Father's Day Family Day Out!

Our plan of spending Father's Day at the beach with a picnic was completely ruined when we pulled back the curtains yesterday morning and were greeted  with big, dark clouds and rain.

We opted for a lazy morning instead and decided to go over to Xscape for the afternoon instead.

Ian chose our lunch destination so we went to TGI Fridays. (Good call Ian ;)) 

Annie was so excited about this motorbike, she wouldn't get off it for ages!

They were really busy (but they were the least busy option in Xscape! Ian's first choice was Nando's but they were queuing out the doors!) so we had to wait a while to be served. Luckily I'd packed Annie's little Frozen figures to help keep her entertained while we were waiting.

Annie was fascinated by everything. On the wall, just across from our table were all the Toy Story figures mounted in frames!

Waiting for food silly selfies!

 (That's a slush, not a cocktail!)

Annie had chicken burger and chips, though for a while she couldn't decide between that and meatball pasta! (Indecisive like her mama.) She ate it all up and had a blue slush that looked so much like a cocktail that I had to taste test it first ;)

Ian and I had a feast! We had Jack Daniel's sesame chicken strips and mozerella dippers to start. I swear, those Jack Daniel's chicken strips were just sent down from the heavens. If you haven't tried them, you really need to! Don't be put off if you don't like Jack Daniels, I absolutely hate the stuff but this glaze is divine. We both chose the same main- French Dip burgers and Sam Adams cheese and bacon fries. I cannot put into words how delicious the cheese and bacon fries were. I can only urge you all to go and try them!

Since it was such a special occasion, we decided to all be naughty and have dessert too.

Ian had the Apple Waffle Crunch, I chose the Popcorn Brownie Sundae and Annie had the cutest dessert ever! It was a Sweet Shop Sundae. It came with a little bag of chocolate drops, gummy worms and popping candy! I think our eyes were bigger than our bellies though and we couldn't finish the desserts, as nice as they were.

As we were leaving I just couldn't resist going over and taking a photo of Iron Man. Everybody who knows me, knows that I am Iron Man mad. Ian pointed him out to me as soon as we got to our table!

After our meal, we headed out to the Xplore Soft Play for Annie to have a play. Ian and I sat down with a coffee and watched Annie playing and making friends.

After soft play, we headed over to the arcades for a play. We couldn't resist!

Annie was actually surprisingly good at whacking the aliens and didn't like it when Ian tried to "help" her by hitting them with his hand, he's such a cheater! We earned loads of tickets and when we'd spent all our change up, we exchanged our tickets for a little Unicorn toy for Annie, she loved her present and played with it all the way home!

We had such a lovely day out. Ian really enjoyed himself and loved his presents too. Family days out are my favourite, I really am so lucky to have such a wonderful little family!

Father's Day!

I'm actually surprised at how organised I was for Father's Day this year. Usually, for any occasion, I'm running around town at the very last minute desperately trying to find gifts. This year I had it all planned out. Most of Ian's gifts have been stashed down the side of the fridge for weeks, apart from the aftershave I bought him today- a final touch.

I'm really pleased with his gifts, I put a lot of thought into it and I really hope he likes them too. Annie's really excited to give them to him tomorrow but is adamant that it's actually his birthday- whatever makes her happy, right?!

(Please excuse my crappy photos, they're iPhone photos and my house has almost no natural light whatsoever!) 

I saw this X-Men tshirt and I just had to buy him it. It was £6 from Primark so it was an absolute steal, too! We're big X-Men fans in this house and we're hoping to go see the new film soon!

A girl I follow on Instagram actually posted about this book a couple of weeks ago and being the avid Game of Thrones fans that we are, it was such a perfect idea! You can buy this here at the bargain price of £2.99 (RRP £9.99!) or you can nip down to your local The Works and pick a copy up there.

Now, Ian moans constantly about never having pens at work. So I thought this little cheapie would do the trick (until one of his operatives pinch it, no doubt!) It was only 99p from Card Factory, as was the keyring. I just thought he could use a new key ring.

I went to The Perfume Shop to find Ian some new aftershave (yes, generic gift I know- but he really needed a new one!) and after sniffing a spraying cards for a while I finally settled on Versace Eros.

It smells so nice and it had 10% off today too, so that made it even better! As well as the aftershave, I got a FREE Versace Parfums weekend bag. Ian's old hold-all is literally falling to bits and we've just never remembered to buy a new one so at least now we don't have to! He goes away for training and meetings here and there (not to mention our trips to visit his family in Wales) so this will come in handy and is actually my favourite gift out of them all. (Useful and free, could it get any better?!)

You can get this fragrance here from The Perfume Shop. I absolutely love this aftershave so I would definitely recommend it.

And we finished Ian's Father's Day presents off with a little card from Annie. As you can see, she's drawn a lovely (very flattering ;)) portrait of Ian on the front of it. We usually make our own cards but I saw this cute little card in Card Factory for 59p so I really couldn't resist it! And the little space on the front for your child's drawing means it still has that special little touch.

Now his gifts are all in the little gift bag that Annie chose for him and are stashed safely down the side of the fridge until the morning. I really can't wait for him to open them!

I absolutely love giving gifts. I love to see the face of the recipient as they open something that you've put a lot of time and effort into choosing. I much prefer giving gifts than receiving.

I hope all you Daddy's out there have a lovely day tomorrow. I would also just like to take a moment to realise that not all family units have a Dad or Father figure, and not everybody's Dad's are with us but I do hope you all have a lovely Sunday whether you will be celebrating Father's Day, or not.