Aaron's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘tent’

At the end of June, we camped at Whitehill Country Park in Paignton again, the same as we did last year. Alex, Josh, Caleb and Sophia joined us as well, and it was a very nice weekend!

I had the day off on the Friday so Kelly and I were able to go up as soon as we were allowed on the pitch and setup the tent. It was quite windy so we had an interesting time trying to put the tent up! We did it though, and it was hot in the sun. I left Kelly to it and went back and picked the boys up from school and took them straight to the campsite. Kelly had finished everything by then so we headed straight for the outside pool for a swim. It was lovely in the pool and nice and quiet as not many people had arrived by this time. We then went back to camp and Alex and Josh arrived so we started up a BBQ for us all to eat. We then relaxed for the evening!

On Saturday, we went swimming in the morning, but it was a bit more overcast at times although the wind had dropped. We had some fun in the pool before heading back to camp for some food. During the afternoon, we went for a walk around the park and to the two playgrounds where the children could play. It was much warmer and sunny in the afternoon so we were quite hot! We were meant to go back to camp and change before heading out for tea but we were already down there and it was getting close to tea time, so we went straight to the bar and got a table outside and ordered our food. The food was very nice again! We then went in for the evening entertainment, which was basically the same as last year. Coby was up dancing again and taking part, but Ben and Aaron held back, apart from one dance when they managed to get a lolly each! Tut! We then stayed for Bingo and was number away from getting £20, before heading back to camp to relax before bed, including kicking the ball around until it got too dark!

Sunday was our final day camping so we relaxed for most of the morning before heading off to the pool again before lunch. We had a big breakfast to finish off the food that we had left, so we were all fat and full! It was much cooler on Sunday so the pool wasn’t as warm unfortunately. We still had a good paddle though! We then went back to the tent and changed and gave the boys some food, as they were hungry again by now. We then had to start packing the tent up to go home. This took a while and was awkward again as the wind had picked up for the afternoon! We eventually did it and shoved everything back into the car, somehow! On the way home, we all stopped by the entrance and had an ice cream, as we hadn’t had one all weekend. The children then had a short play in the playground before we headed off home.

We had all had a good weekend and the weather was OK apart from the wind! There were some issues with neighbouring tents overnight unfortunately, but we would definitely go back again, probably next year!

Over the first Bank Holiday weekend in May, we camped at Woodlands again, but for 3 nights this year. The same families from School (plus a couple new ones) stayed as well and we all had a great time. The weather was perfect all weekend – clear blue skies and hot! We were in a different field this year though, which was a shame as we were actually on a slight hill which meant we had trouble sleeping and not sliding out of the bed! It was a nightmare really as Kelly and I had hardly any sleep at all due to it! Hopefully next year, we will be in the other field again.

The boys had an excellent time all weekend, especially as it was actually Aaron’s birthday on our first night there. So we took some party food with us and, once the tent was up and sorted, we put the food out so Aaron and all of the other children from school came and had a good scoff! There was hardly any food left at the end! Kelly also brought the cake that she made for him, but we held off eating that until the next day, as it was nearly 21:30 by the time everyone had stopped snacking on the treats.

On both of our full days there (Saturday and Sunday), we spent the entire day in Woodlands, looking at the animals and going on the rides. Towards the end of the first day, myself and Aaron plucked up enough courage to go on one of the big water slides – even Coby came on! It was the twister that Coby and I went on and we got absolutely drenched when we reached the bottom! It was good fun, though I did think we were going to slide out of the tube at one point before a massive splosh of water went right over mine and Coby’s heads! The poor boy was crying afterwards as he was so wet! 😉 By this time, Aaron was happy going on the other water rides (which was a complete change for him!) with other adults. We also went on the Toboggan Run, as it is a firm favourite for us all, and the boys went in the climbing frame areas. We had a BBQ on the Saturday night for tea and then we got takeaway Pizza on Sunday evening, which was delicious. We also had a good game of Rounders on the Sunday evening and I ended up being the last one standing (men vs women), so Ben and I were pleased with that!

The Monday was our final day so we had to start packing the tent and the other bits and pieces up and cramming it all back into the car. We did some of it in the morning before leaving the rest and the tent itself until later on in the afternoon. We had until 4pm to leave the pitch, so we had plenty of time. So we went into the park again and into the indoor soft play area where I ended up climbing around with 5 of the little ones (inc Coby) as they were too small to go in there without an adult. I was absolutely sweating by the time I got out! The children were fine though and were still full of it and wanted to go back in, so one of the other Dad’s took them back in again! Phew! After we had finished in there, we went and got some food and then ended up on the water slides again. This time we had come prepared for getting wet though! I went on one of them with Ben and all of the boys went on with their friends as well, apart from Coby, who went on with one of the Mum’s. Coby loved them even though I, and even Kelly, wouldn’t go on two of them! They all loved it! By this time, Kelly and I had to go back to camp and finish taking the tent down so the boys stayed with the other parents and carried on having fun. We eventually got the tent down in the searing sun and packed it all away into the car.

We had had an awesome weekend and were sad to be packing up and going home as we could have easily stayed the week, especially as the weather was so perfect! Roll on 2019! 😉