Aaron's Blog

Archive for the ‘Holiday’ Category

During the first few days of the Summer holidays, we all decided to go away and visit a couple of attractions near Birmingham and then stop in Weston Super Mare on the way home. Unfortunately, it didn’t all go to plan!

Our first stop was Cadbury World, which was great but very busy! We had to leave at 8am on the Sunday morning to make sure we were up there in time for our booked tour at 13:30. The trip up was nice and straightforward, with no traffic on the motorways. We stopped off once for a break and carried on and got there in plenty of time – after getting lost in Solihull! We managed to get a parking space just outside the entrance, even though it was heaving, and quickly had our dinner. We then went in and queued up ready for our tour. Not much had changed on the tour since the last time Kelly and I had gone, which  was in 2007, but it was the boy’s first visit. They were over the moon when we were given a couple of bars of chocolate on the way in and scoffed it up very quickly (I did as well though! 😉 ). We went around the tour and found out about where chocolate came from and how it was made into bars etc, also picking up some more chocolate to eat as we went around. The best bit according to Ben and Aaron was the melted chocolate where you could choose what sweets to go in it! Their faces were covered after! Their other favourite bit was the Gorilla playing the drums to an old Phil Collins song which was a TV advert a few years ago. After the tour had finished, we went into the shop and bought some souvenirs and basically spent too much money!  After that we went out side to the new outdoor play area, where the boys had good fun playing on the climbing frames. There was a ‘Rainbow’ show on as well with Zippy and George, but we didn’t have time for that which was a shame. We did, however, go into the new 4D experience. We all sat in our own seats but Aaron got scared half way through as the chairs were moving and everything was in 3D (i.e. roller coasters) – even I was a little bit worried about it as I don’t like roller coasters or heights! So Aaron ended up on my lap for the last few minutes, covering his eyes, though I did catch him peaking on several occasions! All in all, we had a very good time at Cadbury World and would recommend it to anyone, and we would definitely go again in a few years but spend a whole day instead to take in the shows outside and to have more time in the outdoor play area.

Here are some pics from Cadbury World.

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When we left, we headed to our hotel at Drayton Manor Park, where we were going to spend the night before going in the actual park the next day. This was meant to be about a 30 minute trip, but once again, we got lost due to heavy traffic and the Google Maps GPS not working correctly!  We actually ended up driving through the middle of Birmingham and it was like rush hour traffic – it was hellish! Eventually, we made it to the hotel and parked up and unloaded and went and checked in. The hotel was literally right next to the theme park, which was ideal, and it also had a ‘Thomas The Tank Engine’ theme as the theme park is where you can find the only ‘Thomas Land’ in the country.   So the boys loved having a look at the Thomas statues and ornaments.  I have to say that it was very good and very well done! We also paid for the boys to have a ‘Thomas’ welcome pack when we arrived which consisted of an activity pack, shower gel, toothbrush, colouring pencils and a couple of other ‘Thomas’ related items. The pack was very good as well and the boys loved it! Once we had gone to our room, we went to get the rest of out stuff from the car.  To our horror, this is when we first saw the huge puddle coming from under the car! It looked like the radiator was leaking! We decided to leave it for the night as it was getting late and we hadn’t eaten yet, so we headed back to the hotel, threw our bags in our room and headed down to the restaurant. As it was lovely weather (warm and sunny), we sat outside and had some food, which was very nice.  There were lots of play equipment in the hotel grounds so the boys went off to play on that and made some friends with some other children that were playing as well, so Kelly and I had a bit of a quiet break as Coby was quiet as well. When we had finished eating, we went up to our room and went to bed as we were all tired out after a very busy day, but looking forward to the next day in the theme park. 😉

Here are some pics from the Drayton Manor Hotel.

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After having a full English breakfast in our room, we packed up, checked out and took our bags to the car, where the puddle was worse! I filled the car up with more water in the hope that it would stay full and left it and walked over to go into Drayton Manor Park.  The park opened at 9:30 with the rides starting at 10:00, and even at this time, there were lots of people making their way into the park. Our first port of call was ‘Thomas Land’ as that was what the boys were most excited about, and it didn’t really disappoint! There were lots of rides that were perfect for them, and a massive ‘Thomas’ Shop that we had a look in and bought a couple of items from. The only trouble was that it was a very busy day which meant we had to queue up for about 30 minutes or more for each ride, and then the rides lasted only a couple of minutes. So we spent most of the day in ‘Thomas Land’, but we did catch the train (Percy) to the other side of the park where there was a large play area, Dinosaur trail and a zoo. Towards the end of the day, we did manage to go on another train that took us around the park, and a nice, relaxing boat trip around the lake, before heading back to ‘Thomas Land’ for a few more rides for the boys. All in all, we had a great time but were slightly disappointed that the park closed at 5pm when it was a lovely, hot and sunny day, and we had seen advertisements on their website that they stay open until 7pm a lot during the Summer.  We actually ran out of time as well, as there were parts of the park we hadn’t even been to, so next time we go (and we will go again! 😉 ), we will definitely stay for 2 days to take it all in properly, and stay in the dedicated ‘Thomas’ themed rooms in the hotel.

Here are some pics of Drayton Manor Park.

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When we left the theme park, I filled the car up with more water and headed on down the M5 to Weston Super Mare, as we were going to spend the night there before having a look around the place the next day. Unfortunately, this is where disaster struck! As we were on the M5, about an hour into the journey, the car overheated and we limped in to a services and pulled up. It turns out there was an issue with the radiator and it had completely overheated and died. Boiling water was spurting out from under the bonnet so I had to call the RAC. Luckily, there was an RAC van in the same car park so he came over to us pretty quickly but couldn’t repair the damage. Luckily though, our RAC membership allows them to put us up in a hotel for the night nearby whilst they take the car to a local RAC garage. Unfortunately again though, the nearest place available was Gloucester, which was another 40 minutes down the M5. So we had to be towed (that was an interesting experience) from the services to a Premier Inn in Gloucester, where we spent the night. The following day, the RAC came again and took the car off to a garage to get fixed, so we decided to make the most of it and add an extra day to our holiday, and travel to Weston Super Mare that night. We were also lucky in that across the road from the hotel, was a bowling and arcade complex, so we ended up spending most of the day in there whilst waiting for the call about the car. We had a game of bowling, which was good fun, and then went in the arcade and I managed to win 2 Evil Minion soft toys, which I was very pleased with! 😉 We had lunch there as well and the boys spent a couple of hours in the indoor soft play area that they had, which gave Kelly and I some time to relax with Coby, who was very good again really. Ben and Aaron loved it in there, so they were happy with the extra day of our holiday!

Here are some pics from bowling.

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We didn’t get a call from the garage by 4pm so I gave them a call and they said the car would be ready by 5pm, so I had to get a taxi (driven by a very dodgy Bulgarian guy who didn’t know where he was going!) to the garage. I paid up and drove back to the hotel, thinking everything was fine. By this point, we had decided to stay the night in the hotel and travel to Weston Super Mare in the morning, but again, our next nightmare was to follow.  ;-( We went into the pub next door for some food for tea and hoping to get an early night, but after eating, I went back out to the car, only to find there was another puddle under it again. I just couldn’t believe it and was quite mad as I thought the garage had done a shoddy job! So another long call to the RAC took place, and then they sent out a tow truck to take the car back to the garage instead of a mechanic, so I had to ring them again and this time they sent out a mechanic. By the time he arrived, it was dark and must have been 9:30pm. He had a look and basically said the water pump had now failed. The only realistic option we had left was to get the car towed back to Plymouth from Gloucester. This was obviously not ideal what with having 3 children, and it basically ruined our holiday, so we didn’t even manage to get to Weston Super Mare!

The following day, a massive tow truck picked us up and took us home along the M5 for about 4.5 hours, travelling at 54 mph all the way, as that was the speed limit on the truck. Luckily, an accident had cleared that had closed the entire M5 just before Bristol, so we missed that thank god!  Kelly and I were obviously completely fed up by now but the boys were loving riding in the truck, so at least they had a good time travelling!

Over the next week and a half, we found out that the car had basically had it and wasn’t really worth fixing as the head gasket and cam belt had also broken, so we ended up getting a new car. It was a disastrous end to what started out being a really good holiday.  The boys did love it all though, especially ‘Thomas Land’ at Drayton Manor Park, and all the chocolate they got to eat at Cadbury World! 😉

A couple of weekends before Christmas, Kelly and I booked up a surprise weekend for the boys at Butlins for their Winter/Christmas spectacular. We managed to get a really good deal for the 3 nights so we couldn’t turn it down really! We didn’t say anything to the boys until just before we left on the Friday, so when we told them, they were ecstatic! Ben was jumping around and hugging us and Aaron was following suit, probably because he was too young to understand fully what was happening! 😉

So we got up there on the Friday late afternoon and went to our apartment (no free upgrade this time!) and unloaded our gear. Kelly had made pasties for us so we had those quickly for tea before going over to the Skyline to view the evening shows. We saw a show called ‘Winter Wonderland’ which was basically a Christmas musical, which was great. The boys loved it, as well as the lightsaber toys we got them as all the other kids had something similar from the shop! We then went in the arcade and saw a couple of other shows in the main pavilion. The boys had a great first evening and didn’t go to bed until quite late!

On the Saturday, we got up a decent time and went swimming. We had a good hour or so in there and the boys enjoyed going around the ‘river’ section where the current pulls you along. Was freezing when we got out though!! We then nipped home for showers and then went to the pub for lunch. It was very good this time and pretty quick, which was a relief as the pub was pants when we last visited Butlins in July. We then spent the afternoon in and out of shows (inc Superslam Wrestling where Ben and I got some autographs and Ben hi-fived a wrestler!), and also stopped in the arcade occasionally. All the shows we saw were great and good fun to watch. The highlight of the day was the ‘Skyline Snowstorm’ which started off with a few songs from the Skyline Gang, and then a countdown until the snow commenced.  It wasn’t actual snow mind, but small bits of silver glittering paper fired into the air via some very strong fan units. The effect was great though and was just like a snowstorm. The boys loved it and were ages playing with the glittering paper by picking handfuls up and throwing over myself and Kelly. Very good fun! We then had to go off to see Father Christmas at 18:45 as this was the timeslot we had been given. We first had to walk through the pouring rain to the front of the building and to the entrance of the winter wonderland, and then through a very well done walk that included Christmas ornaments and settings, until we got to an Elf who let us in to the queue to see Father Christmas.  There was a bit of a wait which included meeting the Gingerbread Man (and a photo) and counting how many present images were hidden around the area.  When the boys met Father Christmas, he was asking them questions and Ben was answering nicely and then they posed for photographs by myself and a redcoat guy, and then they each got a box of chocolates. We then made our way out through the rest of the Wonderland and back outside. It was very good and very well put together!  The evening actually got even better when, later on, I won a large Minion soft toy on my first go on the grabber machine in the arcade! I was so excited I was shaking as I hadn’t won anything on those machines all year! 😉 Ben then went and claimed it though! Cheek!

On the Sunday, we went to Bob The Builders Yard where we spent hours last time as the boys went around all of the children’s rides. For some reason this time, Aaron didn’t like half the rides which was a shame! He started crying on several of them so we had to have them stopped to take him off! We saw several more shows during the day, with the best one being the Pantomime ‘Beauty and the Beast’ which a lot of the entertainers from the other shows acted in (inc Skyline Gang members). The Pantomime was great and very funny! Aaron slept nearly all the way through it, but we enjoyed it very much even though we weren’t in the most ideal of places! We also went to a craft workshop afterwards where the boys made a cracker each. Ben got in a mood in this as he didn’t want Kelly to help! So she had to ask for a new one to start again and then let Ben do it all on his own! Tut! Aaron also had to dash to the toilet there as well which was typical, but luckily there was a little toilet in the craft area! We saw other shows, including the Snowstorm again, which were all very enjoyable and had some more time in the arcade and Ben went in the soft play area next to the arcade. We won several little toys on the 2p machines (we were addicted!) and had great fun, although by this point, we were quite tired and couldn’t quite believe it was Sunday evening already! The boys also got a large Christmas balloon each during the afternoon – Father Christmas for Ben and a Snowman for Aaron.

Sunday night was a bit of a nightmare as Ben woke up crying lots and wouldn’t go to sleep as he said he had earache and his cough started up badly again. Kelly ended up having to sit up with him for half the night, which was not good seeing as we had to pack our things and drive home on Monday. I was a little worried about the lack of sleep and having to drive for a couple of hours, but we managed it OK. We quickly went back to Bob The Builders Yard during the morning and had a last wonder around again (and packed the car in the rain!), before leaving Butlins and parking in the car park at the sea front (across the road) to have a bite to eat before setting off home.

We had had another great time at Butlins and enjoyed every minute of it (apart from losing Aaron for 5 minutes on the Sunday night!) and would love to go back again sometime soon.

Here are some photographs of the holiday. 😉

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During the Summer, and especially during my two weeks off, we went and visited several places in the local area. These included train trips to Teignmouth, Paignton (where a seagull attacked Ben for his sandwich!) and Dawlish, visits to Lappa Valley Railway and Pennywell Farm, as well as our first proper family holiday away together at Butlins (which you can read about here).  So here are a few pictures that were taken during the holidays. 😉

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During the Summer holidays this year, we went on our first proper family holiday (i.e. went somewhere that didn’t mean staying at a family members’ house!). We ended up going to Butlins in Minehead and we all loved it and didn’t want to leave. Kelly managed to get a discount on the price for a 3 night stay from a Friday to a Monday only about three weeks before, so we were all excited about going!

I was able to leave work at 3pm on the Friday, so I drove home and we loaded up and left. It took roughly two hours to get there and when we got the key card for our apartment, we found out that we had been upgraded to the next level of apartment for free, so that was a good start. It took us a while to find a parking space and our apartment, and then to unload the car, but we were very surprised at how nice our apartment was. It was spotless and the furniture looked brand new and of very good quality.

So once we had unpacked, we headed out to try and find something to eat. We ended up at one of the pubs on site and sat outside and ordered our food.  Unfortunately, we then had a nightmare as we had to move inside due to Seagulls attacking people with food and then it took over 1 hour and a half for our food to arrive. It was shocking to be honest. Needless to say, we were all starving, especially Ben and Aaron. Eventually we got our food and it wasn’t very nice at all, which was a real shame and a bit of a nightmare start to the holiday.  Once we had finished that up, we went for a walk around the place and ended up at the amusements where we spent a long time. It was getting very late by this time and we were all tired out, so we headed back to our apartment and tried to get some sleep. This was a nightmare also, as there were hundreds of Seagulls around and they were jumping on the roof of our apartment (we were on the top floor) all night, and squawking all the time. The boys slept OK, but Kelly and myself only got a few hours sleep!

The next morning we decided to go swimming in Waterworld and this was great.  They had waves and a river type section with a current to pull you along. The boys enjoyed it although Ben, as usual, didn’t go in very much as he doesn’t like water at all.  Aaron seemed to love it. We then spent the rest of the day at various shows and a lot of the time at Bob The Builders Yard which was an undercover area with several rides for children. Ben and Aaron absolutely loved it in there and we must have spent hours in there over the 3 days! Foodwise on the Saturday, we bought some pasties and rolls etc (which was a lot cheaper!).

On Sunday, we went swimming again first thing and then did the shows, amusements and, of course, Bob The Builders Yard. We had also booked in to the Circus for 7pm that day, and it was a great show, even though Aaron got a little bored and noisy half way through it! We had fish and chips for lunch, which was the best meal we had during our stay (even though it was a little pricey as usual). We then had baguettes for tea as we needed something quick and easy before the Circus show. Once again in the evening, we found ourselves in and around the amusements (mainly the 2p machines!) before trying to catch a show and going to bed quite late again.

On Monday, there were no shows on due to it being the changeover day but we had seen loads over the previous days including Wrestling (my favourite!), Bob The Builder, The Skyline Gang, Ultimate Steps, part of the Stephen Mulhern Show (which was ridiculously busy so we had no seat and had to lean against some railings until we couldn’t lean anymore!), Crazy Dunkers (twice – excellent!) and Mike The Knight. We spent the first part of the morning packing, as we had to be out of our apartment by 10am, and then loaded the car up and handed in our key card. We then had a few hours until we had to leave the premises so we went and had an Ice Cream Sundae from the Italian Ice Cream place, which was lovely, and then back to Bob The Builders Yard and then to the fairground. We also had one last walk around and a quick go in the amusements before heading back to the car and parking up by the seaside at Minehead which was just opposite the resort. We spent the rest of the day on the beach and walking through Minehead before having chips for tea and then driving home along the North Coast. We didn’t get home until very late so we were tired out, but we all had a wonderful time and would definitely go again!  We would recommend Minehead Butlins to anyway, it was brill! 😉

Here are some (of the many) photos from the holiday.

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