FAMILY WEEKLY UPDATE: 24TH - 30TH AUGUST 2026 | HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, BLOSSOM BIRD & A LOT OF EDITING!
Updated: Sep 28
Family Weekly Update
This week's Family Weekly Update covers 24th–30th August 2026, and I seem to have spent a large part of it trying to catch up with my enormous editing backlog!
I finally edited several theatre vlogs that have been sitting waiting for me for far too long, while Alice and Leo enjoyed some quieter time at home.
We did manage to get away from the computer though. We went out for lunch with my parents, Alice joined Lawrence and me for the press night of High School Musical at The Lowry, and all four of us headed into Manchester to see Blossom Bird at Central Library – a lovely family show that ended up being a particular hit with Leo.
Here's what we got up to.
💻 Monday – Tackling My Editing Backlog
Monday was very much a work-at-home day for me.
I started by editing Weekly Vlog #462 and writing the Family Weekly Update to go alongside it.
Once I'd finished that, I moved on to one of the many theatre videos sitting in my editing backlog – my Malory Towers theatre vlog and review.
I'd actually filmed the video quite a while ago but simply hadn't had time to sit down and finish editing it. It felt good to finally get another older video finished!
While I worked, Alice and Leo entertained themselves playing with their toys and watching some TV.
Not the most exciting day of the summer holidays, but a productive one for me!
🎬 Tuesday – Even More Editing & Plenty Of UNO
Tuesday was another editing day.
This time, I worked on my theatre vlog and review of The Ballad of Johnny & June and my Disney On Ice vlog and review.
Again, both had been filmed a while ago, but this was the first chance I'd had to actually sit down and edit them.
I also managed to get a few jobs done around the house in between editing and played some games of UNO with Alice and Leo.
UNO is still very popular in our house – especially with Leo – so there is rarely any chance of me getting through an entire day without being asked to play at least one game!
🍽️ Wednesday – Lunch At Coppice Wood Farm
On Wednesday, the children and I went out for lunch with my parents at Coppice Wood Farm.
We left home at around 12.20pm and arrived at about 12.35pm.
Alice and Leo really like going to Coppice Wood Farm because it has a small children's play area, so they can go off and play while we're there.
As it was the summer holidays, they were also running a Kids Eat Free offer.
My parents and I all chose the carvery, while Alice and Leo had chicken nuggets, chips and garlic bread. Their meals even came with a free ice cream for dessert.
My parents very kindly paid for my meal too.
Before we left, my dad gave Alice and Leo a couple of pound coins each to use in the little toy vending machines.
Alice ended up with two superhero squishies, while Leo got a mini dog figure and a little squishy monster.
We left the restaurant at around 2pm and were back home by about 2.15pm.
Once we got home, Alice and Leo spent some time on their tablets while I returned to – you guessed it – more editing!
This time I worked on a Book of Mormon theatre vlog and a Matilda vlog.
These weren't just slightly overdue. I'd actually filmed them a few years ago and, for some reason, had never finished editing them!
At least I'm finally making my way through the backlog.
🏀 Thursday – High School Musical Press Night At The Lowry
We spent Thursday morning getting a few jobs done around the house, and I did some drawing in the afternoon.
Then it was time to get ready for a much more exciting evening.
Lawrence, Alice and I were heading to The Lowry for the opening and press night of High School Musical, while Leo went to spend the evening at my parents' house.
Alice had never seen High School Musical before, so although I already knew Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay and all the songs, she was going into East High without knowing anything about the story.
There was loads going on for press night before we'd even entered the auditorium. Alice was given some pom-poms, there was a High School Musical photo backdrop with basketball props, we discovered a karaoke booth and there was even a recreation of Sharpay's dressing table. Our karaoke was absolutely terrible, but Alice had a brilliant time!
We were sitting in Circle Row C, and the view was fantastic. There was even entertainment before the show officially started, including East High cheerleaders teaching the audience a Wildcats cheer.
And then it was time for the actual musical.
I thought the production was fantastic. I loved the staging and choreography, particularly the huge company numbers, and Alice sat completely absorbed in it all. She especially seemed to love the big dance routines.
I actually came away thinking I'd enjoyed the stage production even more than the movie, while Alice came away as a brand-new High School Musical fan.
By the time we got home it was around 10pm, so it was pretty much straight to bed for the children.
👉 You can read all about our evening in my High School Musical family theatre review, or head over to All About Theatre for my full 5-star review of the production.
📚 Friday – Blossom Bird At Manchester Central Library
On Friday, we headed into Manchester to Central Library to see Blossom Bird.
The performance was completely free, although tickets needed to be booked in advance.
We arrived with enough time to have a little look around the children's section of the library before heading upstairs to the Music Library, where the performance was taking place.
The set-up was really lovely for the children. There were giant cushions on the floor for them to sit on, while the adults sat on chairs behind them, so Alice and Leo found themselves a cushion and settled down ready for the show.
Blossom Bird follows Pipit, a lost little bird without any feathers who is taken in by a family of wildflowers. With their help, Pipit begins to learn what it means to belong, to grow and to trust in who they really are.
The story was brought to life by two performers alongside the Pipit puppet, with storytelling, songs and movement used throughout. It was a really gentle and lovely story with a nice message about belonging and being yourself.
The show was designed for children aged around 4–8, so Alice and Leo were right within the intended age range.
The whole experience lasted around 45 minutes, and afterwards the children had the chance to meet the puppets, which was a lovely way to finish the performance.
We all really enjoyed Blossom Bird, but I think Leo gave it the best review when he told us afterwards that it was "the loveliest show he'd ever seen."
Considering how many shows Leo has been to over the years, I thought that was quite a compliment!
I've now shared our full family review of The Blossom Bird, as well as my ★★★★★ All About Theatre review.
After leaving Central Library, we headed over to Manchester Arndale, where we had some lunch in the food court before doing a bit of shopping.
Our first stop was The Entertainer. Alice chose the Skye figure and vehicle from Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie. She'd bought the Rubble vehicle on our shopping trip the previous week, so she's gradually building up a little collection.
Leo chose some Minecraft figures and, unsurprisingly, another UNO game – UNO Zero.
I also spotted some little Star plush toys from Disney's Wish that had been reduced to just £1 each, so I bought one for Alice and one for Leo. At £1 each, I couldn't really leave them there!
We also went into B&M, where Alice and Leo each got a Numberblocks figure set.
After we'd finished shopping, we headed home.
It had been a really lovely day out in Manchester. We'd seen a lovely family show for free, the children had been able to meet the puppets afterwards, we'd had lunch and done a little bit of shopping – and Leo declaring Blossom Bird "the loveliest show he'd seen" was probably the perfect way to sum up how much he'd enjoyed it.
🏠 Saturday – A Quiet Day
Saturday was a quieter day at home after our busy couple of days out.
I got a few jobs done around the house and then spent some time drawing on my iPad, while also fitting in some more video editing.
Of course, we also had to try out UNO Zero, which Leo had bought from The Entertainer the day before.
I played some games with Alice and Leo, and considering how much UNO we've been playing recently, it was nice to have a new version to try.
So Saturday wasn't a particularly exciting day, but it was actually quite nice to have a day at home getting a few things done, doing some drawing and, inevitably, playing yet more UNO!
🃏 Sunday – An Afternoon Of UNO
On Sunday, we headed round to my parents' house specifically for an afternoon of UNO.
Leo gathered up all of his different UNO games to take with us, so we had plenty to choose from!
We ended up playing UNO Zero, UNO Flip Extreme and UNO No Mercy, and my mum had put out lots of snacks for us to eat while we played, including crisps, chocolate fingers, popcorn and chocolate mini rolls.
Although I think Alice may have eaten most of the crisps and chocolate fingers!
Alice joined us for one game of UNO, but after that she decided she'd had enough and went off to watch TV instead.
We don't have BBC iPlayer at home, so she took full advantage of being at my parents' house and watched all the Zog episodes she could find on BBC iPlayer, followed by some Numberblocks.
Meanwhile, the rest of us carried on with our UNO marathon.
We ended up having so much fun that we've decided we'd quite like to make UNO Day a regular family thing. We're thinking of getting together once or twice a month, taking Leo's UNO collection round to my parents' house, putting out some snacks and spending the afternoon playing.
Considering how quickly Leo's UNO collection seems to be growing, I don't think we're going to run out of different versions to play any time soon!
Final Thoughts
That was our week!
It was definitely a week of two halves. Monday and Tuesday were largely spent at home while I tried to make a dent in my rather ridiculous video editing backlog, before things became much busier later in the week.
Our two theatre trips were very different but both ended up being highlights.
High School Musical was a huge, energetic production and such a fun press-night experience, particularly getting to watch Alice discover the story for the first time.
Then the following day we went from a huge musical at The Lowry to the much smaller Blossom Bird at Manchester Central Library – and Leo declaring it the loveliest show he'd seen.
We also squeezed in lunch with my parents, shopping in Manchester and, naturally, plenty of UNO.
And somehow, amongst all that, I finally managed to edit several videos that have been waiting on my computer for far too long!
🎥 Watch Weekly Vlog #466
You can see more from our week in Weekly Vlog #466, including our family lunch at Coppice Wood Farm, High School Musical press night at The Lowry, our trip to Manchester Central Library for Blossom Bird and our Manchester day out.
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