Going back to the first Tuesday of the Easter holidays we had a day out with Grandad and Anne.
We went on the train to Reading and then on to Oxofrd. We loved that.
Things then got even better as we rode on a bus to the river!
And then we boarded a boat for a Thames river cruise. It was brilliant, especially when Grandad managed to talk the captain into letting me drive the boat for a little bit. How cool was that?
On the train on the way back we were even allowed to sit in the luggage racks, we loved that. Thanks for a great day out.
Wednesday was the big one....my birthday! Seven no less, can you believe that? I was very considerate and got up at 5am so Dad had plenty of time to see me before he headed off to work. I'm sure Mum was pleased with her lay in on her day off too.
We had a great morning playing with my new toys before we headed off to the cinema to meet Dad fresh from work. On the way though I managed to rip my trousers somehow and spent the afternoon with my bum hanging out. We watched the Film Hop about a man who becomes the Eastrer bunny, so it was right up my street really. After the film it was time for Pizza Hut...I love birthdays.
We got home and got busy with the cake:
Hmmmm, cake:
Alan and Hayley made an evening visit, and as brilliant as my present was, the real highlight was the small polystyrene chips in the box with it, they were thrown everywhere like a blizzard.
We had a nice day with Auntie Christine on Thursday. We painted some easter eggs and made some lovely easter puppets before I fell asleep in my usual place on Uncle Ian's bit fo the sofa.
I had a totoally brilliant hunt the Easter Chick session with Auntie Christine using her cold/hot/boiling seeking technique.
Den and Gail paid me a birthday visit in the evening.
I love going out in the garden with Uncle Den.
Alan came to our house to look after us on friday morning. We made him take us to the park to begin with.
Then it was Wii time. Super Smash Mario brothers to be exact. I loved it, Alan loved it and when Dad got home from work he loved it too. So much so we played it all afternoon until Mum got home from work.
So a big thanks to everyone who took us out, looked after us and played with us over the holidays.
And of course to everyone for making my birthday such a gloriously drawn out and exciting affair this year.
Saturday then, or was it still Friday night when we were dragged out of bed and stuck in the car?
I don't know, but it was still dark when we got up. Still, it was for the greater good, we were off on holiday.
After many false starts, cancelled accomodations and all the rest of it we were actually going.
We drove to Poole, by the time we got there it was daylight at least. We drove our car onto a great big Ferry and in no time at all we headed out to sea (via Poole harbour and past the Sandbanks chain link ferry on the way).
We waved England goodbye for a week from the deck:
It was lovley on the boat, there were nice seats to snuggle in, a cafe that sold coco pops and best of all a room just for kids that had a lovely big screen showing Disney films.
We were soon at the other end and it was time to return to the car and leave the boat.
We had the usual trip around the side streets of Cherbourg before Dad finally understood what the Sat nav was trying to tell him and we were off towards our house.
It was weird driving on the wrong side of the road.
But we felt quite at home as nearly all the cars on the dual carriageway were British ones.
As we drove further south the number of GB badged cars grew less and less and due to a flash of brilliance by Mum we were soon pulling into our farmhouse. We wasted no time setting up for lunch outside:
The house had a really lovely big garden with some swings:
And our very own meadow/wood with a stream at the bottom of it:
We loved exploring that.
There was also a lovely doggie who lived next door. He was excited to see us and loved us stroking him through the fence.
We like a dog behind a fence.
Even though it did make throwing his ball for him rather difficult.
We even didn't really mind having to go to the Supermarket for some supplies.
Even though I did get pretty tired by late afternoon.
We were up nice and early on Sunday morning and made a massive camp in our bedroom out of chairs, a clothes airer and loads of bedding we didn't use.
We also helped ourselves to the cushions from the downstairs sofa to make it a bit more cosy.
We had some breakfast (croissants of course, but best of all we were allowed those yoghurts in a squeezy tube) and then headed out.
We went to Clecy, the nearest town for a mooch about. Like good English people we desperatley sought a parking space and parked in it, only to find we were miles from the town centre or the river (where all the action was) and that there was loads of parking everywhere. Mum thought the place was deserted and that maybe all the locals had been abducted by aliens?
We made our way to the river Orne and found plenty of life. And more importanlty plenty of places to hire a boat to crusie the river. We couldn't decide between a pedalo or an electric motor boat.
The motor boat won out, why pedal? We were supposed to be taking it easy on holiday after all.
I had a drive:
And so did I:
And Mum enjoyed the scenery and the wildlife spotting:
She was over the moon when we nearly mowed down an otter swimming accross the river.
Yeah, everything was just great until my hat blew off and landed in the water. But in a great team effort of Dad's boat driving, and Mum holding Ned who leaned right out of the boat it was soon retrieved....it was a bit soggy though.
Next on the agenda was the mini golf i'd spotted further up the river. I took charge of the scores:
And after 18 holes of tense competition, Mum emerged victorious!
It was hot, thirsty work so we had a lovely cool Fanta afterwards, and a go on the bouncy castle they had at the golf course/Cafe:
Yeah, France seemed to be big on bouncy castles. We certainly had no problem with that, unless we were all bounced out:
We headed back to the house and decided a BBQ was in order:
And I discoved a new found love for mexican spiced chicken drumsticks!
We headed a bit further afield on Monday and took a trip north to the coast where the D-Day landings had taken place. I was really interested in all this, especially after Uncle Alan had been showing me on the map where all the battles were last Friday.
We started off at Grandcamp Maisy on the Western end:
We wandered way out to sea on this pier thing.
I didn't like it much, you could see the waterunder neath us.
We wandered up the sea front until we came to the main square where there loads of squashed starfish on the pavements. We made Dad have Moules for lunch so we could all try them (we didn't like them much, but he did).
And then we walked back to the car (again, parked in true British style, miles away from where we wanted to be). By the time we made our way back the tide had gone out so we could walk back along the sand.
And our little pier now stretched out over dry land (well, damp sand).
We got back in the car and headed for a place called Longues Battery, Dad had done some research and this place seemd to have a lot of big guns still left in their bunkers.
We got a bit sidetracked on the way by Omaha beach though. It was lovely, miles and miles of golden sand with no one really on it. We parked up (this time in a very frnech style, right next to the sand) and got the beach gear out:
The wetsuits soon followed and it was paddling time:
But it was soon wetsuit time for me too:
Before the long walk back up the beach:
Nothing like it would have been nearly 67 years ago though......
Once were dried off and refuelled (Fanta of course) we headed off in search of the guns again.
We drove along the coast until we arrived at Longues Sur Mer battery. It looked like it was going to be really cool and once i'd bought some post cards for my scrapbook we were off accross the headland.
There were four of these massive gun bunkers built by the Germans to defends the coastline. We loved exploring them.
I didn't really know what they were for but they made excellent places for hiding and climbing.
I loved it, one of them was even a bit blown up where it was taken. There was a command post too, this is had a lovely bridge accross to it.....lets just say that Anlgo-Spanish relations may have taken a little downturn while I was stood on it.......
We'd had such a good day we were out way longer than we thought we'd be so we had to have a McDonalds on the way back to the farmhouse...it even had a playground outside? How come they don't here?
We had a bit of a lazy one on Tuesday morning and hung around the house until after lunch.
We sat out in the garden and looked longingly at next doors swimming pool that went unused all week:
We did a bit of cuddling up:
And I made Ellis look like the peg queen of Normandy:
And we generally took it easy:
In the afternoon we headed to the model village in Clecy, first stop was a great big bouncy castle in the shape of a train. We loved it.
Even though I did need help to climb a high section from Mum or Dad until Ned suggested I took my socks off for a bit more grip. Big brothers are helpfull sometimes I suppose.
Then it was on to the model itself, we were a bit surprised as we thought it was outdoors but once it all kicked off we loved it. There were trains zooming everywhere and even real smoke from the chimeys.
Mum really liked it when the lights went off and everything lit up.
Once we'd had our fill and checked off everything on the list of things to spot that we'd been given we were off to the bouncy train again, although we did get off for an ice cream:
There was also a little train to ride round on, you know us, suckers for a little train:
We had a lovely picnic by the river:
We had a little baugette left which we decided to throw for the ducks:
Well, Ellis was throwing it for the ducks, I was trying to land mine on a couple of old people on a pedalo....
We had a bit of an explore, Dad was really keen to get up on the viaduct as he'd seen people wandering about up there earlier in the day.
I spotted a steep wiggly staircase that seemed to be the route to the top, so we scaled the heights and took in the view:
Wednesday we headed into Bayeaux to see the tapestry.
I didn't know (or indeed particulalry care) what a tapestry is.
I'd heard all about it and was well excited.
We had a wander round town, and looked at all the weird fish and cheese at the market.
And then we headed into the building to see the tapestry itself. Because it's so old and under it's own special lights wew weren't allowed to take any pictures of it. We did get a special audio tour to listen to though for kids only. It pointed out all the good bits for us as we moved along.
It really was very long indeed, good job iI took to the buggy.
I loved it, I love my history, especially if theres a a good old fight and some kings involved.
We sat out in the courtyard and mulled over what we'd seen whilst eating some baugette, very french:
We had another wander around Bayeaux, which was really quite nice as it goes.
Yeah, the buildings were nice, but the chocolate shop was better:
And the sweet shop was pretty good too, although I think sweets may be bad for your teeth:
And miracles of miracles we finally found a park, France seems remarkably light on these (or maybe we're spoiled a bit at home?):
Thursday was a big day, our visit to Festyland (like Crealy but in French).
Even though directions were scarce and the sat nav didn't know where it was we finally found our way there.
Our first stop was the merry go round:
Then the train:
Then the boats:
And then best of all, the cars:
Or pink motorbikes of course:
There were also rather more unusual rides like this one:
I tried this but very nearly tipped the boat over.
The pirate boat was a lot more stable, I love pirate boats and this one was world class:
And the lady that ran the ride was really friendly, she liked me, a lot:
She was really nice and made sure a little one like me was enjoying myself, I was:
Three goes later and Dad had to get off because he felt sick, sadly I had to go with him.
I got to stay on for another few goes on my own.
I also got a taste for roller coasters, me and Dad stayed on for four laps without stopping.
There were some lovely horses to ride, just like Crealy:
There was a Beast ride, like at Crealy too, but it was too high for pictures, way above the trees.
There was also a caterpillar ride that parents needed to operate themselves, here's Mum on the controls:
I think it was quite a responsibility for her, especially when a load of french kids got on the ride too.
We decided that the swing merry go round was also the best we'd ever been on:
It was super fast and swung right out!
As usual we were pretty much the last ones to leave the park.
All too soon it was Friday, our last day. We had a relaxing morning in the garden.
Lizard spotting, there were quite a few cool little lizards that came out for a spot of sunbathing.
I named them 'Croaky' and thought it was hilarious.
But you scared them off more often than not.
Mum made me a daisy chain tiara:
And we spent quite a while gathering garden ingredients for a nice stew (mostly grass, interesting leaves and dandelions):
All mixed up with some water in the cooking pots. Fortunately I also decided I like washing up:
We also picked some wild flowers to make a rather attractive table centrepiece:
Once we'd had enough of being lazy (and we ran out of pringles) we headed back to the river for a bit more boating.
But this time I really fancied a pedalo:
My little legs weren't much use for pedalling the thing so I made myself comfortable.
While the top powerhouse team of me and Mum did the real business:
After a much needed ice cream we headed for a nearby town called Falaize, birthplace of William the Conqueror. This meant a castle to visit:
Even I love a castle to visit:
This one was the birthplace of William the Conqueror so we got anothe cool audio tour to listen to.
And loads of twisty steep steps to climb up:
But most cool of all was the games rooms that were placed here and there aroud the castle. Every now and then a room with comfy cushions and a selection of medieval games would appear. We found one with shut the box in it and I gave everyone a good whooping (with a score of just 1).
So that was our French week all but done and dusted, we had a lovely time in the all the sunshine and didn't even miss Cbeebies or CBBC.
We had to get up a bit earlier than we would have liked on Saturday to make sure we got the ferry home okay.
But we just so happened to have two small ice creams in the freezer that needed eating, quality breakfast or what?
We were soon on board the ferry and heading for home, waving France au revoir:
We got home just after lunch and had a lovely time going through our toys and what have you.
Sunday was of course Easter, so it was a sort of early start for the egg hunt:
Even I was quite taken with it all this year and was glad the Easter bunny hadn't forgotten us what with us being on holiday and all:
After visits from Auntie Trish and Mark and Uncle Den and Auntie Gail (all laden with Easter eggs, yum, thanks!) it was round to Kimi and Marney's place for a barbecue.
Abi and Faye were there as well as Yanna and Fen so it was quite a gathering.
Mum went to work on Monday so we spent most o fhte day at the park. Fin from school was there with his sister so we played with them for a ages.
Yes, I was the scary monster chasing them all!
We picked Mum up from work and then took her out for a picnic for tea, at another park of course.
Mum looked after us on Tuesday morning, we had a low key one and played some board games and the like.
Then in the afternoon we made an erupting volcano for my school project (nothing like leaving it until the last minute). We had to mix vinegar, washing up liquid and red food colouring before dropping in some bicarbonate of soda. It went everywhere! Hopefully the video should appear soon....
Back to school and nursery today.
I was quite excited about it all actually, I had a lot to catch up on with my friends.
Just as a side note, we've found this really funny this afternoon (you'll need sound on):
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