The school holidays are now in full swing…  Last year Inaaya won a competition in our local newspaper, the Birmingham Mail, she was the Bonniest Baby for 2007and one of her prizes was a week at Pontins.

As daddy had to work we invited my niece Amain and my big sister. We decided to take our break at a beautiful place called Brean Sands, it was so nice to be near the sea.

There was plenty for the kids to do, Inaaya met Postman Pat, she went dancing with the Blue Coats, we went horse riding on the beach and every morning we went to the swimming pool. Inaaya has become very independent recently and this really showed. She wanted to go down the slide on her own and float around in the pool on her own. I guess it's all the Sunday swimming that she does with daddy. She also loved the swings and the slide area so we spent most evenings there. I have attached some photos and videos to show what fun we had!

Horse riding at the beach:

Meeting Postman Pat:

On the swings:

Dancing with the blue coats:

We had a big celebration this weekend because my sister Anisha got engaged. It was very hectic as there were lots of mouths to feed and loads of organising to be done.

The party was all a bit overwhelming for Inaaya. She’s not really used to being around a lot of people, especially when so many of them are new faces, so I was interested to see how she handled it. I’m from a very large family, so am used to being around big crowds, and love meeting new people. My hubby's family is also very big, in fact I haven’t even met them all yet! With that in mind it’s really important to me that Inaaya feels comfortable around new people and gets to meet all of the family while she’s still young.

The party went perfectly, not a hiccup in sight, thank goodness. Inaaya was really well behaved and I think she had a lovely day.

Me and Inaaya with the happy couple:

This father’s day was a bit different, daddy had to go to work, so we decided to go to the West Midland Safari Park, with grandad instead. Grandma came along too of course! Daddy did get some special attention though, Inaaya made a lovely card for him with a little help from her key worker Amy.

On the day the weather was great – no rain at all. The first thing we did was to go on the trail to see all the animals. It was such fun to see the different animals up close and Inaaya was fascinated by them walking up to the car (but a little bit scared too!). There was an opportunity to feed some of them, although most of it went on the floor.

As well as this we watched a fantastic sea lion show. Inaaya was amazed, I’ve never seen her so engrossed. Maybe we should get one and have it in that back garden… only joking!

Inaaya also had her face painted; she chose to be a butterfly. The day was full of action, perhaps too much for Inaaya, who slept all the way home and right through the night.

The best thing about going to the safari park though was that we were given a free pass to go again… I think next time we should take daddy!

Innaya’s butterfly face paint

Up close and personal with the Tigers

Inaaya enjoying the day out

This weekend I braved the motorway for the second time ever to drive up to Leicester. I still find it scary but the more practises I get, the less nervous I will become.

The purpose of the trip was an early birthday celebration for my niece whose birthday is on the 11th June. Birthdays, of course, mean cake, and as a family we love cake, especially Inaaya. She would do anything for a piece of cake!

We started the evening with bowling. As it was Inaaya’s first time she was very excited with all the lights and loud music, and of course having lots of friends and family around was great fun too. My niece Amani loves bowling; she’s ever so bossy when it comes to the game. We didn’t actually play a real game, just messed around a bit, but Inaaya really got a feel for it. As I said before, it’s good to practise

This weekend my friend was volunteering at Birmingham’s Climate Change Festival so we decided to go along and see what all the fuss was about. It was as good as promised with free candyfloss, arts and crafts, and rides for the children (and of course for the big kids as well).

It was wonderful to spend some quality time as a family. Inaaya and Daddy enjoyed the rides, and we all got creative making arts and crafts with recycled materials – Inaaya loved all the bits and pieces to play with. It was great fun!!!