July

July saw us going on our first family holiday as a 4 (well it was a couple of days gatecrashing my parents holiday really), we took Zara to the seaside for the first time and had her first experience of paddling in the sea and I shared my guide to Life with a Baby and Toddler

August

August was a pretty quiet month on the blog, with it being school holidays it meant my husband was home and so our days were filled with trips out and about. These included Washington Wildfowl and Wetlands and Adventure Valley,  oh and I got a new car and had to change my views on School Run Mums!

September

September saw Oscar meeting a Dragon, one of my favourite posts of the year as I admitted I Don’t Like Babies. I caught up on our summer holiday adventures and shared our experiences on days out to The Alnwick Garden, Blue Reef Aquarium, South Shields and The Seaside and Durham Botanic Gardens.

October

October saw lots of reviews and competitions on the blog as I launched my Knees Up Mother Brown Christmas Guide, we had a fantastic time testing lots of toys and gifts and I’d like to thank all the PRs and companies for allowing us to feature your products.

November

November saw Zara turn 2 years old and I wrote her a letter, I expressed my concern over the Mammy, Mummy, Mam, Mum issue, I shared Oscar and Zara’s first nursery photos in My Beautiful Children, I shared the story of how I made my husbands Birthday Wish Come True, we went to Durham Lumiere Festival, Kirkley Hall Zoological Gardens, Beamish Museum and I shared the fun we had making our Annual Christmas Cards.

December

After a really busy year of blogging, it was time for Mother Brown to take a blogging break in December.

I’ve had great fun looking back through all my blog posts in 2011 and I hope you’ve enjoyed looking back at them with me. It was a crazy year but a fantastic one. Stick with me for 2012 to see what adventures the Brown household gets up to next….

Right practical things first, there are good baby changing facilities in the entrance area along with a cafe with plenty of high chairs. We took the Phil and Teds explorer with us on our last visit and found it easy to move it around. Access is good and I can’t see us having any problems when we go back with the double buggy. Parking is probably the trickiest part, we park on the promenade and it can be difficult finding a space at times but we usually manage to get one on our first drive past.

On our first visit we decided to use the baby carrier to take Zara around so she could get a better view of everything.

Letting daddy do the hard work

A baby carrier definitely helps the younger babies to appreciate the fish more

Zara really loved the Monkeys in the Amazon area (ok and so did I)

As a baby, Zara loved the underwater tunnel

Our next visit was when Zara was around 15 months old, and Oscar 5 weeks old so we took the Phil and Teds with us. Zara got a lot more out of the experience this time although Oscar just slept the entire time as 5 week old babies tend to

Zara absolutely adored the otters and could have spent all day watching them

There really were Otters who obligingly put on a great display for us

Zara was also fascinated with watching the seals this time round

She would have sat here all day spotting seals

I can see seals Daddy

There is also a small outside play area near the seal enclosure which allowed Zara to test out her newly found walking skills

Walking the plank with Daddy

Now I have to admit this isn’t the cheapest day out at £8.30 per adult (children under 3 free) but it is one of those places which we will no doubt return to as there is so much to see and do. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the area