Snap, bang, wallop what a picture.

I've not shared a week of photos for a while and it's been so hectic lately I knew I'd have some fun ones to show you.

It's been my ambition to read Harry Potter to Big Boy since we took him to The Warner Bros Studio Tour. Then when I was waiting to meet a friend at Waterloo Station I spotted this beauty in the window of Foyles Bookshop. I'm putting it on his Christmas list and hoping we can start reading it before too long.

Neo has been sleeping on Big Boy's bed for a while now and he is so settled when he's there that we thought we'd have a bit of fun with him. While he snoozed away we carefully placed (very light) toys on him to see what would wake him or make him go all 'Buckaroo.'

Both the boys are obsessed with anything to do with the fire service so I wasn't at all surprised to find them playing while dressed like this.

Now this week wasn't just about everyone else and I went to a book reading by Robert Newman in London. It was pretty low key and there was wine so I had a bit of a natter with him afterwards.

It's not often me and Hubbie get to have a night out together so when we were invited to the opening of a club we decided to go. It wasn't a late one, but it was nice to have an excuse to dress up and have some grown up time. 

Then - of course - it's back to normal. And yay to that. 

The one where my boy has a wand lesson

Until last week my boy had never heard of Harry Potter. It's hardly surprising as he's only 4 so he's not quite at the reading level required for the books and he's a bit too young for the films too. His first response was pure joy as we arrived at Warner Bros Studio Tour and he spotted the flying car. We were making our first visit there to see the latest attraction, the Hogwarts Express. We started off in the Great Hall which gave Hubbie an opportunity to do his Harry Potter impersonation.

What is it grown up Harry ?

I think one of my favourite moments was when the boys had a wand lesson. My boy started off then Hubbie grew a bit jealous so he joined him. It was great and they really got the hang of it - as you can see.

Daddy and Son wizard training

Of course we couldn't resist a visit to platform 9 3/4 and me and the boy had a good go at getting this trolley through the wall. This was just a precursor to the main event though...

I'm an old hand at trolley management son

Yes, it's the actual Hogwarts Express. It really is very impressive with the realistic steam and the carriages that appear to have been only just occupied by the students. A lovely touch is the seats were you can have a go at being in a scene from the movie too.

"Oh my goodness is it real ?"

Despite the excitement of seeing the train there was yet more squealing of joy when we spotted the Knight Bus (and that was just Hubbie). My boy asked if we could go home by Knight Bus and we explained that as he isn't a wizard yet it wouldn't be possible this time. He has been telling everyone that Harry Potter sleeps on the bus at night so I know he was paying attention.

"Can we take this bus home Mummy ?"

"It's the flying car !" was yelled so loudly that I swear it was heard all the way back in Croydon and that's some feat as the studio tour is miles away in Watford. We had expected that as this was an after school treat trip he'd fall asleep in the car going home, but he was far too excited. He kept saying, "When I'm a big boy I can watch Harry Potter can't I Mummy and Daddy ?"

Daddy indicating 

Driving with Daddy 

We loved the Warner Bros Studio Tour a lot and considering that only one of us has actually read the books and watched the films it really made an impression on all of us. We'd definitely go again and spend a lot longer visiting and taking in all of the things to see. I haven't even mentioned the Quidditch tutorial, the real life Diagonalley or the fantastic model of Hogwarts at the end.

You can book tickets here: http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk

Disclosure: the lovely folks at Warner Bros Studio Tour invited us to a preview evening to see the Hogwarts Express