FAMILY WEEKLY UPDATE: 11th – 17th May | Karate Kid The Musical, The Detective Dog & Trafford Centre Shopping
- May 19
- 6 min read
Family Weekly Update
This week was a lovely mix of family theatre trips, shopping days, blogging and quieter family time at home.
We also had two very different theatre trips this week with The Karate Kid The Musical at Palace Theatre Manchester and The Detective Dog at Z-arts, both of which ended up being such enjoyable experiences in completely different ways.
Here is this week’s family weekly update, sharing everything we got up to throughout the week.
🧹 Housework, Editing & A Quiet Start to the Week
Monday was quite a quiet day at home.
I spent most of the day catching up on housework and editing some YouTube videos before the week became busier later on.
Sometimes it’s nice having a slower start to the week, especially when there are theatre trips and family plans coming up.
💻 Blog Posts & Catching Up
On Tuesday, I wrote a few blog posts and finished off some of the housework that I hadn’t managed to get done on Monday.
It felt good to have a bit of a catch-up day and get some things ticked off my list before the rest of the week got busy.
🛍️ Trafford Centre, Primark Disney Finds & A Come Shop With Me Video
On Wednesday, after dropping the kids off at school, I got the bus to the Trafford Centre.
When I arrived, I started with breakfast from Greggs — a bacon roll and a bottle of orange juice — before heading to the Haribo shop to pick up some of our favourite sweets that you don’t usually see in other shops.
After that, I walked across the bridge to Trafford Palazzo to have a look in Primark. I really enjoyed seeing all the Disney items they had in, so I decided to film a Disney come shop with me video for YouTube while I was there.
I did end up buying a few bits for the kids before having a look around Primark Home and then walking across to ASDA, where I picked up a few clothing items for Alice.
After that, I headed back to the Trafford Centre for lunch at KFC before buying some Krispy Kreme doughnuts, as I had a coupon for 12 for £12.
Once I’d finished, I got the bus home. Lawrence had got home at 2pm and picked the kids up from school, so when I got back I showed them what I’d bought for them, and then we played on the Nintendo Switch together for a bit.
🎭 Speech Therapy & The Karate Kid The Musical
On Thursday morning, I took Alice to school and then took Leo to speech therapy before taking him to school afterwards.
Later that day, Lawrence and I went to the matinee performance of The Karate Kid The Musical at Palace Theatre Manchester, so my parents picked the kids up from school for us.
We got the tram into St Peter’s Square before making the short walk down to the theatre, arriving at around 2pm ahead of the 2:30pm matinee.
As always, one of the first things I did when we arrived was head straight over to the merchandise stand. There was quite a good selection available, including T-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, keyrings, pins, pens, magnets and programmes. I ended up buying a programme and a magnet for my collection before we headed into the auditorium.
We were seated in Row A, seats 29 and 30 in the stalls, with seat 30 being the aisle seat. Although Row A sounds extremely close to the stage, it was actually the third row back and gave us a fantastic view throughout the show. The seats were comfortable, there was plenty of legroom, and I never felt too close to the action.
Before seeing the musical, I had never actually watched any of the Karate Kid films, so I went into the production completely fresh. Lawrence, however, is a fan of the original movies and said afterwards that the musical stayed very faithful to the spirit and story of the film.
The story follows teenager Daniel LaRusso after he moves to California with his mum and struggles to fit in at his new school. Things become even harder when he finds himself targeted by Johnny Lawrence and the Cobra Kai karate students. But after forming an unlikely friendship with Mr Miyagi, Daniel starts learning not only karate, but also lessons about balance, patience, discipline and believing in himself.
Even without any previous connection to the films, I found the story really easy to follow and genuinely engaging. It did take a little while to fully find its rhythm, but once it did, it became a really uplifting and enjoyable theatre experience.
I loved the relationship between Daniel and Mr Miyagi, and the mix of strong performances, exciting choreography, 1980s atmosphere and heartfelt storytelling made it such a lovely afternoon at the theatre.
👉 You can read more about our visit and my shorter review HERE
👉 And you can find my full review on All About Theatre HERE
🎮 A Quiet Friday Evening at Home
On Friday, I spent the morning tidying the kids’ rooms before writing some blog posts and doing a bit of video editing.
Once the kids were home from school, we had a relaxed evening playing games and watching TV together, which was just what we needed after a busy few days.
🐶 The Detective Dog at Z-arts
On Saturday, we headed to Z-arts Manchester to see The Detective Dog.
We’ve always loved Julia Donaldson books in our house, and The Detective Dog has been one of Alice and Leo’s favourites for a long time, so we were really excited to see the stage adaptation again after previously enjoying it at Waterside Arts last year.
The show started at 11am, and we decided to get the bus there as it stops almost directly opposite the venue, which makes Z-arts really easy to get to with children. We arrived at around 10:15am, which gave us plenty of time before the performance started.
One of the children’s favourite things about visiting Z-arts is the downstairs play area with the giant red bus that children can climb inside. As soon as we arrived, Alice jumped straight into the driver’s seat. It’s such a lovely little feature and always helps make visits to Z-arts feel like more than just a theatre trip.
Before the show, there was a fun “guess the smell” activity inspired by Nell’s incredible detective nose, and Leo absolutely loved moving between the scent boxes trying to work out each smell. There were also ear defenders available to borrow, feedback forms and a colourful post box for children to post their responses after the show, which all helped make the experience feel really thoughtful and family-friendly.
We were sat in Row D, seats 10–13, and had a really good central view of the stage. The seating is nicely raked too, so the children could see really well.
The show itself was imaginative, warm and full of charm. Based on the Julia Donaldson and Sara Ogilvie book, it follows Nell, a clever little detective dog with an amazing sense of smell and a love of books. When all the books mysteriously disappear from school, Nell sets out to solve the mystery.
The production used puppetry, music, projection, British Sign Language and scent technology to create a really creative and accessible show for younger audiences. Alice and Leo were completely engaged throughout, and they especially loved the moments when Nell came into the audience.
One of the funniest parts for them was when Nell bounced a ball into the audience and accidentally hit Daddy on the head — they thought that was hilarious.
After the performance, the children were able to meet Nell in the foyer, which Alice and Leo absolutely loved, especially Alice as she has always adored puppets. Seeing Nell up close made the whole experience feel even more magical for them.
Afterwards, my dad picked us up from Z-arts because Lawrence had to go straight to work. When we got home, I made us all lunch, and then we played on the Switch, played with the kids’ toys and watched a movie before bed.
👉 You can read more about our visit and my shorter review HERE
👉 And you can find my full review on All About Theatre HERE
✍️ Reviews, Reels & Homework
On Sunday, I spent time writing my review for The Detective Dog and creating the social media posts to go with it.
I also edited my Disney come shop with me video and helped the kids with their homework, so it ended up being a fairly productive end to the week.
🎥 Watch Our Weekly Vlog
If you’d like to see everything we got up to this week, including our trips to The Karate Kid The Musical and The Detective Dog, you can watch this week’s family weekly update vlog over on YouTube.
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