Cruising for a Celebrity Chef Experience AND an amazing family holiday

When you hear the word cruise, you immediately envision a sense of relaxation, of peace, warm sunshine, cool breezes, exciting cocktails, sarongs and time slowing down.

You can hear the kids giggling as they play and imagine the endless amounts of amazing food and entertainment.

Ok, some parents (insert grin) might also smile in glee at the thought of kids happily entertained in kids clubs so they can enjoy some adult relaxation too like restaurant eating and deck lounging with a good book, going to the gym, walking about deck, having a nap without, "Hey mum, mum can you, mum look at, mum she hit me... every 3 seconds haha!!
Going on a cruise is like the ultimate family holiday I am sure, something for everyone packaged into a really safe way to travel where everything is taken care of for you, you don;t have to worry, you don't have to cook, you don't have to wash up, you don't have to rush, you can de-stress.

3 years ago we went on a holiday to spend some time with family on the opposite end of the country, and this was wonderful but this also involved for me as a single mother, a 2 hour car trip at very, very early hours of the morning, then airport navigation carrying a little one on one hip and one hand on another one and organising tickets, luggage, drinks, snacks, kids entertainments, jackets, shoes, toilet stops, Then a long flight with one child screaming for at least 40 minutes, both getting restless, one putting stickers on the sleeping man next to me, frequent toilet visits in that cramped space, drinks spilt, that was followed by another 5 hour drive to our destination which involved about 2 hours of crying from a fed up toddler, a few lovely days spent with family before doing it all in reverse but throwing in a flight change and a 30 minute window to dash from one connecting plane to another and onto a final plane with no entrainment causing cross kids and then waking up kids to get them off planes and drag them on another road trip home after so much rushing about already. I came home stressed, delighted to have spent time with my family, but stressed and realising wow, travelling with young kids is full on...

This is why honestly, myself, my kids and my mother are planning on taking a cruise ourselves soon as my kids next big holiday experience, I think travel wise it is going to be a holiday we can actually relax on and it leaves from Sydney which is just a short flight away! Yay
I know from friends that have done them with kids that a cruise is going to be perfect and is one where we can spend time just laughing, eating, having fun and relishing the moments. Where the kids are completely catered for and have the best time, which means happy kids = relaxed mum!

Going on a cruise.

It feels like the perfect holiday already, but imagine combining all of that with the utter thrill of a celebrity chef restaurant experience too...where do I sign up???

YES, that's right.

As if going on a cruise wasn't enough fun already now, with cruise agency you can actually book into a celebrity chef restaurant experience while on your cruise!

From Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant to Salt Grill by Luke Mahon to Share by Curtis Stone

Food is one of the biggest memories you take away from you when you travel.

I have often heard it said that one of the things people tend to remember most when they go on holiday, travel is the food.

I absolutely love the idea of not just enjoying a family holiday but having something like this to look forward as a special highlight, imagine, Jamie O's Italian food!!
I'm hungry just thinking about it!

Have you been on a cruise?

Bek xo

*images courtesy of Cruise Agency.
*Sponsored Post, Opinions my own. especially about going a cruise, I have literally been working on manifesting that and planning my deck lounging outfits ;)

Cherry Bomb Goat's Yoghurt Ice Creams

Every year it always feels like Summer and Christmas and all things happiness when cherries start to appear in the shops. The little, pretty red balls are such a refreshing dash of flavour and colour.

And nothing makes it feel quite like Summertime than beautiful ice cream.

This year my first new ice cream recipe for the Summery, Christmas season involved not just cherries but an ingredient that flavour wise matched them perfectly, a beautiful, creamy yoghurt I had not tried before CapriLac Goat Yoghurt.

This yoghurt is lovely and creamy and the natural flavour has just the right amount of tartness to make it a fantastic ingredient to work with. Goat yoghurt is said to be much better tolerated by a lot of people in regards to digestion as a healthy alternative that is easy to digest and can reduce tummy bloating (and all girls want that in the Summertime!).
It has the beneficial live and active cultures and the CapriLac brand is preservative free and naturally A2 and gluten free.
Found in Coles and Woolworths makes it readily available for families and it turned out to be popular with my kids too!

Cherry Bomb Goat Yoghurt Ice-creams

Ingredients
1 x 500 gm tub CapriLac Goat Yoghurt

1 & 1/2 cups cherries pitted. (Can use frozen too)

1/4 frozen cherries.

2 tablespoons raw honey
2 teaspoons organic vanilla paste
paddle pop sticks (food quality)

Method

• Divide the yoghurt in half.
• Prepare mold suitable for ice creams, (even plastic cups are fine)
• In a blender combine one half the yoghurt with the honey and vanilla. Blend well, set aside.
• Blend the other half the yoghurt with the cherries.
• In  the molds pour a layer of the dark yoghurt mixture and drop some frozen cherry pieces in.
• Top with the opposing coloured layer and keep going until the container is full.
• Use the pop stick to very gently swirl the two colours lightly together - only just!
• Freeze covered with cling wrap or a cover like 4Myearth until frozen.
• About 10 minutes in or when just starting to freeze add the pop sticks in, (they should stand up ok in the mixture by themselves).
• Run under warm water on the outside to loosen, remove and enjoy!

Notes

• To get a more jazzy and defined look freeze the separate colours one at a time and store the mixtures in the fridge. This will take some time but does look fantastic.
• You can add sweetener to taste for either layer as desired like raw honey, stevia, maple syrup, rice malt syrup.
• Try and add frozen cherry pieces in as well as they give a lovely texture contrast.

Toddler Tips

• Adjust to your child's preferred sweetness tastes. I find with little kids that the less sweeteners you use when young the less they need, give them a chance to taste sweet and tart foods with little added sweetener and then adjust from there as needed.

One of Bek's professional recipe creations. (c)2015RebeccaMugridge
Note: This was a sponsored post with Caprilac Yoghurt

Once Upon a Time with Disney Junior the Channel & Book Week

Disney Product Talk Draft

Story Telling is a magical part of life.

From a very young age children look on in awe at the stories and characters that unfold before them in books. They meet fairies, princesses and dinosaurs from the comfort of their own home and in the safety of mum or dads arms.
As the stories unfold they learn about believing in themselves, being a true friend and overcoming obstacles to reach their happy ending. Morals of stories stay with us through our life, which is why all cultures, all over the world have always enriched their children lives with story telling.

As we have just started our book week here, my house is full of excitement over books and characters and dress-ups for school parade and it is so wonderful to see kids interested in books and story telling. It warms an author’s heart!
Which is also why as an author and as a mum I am very excited about the new Disney Junior’s once upon a time story telling series.

“Disney Junior’s The Book of Once Upon A Time” is a locally-produced, interactive story-telling series hosted by Australian actor and playwright Kate Mulvany. Tune in for a story every day at 7:10pm on Disney Junior The Channel (Channel 709 for Foxtel subscribers), or anytime on the website

The second season of “Disney Junior’s The Book of Once Upon A Time” will launch in Book Week on Monday 24^th August with “Snow White and the Great Jewel Hunt”. (I know, awesome timing right??)

Later episodes will include new Disney stories from “Winnie the Pooh”, “Aladdin”, “Sleeping Beauty” and EVEN  “Frozen”!!! I can hear my two girls screaming now!!

And one of the most exciting features as well is how it is set up so that it is easy for parents to make storytelling part of children’s bedtime ritual because Disney Junior invites parents to settle down and share a magical moment with their little one every evening on Disney Junior around bedtime.
Then the “Land of Once Upon A Time” lullaby follows each episode, encouraging children to prepare for bedtime.
I can’t wait to try this out with my youngest.
I love that this helps busy parents establish that beautiful calming and enriching night time routine, let’s face it we just don’t all have the time to go to the library all the time and select and read through first appropriate books and then establish a routine.
The Disney Story room is such a great, easy way for parents to bring that routine into their children’s lives and calm them down for bed time at the same time, all the hard work is done, you just get to enjoy this quality time with your kids and then let them drift off to sleep with a mind full of wonder.

Check out the Disney Story Room HERE

The Book of Once Upon A Time features Disney stories that are available as eBooks from the Disney Story Central app, available to download from iTunes

DISCLOSURE:"Brought to you by Nuffnang and Disney

#reading #healthykids #sponsored #Disneystories #Disneystoryroom #books

Happy Storytelling!

Bek xoxo