Now the kids are older they need more to keep them occupied on holiday than just holidaying in a caravan, god knows I wish I could afford to take them abroad, but sadly as a single parent this is not within my scope. I'm sure they understand although it doesn't stop them hoping, so Center Parcs it was.
I had a romantic idea of a few days away just me and the kids barely any technology and lots of outdoorsy stuff. For the most part and surprisingly, it worked.
We took the cat to the cattery the night before so that we could pretty much get up and go. I wanted to get there as early as possible to "get my money's worth"!! First mistake was telling Teen1 that we couldn't get into the accommodation until 3pm, this, in his head, meant that he could move as slow as a snail when he got up pottering about getting stuff ready. Of course I'd told him to get everything ready the night before and I'd packed the clothes, surely it doesn't take that long, does it?!!
After a bit of shouting, we finally got in the car at about 9.15M so not too much later than I wanted and made our way to Maccy D's for a breakfast to set us up. We don't really live too far away from the new Woburn CP and we were soon there by about 10.40. This might seem weird going on holiday not too far away from where you live but for me it was bliss. Generally it takes us about 3 1/2 hrs to get to our holiday destination. Check in was painless I'd done it online so it was just a case of queueing to get our key and parking up. As we'd got there early there wasn't much of a wait.
After we parked up, we set off to explore the park and find our accommodation. The sun came out and it was really warm. We decided once we found out where we were staying to go back to the car change into shorts and go collect our bikes from the hire shop. I'd booked this online so it was a case of turning, the man getting us the right size bike adjusting it and off we went. There were soooo many bikes we couldn't believe it !
I'd also pre booked table tennis for 1.30pm for something to do whilst waiting to get into our accommodation. So off we went to the plaza and played for an hour. I then had the idea that if we pulled the cases and carried the bags to the lodge I wouldn't have to sit in a queue of traffic in the hot sun to drive to the lodge. This was a great tides, in principle !! Pulling the cases up the hill on the other hand made it feel like a stupid idea haha. By the by in the end, we made it in, unpacked and decided to go swimming.
The kids loved the pool. Not as big as some of the larger CP's but park wasn't as busy as some of the larger ones by all accounts. I did think it would keep them entertained most of the day but a couple of hours were enough really. The rapids were hilarious and they made me go down one of the slides. Can't remember what it was called, typhoon twister or something, but we could all sit in a rubber ring together which was great. Well, all I can say is oh my god!!! We screamed and laughed all the way down, mainly at Teen1's face as unfortunately he drew the short straw and ended up going backwards down it. I wish I could've taken a photo of his face.
We decided to order from the takeaway at evening. Kids had pizza and I had noodles. Noodles were a bit bland but the kids scoffed the huge pizza and chips. We then started the jigsaw puzzle I decided in my wisdom it would be a good "family" thing to do. Another of my romantic ideas !
The next day was time for the "Arial Adventure". Well, I thought I might actually die. But dramatic maybe and I don't know what I was expecting but good god!!!!! We climbed through trees on wires and planks held on by a safety rope. We did zip wires and Teen1kept laughing at me saying are you ok mum?!?! I'd get from one obstacle to the next tree and stood hugging the tree at the other end. The zip wire across the lake at the end was great fun once I'd plucked up the courage to jump off !
We treated ourselves to the pancake house for lunch afterwards...
After lunch we decided to take a chance and go the the plaza to see if we could book an activity. I didn't want to book too much in before we went as I found it difficult to work out what we would be wanting to do when and was a bit unsure what the weather would be doing. I managed to get us an indoor tennis court for an hour. We did have a real laugh, it was really good fun and really nice to do something just the 3 of us. Trying to get Teen1 out of the house to do family this at home is a total no no so it was a refreshing change. Tea tonight was the Italian restaurant Strada. The food was absolutely lovely. I'd pre booked but it wasn't overly busy. I had to pay a deposit when I booked and they took this off the bill which was a bonus as I'd completely forgotten about it haha.
Sunday we went swimming again, swam with frogs, yes frogs. Couldn't believe it. We went to go in the Rapids and because they go outside, the tiny little frogs hop from the pond and a couple fall in. We thought it was funny, Teen2 not so much. She got scared, God knows why as they were tiny little things, but kept grabbing my arm. We all know how much it hurts when you are wet, they are wet and they cling to you. "Get off me" became our funny saying for the rest of the hol which has continued as a private family joke since. We had some lunch and played indoor tennis again, along with a bike ride around. Gotten tell you by day three my arse was very sore 😂 hadn't been on a bike for years but finally made it up the hill to our lodge and was very pleased with myself !!
I agree it doesn't look steep but looks are deceiving !! Hiring bikes was one of the best things we did. It meant you got around a lot quicker. A couple of people had said to me get bikes and a couple said you don't really need them but I was glad I did. If we had bikes at home I'd have taken them with us, but it as reasonable enough to hire them.
I must say at this point that this post isn't sponsored and all views are my own, I just wanted to share the lovely family time we had away. CP, however, if you are reading and want to send us to another park for free that would be totally acceptable hahaha.
Monday was our last day, we packed up and decided to go swimming one last time, looking out for frogs as we went around. One or two last times down the typhoon slide before getting a hot sausage roll for lunch and headin home. Think Teen2 was missing his mates and PS4 by then by I feel pleased that we didn't rely totally on technology while we were away, although I have to say the wifi around the park was bloody brilliant ! Had it everywhere you went, or at least week did. (Got a be able to keep up with a bit of social media while you are away don't you 😉)
All in all the most brilliant time. Whether it was because it was somewhere different, (we always holiday in my parents caravan) because it was just the 3 of us ( we always holiday with my parents) or just because the weather was kind, who knows. Maybe it was because I'd decided not to cook or make lunch while we were there. This was my holiday too. We loved it. Now, to save or not to save for next year that is the question, the other is can I afford it? Probably not !!!
Toodle Pip for now Doodlebugs
xx
