Summer holidays 2011

The summer holidays are already half way through and none of us can quite believe August is almost through.


In between the chaos we have had two weeks of blissful calm (mostly) in a very sunny France.  We went with a full car and came back with a marginally emptier car, but good tan lines and lots of freckles. 


We decided way back in the spring to make the trip via the Eurotunnel.  When Aude and Sanjay decided to come on hols with us (brave souls) it made sense to combine the Eurotunnel, Eurodisney and a trip to just outside Paris.  So we met Sanjay at Folkstone and the adventure began.  The boys couldn't quite believe the fact the train was under the sea and half expected to see fishes floating by as the train was moving.  Although it sounded like a great idea, we figured that the Channel wasn't the most appealing of sea spaces and seeing it in its bare necessities probably wouldn't be a good start to any holiday...


We had a rest day in Limoges-Fourches with Aude et famille.  Which basically mean the kids had a fab time, while the folks ate and drank in true French style.  Late and rich.  Yum, yum.


Then Eurodisney.  Take a deep breath.  Get your wallet out.  And prepare to be entertained.  It was good, very good.  The kids has such a blast.  They went on all the rides they could (height allowing) - we have created two rollercoster monsters! We even got to go on Thunder Mountain twice, back to back.  As we were getting off a nice man signalled for us to take some vacant seats and off we went again. Arms in the air, screaming like banshees.  


Mama bypassed the Star Wars simulator ride (she got the front of the queue then baulked for fear of puking over everyone) but aside from a wobble from Pip about any baddies - a current obsession - they loved it.  We had lunch with Woody, Minnie, Mickey and Goofy, amongst others.  And although the characters were great the incredibly bad, overpriced food, left us with a bad taste in our mouths.  


But on the upside, we didn't queue for more than 30 minutes until our last ride, and the free fast track system worked very well with the kids. The atmosphere was just so very Disney and the parade at the very end of the day, exceptional.


We left at 8pm after starting at 10pm and both boys were asleep in seconds, despite the copious amounts of sugar they'd been fed throughout the day!  Mama and Dada didn't take long to nod off after getting home either.  An exhausting but tops day for everyone.  Even Jeff. ;-)


We made our way down to Vigiers the next day and the boys managed to have their music on almost all the way down but they did keep the 'are we there yet's to a bare minimum.  We even ate lunch on the go, so desperate to see Nonna and Big G were the boys.  


And then once we'd arrived, time seemed to slip out of our hands.  I think when you pass through the gates of Vigiers you enter a time warp where the days seem to be simultaneously long and full.  We don't do much, but we're all knackered at the end of the day.  How does this work?!

But complain, we won't, as it was such a lovely break.  And it truly was a break.   The boys spent most of every day in the pool.  Which resulted in this:

Oliver can swim!!!!  And by the end of the Pip was swimming a width by himself.  The power of intensity paid off.  They spent their time diving, dive bombing, getting things off the bottom, sliding off the slide and generally having the best time.


And even Dada and Mama got to do fun stuff.  Dada got in a few games of golf with Big G, Barbara and Sanj, while Mama went with Aude and Nonna to a few fabulous yoga sessions. No running for Mama.  She couldn't be arsed and quite frankly would have struggled in the heat.  And there were Dada's croissants to eat.  Ah well, it's not all bad then.