ManicMammy's Blog » Reviews

Running in Amsterdam

Manic Mammy — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:29:18 +0000

One of the highlights of my year is definitely running the Amsterdam marathon in October. It had been 7 years since I had run that distance and I was apprehensive about doing it all again. For one reason or another there had not been many half marathons in Ireland that I had been able to attend this year but I started the marathon training. So myself and Conor were looking for a venue mid to late October that was running both a marathon and a half marathon.

My brother and some of his mates had already enrolled so we decided to head to Amsterdam too. To be fair, its handy to get to from both Dublin and Cork and we had no problems in booking reasonably priced accommodation near the Centraal Station. The marathon was due to start at 9.30 am with the half marathon starting 4 hours later. It was a gorgeous sunny, cool Autumnal morning.

The race started in the Olympic Stadium which was a short train away. The Olympic stadium was an awesome venue.

The course was about as flat as you can get which suited me down to the ground. There was a terrific atmosphere and plenty of supporters cheering on the runners along the route. A lovely touch was that every runner’s number had their name printed above it. We ran along the Amstel river, past windmills, along the canals and through parks. There were plenty of well spaced water/energy drink and banana stations. My only minor gripe with these was that the water was served in plastic cups rather than bottles.

I liked the occasional band or DJ playing music along the way. I would be lying if I said the theme to chariots of fire wasn’t running through my head as I approached the finish line in Olympic Stadium

I really enjoyed the whole day. Conor declared his post race frankfurter with sauerkraut to be probably the best he’d ever tasted. Am definitely tempted to run it again next year.

Welcome to the Aquadome

Manic Mammy — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:23:09 +0000

A couple of Sundays ago, we awoke to a rainy dull day in Bandon. So myself and 3 of the kids decided to hit the road to Tralee. We had been meaning to try out its Aquadome for ages so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

To make a long story short, we had a terrific day there, spending over 2 hours in the pool. The children loved the intervals when waves would traverse the pool. The smaller slides were perfect for the 5 year old, whilst his older siblings tackled the much larger flume slide.

The lazy river, various water showers and sprays, jacuzzi and spa pools were all tried and tested. It was great fun.

8 year olds and younger have to wear arm bands which is no harm as parts of the pool complex have water depths which are above their heights. I felt the whole set up was very well run. There were plenty of staff and life guards keeping an eye out.

My only minor gripe is that I felt the individual changing rooms were on the small side. I would have preferred a larger family one in which we all could have been accomodated rather than the hassle of splitting the children up into their own rooms.

It is quite expensive but there is a good deal on offer at the moment where you get a second family visit for half price which we availed of the following week which I guess is another indication of how much we liked the place. It was a great way to spend an otherwise dreary Sunday and I can definitely see us heading there quite often over the next few months.

Once upon a time

Manic Mammy — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:24:43 +0000

Santy had some hits and some misses this Christmas but the Vtech Storio was definitely the surprise and biggest hit of them all. Fionn, who is 5 years old and in Junior Infants, has just started learning to read and he loves it.

Santy brought him the Toy Story 3 ebook as he had recently seen the movie in the cinema and was ever so slightly obsessed with anything related to it. He took to Storio like a duck to water. No problems or confusion whatsoever. The interface is very simple and there are voice prompts when needed. In “Watch the Story” mode, the story is narrated as the words being spoken are highlighted in a karaoke style.

The reader can also highlight any word to get a definition of it.

In addition to the story, there are educational word games which Fionn enjoys. The other feature of this system that I am impressed with is that additional free stories can be downloaded from the vtech website on to a SD card which slots into the Storio. So now Fionn has a range of stories to listen to and interact with.

The unit itself is fairly robust. Unlike the Nintendo DS, it has withstood the everyday rough and tumble of our home to date.

Would definitely recommend the Storio.

Doodle bread

Manic Mammy — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:55:51 +0000

The arrival of snow in Bandon yesterday happily coincided with the delivery of a Doodle bread kit and some extra shapers from Rose. Many thanks. The children and I were weary and cold after a morning outdoors so decided to make use of the kit and bake some bread without delay.

Each small kit contains:

A bread baking silicone container.
A doodle shaper, eg heart, star or circle.
A small plastic squisher.
One large bread mix, containing wheat flour, yeast, salt and sugar.
One smaller bread mix, containing wheat flour, beetroot powder, yeast, salt and sugar.

What ensued was great fun. The instructions were really straightforward and easy to follow. The children, aged 7, 5 and 4, thoroughly enjoyed the whole procedure. The kneading of the dough was especially good craic. Síofra loved bashing and stretching her dough

I think we probably should have added a little more water to the smaller pink dough mixture as its consistancy ended up much less pliable than the larger dough ball. Despite that, we continued on and let both doughs prove for 30 minutes or so. The plastic shaper was then carefully removed and the bread was baked in the oven for approximately 30 minutes.

Drum roollllll

We were delighted with the result. The bread looked fabulous and tasted delicious. It was eaten pretty sharply by all of us, when still warm, with plenty of butter and jam.

To be honest, I was very surprised to see how much the children enjoyed making the bread. To date, I would usually only bake buns or scones with them. But I will now definitely be using this kit again and again. Looking forward to trying the other shapes and trying out different flavours of bread.

I have a strong suspicion that we’ll love the Chocolate Vanilla Star loaf

Various kits and accessories are available to buy on the website. Maybe a thought for an unusual but fun Christmas pressie for children of all ages.

Ribena on the go

Manic Mammy — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 11:28:44 +0000

Last week, much to the joy of my children, I received a few cartons of Ribena’s new Juiced Up! to try.

I love blackcurrants and my kids are big fans of fruit juice. They really enjoyed both flavours of this juice. They thought it tasted great and was thirst quenching and refreshing. I was happy to note the lack of additives, no added sugar, preservatives etc. Each carton contains pure fruit juice and apparently 1 carton counts as 1 of your 5 a day. All good news.

I can see these cartons being really handy to have in the bag when we head on days out to the beach, zoo, parks etc.

Unfortunately as they appear to retail at 99c each according to the Tesco website, they are too costly for me to use for the children’s everyday lunch drink: 99c x 5 children x 5 days = €24.75/week. The packaging and marketing remind me of Innocent smoothies and I presume Ribena Juiced Up! will compete rather well with these. But like the smoothies, I will probably hold off purchasing until I notice them in the supermarket at discounted prices or on offer.

Galway bay half marathon

Manic Mammy — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 12:55:13 +0000

After the hills of Dingle, we decided our next run would be somewhere flat. A google search later, we settled on Galway bay’s “fast, flat, fun and very scenic” half marathon on October 2nd.

I was looking forward to this run as I thought I’d find it much easier than Dingle. However, despite completing it in a faster time, I didn’t really enjoy it as much. I did like the fact that most of the route was along the salthill promenade and so close to the sea. I didn’t like the full belt of the wind as we ran out the causeway. I didn’t enjoy doing two laps of the same course to notch up the requisite half marathon mileage. Also I discovered that I much prefer starting a run early in the morning rather than waiting till 1pm.

I prefered the atmosphere of Dingle. I loved the music at the startline there, it got everyone in top form. There seemed to be more people along the route in Kerry too.

That said, the Galway bay half marathon was, to my eyes, well organised. The race packs contained a decent running top amongst other goodies. I relished the sambo in the finish pack and it was really nice to have a coffee in the tent after finishing as the day turned inclement. The free massages in the finishing marquee were also a nice touch.

Will probably think about doing this road race again next year but will keep my fingers crossed for less wind and I’ll know what to expect this time. Now I need to start some decent training as hoping to take part in the Clonakilty half marathon on December 11th. It looks to have quite a few hills on the route so will be ever so slightly more challenging.

Running up that hill

Manic Mammy — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:08:24 +0000

Saturday the 4th of September saw myself, my husband and a group of my siblings and pals take part in the Dingle half marathon.

It was an early start on a Saturday morning. Luckily the holiday home we had rented for the weekend was a stone’s throw away from the start line. We ambled down after kitting ourselves out in assorted running attire, fixing our race numbers to our tops and breakfasting on various porridge, granola, toast and yoghurt combinations.

The atmosphere on the quayside was brilliant. The sun was shining and the DJ played tunes to get us in the mood to run the miles ahead.

It was a most excellent day. We each ran at our own pace. The sun shone thoroughout the duration. The scenery around Slea head and along most of the race route was breathtaking. An absolutely stunning part of the country, it did the job of distracting me from my muscles as they began to ache. There were plenty of water stations and they were well spaced out which was just as well as the hills took their toll. The locals were out in force along the route to encourage and cheer the runners on. There were pace setters for those who wanted to keep a steady race time or beat a personal best.

I loved it and I will be back to take part in next year’s one. Check it out here. There’s also a full marathon and ultra marathon on the same day for those who are much fitter and braver than I.

Superb SuperSea Summer Camp

Manic Mammy — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:01:34 +0000

Oscar has just completed this summer camp and is raving about how good it was and how much he enjoyed it. It took place on Garrettstown beach. We were fortunate that the weather was relatively good this week and there were some waves. All equipment was supplied by the surf school. The children were kitted out with wetsuits, booties, boards etc.

So from 10am to 3pm, Monday to Friday himself and 15 other kids aged 8 to 12 years old had a blast on the beach. They had great fun learning to surf, kayaking, coasteering and cliff jumping. The instructors were excellent, I had no worries regarding Oscar’s safety. He was taught safety procedure, what to do if in trouble and good surfing rules and etiquette. After this camp he is now at the stage of being able to judge the waves and get up to standing on the surfboard.

It was an action packed week, he was exhausted most evenings. He made some good friends and most importantly had a really fun time. There was a good mix of boys and girls participating in the camp. Would thoroughly recommend it. The SuperSea camp cost €150 which initially did seem expensive. But after seeing what he got out of the week, I reckon it was good value for money.

He is now talking about saving to buy his own wetsuit and surfboard as he intends to continue surfing.

But how can they teach me to run faster? *

Manic Mammy — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:58:09 +0000

The beginning of the school summer holidays saw my middle three children eager to do something energetic. Some of their pals were doing the Bandon Athletic Club Summer Camp so that’s the activity they selected.

It was held in the Bandon Grammar school grounds which was great as in addition to outdoor running track and facilities, there was access to indoor halls should the weather turn inclement.

The three aged 5, 6 and 8 years old had a brilliant week. They really enjoyed the range of activities which included:

sprints
long jump
high jump
relays
javelin
hammer throw
discus
shot putt

The camp cost €65 for the first child and €50 for each subsequent sibling which I rate as good value for money. It ran from 10am to 2pm, Monday to Friday. I found it really well run. There was plenty of supervision and coaching. Each child recieved a certificate of attendance and a medal on the last day. They were chuffed.

Would definitely recommend.

* This was Fionn’s query when his older brother suggested he attend the summer camp for running training

Super Sugru Scissors Repair

Manic Mammy — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:10:38 +0000

This is a guest post from Oscar, our 11 year old son. He eagerly awaited the arrival of Sugru in our house as he had seen the demos on its website. He repaired a broken scissors handle with the wonder material. Now nothing is safe

Take it away Osc:

Today I did an experiment with a product called Sugru. Sugru is colourful silicone rubber used for fixing items. I tried to fix a pair of broken scissors. What was wrong with them was one of the handles snapped. So I got a small packet of Sugru to fix it. I first opened the packet and felt the play-doh like substance. It was surprisingly very soft. I then applied it to the broken part of the scissors. I spread the Sugru so one could get their fingers in the handle. Then after 24 hours I checked the scissors and the Sugru on the scissors. The Sugru had turned hard in the 24 hours that it was setting but it was still feel the rubberiness in it. So in other words it was a complete success. I am giving Sugru a rating of 5 stars. Excellent. I would recommend it to anyone.