I Know What We Did Last Summer!

Wow! Where did that time go? As Summer 2014 draws to an end, we have reflected on what was possibly our busiest one in…well…pretty much, forever! I’ve been chosen to join the Summer Activities Competition by Mecca Bingo and I thought I would share some of our experiences with you.

We started with a visit to Go Ape back at the end of July. Grace says to me that this is one of her favourite memories. We took her school friend, Lucy, with us and we all had a whale of a time pretending to be apes up in the trees. My favourite part is still the zip wire! I wrote about our visit here.

The next experience we enjoyed with Grace was Center Parcs in Longleat. We were there for a family trip with Ross’ Mum and Dad, his sister and her fiance and his Auntie to celebrate his parents 40th Wedding Anniversary. We had a wonderful week with lots of swimming, barbecues (or Braai’s as Gus reliably informs me!) at our lodge (which, by the way, also had a games room with pool table and a sauna!), roller skating, a magic show at the Pancake House, lots of walking, some badminton and a couple of gorgeous meals out.

 

The week after we returned was Ross’ birthday and we celebrated this by having a meal at a local Bistro in Taunton (which I have reviewed and you can find it here). The following day, Ross just wanted to relax – which he doesn’t do often and didn’t that day as he still did some work! – but we had a wonderful roast dinner and made him a special kind of birthday cake…a profiterole mountain!

At the beginning of the holiday we had already agreed with Grace that we would take her to the Natural History Museum for getting such a great school report. This was also positive because she has a massive love of fossils and precious stones and there is a great section there dedicated to this.  The Natural History Museum is free and is an excellent place to take children (although I am glad I waited until Grace was 7 as I believe she appreciated it more). The tube exit is right outside the museum. Two major tips for you – take your own food, it is ruddy expensive in there (£1.95 for a can of Coke and that is just the tip of the iceberg!), the other tip is to pre-book online to see the Dinosaurs. It is free and means you don’t have to wait in a very long queue! You can find a post about our visit here.

We stayed over with my Mum that evening after enjoying a lovely meal at The Orange Tree in Richmond (just opposite the tube station car park and they have a great kids menu at £5 which includes ice cream) and the following day Ross, Grace and I went back up to London to see Phantom of the Opera.

Over the summer there is an event called Kids Week (although it does take place for much more than that!) and it means that children can go free to many selected West End shows. I asked Ross what he would like as the ticket was for his birthday. He chose Phantom of the Opera and so, I was able to book a ticket for both of us at £50 each and one for Grace for free. She absolutely adored it and is still singing the songs now!

Finally, we rounded it all off, with a meal at Bella Italia, just off Leicester Square, and I can safely say this finished the holidays perfectly. Again, they had a varied kids menu and for £5.25 you could get a starter, main, pudding and drink. I have written about our visit here.

Grace has also created a Dream House (and got runner up in the competition), her Dream School Outfit over on her blog and has reviewed a couple of new products in the form of Goldieblox and a Barbie Colour Change Bag. She has made shortbread, cakes and jam tarts with Granny and made plenty of things with her loom bands. She has started reading chapter books properly and has completed exercise books in the form of English, French and Maths. She spent time with her cousins and has been to a school friend’s Princesses and Pirates party. Phew! 

So, as you can see, we had a really eventful and truly wonderful summer. We created lots of memories that we will look back on fondly and now we are going back to school and work for a rest!

This post is our entry into Meccas Summer Activities Competition.