Aaron's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘hotel’

I was very, very luck in that I won 2 tickets to see Everton vs Man Utd in the Premier League at Goodison Park at the start of March by entering a competition with Barclays!!  I was very excited!! So, we decided to make a weekend of it in Liverpool.  It was decided that Ben was going to go to the game with me whilst Kelly took Aaron and Coby to the cinema, so they were all very excited then as well!! heehee

We booked a Premier Inn for the Saturday and Sunday night just off the main road into Liverpool and I took the Monday off and Kelly rang the boys in poorly, as the game kicked off at lunchtime on the Sunday.  

We drove up on the Saturday morning as Ben’s Plymouth Kolts match had been rained off (like most of them this year!) which was a blessing in disguise really!! We made good time and went to the Everton Superstore at Goodison before going to the hotel, to have a look around.  We weren’t meant to be buying much but we (myself, Ben, Aaron and Coby) ended up spending a bit too much money and came away with the current home shirt, joggers, other kits and other bits such as Everton Top Trumps!! Well, we aren’t there very often and a lot of it was selling off as it was coming to the end of the season!!  We then headed to the hotel, unpacked and went to the Beefeater next door for tea.  We had basically booked the Beefeater beforehand and we were glad we did as it was full!  The food was nice as well!

We went there again in the morning for breakfast, which was nice, and ate plenty to keep us going through the day.  We then relaxed in our hotel room until it was time for Kelly to drop me and Ben to Goodison to watch the game.  We got there a fair amount of time before kick off so we could take in the atmosphere and have a good look around the pre-match entertainment which included a band playing, people in costumes such as Darth Vader and The Predator, and we also had a look around the Everton memorabilia in the Church, which was very interesting.   We did buy a couple more things as well!! tut tut!  It was a nice day as well, sunny and dry, which was ideal, though it was quite cold!  

When it was time to find our seats, we walked around to the Main Stand (as the tickets were for there) and eventually found our way to our seats, which were situated towards the back of the middle section of the stand.  They weren’t brilliant seats but we weren’t complaining at all!!  We were so excited! We took plenty of photos whilst we were there and settled in for the game and tried to pick out as many people as possible, including Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Sigurdsson, Tom Davies, Bernard, etc, etc.  All the best players played, even Andre Gomes, who had just come back from a horrific ankle dislocation break, so that was a bonus!

As for the game itself, well, VAR robbed us of a perfect ending unfortunately.  We were very gutted at the end and the 1-1 draw felt like a defeat!  Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored in the first few minutes when David De Gea kicked the ball out and it hit DCL and rebounded into the net.  Ben and I were jumping up and down ecstatically, and the stand was literally rocking!!  Unfortunately, half way through the half, Bruno Fernandes scored when Jordan Pickford should really have saved it.  It stayed like that right up until the end of the game when controversy struck.  There were a couple of attempts on goal, one by Sigurdsson and he ended up lying on the floor in front of the goal.  DCL then got the ball, went past a defender and struck a shot which deflected off another defender and wrong footed De Gea in goal and went in!!  Ben and I, and the rest of the home supporters went crazy excited, and the referee and linesman gave the goal only for VAR to interrupt things several minutes later.  The Everton players were all celebrating as it would have been a great win but then it was announced that VAR had ruled it out as they said Sigurdsson was in an offside position in front of De Gea which impeded his sight of the ball.  So the stadium went quiet for a moment before a load of boo’s rang out at full time, at which point Carlo Ancelotti went and confronted the referee and got sent off.  So it was a really bad end to the game even though it was a draw.  But, like I said above, it felt like a defeat to me and Ben, and the rest of the Evertonians.  Oh well – we had still had a great time at our first match at Goodison Park!!!

After the game, we made our way away from Goodison and waited for Kelly and the other two to pick us up.  We then got back and headed over to the Beefeater for tea again before heading back to the room and having a quiet evening.  Kelly, Aaron and Coby had gone to see the new Sonic The Hedgehog film and said that it was really good, so I was pleased that they had had a nice time as well.

The following morning, we had breakfast at the Beefeater again, before packing up and heading home.

We all had a nice weekend away, and were stuffed with all of the food that we had eaten, but it was just a shame that mine and Ben’s first trip to watch a Premier League game ended in VAR controversy, but it was great watching Everton live!! 🙂  We will definitely have to do it again, if we can get tickets!

During the weekend before Christmas, Kelly and I surprised the boys by taking them straight from school to Drayton Manor Park for their Magical Christmas Experience.  Obviously, we went to a hotel first for the night!! But the following day, we got up nice and early and made sure we arrived at the park for opening time, which was 930am.  The hotel we stayed at was only 15 minutes away, which was great, and we had a nice big room and they even had some activities for the boys to do when we got there.  Once of them was to write a letter to Father Christmas and to then post it in a special box in reception before bed to see if he would write back to them.  They all did this and when they woke up in the morning, there were 3 letters by the hotel room door.  They were all pleased with this, especially Aaron and Coby, as Father Christmas had written back to them all!! The Premier Inn must have had a special agreement with Father Christmas over that weekend, especially as it was so close to Christmas!

The day at Drayton Manor Park didn’t start off too well as Ben pushed Coby out of the car which meant the car door smacked against the car next to us, with them in it.  The guy came out and wasn’t very pleased and made sure we knew that, but it was an accident.  He didn’t want to take any money from us so we left it at that – great start!

Anyway, we walked on in and went straight to Thomas Land.  Most of the rides didn’t start until 10:30 am, but some had obviously been through their daily checks and were already going, so we went on a few.  We then went to the 4D cinema which was showing Ice Age before heading back to Thomas Land for a show with the Fat Controller.  We then went on more rides, mostly in Thomas Land, but some in other areas of the park.  Thomas Land had been decorated for Christmas nicely and there were trees dotted around and they had put snow on the roofs of the little houses there as well.  The trains were also decorated with Christmas lights and tinsel, so it was all very nice. We all went on various other rides before walking up to the other area of the park to see what other rides were open.  We had a go at a train shooting gallery ride, which was completely different to anything we had been on before, which we all thought was great, and another pirate ship ride.  By this time it was time for food so we managed to get a table in the burger bar and had some burgers and chips for dinner.  We then walked up around the zoo to have a quick look and listened to a Reindeer talk and got close to a Tiger which was right next to the fence.  It was getting quite cold at this point so we wandered back down towards the main area of the park and got some nice warm donuts, which were delicious! We then went on a few more rides before it was time to queue up to meet Father Christmas.  We got to the queue before our time but we ended up having to wait a good 40 minutes to eventually see him, which was a bit rubbish really! The boys were playing up at this point as well as they were bored just standing around, which was a shame. When we eventually got to see him, he had a chat with each of the boys individually and asked if they had been good and were enjoying the day, and also asked what they mainly wanted for Christmas.  Coby looked in awe of him, Aaron looked worried when he was being talked to and Ben just took it all in his stride but didn’t get too close! haha. The boys then had a photo with him and he gave them each a gift, which turned out to be a nice star shaped Magical Christmas at Drayton money box, a cool looking Elf and a voucher for entry into the park with a paying adult in 2020.  At least Ben didn’t get a magic set this year!!  Once we had seen Father Christmas, we rushed back to the main area of the park for a Christmas parade that had already started. Typically the parade time was the same time that we were in visiting Father Christmas, which we only found out about a week earlier via an email! Anyway, we saw that and it wasn’t too special anyway but at the end of it came the Fireworks display over the lake. This was really good and we got good positions to watch it.  It lasted quite a long time really but there weren’t any really big bangs due to the animals on the park but it was still very good.  And that was that….it was time to go again.  We did nip in to the sweet shop to get some sweets for the boys on the way out and had a final walk around the areas that we could get to before heading out and back to the car.

Overall, we had a lovely day but it definitely wasn’t as good as Paultons last year.  It seemed more organised there and more magical, with less people so we could just walk straight on to the rides in most cases, instead of having to queue a bit here, and they also did a Roast Turkey in their restaurant.  Meeting Father Christmas was also better there as they had a long Christmassy walk to go and see him, with animatronics and other magical stuff, and we didn’t have to queue up for 40 minutes!  Saying that, it was nice at Drayton and the boys actually said they preferred it here – possibly due to Thomas Land!  We had a nice, magical day out and had some fun before our long journey home in the car.

For the first week of the school holidays this year, we went up to Largs to stay in the house Kelly and myself stayed in 11 years ago with Kelly’s family.  Nan Nan and Pops went as well and Mike and Alex and Caleb also stayed but at different times. We had a nice week apart from the house was quite filthy when we arrived unfortunately, so we had to complain, and the weather wasn’t great. But it was a good break away from the norm.

Friday 28th July

I had a half day at work so Kelly and the boys picked me up at 12pm. We started our long journey up but we were only going as far as Stafford as we decided to break the journey in two to make it easier for the boys. The journey was still meant to take over 4 hours though but ended up taking nearly 8 as the traffic was ridiculous on the M5! We stopped in McDonalds at Cullompton on the way and had some nice food, but that was extremely busy as well. We eventually made it to the Travelodge at Stafford Services at about 19:45 and had to unpack our overnight bags in the pouring rain. All of the nice food in the services was gone as well, due to us arriving so late, so we didn’t really have anything nice to eat for tea and what Coby and Aaron had was mislabeled. They were meant to have had a cheese and ham baguette but it turned out to have mustard in as well, which was really spicy! Poor boys. We ended up just eating snacks for tea before settling down for the night. It was a bit of nightmare start to the holiday really!

Saturday 29th July

We couldn’t sleep too well so we were up nice and early to continue the journey. Nan Nan and Pops had left early in the morning and so had reached the services just before we were ready to set off, so they parked up for a break and the dogs had a bit of a runaround. We eventually left just before 9am and had a good clear bit of road for a while before we hit more traffic due to an accident.  So we had to sit through more of that for a long time before being able to continue. We stopped a couple more times for toilet breaks and dinner and eventually pulled up in front of the house in Largs at roughly 3pm. We then had to take all our baggage in to the house in the torrential rain only to find the house hadn’t really been cleaned at all, and was covered in dust and grime. At least we were glad to have got there as we had sat in the car for a very long time over the two parts of the journey. The boys did very well really and didn’t complain too much! We just had to keep giving them snacks and drinks and making sure they were watching something on the tablet! 😉

After we had unloaded, Kelly and Nan Nan went to Morrisons to stock up on some food for the week. We had already decided to have a takeaway that evening already. So, I went with Ben and Pops into Largs and parked up and Ben and I went to get an Indian whilst Pops went to get Fish and Chips. It took ages for the Indian to be cooked and once we got home found that it was horrible. What a shame! It was burning hot spice wise and my Rogan Josh looked the same as the Chicken Tikka Masala, which didn’t even look like a Chicken Tikka Masala.  So we wasted money on this and we didn’t really eat it! Oh well!

Later that evening, once the rain had stopped, we went for a quick walk down along the Firth of Clyde and into the town. We didn’t stay long as the rain started again, but we had a few goes in the arcade before walking back home again. 

We then found that underneath the beds were disgusting and looked like they hadn’t been cleaned for months, so Kelly and I ended up hoovering and cleaning ours and the boys bedrooms. Kelly then managed to speak to one of the owners of the house to complain and sent some photos as it really was disgusting.

Eventually, the boys went to bed and so did we. It had been a very interesting start to our holiday in Largs!

Sunday 30th July

I was awake very early on the Sunday so decided to go for a jog along the coastline. It was a lovely jog and I did a good 4 miles as well, in a good time! When I got back we had a cooked breakfast, even the boys! They had already had cereal as well! We then relaxed for a bit before walking down to the shops and along the coastline again. As we hadn’t had anything sweet, and were still full up from our cooked breakfast, we thought we would just have some ice creams, so we ended up in Nardini’s and had a Sundae each. It was very nice, although quite costly! We then wandered back to the house for the afternoon. 

During the early evening, we all decided to go for a walk down to the Pencil. We ended up driving down with Nan Nan and Pops and had a nice walk around there. We then walked back up towards the house whilst Kelly and Pops drove the cars around. It was a nice evening as the rain had finally stopped, so was a nice walk around.

Monday 31st July

We had to get up early on the Monday as we had booked a train trip into Glasgow City Centre at about 8:30am. We got there in plenty of time and got some good seats so we could look out of the window during the journey. It took just over an hour to arrive at Glasgow Central station which we found to be massive and in a very old style. It looked like something straight out of Harry Potter – it was really nice to look at. We nipped to the toilets and then walked outside to try and find the City Sightseeing bus stop, as we had also booked a days on and off trip on the sightseeing bus (as we had done in Cardiff last year and Bath the year before). We eventually found it and boarded and started our first tour around the city. Unfortunately, it started to rain during the journey, so we had to leave the open top seats on the top of the bus to some that were under cover. We continued the tour and got off again at St George’s Square, which happened to be stop number 1 on the tour. The sun had come out by now so it had turned really warm.  We had a good look around the Square before going into a conveniently located Wetherspoons for dinner.  The food was very nice so we were all fat and full when we left to go on the tour around the city again.  This time, we were able to stay on the open top section throughout as the sun was quite scorching and the full tour lasted nearly an hour and a half. It was so warm that Coby actually fell asleep and was cuddled up to Kelly for half of the tour. We got to see lots of the sights of Glasgow and were told lots of interesting facts and figures, so it was highly enjoyable.

We got off again back at stop number 1 and went for a walk around the shops and ended up in Hamleys in one of the shopping centres as the boys had some money to spend. We all bought something (apart from Mummy!) so we were happy. We then had a further walk around the place before deciding to catch the train home a little earlier than planned but it was still nearly 6pm and we were all tired out and our feet were hurting. We only just managed to get on to the train as a lot of workers were on it travelling home as well, but we again managed to get decent seats by a window.

Once we arrived back in Largs, the weather was still lovely, so we walked back along the coastline to the house and got some sandwiches for tea before relaxing for the rest of the evening. It had been a lovely day in Glasgow and all three of the boys loved having a ride on a train and on the bus!

Tuesday 1st August

We didn’t really have anything planned for the Tuesday as we didn’t know if we were going to be tired out still from all the walking in Glasgow, and the weather wasn’t meant to be very good.  So we didn’t really rush around when we got up but lazed around the house before deciding to go down the coast to Saltcoats to take the boys to the cinema to watch Despicable Me 3 and then into a soft play area in the same complex.  We took some sandwiches with us to eat on the way, although it was only about 30 mins to get there. We ended up parked up in the cinema and soft play complex’s car park, which was overlooking the sea and Saltcoats seafront. The wind was awful so we ate our quick lunch in the car before going into the cinema to get our tickets and some popcorn for the film. This was the first time that Coby had ever been to the cinema, so we weren’t sure if he would keep still and quiet throughout, but he did! He loved every minute of it and enjoyed the film loads!  It was Ben and Aaron’s second time at the cinema so we knew they would be OK. 😉 The film was great and really funny, so we all enjoyed it. Once it had finished, we went into the soft play area and the boys had a couple of hours running around in there, which they all enjoyed as well. Kelly and I had some time to sit down and relax!

By the time the 2 hours were up, it was time to drive back to the house as it was late afternoon, although we did take a slight detour further down the coast before turning around and driving back up to Largs. We had tea when we got back and then, as it was dry in the evening, we went for a walk into the shops and went in the arcade for a bit.

Wednesday 2nd August

We all got up a good time and made sandwiches to take with us as we decided to go to Loch Lommond for the day. We also had money off vouchers for the Sea Life Centre there, so we had that to visit as well. Nan Nan came with us to help show us the way to get there but we ended up getting there with no issues. The weather was dry in the morning, which was lucky, so we had a good walk around the visitor centre area and along part of the Loch.  We also had a quick look in the shops there, but they were very expensive! There was a nice big park there as well, so the boys went in there for a while before we went back to the car to eat our dinner.

Once all the food had been scoffed, we went into the Sea Life Centre, which was very busy. We weren’t expecting very much really, as the one in Newquay was pretty rubbish the last time we went, and you could view all the exhibits in less than an hour.  So we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually really good – especially the Otter section where you could see them under water! We had a good look through the centre and attended the Otter and Ray feed, which was good. The boys loved it in there and were very excited to see all the fish and the Seahorses.  We spent a good couple of hours there in the end, and also went to the top of the centre before we left, to a ‘look out’ area where you can view right down the Loch.  The boys also got a free badge each for completing a questionnaire as you went around the exhibits, so they were happy with those. 

We then went home and got stuck in the rush hour traffic in Greenock but also nipped into Tesco there to try and get some medicine for Kelly as she had a slight recurrence of her Tonsilitis that she had only just recovered from before we went to Scotland. We also ended up going along a different route as there was a road closed, so it took ages to get back to the house in the end! Mike had flown up as well during the day, so was there when we got home.  We had pizzas for tea but couldn’t go out for a walk afterwards as the weather was atrocious with heavy rain and wind. So we ended up staying in all evening and playing Uno.

Thursday 3rd August

Like Tuesday, we didn’t really have anything planned so we didn’t rush to do anything first thing in the morning.  We had a cooked breakfast and then decided, as the weather was actually sunny and hot, that we would take a trip on the ferry across to the Isle of Cumbrae. We didn’t get off the ferry this time but had a ride there and back.  It was the first time the boys had been on a ferry as well and they all enjoyed it.

When we were on dry land again, we had a look through the shops again and ended up at the arcade with Mike for a while.  The boys had gathered loads of tickets by now and were hoping to get more before we left on Saturday to get some good prizes!

After we had used up all our change for the day, we went back to the house and played football outside in the adjoining little field where there used to be a pony when we last stayed there.  Alex and Caleb had arrived by now as well, so they were settling in when we got back, so Caleb joined in with the football.

We had pasta for tea that night and then went for a walk down along the coastline and into the town again and ended up back at the arcade, before going home and the boys quickly managed to play in the park for 10 minutes before it got too dark and cold.

Friday 4th August

Mike and I got up early and went for a jog along the seafront, but my time wasn’t as good this time as we were chatting throughout! We did a good 4 miles though, so it wasn’t too bad.

Once washed and breakfast eaten, we went (with Mike) to Braehead shopping centre for a look around and where the boys spent some of their holiday money. We then went to see the adjoining entertainment complex as we wanted to show the boys the massive indoor ski slope.  They were very amazed by it and Coby wanted to have a go! 🙂 We then had a quick look around the rest of the building that housed numerous restaurants and arcades, an IMAX cinema, Ten Pin bowling, a climbing wall and a few other shops, before heading back to the car and back home.

When we got back, a lot of Kelly’s family had arrived to visit (we were a bit late getting back!). We quickly had some sandwiches for dinner whilst the family headed on down for a walk into the town, before following them. We caught up with them and Kelly’s Aunty Rosena bought the boys an ice cream each, which was very nice of her. Of course, none of Kelly’s family from Scotland that were there (apart from Kelly’s Gran) had met the boys before, so the boys had no idea who they were! Everyone had a nice time walking and chatting before going back to the house for a bit, to catch up further. They all left before tea time so we decided to go and have fish and chips and park up along the other side of Largs near the boating lake (which was empty unfortunately). We got the fish and chips from the place on the seafront next to Wetherspoons and it was very nice, although we did have to wait for a while for it to be cooked. Nan Nan, Pops, Mike, Alex and Caleb also came and parked up with us.

After we had finished eating, we split up and whilst we went for a drive along the cost back down to Saltcoats, the others went back to the house. We stopped off along the way next to the coast to take in the view and then stopped off in the cinema car park in Saltcoats to have a quick walk out towards the sea. It was lovely weather during the evening, if not slightly too windy! We then made our way back to Largs via Asda in Ardrossan and spent the rest of the evening packing our stuff up (or as much as we could!) before our journey home the next day.

Saturday 5th August

Well, it was our last morning in Scotland already.  The week had gone so fast! We wanted to try and make the most of the time left so we walked into the shops and had a proper look around this time. Previously, we had just scanned the shops and not really gone in for a proper look. We got some fudge and the boys spent a little bit of their money on souvenirs. On the way to the shops, the boys finally were able to spend a good amount of time playing in the park. Every other time that we walked past, it was either late or raining so the boys hadn’t really had a good opportunity to have a proper play there.  Once we had finished in the shops we went into the Paddle Steamer Wetherspoons pub for dinner. The pub was set out like a steamer boat and it was very nice. The food was good also so we were very happy with it. We then went into the arcade to spend our final bits of change and for the boys to get prizes for the nearly 1,500 tickets that they had amassed during the week! As there was so many tickets, they managed to get 3 prizes each, so they were all happy. We then stopped in the little Nardini’s ice cream shop and got our last ice cream of our holiday before strolling back to the house to finish packing the car. We were a little later leaving than we had planned as it was now past 2pm but we did stop in at the Pencil on the way to have one final walk along there. We managed to get about half way to the Pencil before it started to rain, typically, so we headed back to the car and started our journey back to the mid-way point hotel in Stafford that we were staying in that night.

We ended up going the wrong way to get back on the motorway (somehow!) so we had a bit of a scenic tour of the Scottish countryside before we did get back on the correct route! It did add a little extra time to the journey but we didn’t mind too much! We did good time down to the hotel in Stafford even with stopping a couple of times for a break and to have our sandwiches for tea, and we had a good trip back home on the Sunday morning.

All in all, we had had a great week in Largs, even if we did have issues with the cleanliness of the house! We had visited some great places and met up with the family as hoped.  There were still lots of places that we would have liked to go so, no doubt, we will go up to Scotland for a holiday again soon. The weather could have been a lot better and warmer, but it didn’t really matter too much.  The boys loved it there and were sad to go home but they had a good time in the soft play, the cinema, the park, the arcade, the Sea Life centre, etc and had plenty of ice cream!  As mentioned, we will definitely be going back again, but too a different house!

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.

[Show as slideshow]