ManicMammy's Blog » activity centre https://manicmammy.com Reviews, news, family, wine and me Wed, 19 Sep 2012 08:48:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Best boy’s birthday party evah https://manicmammy.com/2011/12/14/best-boys-birthday-party-evah/ https://manicmammy.com/2011/12/14/best-boys-birthday-party-evah/#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:35:34 +0000 Manic Mammy https://manicmammy.com/?p=2661 Time is really flying and Oisín turned 10 years old a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately its not the best time of year for a birthday weatherwise but he’d been to his mate Brian’s birthday party in West Cork Secret during the summer and was fairly insistent he wanted to celebrate his birthday there too.

To be fair, its a 10 year old’s paradise. We were lucky in that we got a bright, albeit quite cold December afternoon for the party. But the boys had an absolute blast. Finbar, head honcho at West Cork Secret, recommended the boys wear very old clothes or a wetsuit  if they had one and to bring a change of clothes and footwear and a towel so they could avail of the hot showers after all the play.

The day started off with the boys being split into 2 teams and tackling puzzles and and go kart races in one of the fields.

Then came the race to see which team could transfer enough water along the pipes to fill the container at the finish line. This initially was quite a test for the boys but it ended up a very close finish as they began to cooperate very well.

By this stage they were fairly wet but none seemed to mind. Next the army obstacle course. Under the netting, balancing on the ropes over the water, through the tyres, over and under the wooden logs in the water. They ran around and around. The finale was the monster water slide. They loved it and I lost track of how many times they went down it. By this stage, soaked to the skin and covered in suds but having a ball.

As it was getting dark, they decided they’d had enough and headed to the warm showers and changed into dry clothes. Finbar served homemade pizza cooked to order in the wood burning oven. Needless to say, demand was very high after all the activity. The pizza was delicious.

Oisín had a brilliant unforgettable party.

Many thanks to all at West Cork Secret. Would highly recommend it. There is no doubt that we’ll be back!

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Review of LeapFrog Learn and Groove Activity Centre https://manicmammy.com/2007/06/10/review-of-leapfrog-learn-and-groove-activity-centre/ https://manicmammy.com/2007/06/10/review-of-leapfrog-learn-and-groove-activity-centre/#comments Sun, 10 Jun 2007 18:40:25 +0000 Manic Mammy https://manicmammy.com/?p=7

Muscial activity centre toy that keeps our 7 month old baby happy.

Santy brought this activity centre over 18 months ago for our then 5 month old, son. Now, its getting great use from our 7 month old youngest daughter.

The baby sits in the fabric seat in the centre. which rotates fully,  and is surrounded by  five different toys. These vary in use, have different sounds, light up, require different skills to use. For example, 5 toddler piano keys, each a different colour, numbered one to five that play a different style of music when pressed from “jazz” to “swing” to “tango” or that recite their number, a pretend turntable with a movable lever to “scratch” the record, a disco ball to rotate. The child can support him or herself by standing or by sitting and letting the seat support them. The activity centre does not move, this is not a walker-type toy and so is unlikely to topple.

It’s height can be adjusted to best suit the size/height of the baby. When not in use, it can be collapsed down for easy storage.

The only minor hassle I have with it, is that it can be fiddly to clean as the surface has too many grooves for dirt to accumulate. That said, the fabric seat, which is the most susceptible to getting dirty, is removable and can be washed separately.

The loudness of the music can be varied using a switch on the underside of the activity table or can be switched off if desired.

To date, we have had no problems with this toy and both of the kids who have used it have enjoyed it.

Rated 4/5 on Jun 10 2007 by manicmammy
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