Friday, August 17, 2012

Holiday Edition

Long gone are the days when I blogged here everyday, but there's a small bit of me that wishes I still did. Instead these days, I take and edit pictures (most days), upload them to flickr & keep a picture blog (of sorts) right there ~ so I could call flickr my "plog" (or "piclog")?

All the same ~ here's my holiday blog, with accompanying pictures of course!

Our holiday was back at the beginning of July... we headed down to Weymouth, where Paul's parents have a caravan that we get to use for free! We don't all fit in though, so we have to do some child sharing with them!

The first 5 days was the 'big kids' (+ Chip) week.

It was a bit wet to begin with, but we made the most of it ~
 even taking a walk on the beach in the rain one evening.





Day 1 ~ Sandworld was a big hit...


The sculptures were incredible!

This year they had a Greek theme ~ for obvious reasons!


After that we went and threw stones in the choppy sea, at Chesil Beach


 ~ and had a paddle. 


While we were there the sun came out for the first time of our holiday ~ it felt promising!


In the evening, Bugs, Minnie, TP and I went down to the beach over the hill...

  with our cameras.


It had rained a LOT in the days preceding and it was a just a LITTLE bit muddy! 

So much so, that on the way back we gave up on our crocs that we were wearing
 (already cleaned in the sea) and went 'barfus'!

But it was worth it ~  I think TP really began to discover a love of taking pictures :D



 






~ and I was certainly pleased with the ones I got :D



 Day 2 ~  is already blogged here; http://frogacademy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/holidays_24.html

Here's some of TP's shots from that day...






Then Day 3 was swap-over-kids day and it TIPPED it down with rain, so we changed our original plans and instead, headed up to Winchester (a seriously long drive in very-wet) to InTech. We had some fun there and the planetarium show was brilliant, but we didn't have nearly long enough before it shut.







Now, for the remainder of the holiday it was 'boys only' + me which felt rather strange, and I missed my girls a lot!

The weather was quite changeable, but on the whole better the second week, so we managed to do quite a bit more...


& kite flying on Bournmouth beach

It was really quite windy and the sea was pretty choppy!

Chip just enjoyed messing in the sand :D

And being looked after by his big brother...


Day 2 ~ We wanted to do something low key and cheap, so we went crabbing. First we set off for Nothe Beach to catch some bait, in the excellent rock pools there.


No picture, but we actually ended up with a great selection of winkles, limpets and baby Gobi in our buckets.
While we were there we got to watch Team GB practicing a bit :D


 Then we went to catch the crabs...
(this one was the biggest, snagged by DD, who caught the most :D)

...And this guy sat and watched us!


Day 3 ~ My Mum popped over for a day with us, which meant we couldn't go far as she needed to be home at a certain time (and she's not a fantastic walker). So, we stayed close to base and had some fun at Ludmore Country Park, on the Go-Karts @


and Slide (as long as you like)


We finished off the afternoon with more stone throwing ~ they never seemed to grow tired of lobbing stones into the sea!


Day 4 ~ Pekorama.

Another epic journey as the main road was closed due to flooding (most of the distance we needed to travel) and the diversion was lets just say...scenic! It took almost an hour longer than it might have had we known about the diversion before hand. Coming home we took a the coast road and it was MUCH quicker!
But it was worth it ~ we all had a lovely day...





Then we had another wet day, so we went to a soft-play/Lazer Quest place in Weymouth (Sharky's)

Then back to the site for a cycling lesson


 & some pool fun :D


On our last full day we spent the morning tidying & cleaning up a bit, then took the kids to Ludmore again, to play pirate crazy golf.


and have one last play on the beach



 ~ this time on the really soft Weymouth sand. 


But, we picked the wrong day to do this really ~ it was windy and the sand was flying everywhere. It was like being in a mild sandstorm. My camera bag is still leaking sand now (not good) and Stitch & Chip were pretty unhappy with it.

 We didn't stay too long, but long enough for Bugs & Taz to do some neat sand-art.

 I think Bugs had someone on his mind ;D


And that was it ~ we packed up and headed for home the next day.

We all had a great holiday ~ a real time to rest our minds (if not our bodies).
It made me realise this year, just how much I actually miss the sea...

I'm stopping writing for tonight now ~ I'm sure you've had enough already, but I will try to post again later in the week...