The Lorax in 3D

Today Mike, Rachel and I were lucky enough to be invited to see a preview of Universal's new film The Lorax in 3D at The Odeon in Leicester Square. Entertainment started an hour before the actual film with face painting, Lorax style moustached photographs and lots of Lorax themed food including melon trees in edible grass. Here is Rachel's review of the film.

The Lorax is a magical furry animal who speaks for the trees. I had a Lorax face painted on my cheek.

At the beginning there is a boy called Ted who lives in a plastic town with false trees. He goes out of town to get a tree for the girl he really likes. He goes on his motorbike and goes a crazy wiggly windy steep path to get out of town. He meets a person called once-ler who lives in a funny crazy house which hits you with a boot when you ring the doorbell and has crazy robot hands and things.

The once-ler tells Ted how and when he met the Lorax and all about the trees and where they all went. It was once-ler who chopped them all down.

And then when Ted came back to town he met O'Hare who told him to go straight home and never leave town again. But he did and he kept going back to see Once-Ler who told him the rest of the story with the fish and bears and birds.

The Once-Ler took Ted's old grandfather snail and swapped it for a tree seed. Ted took the seed back to town and plants it where everyone can see it and everyone loves it. O'Hare tries to get the seed because he doesn't want trees to make clean air or make the place messy, but everyone disagrees with him.

At the end of the film lots of other trees start growing everywhere and the Lorax magically comes back down and Ted gets the girl he likes and all live happily ever after.

My favourite bit was the end when the Lorax comes back down and there are lots of trees and the animals come back.

Dad's best bit was Once-Ler's house kicking Ted. He also liked all the free food and the popcorn.

Mum's best bit was the bears and animals and all their funny ways, especially when they all slept in Once-Ler's home; I liked that too.

I loved the whole film and I give it 9/10. Mum gives it 8/10. Dad gives it 7/10 because he wants more funny bits.

Hail Stone Exploration

We have had loads of Hail storms this week, we even videod one


Mum said they've had lots of hail in America with big storms and she found this photo of a massive Hail stone, isn't it amazing


Because I've hurt my head I'm off school and Mum thought it'd be fun to do something about the hail because it's Earth Day next week.

I most wanted to know what Hail is, so we looked it up and it says on the Internet that it is ice. That means that it is so cold in the clouds that the rain freezes in clumps, just like water turning to ice cubes in the freezer.

Mum thought it would be fun to put some water in our ice cube tray and make some ice.


I thought cubes were a bit boring so we have ordered these fun shapes for the summer.


It was amazing to make our own ice and feel what hail must be like in the clouds. You should try it.

When the ice cube was ready it didn't look so boring and when it started melting it looked amazing, it took much longer than the hail to melt though.

Moon Dough Snack Shop

Moon Dough Snack Shop



We were sent the moon dough snack to review, here is Rachel's review.

I really liked the feel of the moon dough, it is really soft and smooth and light and fluffy. Mum and I were really surprised with how it feels and love moulding it.



The snack shop has two ice cream cones, one ice cream maker, a popcorn maker, two popcorn buckets, a scoop and a pretzel maker. These are the colours that the moon dough comes in: brown, white and yellow.



First I made a white vanilla ice cream and it worked really well and looked lots like a real ice cream.



Then I made some popcorn; this took quite a long time and it was fun and it was worth it for all the popcorn. You put whatever colour you want your popcorn to be in the special moulds in the top, then you wind it forward with the handle and the popcorn pops out into the big box. When you've made what you want you scoop it up and put it in the buckets.


It looks really cool at the end.


I made a pretzel as well with the mould. I wanted it to have holes like a normal pretzel so I was careful not filling it to big so it leaves holes.

Then I made a chocolate ice cream with the brown moon dough. It was only small so I used all the left over crumbs of moon dough and put them in the ice cream area and squashed it onto the chocolate and it made a it looked like a vanilla ice cream topped with loads and loads of chocolate sauce.

It's so easy to use and loads of fun and not much mess and easy to tidy away. It's so much better than play dough and feels really great. I love it loads.

The Pirates! In an adventure with Scientists!

On Saturday I took mum and dad to the cinema to see The Pirates! In an adventure with Scientists!. On Blue Peter I saw Barney go to the studios when they were making the film and he did a little bit of the film, that's why I wanted to see it.

The film is brilliant, really funny and clever and silly and with loads going on all the time. Mum and Dad laughed at bits I didn't know why but that's ok because they enjoyed it lots.

The main person is the Pirate Captain who isn't a very good pirate and is very nice. Then there's Darwin who goes from nasty to really good. The really bad person is Queen Victoria because she tries to eat rare animals and a dodo.

My favourite bit was the dodo when it was trying to fly. Dad liked the pirate ship and Mum liked the dodo.

Everyone should see The Pirates! I give it 11/10 :)

Drawing Erik from Happy Feet Two

At the end of the DVD for Happy Feet Two there are two cool programmes. One is all about the penguins and seals and Crill in the film - that is really interesting.

The other programme showed us how to draw Erik and it made it look quite easy. Mum and I had a go and I think they look really good.

Can you guess which one is mine?

Thanks for nominating us for MADS 2012

Mum just told me that my blog has been nominated for the MADS 2012 blog award.

I don't know who nominated Major Love of Film but thank you, I am so happy. I am super smiley happy!!

This is so exciting that people like my blog, and think that it's good for family fun. I have so much fun doing things and writing about it.

Thanks again Rachel xxx

Happy Feet Two

This is the second film we've been asked to review by Warner Bros as a Blogger for the Tots100 Film Club and it comes with high expectations since Happy Feet is in our top 10 films ever.

We received the triple play set which includes the Blu-Ray disc, DVD and ultraviolet digital copy. I highly recommend these triple play discs since it means you can watch the films you love on your phone, tablet or computer wherever you are - ingenious.

Here is Rachel's review of the film:

The film is about Mumble (from Happy Feet) and his son Erik and how he gets lost from his mum when he wonders off. He went with his friends to a land with different penguins and a special flying penguin who was actually a puffin.

Mumble goes looking for Erik and finds him and brings him home but their mum is stuck with all the emperor penguins when the ice moves and they have no food. Erik and the other penguins all help get food for the emperor penguins and they all work together.

There are these crazy crill which are like prawns. They are called Bill and Will and they're really funny and silly.

I liked the film just a tiny bit less than the original happy feet but I still really like it. I give it 7/10 and so does mum.

Writing Funny stories with mum

Today mum showed me how to write stories with her. She wrote a story and then we secretly write in words. When you open it it's always funny and great.

You should do it. I even got dad to do it. Here are the words mum wrote and two stories.

Once upon a time there was a ......
And a .......
Who lived in a .......
Near a .......

One day they decided to go to .......
They took some .......
And some .......
And put them in a .......
They went by .........
It took them ...... To get there

When they arrived they ......
Then they ......
They had lots of .......
Then they were .......

When they got home they .......
And they .....
Then they ate .....
And they went to ......

They all lived ...... ever after.
The End

The Museum of Electricity (by Emma)

The second free museum we went to in Christchurch today was the Southern Electricity Museum of Electricity.

We had no idea what to expect from this museum but again were thrilled with what we found. You walk in and straight away there are buttons to push and levers to turn and lights that flash and a tram to climb on. It's a child's paradise, big or small.

I found my highlight in the appliances through the ages displays, with old mobile phones, kitchen gadgets, TVs and record and cassette players. I loved it because it took me back to my childhood and because Rachel was completely bemused by all these strange looking things.

A TV with no remote?
A mobile phone the size of a brick?
A computer that needs a tape to start?
An iron you heat on the oven?

Mike was really impressed with the half hour demonstration by one of the members of staff. He did introductions with experiments to magnets, static electricity, motors, electricity generation and loads more besides. That alone was amazing and kept Rachel completely engaged.

It is amazing to see such a wealth of information available for free, if you're ever in the area for an afternoon please do pop in and give them your support.

Red House Museum (by Emma)

Rachel was asking us all weekend to go to a Museum, so today we treated her to two museums in Christchurch, both of which were free!!

The first was the Red House Museum which is a converted Work House with displays of Victorian lifestyle, archaeology and rotating exhibitions which at the moment is The Romans.

We didn't know whether it would be the right level for Rachel but it was perfect, we spent two hours and she loved every second. There were quizzes and colouring and tasks and loads of varying displays which caught her attention.

The archaeology displays was particularly great because she's doing a term on "the big dig" this summer at school and so she was thrilled to get a head start.

If you have an inquisitive child who loves to find out new facts then The Red House Museum is well worth a visit. Here are some photos we took.

Hop

Hop is about a bunny called Ebie who is going to become the Easter bunny but he doesn't want to, he wants to be a famous drummer. Ebie runs away from Easter Island and goes to Hollywood where he meets Fred. they have loads of funny adventures and eventually have to save Easter Island from the evil chick.

I liked the bit when the air controlling chick starts dancing and makes the flying chicks fly randomly everywhere, that was funny. I also liked it when Ebie pooed jelly beans - very silly.

Dad liked it when Carlos the chick turned into a bunny. Mum liked the look of the chocolate and sweet fountains, so did I and I'd like to see a fountain of sweets in real life.

I really liked the film, it was hop-tastic. 10/10 for all kids and adults.

I make shortbread

It was a Rachel day today and so I could do whatever I wanted with Mummy. I chose to make some shortbread biscuits.

I found an easy recipe using google, then I got all the ingredients, then I measured them with some help and mixed them with a little help and then cut them out on my own. Mum did the oven stuff. It was great fun and easy and they are sooooo yummy.

Here is my video telling you how to do it

Have a go too, they're great.

Emma (mum) here with the ingredient measurements
250g (9 oz) plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
225g (8 oz) butter
100g (4 oz) caster sugar

Oven at 170C for 10-15 minutes

I can draw on Mums tablet

Mum has got a tablet, not an iPad like grandad's but an android one which is smaller. I like them both and don't know the difference really.

Mum has downloaded some drawing apps which are quite good and the draw something game which I really like. I like the way you can change colour and pen size and rub it out if you make mistakes. And it's really easy because you just use your finger.

I think all kids should get to draw like this because you don't have to waste resources like paper and can keep the picture on your computer.

My dad says this watch is amazing but mum and I like the peacock and penguin best.