Friday 28th March

More of the same......

The morning began with a terrible storm, thunder and lightning that put out the electricity on the whole holiday park.  I was in the jacuzzi when the lightning struck so hot footed it out of there. 

Swimming was followed by skiing as the sun came out.  Here are few shots of the long suffering and ever patient 'looker oner' Evie.  I managed to find a mini park for her while the others skiied.

HOME SWEET HOME.

Thursday 27th March

Today we set off for The Tank Museum at Bovington, near the army base.  It was a great place, full of very real history.

 

 This was in the Afganistan section.  It was very interesting to see how our soldiers are living.

 This was the WW1 section, at which point I had to depart with Evie. It was a bit realistic in that it took you into streets with injured plastic people laying on the floor etc.
James and Gracie got to get inside a real tank. 

We headed back to the holiday site for a spot of skiing and swimming.  James and Gracie had an hour of skiing without the instructor, they did so well he said they could progress to the second exit on the slope.  Very happy kiddos.

The speck on the left is Gracie. 

Wednesday 26th March

We stayed on site in the morning needing a slower pace.  We played crazy golf and in the park then James and Gracie took part in the morning kids club which involved mini bowling and air hockey. 
We took our picnic to Weymouth beach in search of donkey ride but we didn't find any.  The children enjoyed the soft sand, whilst mum and dad sat huddled under a blanket, sheltering from the cold wind. 

We headed back for a second skiing lesson and half way through they qualified to go on the big slopes. Delighted to say the least.

 The children
with their
 instructor.




On the right the instructor is showing Gracie how to do turns.

And no, there is no end to their energy. Rollerblading and playing in the soft play centre. 

At 6pm James and I went kayacking in the swimming pool.  If I hadn't joined him he would have been the only one, so it had to be done.  Apart from a creaking back and aching arms it was so much fun.  We had races, chased balls and floats worth different points, played football! and some of that was while the wave machine was going.  So it did bring back memories of the ferry to France!!

Needless to say it was Mummy's turn in the jacuzzi when she got home!

Tuesday 25th March

Today we went to Lulworth Cove, unforunately the tide was in so we couldn't get to the caves and rock pools. We did a spot of climbing on rocks though and digging in the sand.

In the afternoon James and Gracie had a skiing lesson.  It was a refresher from last year. Followed by more swimming.  

Monday 24th March

We began our mini holiday to Dorset.  We discovered a new journey route which took us on the Chain Ferry across from Sandbanks.  The kids thought it was wonderful.  We then drove through beautiful landscape very similar to the New Forest. 

First stop was Corfe Castle.  The litte village at the bottom of the castle is simply charming. Stone buildings, cottages, village bakerys and sweet shops. Traditionally rustic.

We had great fun running around the castle before settling down to our picnic.

When we arrived at our holiday venue for the week we went swimming had dinner in the restaurant and finished off in the jacuzzi!!!

Sunday 23rd March

James was just desperate to try out his flint and steel and the new fire bucket given him by a friend.  It was a quite a challenge to get the fire going and then to keep it going.  We got delluged by rain and a hail storm but not to be out done, James continued to tend to his fire.  Until it was such that we could actually make toast.  He took great delight in making toast for everyone. 

Saturday 22nd March

A bit of sunshine required us planting out our seedlings.  In go the carrots and peas. The parsnips and strawberrys aren't quite ready.  James and Daddy worked hard to build the climbing frames for the peas and eventually the runners.  James designed labels and the girls planted and watered. 

Friday 21st March

We needed to do some spring cleaning at our dens in the forest.  The girls den shown below had it's roof caving in due to the storms so we pulled it apart and rebuilt it. 

In the afternoon, we talked about how farmers look after the countryside in addition to their specific farming role.  We thought about hedgerows and what kind of creatures depending on them for their home. 
The children all contributed to this collage.

Monday 17th March Birthday

James had a mega breakfast with family and Grandpa Ian, followed by a picnic at Fritham, Eyeworth Pond in the New Forest. 
Here is the birthday boy riding his new bike. Trying to make fires with his new flint and steel.  Feeding the ducks. Topped off by Pizza Hut with Grandma Anita and Grandpa Daryl.