Return to The USA

The USA was the first pretend visit that we even did and so it had been a long time since we had ‘been there’! Yet it remained one of Penny’s favourite pretend destinations and she was very keen to go back. I’ll be honest – we are obviously surrounded by American culture in the UK and so after a 13 hour school trip to London on the Saturday, the pretend USA was definitely a nice easy option for us.

Lunch

What visit to the USA would be complete without a visit to the Golden Arches? There is a fairly new McDonalds which has just opened in our village and we hadn’t actually been so this was the perfect opportunity to rectify that. We even bumped into the kids baby sitter who works there and she played some games with them while we ate.

Bowling

Bowling is a bit of a family favourite but we hadn’t taken Freddie since he was a really little baby. He absolutely loved it! He cried when it wasn’t his go and loved carrying the bowling ball by himself! He is freakishly strong.

They didn’t make us wear bowling shoes any more which made me a little bit sad in a retro kind of way but it was a definite hit as an activity. Perfect for a rainy day (it was actually very sunny but the next rainy day we will be there)!

Donuts

The local pier by the bowling alley sells hot donuts and I think both a pier (lets call it a boardwalk) and donuts can 100% qualify as an American experience. 

It was a lovely sunny day and the kids clothes were super cute – I think that they look like the sky. Happy memories,

Arcade Games

After bowling we had a fab time at the arcade with our friends! The best thing of all – we didn’t spend a penny and none of the kids realised that they were just playing the demo. Outstanding free fun… And Penny on the motorbike reminded me of Grease 2 when Michelle Pfeiffer sings ‘cool rider’ (Grease 2 has a song about Bowling too) and so I insisted on us listening to that all the way home.

Tea Time!

Hot dogs and corn were the order of the day with cheesecake to finish off! We watched the Disney Channel in favour of Cbeebies which gave us a more American feel and before tea we had played a game of baseball in the back garden, which I think the dog enjoyed more than anyone! We bought a little kids baseball kit for eBay for about £5 and the kids loved it. Definitely one to hold onto for the summer.

 Disney Time!

Although I would argue that all Disney movies could be classed as American, we wanted one that was set in America. It was between Pocahontas and the Princess and the Frog.

I’ve got a real soft spot for the Princess and the Frog and Anika Noni Rose (who plays Tiana) had once sent Penny as signed picture which has made us love her even more and so it was a no-brainer really. We had some little Mickey Mouse shaped bowls of American Candy which we bought from the American section of our local Tesco and really enjoyed the film.

Apart from the bit where the firefly dies. 

If you enjoyed this, have a look at the first time we created an American themed day