pump the pump (which is a rubbish handpump as the battery pump has er run out of batteries) she was so thrilled with it that she demanded to sleep in it that night. In fact she slept better on that than she has been in her half converted cot bed and loves it so much that I don't think I will be able to put it away.
Still, keeping it up for a few days will test it to see if it stays inflated for the duration!
I am really struggling with which sleeping bag to get her. The Vango Baby Nitestar will be too small for her (Thanks Romany from Festival Kidz for helping me with this) so I am wondering whether to get her A Sleeping Pod but I hate the hideous pink camoflageness of it, bleurgh.

The main thing is though for her to be warm and cosy at night but I must admit I am bricking it and these scenarios keep popping in my head.

1.What if she tries to escape the tent when we are asleep especially as she is learning how to do zips.
2. What if she gets too hot/too cold?
3. What if we wake her up by rolling on her?

Or is it best just to go with the flow?

Think it's best I opt for the latter- I mean to get in the spirit and all that...

Food- Picking up bargains

Now this is a bit more of a general post for regular festival goers, not necessarily ones with kids. Still in the financial crisis many of us are thinking how we can do things for as cheaply as possible.

Here are my tips:

1. Visit "cheap shops"- QD, Poundstretcher and Poundland have some fantastic deals on food products that would be suitable to take festivalling.
I got a pack of the MaxPax style just add water teas- 8 cups in a pack with the milk already added £1, thats about 12p for a cuppa, a HUGE saving when you think that many stalls sell cups of tea for about a £1 a pop. Ok so the quality of the tea won't be as good as what you can get at home and by all means bring a box of teabags and a pint of milk but this is just as easy.

 My husband got some of those 3 in 1 Nescafe sachets, great if you like your coffee white with one.

In QD I saw they had hot chocolate, cappacinos and cuppa soups, 8 in a pack for 99p. I got some of the cuppa soups, for a quick snack they are brilliant and save a few pounds on buying something.

In QD and Poundstretcher they had sachets of dahl and rice, 69p a packet. These feed two and they don't need refrigerating so thats always a bonus. Just boil the rice for 3 minutes and heat the dahl through and you have a really filling lunch or dinner for less than a pound a head.

2. Collect sachets of sauces/sugar etc.
When we have been out having lunch or a coffee we have kept on the lookout for free sachets. So when getting the sugars for the coffee grab a few extra, if they do those little pottles of UHT milk (yeah I know a bit grim but beggars can't be choosers) get a few of them.
Today we were out for the day and picked up a few extra sauce sachets. You don't need to get many, just grab a few at a time and they soon build up. We now have a tea tin full of sauce sachets and sugar, that we have been collecting for the past 6 months. It won't take up much room and it's waterproof!

3. Pick up bits on offer- This mainly applies to "childrens" food. Every few months Sainsburys have a third off all baby products. This is now the time to buy those Organix and Plum baby meals that are generally quite expensive. I will be getting some of those Ella's Kitchens Smoothies so that the girl will get a few portions of fruit in her each day, maybe even a few of those Hipp 12 months plus meals which I find are always handy to have in anyway for days when you don't have time! As I am aware Camp Bestival do sell some baby food but I expect that they have put premiums on them.

4. Take advantage of deals- I saw an advert for Asda yesterday, and they are doing 2 boxes of beer for £16, now beer keeps so it's a no brainer in my eyes to stock up in advance. That is if they are in cans- you can't take glass in, but you don't need me to tell you that!
Wine boxes are another great buy, especially red wine which you don't have to worry about drinking warm. My husband and I wandered round Glastonbury with a box of red wine and two plastic wine glasses. Unfortunately since having my daughter I cannot drink red wine so will have to take some Rose.
If you know someone who is popping over to France ask them to pick you up some wine or if you have a memember of family or a mate who works in a supermarket ask if they can pick you something up and use their discount card, cheeky but if you don't ask you don't get.

"Glamping"

Just had to post about this. I absolutely hate these words such as "Glamping" "Bromance" "Jedward" you get the drift...But I just cannot understand this "new fangled thing" called Glamping, to be honest with you it's probably been around for years, seasoned campers have been doing it for years it is just that someone out there decided to give it a silly word.

In my eyes, Glamping is overpriced camping for people who don't like camping. Glamping is those little huts called podpads, you can hire them at festivals for stupid amounts of money. Don't get me wrong, if I could afford it I'd give it a go but for me I like roughing it a bit, I mean isn't that what it's all about? keeping it simple?

On a set up campsite, they will have excellent facilities meaning that you don't have to go without washing or go to dingy toilets, that is reserved for the domain of the festival however as the years go on facilities do get better.

I camped at Las Palmeras in Tarragona, Spain in 2002, they have fantastic facilities there, the showers and toilets are cleaned twice a day, hell they even clean the beach every morning. I was able to mantain glamour at every opportunity while away and I was just staying in a simple 4 man tent with a borrowed gazebo, with a small camp table, a few chairs and a really basic gas cooker. It was one of the best holidays I have ever had, why? cos it was simple.

I personally feel with the so called Glamping, it is bringing a very different sort of punter to a festival. Podpads and the like are making it easy for people that don't like camping to do the trendy festival thing, I am not saying it's wrong at all because I think everyone should go to a festival. It is changing the atmosphere of some festivals though,  certain people go cos it's something they want to tick off their to do list, these people are generally the ones that have no idea about festival ettiquette, however I digress.

If you really want to "glamp" then the following are essentials-

1. A tent you can stand up in and that has a big awning, we bought a five man tent and it's brilliant, it's by no means the biggest tent on the market but it's good enough for now.

2. Plastic wine glasses and a box of wine- Mr Festival Fairy and I wandered round Glastonbury with a box of red wine and two plastic wines glasses, I'd like to say we were "glampers" before the word was invented. So many people commented on our glasses.

3. Babywipes- we have a little one so will have them anyway, but babywipes are just ace, you will feel clean and fresh in seconds and absolute must.

4. Bring ready prepared one pot meals- stuff like bolonaise, chilli and cassarole. Cook up large amounts and portion into those Indian/Chinese takeaway dishes you get and freeze them. On the day you leave pack them, still frozen into your cool box. You then have your first nights meal and a seconds nights meal ready to go, add some rice or pasta and you have a delicious filling meal.

5. Airbeds- I only used an airbed for the last few festivals I went to and it makes such a difference! I suggest getting a battery powered pump, I got one from Argos for a tenner, not only does it pump one up within minutes but it deflates it also.

6. Nikwax your tent- been through that one. It's really worth doing and it doesn't cost much in comparison to a £200 tent.

Thats all I can come up with for now, I am sure others have essentials to add to my list!

Putting the tent up.

Being on the Easter hols I thought it would be a good time to put the tents up to air and nikwax them all ready for the adventures that they may be going on.

Put up my ancient green tent up first that I first took to Reading in 1998,  Mini Festival Fairy (MFF) thought it was great and kept running in and out and kept saying "Lie down, Mummy" and "Lie down Daddy"

It made me realise though that putting the tents up was a good thing, not just to air them but to get her used to them. She has seen them on the television before but never experienced one, she needs to learn that she can't hurl herself at one or it will break and fall down and that she can't pull out the guyropes!

Put the big tent up the other day and yesterday I put the inner tent up and told MMF that we would be sleeping in there when we went on our holiday. Don't think it means much to her at the moment, she just thought it was very exciting going in and out of the tent and lying down.

After a few days of it being up she hasn't really been bothered by it, which I think is a good thing.

So yes, first thing I would suggest is getting your tent up for them to get used to, not only should you air your tent and check all the poles and pegs are there but you SHOULD nikwax it
http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/nikwax-tent-and-gear-solar-proof-500ml-camping-chemical-p135282

I found out about this stuff on the efestivals messageboard 6 years ago before we went to Glastonbury, what it does is helps repell water from your tent and protect it from UV damage, and it helps to extend the life of your tent. Ok so tents are waterproof but with this stuff the water just runs off leaving your tent dry. Thanks to this stuff we stayed dry for the whole festival when people around us had their tents trashed by the downpours that ensued that weekend.

First time with a toddler!

Having not been to a festival for nearly 6 years due to marriage, housemove, holidays in the sun and the birth of our first child we are very very excited to be attending Camp Bestival this year. Our little girl will be two years and two months when we go.

Now I am soooo hoping that this festival lives up to everything I am lead to believe it will be, I have missed the festival vibe for many years so I just cannot wait to attend this. I went to my first festival in 1998 and attended one (or two) every year for the next 7 years, I've done Scary Reading and Lairy Leeds, Chilled Guilfest, the Indescribable Glastonbury and the Very Commercial V. I have also attended many Strawberry Fairs, 3 Appleyard Fairs and a few Fairy Fairs. This year, our daughter will a bigger picture of the wonderful world of festivals and I hope she loves it as much as I do.

I have started this blog mainly because I couldn't find any blogs about festivalling with a young child, I want to be able to share my experiences with people on the lead up and the preparation that will be needed to attend.