Aaron's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘holiday’

This year for our holiday, we went on a bit of a road trip to several places. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t great on each day but we all had a great time anyway!

The first place we visited was on Sunday 26th July when we traveled up to Stonehenge in horrible heavy rain. It wasn’t bad getting there but we were hoping for a break in the weather when we did arrive. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen, and to make matters worse, they had a power cut when we arrived, so we were unable to use the toilets or anything. Luckily though, we had pre-booked online so had a print out of our tickets, so we were able to carry on and catch the bus from the visitor centre to the stones themselves. If we didn’t have the print out, we would have had to have waited for the electric to come back on as all their machines were out of action. When we got to the stones, the weather was hellish and Coby was playing up as we had to keep him in the buggy with the rain cover over him, otherwise he would have got drenched! About half way through our walk around them, Aaron decided he needed a wee as well, but there was literally no enclosed area for him to do it and to get to the toilets, we would have had to have caught he bus back to the visitor centre and hoped the electric had been fixed. So in the end, he had to go by a small wooden bench! At this point, Coby was being kept quiet with snacks otherwise he would have been shouting and crying. Anyway, the boys did enjoy looking at the stones, and listening to the tour on the speaker phone we had been given each. The entire place was pretty special and you could see how mystical a place it would have been in the past. After we had finished the tour of the stones, we had a look in the shop and the exhibition at the visitor centre. The theatre type section in the exhibition was particular great and depicted how Stonehenge was built all those years ago and what it would look like at certain times of the year.  All three of the boys were mesmerised by this and stood for ages watching it! Once we had finished there, we were soaked through so went back to the car for some snacks and to carry on our trip to the Quality Inn Express that we were staying in for the night in Southampton.

Stonehenge Slideshow

The hotel was really nice and was next to a Hilton and opposite Hampshire Cricket Ground.  That night we went to a local Pizza Hut for tea, which was really nice, and we all scoffed Pizza and ice cream. Coby ate loads and the boys did too, although they felt sick with the ice cream they had as they put loads of sweets over the top of it which made it rather too sickly for them!

The next morning, we got up and went down to our breakfast buffet in the hotel and scoffed loads of food, before making our way to Paultons Theme Park, which is the home of Peppa Pig World. We got there just after opening and there was already a queue to get in the car park. Once we had parked and gone in we headed straight for Peppa Pig World.  It was really good and the boys loved it! There were lots of rides for Ben, Aaron and Coby but as it was quite busy, there were queues to get on them all. We stayed in that section of the park for most of the day (seeing as we were coming back the next day) but towards the end, we did wander over towards the bigger rides, but didn’t make it too far as the park closed before we had chance to have a proper look. The boys had had a great day there and were looking forward to the next day. We had McDonalds for tea that night, before settling back into our hotel room

Paultons Theme Park Slideshow]

The next day, we had our big buffet breakfast again and packed the car up before driving over to Paultons Theme Park again. We were a bit later this time, but only by about 30 minutes, but we ended up in a different car park as the other was already full.  These were massive car parks as well! This time, we headed in the opposite direction and went to the big rides first. We didn’t go on any of them as we are wimps (apart from Kelly) but the boys did go on some of the smaller rides and Kelly and I did as well.  We actually found a whole section of the park that we didn’t realise was there, so that was a pleasant surprise. We then headed back through the section of the park that held birds and some small animals, some nice gardens and a large grass area, to Peppa Pig World, so the boys could have a few more rides over there before the end of the day. As it was later in the day, it was much quieter so the boys went on several rides without too much of a wait. We then nipped in the onsite restaurant for our tea (as we were driving straight to Bath for the next leg of our holiday straight from Paultons) before popping back over, one last time, to Peppa Pig World. We stayed right until the rides closed and then slowly strolled back through the park and out to our car. We all had a really great time there and would definitely return again. There was so much to do for the boys and enough for Kelly and I to be kept entertained as well. It was definitely well worth it!

As mentioned above, we then drove to Bath and went to the Travel Lodge that we were going to stay in. We managed to get the last car parking space and unloaded. Unfortunately, this place was a bit rubbish! The travel cot that they provided collapsed slightly, which was a bit dangerous for Coby, and they couldn’t fix it or give us another one as that was the only one spare that they had. Even though the room was massive (the boys were playing football in it), it wasn’t really up to standards and the bathroom was really not nice with gaps around the bath and black mould in places. It was a shame as it was situated right next to a canal and a large pond area, which looked really nice. We even saw a Kingfisher there which was great!

Anyway, the next day we had our buffet breakfast there and made our way into Bath centre to visit the sites and go on an open top bus ride that we had already booked. We firstly went to the Roman Baths, which were absolutely amazing! The boys enjoyed it to a point as they had an audio tour each which kept them quiet, but towards the end they were getting a little bored. It also got incredibly busy at one point and Coby fell asleep, so we ended up carrying him around asleep as we weren’t allowed the buggy. We then spotted the open tour bus stop and went on that. It took us all around Bath to all the major sites such as The Circus and Royal Crescent, before we got off close to where we got on. We then had to dash back to the hotel as Aaron had had a toilet issue and had to change his trousers! So after that was sorted, we went back and quickly visited the Abbey.  We didn’t stay too long in there as Coby was being naughty and shouting and making too much noise, so we quickly left again. So we decided to go on the open tour bus again (our tickets allowed us to go on as many times during the day) and had another tour of Bath. At this point, we realised that our tickets allowed us to go on another tour which took us out of the centre of Bath and into the surrounding area, so we did this. It was also very good and the boys all loved having rides on the buses, especially as we were at the top! Once that dropped us back we made our way home and decided to have some food in the hotel. This was a bad mistake as it was horrible really. The boys had pizza, beans and chips, which was fine, but Kelly and I had a horrible Chicken Burger that was cold, shriveled up and basically not nice. Our chips were cold as well! So we left there quick and popped to a nearby shop to get some choc and Ice Lollies as the boys wanted one and we weren’t going to have ice cream from the hotel! Once these were bought and scoffed, we packed up and went to bed for the night.

Roman Baths Slideshow

The next morning, we had our usually buffet breakfast before heading to Weston Super Mare for our last stop on our holiday. Typically, the main road to Weston was closed due to an accident, so we were detoured miles in a different direction, so we ended up not getting there till gone 11am, when we wanted to get there much earlier than that.  When we did arrive, we parked in the car park that we had already decided on, as it was meant to stay open 24 hours, only to find that it was only the bottom level that stayed open, with the other levels closing at 7pm. This was useless as it was so busy we couldn’t park on the first level, so I ended up going back during the late afternoon and paying more car parking fees and moving the car to the lower levels as it was quieter by then. Anyway, the weather was nice in Weston albeit quite windy.  We had a look around the shops and had Burger King for dinner, before going over to the Grand Pier. We were quite shocked that we had to pay to actually get on the pier, but were all amazed when we got to the pavilion and saw how huge it was! It was absolutely amazing inside, completely full with arcade games and rides. The boys were completely amazed and got very excited!  So we stayed in there for a while and the boys managed to win enough tickets from the machines to get a prize each. We had a good look around and then had a look around outside at the views.  When we first got there, the tide was literally nowhere to be seen, but it was starting to come back in by now, and the scenery was amazing from the end of the pier. We then tried to go on the beach but it was so windy that the sand was being blown up in our faces, and Coby was getting upset with it as it was going in his eyes, so we decided to have a walk up the other end of the town. We then had to find somewhere to eat and ended up in a Wetherspoons, which was packed out, but we found a table on the 3rd floor, so we sat there and had some food.  By the time we got out, we had a quick wander up the other end and tried to find an Ice Cream, but everywhere was shutting by 8pm, which was crazy for a Summer’s Day! Luckily, we found a shop that was just about to close and nipped in there and got some. We ate this quickly and then finally went on the beach, as it was a lovely evening with hardly any wind by now. All the boys had a good time playing in the sand and making sand castles, and we also had a little paddle in the sea, which was quite cold!! By this time, it was getting late and we had to get back to the car by 21:05, so we headed off to try and find some toilets, but we couldn’t find any. Eventually, we found some further down the beach, after walking all around the town again! We then got back to the car just in time and packed our stuff, before heading home. We had a lovely day in Weston Super Mare, and we would visit again, but perhaps stay over night next time. We didn’t get home till nearly midnight so all the boys were fast asleep by the time we arrived, so they all went straight to bed.

Weston Super Mare Slideshow

We had had a lovely few days on holiday! The weather wasn’t perfect but it was mostly dry, so we were happy enough with it. We visited some great places and the boys had some good fun. As usual though, it all seemed to go too quickly and we were home again before we knew it. Roll on our Butlins weekend in December! 😉

During the last weekend in August, Uncle Darren took us all away on holiday to Legoland in Windsor, along with Aunty Marina, Grandma and Grandpa Tony. He paid for us to stay in a hotel on the Friday night and then for entry to Legoland itself on the Saturday.  We had a great time as none of us had ever been to Legoland before!

The trip up in the car wasn’t great though, as we were stuck in traffic for hours and it eventually took us about 7 hours to do a 3 1/2 hour trip! Once we got to the hotel (Premier Inn), we unpacked and went down to meet everyone else for a meal in the Brewers Fayre pub/restaurant next door. The food and place wasn’t brilliant but it was nice enough for us. We got an early night and then packed everything again in the morning before heading off to the pub/restaurant again for breakfast. We scoffed quite a bit and Ben and Aaron helped themselves to plenty as well! We then checked out and drove off to Legoland.

We got there in pretty good time expecting it to be busy but not heaving, but there were stacks of cars piling in! So we queued up a bit to get in and eventually parked up in the car park. By this time, the boys were beside themselves with excitement as along the side of the road on the way in, there were little Lego figures spelling out ‘LEGOLAND’. We then made our way into the park and met up with everyone else. Our first port of call was the shop as it was right beside the entrance. It was amazing in there and I could have spent loads of money just on myself, let alone on Ben and Aaron. There was also a clothes shop but unfortunately, they didn’t have anything in the right size for Coby. Anyway, we bought a few things in there and then went on to the Lego Star Wars exhibition. It was great in there although it was packed out with some ignorant people pushing past us! In the end, we were glad to get out!

We then carried on through the park, going on several rides using the QBot that Uncle Darren had purchased (this let us book a ride at the earliest time available instead of queuing up). Ben’s favourite ride was the Pirate River where we all got soaking (especially Uncle Darren who didn’t have a hood on his coat!), whilst Aaron’s was a spider waltz type thing (hard to explain). We stopped off for a picnic at lunch time as there wasn’t really anywhere decent enough for Kelly to feed Coby, until we found a little picnic area which was quite secluded. At this point we had left everyone else as they were having a hot meal.

After we had finished we met up with them again and walked around further and went on some more rides – one we had to queue up for nearly an hour as there was no QBot system on it! But it was a good ride. 😉 Dotted around the place were lots of statues made out of Lego which were really good. There was also a pirate show, but we didn’t have time for that unfortunately.

Towards the end of the day, Grandma and Grandpa Tony left us all as they had to drive to a caravan site for the night before a certain time, so we said our goodbyes to them. We had about an hour or so left so we continued to wander around, with the boys going on a car ride each, and then met up with Uncle Darren and Aunty Marina in the Lego City which was home to massive Lego models of famous places. It was an amazing sight, but we were unable to walk around it as we ran out of time as the park was closing. In fact, we had completely missed at least one big section of the park due to not having enough time!  So we walked back up to the entrance again and had another quick look in the shop, where we got the boys a ‘I Love Legoland’ T-Shirt each, before going back to the car and starting our journey home, absolutely shattered.

We all had a great day and the boys loved it!  We would definitely come back again but probably spend two days in the park instead so we had enough time to take everything in and view all areas of the park.

Thanks to Uncle Darren for our trip to Legoland! 😉

Here are some pics.

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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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