family Archives – Mummascribbles

Despite my last post being about how exhausting it is holidaying with kids, we did of course have a wonderful holiday last week! We went to Diss in Norfolk with the other half’s family and the in law’s had hired us a gorgeous holiday home to stay in.

I’d seen it online but the photos did not do it justice! There was a huge kitchen, a side room with a pool table, a big sitting room, five bedrooms and a swimming pool, all set within the most stunning grounds with gorgeous views!

The first couple of days were pretty quiet, opting to stay at the house with all the family having fun in the pool.

On the Sunday, my father in law had arranged for a couple of ladies to come in with a load of food that they cooked on the BBQ for us all! It was fantastic – they even did the washing up despite us having a dishwasher!

On the Monday we were supposed to be heading to Great Yarmouth with a friend of mine who lives nearby but sadly that couldn’t happen. We’d then planned to meet the bro in law & family down there once they were back from the doctors with our nephew who had suspected (and then confirmed) croup, but they got back too late so it was just us. We had lots of fun on the rides in Joyland…

Zach then had his first ever donkey ride and we ate fish and chips for dinner.

On Tuesday we stayed in while everyone went out. The dog was with us on holiday so we’d said that we’d stay home with her. It was nice to have a chill out day with just Zachary although he was climbing the walls by the end of it. Even with all that space to run around!

On Wednesday we’d decided to head to nearby Bury St Edmunds. I’d had a little look and it’s a historical market town and luckily has a market on Wednesday’s with around 80 stalls. I do love a good market town and I’d also discovered a brilliant looking park. As soon as we arrived there we fell in love! The town is beautiful with so many shops, all with their original fronts and a bustling market that sold everything you could need. I’d been looking for ages for a fruit bowl and suddenly I stumbled across a ceramics seller who was selling some real hand painted beauties! After spending ages trying to decide which one to buy, I went for this one and it is just gorgeous on our dining table

It was soon time for lunch so we found a few restaurants and chose one called Bill’s. When we walked in, it was the most gorgeous restaurant ever! With a little section selling all of their homemade lemonades, jams and other lovely things, a seating area was beautiful. And the food, oh it was scrumptious!

After lunch we headed to the park where Zach had a ball. They had so much there including a play area, a sand and water area, a treehouse and lots of historical ruins.

  

They also had some truly beautiful gardens and a stunning cathedral for us adults to appreciate!

Just at that point, it started to rain so we dashed to the car park and headed back. We were so impressed with Bury St Edmonds that the whole way back we were talking about how we could very happily live there. Maybe one day!

On Thursday we headed back to Great Yarmouth. We visited a lovely little miniature village which zach loved because there was lots of little trains moving around!

They also had a little mini golf of which he couldn’t quite get the hang of!

They also had a tea rooms there so we grabbed a spot of lunch and I saved some space for a scrumptious cream tea

While we were there, we met up with some of my family who happened to be holidaying in Yarmouth. My aunt, uncle, cousin and her two daughters joined us for some fun on the beach. The last time I saw my cousin I was 7 months pregnant and neither she or her girls had met Zach. They got on instantly

On Friday it was time to go home but we managed to squeeze in one more adventure, probably saving the best till last. Bressingham steam museum wasn’t far and it would have been wrong to not take Zach to a place full of steam train rides! He was in absolute heaven – it’s just a shame it was miserable weather.

  
  

They even had a magical carousel ride which we all loved

  

And that was the end of the holiday. We drove home in absolutely appalling weather and have spent the weekend trying to get back to our usual routine. We did have such a wonderful week, I was very sad that our family time was over and that work has started again.

Do you remember holidays before children?

The ones in your twenties with your friends that were full of booze, getting dolled up at 10pm and heading on out for a night of cocktails, dancing and maybe a spot of 2am skinny dipping as you pass the beach on your way back to your villa?

The ones with your other half where you had lazy mornings, days laying round the pool and days out exploring the area…if you could be bothered to even leave your apartment?!

I have had both of those types of holidays over the years but only a couple with my other half before we became pregnant.

The first was a long weekend away in Canterbury. We explored the beautiful town, we drove down to the seaside and relaxed on the beach and on one night, over a bottle of wine and a game of scrabble (which I won!), we decided to try for a baby!

Our next holiday was the following year when I was five months pregnant! We went to Turkey and we laid around the pool all day, every day! It was around 37 degrees every day and that was up in the mountains – I just couldn’t take the heat! We did wander down to the nearest town on one day but it was even hotter down there and I lasted about an hour before I needed to get back up to the pool! It was a holiday of pure relaxation. Wonderful.

And then came holidays with Zach! We’ve had two this year – our Eurocamp holiday and the one we’ve just returned from, the big family holiday to Norfolk. We had a big family holiday two years ago and it was nowhere near as hectic as this one was! There was one less child then and Zach was only just starting to walk!

I don’t know why I thought this year would be the same – with an extra child thrown into the mix, meaning four children of ages 6, 3, 2 (almost 3!), and 9 months, why oh why did we think that maybe, just maybe we may get a lay in? 

On the very first morning, we were awoken at 6.30am by the three eldest bundling into our room and trying to drag us downstairs! Knowing that the other half’s cousins were downstairs sleeping on a blow up bed in the front room, we managed to keep them upstairs for another hour before succumbing to their demands at 7.30. Down there, we found my sister in law feeding the baby!

The next day followed suit.

Then our nephew got croup. The poor little thing was coughing horrifically, vomiting through coughing and not sleeping well at all. So, we switched bedrooms. Originally the three older kids were sharing a room. Suddenly the oldest niece was in with her mum and baby sister, our nephew slept in what was our original bedroom with his dad and we ended up in two pushed together beds in with Zach (who was thankfully in his own daybed which he loved).

When we were in the original bedroom, the three kids would wake up and spend about half an hour in theirs playing amongst themselves. Even if this was slamming the shower door together to make a big bang, it meant we could at least keep our eyes closed a little longer. Once we were in with Zach, we’d hear the click of the door and in came the kids to see him! We couldn’t keep our eyes closed then and we were once again trying to keep them upstairs so as not to wake the whole house up!

In fact, it was Friday morning, that was the only morning that Zach slept in! Our nephew did peep his head in but thankfully realised Zach was still asleep, quickly left and I went back for a snooze! Zach woke up at 7.45 – it was bliss!

The only other morning I had a lay in was on Thursday because I woke up feeling like crap after the whole house was slowly coming down with illness! My lovely other half got up with the kids that day!

It was the same when we were in France on our Eurocamp holiday – Zach was up really early every single morning and we were left exhausted!

Of course, once all the kiddies were downstairs, it was time for breakfast chaos! As the sister in law was always up feeding the baby, we took on breakfast duties for all three kids! They rarely wanted the same thing each morning so it’d be porridge for one, Weetabix for another and coco pops for the last. Meanwhile I’d be making a cup of tea for myself and the sister in law and sneakily eating chocolate bicccies in the kitchen area! Well I needed the extra energy!

Then there was the keeping an eye on the kids, making sure they weren’t fighting, running off out the gate, playing nicely and not annoying the dog! It was a week of being fully switched on to everything that was happening around us!

Then followed the bedtimes each night. We tried to keep Zach to as best a routine as we could so as not to completely mess him up when we returned home. Of course, sometimes it was impossible, especially when he fell asleep on both journeys back from Great Yarmouth that was an hour and a half drive! And he’d already napped on the way there. On those days, he wasn’t asleep until 10pm!

And of course, those day trips were pretty knackering for us too! With me having to do all the driving and then the constant wandering around with pretty much the only time spent sitting down being in the car and for lunches, we got pretty tired!

Of course it was wonderful, especially spending time with the family and seeing Zach with his cousins.

But I couldn’t help but sit there thinking back to those peace filled holidays pre-Zach when we’d return feeling relaxed and refreshed rather than feeling that we need another holiday! Thank god it’s the weekend and not straight back into work! It’s going to be a while before we have one of those relaxing ones again! Especially if we throw another child into the mix sometime in the near future!

How are your holidays now you’ve got children? Do you long for those relaxing round the pool days?

My out of office is on. 

For the next TEN days it is all about this boy! 

  
Good god I am excited! 

TEN DAYS! 

Ten days of laughter, tears, cuddles, tantrums, fun and misery! I’m not stupid…I don’t think it’s going to be completely blissful! 

But it’s ten days where I get to be mummy and the other half gets to be daddy and neither of us have to commute or work or do nursery runs. 

Tomorrow lunchtime we are off on holiday. 

Off to a little place called Diss on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. We are off to the most gorgeous house that is huge and has a huge amount of land to run around on and an indoor swimming pool to slash around in. 

Of course, we are not going alone. Oh no, we couldn’t have afforded that! My wonderful in law’s are taking us. And not just us! There are going to be six adults, four children and a dog! That’s made up of us, the parent in law’s and the other half’s brother and his brood. I believe we are also being joined at some point by his aunt and uncle! 

We did this two years ago and it was wonderful. Zach was only just starting to walk; he was still very young. It is going to be oh so different this time. And there’s another baby in the loop since then. Our lovely little niece. 

We get to spend a whole week with the lovely family that we just don’t get to see enough of. Zach gets to spend a whole week with three out of his four cousins who he just adores. He has been talking about it for the last week, constantly reminding himself that he’ll get to swim with them and have fun with them. It is so cute and he is so excited. 

We’ll hit the beach at some point with his bucket and spade. We’ll explore the area and we’ll see what we can find, adventure wise for the kids. 

  
And my friend lives in Norfolk. My lovely friend from back in the school days who I hardly ever see. We are absolutely going on a little trip to see her! 

But most of all we’ll be together. The three of us together for ten whole days. 

  
I just cannot wait! 

Wow, what a weekend I’ve had – it’s got to be up there with the best.

On Saturday we did Mother’s Day for my mum. She knew we were going out but didn’t know where. I picked her up and drove to my sisters and from there we walked the short distance to town. On the way, she said to us, I think I know where we are going. When we asked her she said she thought it was to the cinema to see that hotel film! We didn’t say anything much and carried on walking and she was surprised when she found herself entering Pizza Express for a three course Mother’s Day lunch (it wasn’t actually valid until Sunday but when we phoned to book, they said it was so honoured it – thanks Pizza Express!).

We had a wonderful lunch but time was ticking on and we had plans. I could see that mum was wondering why we were leaving in a rush! It was then that we took her across the road to the cinema to indeed see that hotel film, which of course was The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It was a brilliant film, just as good as the first one and with another stellar cast. We loved it and had a wonderful day of which sadly I took no photos!

I then got home in time for Zach’s bed time so I could hear about his day out with his daddy, nanny, grandad and cousin. He had a brilliant time of course and the other half was so proud of him for being so well behaved all day

And then came today. We weren’t really sure what to do. Instead of getting me a present, the other half said he’d treat us to a day out. Initially we were going to go to the local wildlife park which we love for its tigers, lions and other awesome animals but it wasn’t really the weather to be outside for the majority of the day. I had a little Google and found a place not far away called Ashlyns Farm Park. It’s a farm, soft play, farm shop and is really reasonably priced – so we went there!

We had such a fantastic time in the soft play for ages along with a little bite to eat. I treated Zach to a chocolate spread sandwich but shouldn’t have bothered – he’s just not into chocolate (***fist pump***). The other half and I shared our scones with clotted cream and jam with him and I had a yummy hot chocolate! Then it was time for more play

And some fun with mummy!

This slide had so much static, I had sparks coming off my feet! Actual sparks!

Once we’d had a couple of hours fun we decided to brave the weather and go outside to the farm. We wandered round and saw goats, llamas, a meerkat, water buffalo, deer, cows and some scary hissing geese!

They even had a reptile house so we saw lizards and snakes and very cleverly, it being the warmest place on the farm, they had a changing unit in there so we could give Zach a new nappy in the warm

We also found the baby barn which was pretty fitting for Mother’s Day – especially the photo of the baby goat feeding!

Some other of my favourite photos from the farm are:

Once we’d spent enough time there having fun, it was time for dinner. There was a harvester a mere 30 seconds from the farm so we headed there and what a yummy time we had!

At the end of all that, someone was worn out!

I had the most wonderful day with the two men in my life and feel like such a lucky mummy. Of course, within all of these photos, I couldn’t leave out the obligatory mummy love ones! Thought I’d save the best til last as they sum up just how I feel!

Today we went to Diggerland! I saw a promotion of theirs a couple of weeks ago & snapped up some very cheap tickets. Upon driving into the entrance and Zach seeing the first enormous digger, he was so excited; wriggling in the back of the car, itching to get out! Once we walked through the main entrance, he was in heaven!!

There is something for everyone at Diggerland. Zach is under 90cm (just) and so got in free but they still have plenty to do for littlies over 80cm including using real diggers:

Riding on the back of the tractor train…

And having fun with parents on go karts!

They also have a really cool soft play area which we spent about 45 minutes running around until me and daddy were too tired!

We spent some time recovering in the cafe where we had one of these each and Zach had sausage and chips – all very reasonably priced and very generous! I have to say their burgers looked amazing!!

Probably the most important thing they had was amazing hand-dryers in the ladies toilets so that I was able to dry Zach’s trousers when he’d jumped in too many muddy puddles!

I think it’s safe to say that Zach had a fantastic time, as did we, and that was with him being too little to go on a lot of the rides (which did infuriate him at times!). We will definitely be going back when he’s reached 90cm so he can enjoy even more stuff and hopefully it’ll not be cold, wet and windy – we couldn’t have expected much more from an English February though could we?

Upon leaving, we treated him to a cool little JCB digger as a memento and they also gave him a certificate as proof that he’d been on a digger adventure!

He proved just how much fun he’d had by showing us how exhausted he was. Bless him, there’s nothing like a fantastic family day out

It’s Sunday afternoon and I have an utterly worn out toddler!

Yesterday, he had a birthday party to go to. One of the babies we used to see at baby sensory turned 2 recently and was having a joint party with a couple of other toddlers. Zach had a ball, playing in the tunnels and teepees and having a good old boogie.

He was worn out after two hours of fun! It was lovely to see the birthday boy’s mum and another lovely lady we did sensory classes with – I haven’t seen them since the last party a year ago, which happened to be the day we had the offer accepted on our house – I can’t believe it’s been a year since that momentous day!
I also managed to get Zach to look like a tiger for about ten seconds!

Today was a big surprise for Zach as I had planned for my sister and nephew to come over. The other half was off out for the day and I haven’t seen my sister properly for ages as she’s been busy studying for her tests to get on her teacher training course (she passed and starts the course later in the year!!).

So when there was a knock on the door this morning, Zach went to open it and was over the moon to find them on the other side we’d talked about going for a nice walk or to soft play and the day turned out with sunshine and blue skies so we chose the fresh air option! It was fresh and at points it was blinking freezing but we had a lovely country walk and fed the ducks. Zach walked for ages and wore his little legs out! I got some gorgeous photos of the two cousins though – they had so much fun together

We came home, defrosted with a spot of lunch and a cup of tea and then watched the boys mess about for a couple of hours before they had to leave.

As I started writing this post, Zach was telling me he wanted to lay down on the sofa and sleep bless him! It was way beyond any form of nap time but he did chill out for a minute!

Before it was time to play again!!

Followed by some thomas puzzles on the iPad while I made his dinner!

Now he’s sitting eating his dinner while I have a cup of tea and a sneaky biccie and finish writing this, then follows bath and bedtime!

What a wonderful, tiring weekend and I’ve still got a stew to make (and cook overnight) and healthy toddler muffins to make – not sure that second bit is going to happen!!

What fun have you been up to this weekend??

To put it quite simply, this Christmas has been amazing. I couldn’t have dreamed for a better one if I’m honest, every second so far has been incredible and I still have another week before it’s back to work time. So, here’s a little look at what happened after I broke up for the holidays.

On the Tuesday of Christmas week, we went to visit my Dad’s burial site. Until now, Zach has been too small to understand why we actually go there but this time I thought it was important and so my Dad is now known as Grandad in the Woods. If you’ve seen my previous post about the burial site you’ll know it’s pure woodland and the most wonderful place to not only visit for us but an equally wonderful place for a toddler to explore. Christmas is a hard time to not have such a close family member around but it’s hard to be sad in a place like this – you can see that from these pictures!

On such a cold day, it was only right that we went for a nice big lunch at the nearby harvester. Note that Zach didn’t eat all of that ice cream by himself!

On Christmas eve it was a quiet one. Other than me going to pick the turkey up, we had no plans. I wanted to make gingerbread men with Zach to leave out for Santa and there was wrapping to be done but that was about it. That was of course until half way through the making of gingerbread, I decided that I’d better check that the turkey fitted in our roasting tray…it didn’t! Cue me going on a mad dash to find a bigger one. Tesco’s had been ransacked, literally nothing left on their shelves related to turkey cooking but my luck was in at M&S who had the very last one that my turkey would fit in. I held onto it like the people in the shops on Black Friday, for fear of someone taking it from me, while I phoned the other half to check the size. All was well and I returned home to complete the rather shoddy job of baking with over-chilled dough and a child who was more interested in his dinner! We did have some fun though although the little men (and stars) decided to merge together in the oven!

After dinner Zach had a bath and then we got everything ready for Santa. We put down a glass of milk, carrot and gingerbread man, left out his stocking and hung the magic key outside.

Once he was tucked up in bed, there was a 3 hour wrapping session for the other half and I!!

So, Christmas morning came and all the build up with Zach was totally worth it. He was so excited when we went downstairs and he saw that Santa had been, left his presents (the stocking ones!), returned his key and left him a thank you note. Unfortunately, mummy had spoiled him a bit and he got well and truly bored of opening presents! He stopped and asked for his breakfast giving me time to put the turkey in, resumed then stopped again and I had to bribe him to open the rest! In the end, he had a bit of help but he is only 2 – it’s expected.

Once I was all dressed, all eyes were on the dinner. Just as I was starting panic as it reached the crucial stage, the in-law’s arrived enabling the other half to peel some spuds! Then I stole the mother in law to assist. I won’t lie, it was a bigger task than I had anticipated. Cooking for 6 adults and 3 children when all the food won’t fit in the oven at the same time and when the turkey takes an extra half hour longer than it said it would – I was stressed. Somehow though, I managed to cook up a feast and it went down a treat. I was really proud of myself and rewarded myself with a fair amount of bubbly for the rest of the day!

After dinner, we had a mad half hour of present opening, presents flying everywhere, no-one knowing who’d got what and from who, but it was fun chaos. There’s nothing like seeing three excited children all in one room! It wasn’t long after dessert that my family turned up laden down with even more presents and Zach had an extra big cousin to play with!

Dean’s family then left a couple of hours after, we finally got a very exhausted Zach to bed at 9pm (he totally missed his lunchtime nap), and the evening was spent with my little lot, drinking, eating and playing a game called Linky. It’s really fun and we all got a bit competitive! Not long after midnight we finished our final game and they made their way home, leaving us to get straight to bed and straight to sleep!

Boxing day was a partially chilled out affair. We got most of his new toys out and had a good play and then we headed on over to the other half’s brother’s place for dinner and to drop all the stuff off they couldn’t fit in their car the night before! It was another lovely time had and another day that Zach got to see his cousins!

Saturday was another cousin day as we went over to the in-law’s for cold meat and chips, followed by more party food! It’s lovely that Zach got to spend so much time with them as we don’t get to see them too often but then it wasn’t without arguments over toys and other such stuff!! I do love this picture of my boys chillaxing for a moment!

And so we are on Sunday evening and the little man is unwell. I guess it was inevitable that he would pick up a Christmas bug and I’m glad it’s come after the main event but he’s got a bit of a nasty cough and cold. Last time he was poorly though, I wrote this blog post and was in emotional turmoil over it all. Tonight, I am pleased to report that it is all so very different. For tonight, as we were having an after bath cuddle while he was still wrapped in his towel, he fell asleep, snuggled into me. I had to promise him more mummy cuddles to get him in his pj’s and upstairs and once again, he fell asleep on me before I put him in his cot when he declared mummy stay. Honestly, I could have cried. One of my main objectives of these two weeks was to gather back some of that need he used to have for me and I really feel like that’s been achieved with a week still to go of me being at home. I felt wonderful tonight when my boy needed his mummy.

That was my best Christmas present! With this bag coming a close second!!

Tomorrow we are off to Holland on Sea to visit some of my family who we haven’t seen since Zach was much smaller. Keeping fingers crossed for good driving conditions, a car journey nap (for Zach, not me!) and an afternoon of more fun!

So that’s our Christmas 2014 and what a wonderful one it was.

Did you have a fab one too? What were your highlights? I’d love to hear some of your festive tales

Myself and the other half have done our fair share of festivals over the years before and after we got together!  We’ve both done a few Reading’s and a few Glastonbury’s. Since having Zach, that has all changed.

Until yesterday!

It was yesterday that we finally found ourselves back in the middle of a field, surrounded by stages, tents, stalls and children!

We were at Lollibop

I’d booked the tickets a while back for our first visit and as typical festivals go, we picked the rainiest day of the weekend! Thankfully, there was only the one downpour though where everyone flocked to the tents – I’m not sure that the lady doing the singalong show was quite expecting that many people!

I wasn’t sure how Zach would be with the day, whether it would be a bit full on, a bit too old for him or whether he’d have the time of his life! He was a bit in between to be honest. I’d hoped that he’d fall asleep during the half an hour journey, enough to transfer him into his buggy where he’d finish his nap and wake up refreshed and raring to go.

Didn’t happen!

He stayed awake in the car, nodding off just as we were driving up the lane to the car park! Upon turning the engine off, he woke up, instantly interested in where we were.

He then stayed away for hours, he was quiet, pensive but there was so much going on around him that he just couldn’t go to sleep. He’d had a run around while we were having a look at what there was but he was a bit emotional and overwhelmed by it all (the tiredness didn’t help this). He sat and watched the National Geographic animal show which was fab and then we thought we should give him some lunch and see if he’d nap after that in the hope of getting a good few hours of fun in with him.

Didn’t happen!

We had lunch and it perked him up so we let him run some more, went into the Little Tikes section (upon after having to leave it after 4 minutes we had a tantrum) and queued for a photo on Thomas (another tantrum followed him having to leave this!). It was 2.50pm at this point and we were aware that Justin, aka Mr Tumble, was on the stage at 3pm so we took him over to that for a boogie on down.

Didn’t happen!

He was engrossed for about 10 minutes of the show, we were dancing around and singing the songs (us not Zach!) and then he curled into his Daddy’s shoulder and started falling asleep. So it was at that point, at 3.30pm he took his nap! We agreed to let him sleep for an hour so as not to completely mess up bedtime but he woke himself up before we had to rouse him.

The good thing was, he woke up raring to go so we took him over to the under 3’s tent for some messy play where he covered himself (and me) in oats and played with some play-doh. We then left once he’d properly woken up and he had a huuuuge run around, when he made his way over to the stage just in time for the Poppy Cat mini show which he loved!

He then ran around for a while again before we decided it was probably time to attempt to find the car – we hadn’t noted where in the huge field we’d parked but luckily Dean recognised the large tree and we found us!

Overall, we had a fab day out as a family. There was plenty to do for an almost 2 year old and he’d have had much more fun if he’d had his nap when I hoped he would. Unfortunately less fun was had because of this but that wasn’t at the fault of Lollibop.

The only negative that I do have which was something that didn’t affect me this year but potentially would in the future, the queues to get into the Lollipalladium. They were huge and I don’t know if the organisers have kids or not but children aren’t very good at queuing. Luckily everything in there was for slightly older children so we didn’t bother with any of it but I think they’d be better off having it as an outdoor stage like the Lollibop Live one was. Anything to avoid having to queue with littluns!

Otherwise, a big well done for Lollibop. We thoroughly enjoyed our first year and I’m sure we’ll be back again in 2015 with an almost 3 year old – I’m sure our experiences then will be very different to this one!

Here’s a few pics of our day