Last week we took Olivia on her first proper holiday, to Centerparcs Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire with my Mum and towards the end of the week my younger sister (I am trying to break the habit of calling her my 'little sister' as she is a good three inches taller than me and 28!!!)
Our accommodation, an Executive Duplex Apartment, was generally very good. There is wildlife everywhere at Centerparcs and we regularly had ducks, geese, squirrels etc. hanging out on our patio. My Mum came out once morning to get the wet swim stuff she had left draped over the garden furniture to find a swan pecking away at her swimsuit!!
Olivia went swimming for the first time and seemed to enjoy it. She has a swim float which is like a giant rubber ring with a pair of pants suspended in it so she is sitting inside it. She did her best to keep water levels up by dribbling constantly the whole time but seemed to have fun. Grandma kindly took charge and sat with her by the side of the pool once she had enough while Mummy and Daddy recaptured their misspent youth on water shoots and rapids. I had been worried that she would do a massive poop in the pool and everyone would have to be evacuated but luckily she only pooped while she was sitting with Mum by the side of the pool and it was ably contained by the swim nappy she had on under her costume.
It wasn't all baby related fun and games though as Grandma and Auntie A_ were kind enough to look after Olivia while Mummy and Daddy sneaked off for a yummy curry in one of the on site restaurants. Grandma and Mummy also had a 'spa experience' morning in the Aqua Sana Spa where we enjoyed various saunas and steam baths. Some of the other visitors didn't seem to understand the concept of quiet relaxation though as everywhere we went there seemed to be the same two women talking very loudly about where they were taking their kids on holiday next year and how monkeys steal your windscreen wipers if you go to Longleat!
The devil is, as they say, in the details though and there were a few little niggles such as holes in towels and sheets and missing bed linen. One real problem for people with slightly older kids was than even during the course of briefly running the hot tap for normal hand washing the water became hotter than the fire of a thousand suns!! I would certainly need to advise any children in my care to make sure an adult supervised them with hand washing and bathing.
One real disappointment with the holiday was that the promise of the website that ' Bikes for all the family are available to hire when you arrive' turned out to mean that bikes for all the family (as long as they are over 6 months) are available to hire when you arrive. We got to the cycle centre only to find that babies had to be 6 months and be able to sit up unassisted and hold their head up wearing a cycle helmet to be able to travel in one of the infant trailers. This was particularly annoying as had we known this prior to booking we would have gone later in the year. We will be writing them a letter expressing our disappointment about this and also about the dangerously hot water.
Anyway overall we did have a relaxing and fun week and enjoyed it so much that we have already booked another trip, this time going with my sister and her family as well as my younger sister and Mum. We can only go for the weekend though as my sister's kids are school age and it is just prohibitively expensive to go in school holidays.
I'm looking forward to it already and Olivia will be old enough to cycle with me by then.
Here is the family M by the lake.
Our accommodation, an Executive Duplex Apartment, was generally very good. There is wildlife everywhere at Centerparcs and we regularly had ducks, geese, squirrels etc. hanging out on our patio. My Mum came out once morning to get the wet swim stuff she had left draped over the garden furniture to find a swan pecking away at her swimsuit!!
Olivia went swimming for the first time and seemed to enjoy it. She has a swim float which is like a giant rubber ring with a pair of pants suspended in it so she is sitting inside it. She did her best to keep water levels up by dribbling constantly the whole time but seemed to have fun. Grandma kindly took charge and sat with her by the side of the pool once she had enough while Mummy and Daddy recaptured their misspent youth on water shoots and rapids. I had been worried that she would do a massive poop in the pool and everyone would have to be evacuated but luckily she only pooped while she was sitting with Mum by the side of the pool and it was ably contained by the swim nappy she had on under her costume.
It wasn't all baby related fun and games though as Grandma and Auntie A_ were kind enough to look after Olivia while Mummy and Daddy sneaked off for a yummy curry in one of the on site restaurants. Grandma and Mummy also had a 'spa experience' morning in the Aqua Sana Spa where we enjoyed various saunas and steam baths. Some of the other visitors didn't seem to understand the concept of quiet relaxation though as everywhere we went there seemed to be the same two women talking very loudly about where they were taking their kids on holiday next year and how monkeys steal your windscreen wipers if you go to Longleat!
The devil is, as they say, in the details though and there were a few little niggles such as holes in towels and sheets and missing bed linen. One real problem for people with slightly older kids was than even during the course of briefly running the hot tap for normal hand washing the water became hotter than the fire of a thousand suns!! I would certainly need to advise any children in my care to make sure an adult supervised them with hand washing and bathing.
One real disappointment with the holiday was that the promise of the website that ' Bikes for all the family are available to hire when you arrive' turned out to mean that bikes for all the family (as long as they are over 6 months) are available to hire when you arrive. We got to the cycle centre only to find that babies had to be 6 months and be able to sit up unassisted and hold their head up wearing a cycle helmet to be able to travel in one of the infant trailers. This was particularly annoying as had we known this prior to booking we would have gone later in the year. We will be writing them a letter expressing our disappointment about this and also about the dangerously hot water.
Anyway overall we did have a relaxing and fun week and enjoyed it so much that we have already booked another trip, this time going with my sister and her family as well as my younger sister and Mum. We can only go for the weekend though as my sister's kids are school age and it is just prohibitively expensive to go in school holidays.
I'm looking forward to it already and Olivia will be old enough to cycle with me by then.
Here is the family M by the lake.
What a fun trip.
ReplyDeleteSorry the whole bike thing didn't work out, that sounds like it would have been a lot of fun...
...and aren't grandmas sooooo great.