Probably my favourite day out from our recent holiday to Norfolk, was our visit to Pensthorpe Natural Park. Voted Norfolk's Best Large Attraction last year, Pensthorpe (which is located close to where we were staying in Fakenham) had something to do for all the family and kept us busy the whole day.

Lakeside nature trails, woodland walks, gardens to explore and animals to find as well as a huge outdoor adventure play and indoor soft play. I honestly wish we had something similar where we live, as we all had so much fun, Indiana especially1

We headed straight to Hootz House (indoor adventure play) when we arrived as it was still a little chilly outside. Entry into Hootz is by timed sessions, but is included within the price which is fantastic - especially when we didn't have to pay for the children to enter (under 3s are free).

You get a two hour time slot which is more than enough time to play. Under 5s have their own section to play in, although like most soft plays you can take them into the bigger section. I think we spent almost an hour sat playing with the ball machine, and whizzing down the slides.

By the time our slot was up it was lunch time. If we had visited during the warmer months we would have definitely brought a picnic. We ended up in the Courtyard Cafe though, which although quite pricey, offered some really tasty food. It was definitely needed too, as after lunch we had lots of exploring to do!

Parker was exhausted by this point so with him asleep in his pram, we let Indiana lead the way. As we visited over the Halloween half term there were extra activities to do. Indie was most excited about following the paths and spotting the bugs though.

It wasn't long before we found the beautiful red squirrels and flamingos hidden along the woodland walk. It did make me laugh to see Indie much more excited by a common duck, that you can find at our local park though! She was feeding them grass and completely ignoring the flamingos she'd never seen before.

We left the 'mingos' and continued exploring the park. There is so much to see, you really couldn't fit it all in during one visit. We just let Indie decide where she wanted to go and ended up walking around the lake and through the Sculpture Garden; following the stamp and mirror trails.

We ended the day back at the WildRootz adventure play - a Huge outdoor play area with the usual play equipment, sandpit, little streams to play in and the biggest slide I've ever seen (Jack said he'd only go on it once as there were so many stairs).

There really was so much to do and explore at Pensthorpe. Whether you want to discover nature on a nature walk, or just need to entertain the kids - it's a perfect day out for all ages! 

Motorola Mbp43s Wireless Video Baby Monitor | Review

As part of our role as a Babies R Us 'Babyologist' we have been sent the Motorola Mbp43s Video Baby Monitor to test and review. We've been using the product for over a month now, and we really love it!

When we found out we were expecting with Indiana, the very first baby item we got was a baby monitor. It was a Motorola audio monitor, so was very basic, but did the job (and is still going strong 3 years later!). Neither of us thought a video monitor was necessary. But since using this monitor we both agree that now we have one wouldn't go back - and that's very high praise from Jack!

The box contains the parent unit, two plugs (the camera must always be plugged in, the video screen does not), rechargeable battery pack and instructions

The camera was very easy to set up, and despite very simple instructions I popped the battery in no problem. It has a very long cord so it's easy to place anywhere - it can be wall mounted if required too. The parent unit needs charging for 16 hours prior to first use, so do keep that in mind.

Once charged it was ready to go! I couldn't wait to explore the features, of which there are many. The 3.5" full colour screen has a number of buttons. Arrows control the pan, tilt and zoom options - as my two share a room I'm able to pan between both of them without the need of two cameras, which is fantastic! There's a menu button which leads to more features, ok button to select (when used with the arrow buttons in the menu), a button to turn the screen on and off, and a feature we've always wanted, a talk back button.

Clicking onto the menu button you have a number of options. You can adjust the volume, increase the zoom, adjust brightness, play a selection of melodies, set an alarm, change the temperature from celsius to fahrenheit, add / remove extra cameras, and decide how long the screen remains on for.

All the features are very easy to use. The picture is very clear, and I love that it realises when it's dark and switches to infrared mode by itself. It does lag slightly when turning the camera, but not enough to make a huge difference. The talk-back feature is fantastic (and I may have had a little bit of fun with it and Indiana!). We've never used the melodies as they are more songs than white noise, and they play quite loudly, however this might be a useful feature for some.

It's not 100% perfect though, and it's biggest let down is the battery life. Our previous monitor could last two nights without needing charging. However this monitor seems to always need it! We've been woken a number of times in the night, to the very loud bleeping telling us to plug it in. We're unsure whether it's because the camera doesn't charge when turned on, or whether it literally is just poor battery life (even with the initial 16 hour charge). If you were using it for nap times and bed time you would most definitely need to have it charging all the time - not so portable really.

Overall though we are very happy with the product. I love that we could add a second camera if we ever needed to, and the added temperature display is a really handy extra feature. Despite needing to be plugged in most of the time, it hasn't affected our experience. I would 100% recommend a Motorola baby monitor, and this one especially!