Regular followers and friends on Facebook and Twitter will know that I'm a bit of a fan of Alton Towers, in fact we've just come back from our 5th visit in the last year.  The thing about theme parks is that for one day you can't think about clients or business and when you're being hurled around a rollercoaster at 80 MPH you can atleast forget the stresses and strains of business for just a few seconds, it's not that I don't love my business but it is quite demanding and Alton Towers is the perfect way for me to let my hair down!

So taking the mighty Ixus camera, 1 husband and 2 small girls we set off for Snowy Stoke on Trent on Wednesday afternoon.

 



  We stayed at the Best Western Moat House Hotel, supposedly 4 star and upon arrival I was given the news that I would have to sleep in a single bed, I obviously wasn't amused at having to sleep in a seperate bed from my husband of 10 years!!  Also don't be fooled by the photographs (or indeed the one used on the linking page) the hotel is right next to  retail park (which is handy for food, bowling etc) but it's definitely not as posh as it makes out.

We had a great time bowling though.


 



 
using a bit of slow synchro flash fun!

 
We never get great photos of us together because hubby is always pulling silly faces, I so wish he wouldn't do that!

 
Abigail took this one if him and you see he'll smile properly at her!

 
But never at me!!

 
Alton Towers was so flippin cold, I had thought that Blackpool was cold but it was positively barmy in comparison!


 
having a bit of fun with some high speed motion blur here!

 
Proving that only real men wear pink!!
oh and 2 end, 2 of my fave fishy things which are in SharkBait Reef


 



 
Oh, hang on, 1 more photo, this one where hubby had demanded (yes demanded) that I win him a Zippy cuddly toy!!

 
I hope you've all had wonderful half terms whatever you've gotten up to!   Back to a full schedule of work next week and thanks to the wonderment of Blackpool and Alton Towers I am fully ready to rock once more!!

My Family Rocks - Blackpool, the invasion of the Charltons

I can't tell you how amazing my family are, there are certain times when I get bogged down by business and then have motherly/wifely guilt that I'm neglecting them all, of course my business is 1 of the most important things in my life but nothing comes above my kids and hubby because without them none of the business or life in general would even be possible.  Sometimes when business  and life brings challenges they are the only people who get it hear it all, the only people you trust for advice so going away together doing our favourite things really is the biggest stress relief of all time.

On Sunday morning at 6am we all clambered into the car to go on an overnight trip to Blackpool, regular readers of my blog will know how much we Charltons love the thrill of a white knuckle ride so in the winter we get a little upset when the Theme parks close down, I think our last trip was in October when we went to Alton Towers, Drayton Manor and Gullivers Kingdom at Matlock Bath.

I have a new camera to add to my collection, I've been looking for one I can take to theme parks for ages but it had to be tiny and also give great image quality, as you can imagine this is a formidable request so I'm delighted to be the owner of a Canon Ixus 100IS, it really is a little wonder of a camera, it even has the same image processor as it's big daddy, my 40D!

Here's a few highlights of our days together, all taken with the Ixus -

 



 
This fountain is part of the new sculpture garden at the entrance of Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

 
Hubs took this one of Iain and Looby while Abigail and I were riding on the Steeplechase.

 
This time we were lucky because Looby was old enough to go on most of the rollercoasters and Abigail is now big enough to go on all of them.

 
I was so pleased that Iain came along, he had a brilliant time with us all and none of the kids killed each other which was nice!

 
Inside the river caves, I love this ride because just like the Tardis it's bigger on the inside!!

 



 



 
Thank you my awesome family for keeping me sane and making life the most fun it could possibly ever be!