Think it's good to start the new year by looking back at my highlights of 2013 which was a pretty good year!
1) Running
I took up running at the end of January after 20 years! Following the Couch to 5K programme and then 10K runner app I have got myself hooked. I only started logging my distance properly since May and I've racked up 276 km - wow. Included in this was the Cancer Care Star Walk 10 km run, the Preston Race for Life with my daughter, a Grasmere Gallop fun run, the Heaton Park Race for Life with other bloggers and my first serious race the Langdale Christmas Pudding 10 km. Its a revelation that I am enjoying it so much and with lovely landscapes to run through I'm sure I'm going to keep on going...
2) Holidays
We were super lucky this year and actually went on 3 holidays which is unheard of! First of all a bargain half term break at Butlins Skegness as we were lucky and our half term was different from most parts of England so it was cheaper. Then my parents took us to France for a fortnight. We stayed in both Carnac and Seine-et-Marne plus the children had earned us a trip to Euro Disney (have just realised I haven't blogged about that...):
Then we were chosen as Butlins Ambassadors for 2013/14 and so we went to Butlins Bognor Regis at October half term. We will make up for this excess in 2014 as we have no plans for any holidays at all...
3) Fun in Cumbria
We have been lucky and with so much on our doorstep in Cumbria we haven't needed to travel far. Our National Trust membership has been well used with Sizergh Castle, Wray Castle and Fell Foot Park all having multiple visits. We are Forestry Commission ambassadors for Whinlatter and have made great use of that too. Our local ramblers started doing Mini Rambles for families with shorter walks with time to stop and play. Here's to more fun in this beautiful county in 2014:
Of course there was a whole lot more we did but these highlights all stand out. Feel free to browse the archives and see what the Willoughby family did in 2013! Hoping that 2014 is another cracking year.
Well yesterday I wrote about the yummy food at Butlins today I want to say about the things that entertained us on our stay. It is the entertainment side that Butlins are famous for but its come a long way from the traditional knobbly knee competitions although the Red Coats are still a key part of the fun. What is great is about how much of the entertainment is included in the price. They are also very good at making a variety of things to cater for every age group. For a take on entertainment for slightly younger children see Twins, Tiaras and Tantrums post as she was there with 4 year old girls.
Having been to Skegness in February we had had a taste of the live entertainment but with a poorly 6 year old we couldn't really make the most of it. Some of the things on offer were the same but others were different which made it interesting. Even though much of it is free with slightly older children I bought us Action Passes to get discounted goes on some of the more exciting things. I also bought us B line passes to save on queuing for things (essential when going single handed!).
So this is what we got up to:
Splash World is the one of the big draws with its varying pools and slides etc. It can get very busy but luckily I kept track of my children. Having both of them being able to swim helped me to relax quite a lot and my daughter was old enough to be allowed off on her own. She did drag me on to the Master Blaster ride where you go down slides in a rubber dinghy! My son was only brave enough to go down the big white slide but not any of the tube slides which limited me some what. He did go on the rapids until we discovered he was actually just too short... The wave machine was good fun and the clear warning before it started made it easy to either get in or out of that bit of the pool. There was also an area perfect for little ones with shallow water, gentle slides and waterfalls etc.
Our passes included a go each at 10 Pin Bowling at Hot Shots. This is a very popular activity so you need to book or do it on the first day! We had the guard rails up and I am sure that is the only reason that my children both beat me (if only by 1 point):
One thing that smacks of seaside holidays to me are the 2p slot machines. I rationed my children as to how much they were allowed to spend and got them to save their winnings for the next day. There is a lot of potential pester power in the arcade section but my children were told on day 1 what they were allowed and this minimised costs to a couple of air hockey sessions and a minimal amount for the slots:
Adventure Golf I wrote a full post about this already this week. This was a lovely thing to do as a family whether the sun was shining or even in a drizzle! I love the seaside themed holes:
Centre Stage is the main venue for evening entertainment at Bognor. Each part of the evening was age coded on the planner so you knew whether it was suitable for your family. Because of our passes we were in the front seats every night and could easily see the children on the dance floor and get a close up of the action:
The next morning I signed my daughter into Club Red. This is a group for 9-12 year olds which allows them to escape from their parents and younger siblings to do activities or just chill in the Zone. In February my daughter hadn't been keen but this time she jumped at the chance to go. It was good that she had just been given a mobile so I could give permission for her to leave Club Red on her own and come and find us.
My son made the most of sister free time to try out the adventure playground in front of the Beachcomber Inn. This was him being cheeky and trying the under 5s slide:
Then he had an hour football coaching (the road to Wem Billy) with other 5-7 year olds. There were groups for older children too. He looked like he was having a whale of a time:
Of course we kept returning to the fairground:
Having talked about our hotel yesterday today it's time to discuss the food! We were on the Hotel Dining plan this gave us breakfast at the Deck restaurant and dinner either in the Deck or an option to swap to another one. Having enjoyed the simple dining plan with a wide range of buffet options in February it was interesting to see what more you got for the extra £7 a day.
I have to say with fussy children a big buffet option works really well as they can mix and match to their hearts content! The Deck also had some foods that were cooked fresh to order to add to the variety. It was a swisher looking place to eat too than the more basic restaurant - the children were pleased that there was a TV playing CBBC or Cbeebies (with subtitles) whilst music was played to the whole restaurant.
It was hard not to be a piggy when faced with so much choice! The first night the children went for simple burger, chips and peas whilst I went for something a bit more sophisticated:
The breakfasts were so good we didn't need to eat much at lunch time especially when we had early tea at 5. My children love bacon and sausages etc and enjoyed using the special child friendly meal trays to get their choices in:
There was a range of choices to suit all tastes and appetites and for a lighter option there were continental breakfasts:
For a change we opted to swap to Papa John's on our 3rd night. We all went for the pizza and pasta buffet with salad bowl. The children certainly got their money's worth including ice cream factory and I was very taken with my Tiramisu dessert:
Having been on a bargain break to Butlins' Skegness in February half term we were very excited to be picked as Butlins Ambassadors for this year. We decided that we would like to see what one of the other resorts was like and so had a break arranged for the Bognor Regis in the Wave Hotel. I have to say the building looked very impressive from the outside when we pulled up in the car park, though to appreciate it you needed to be a bit further away:
We had arrived early so could only partly check in but had full use of the resort for a couple of hours until 3PM when our Dolphin room was ready for us. The children knew that their beds were going to have individual TVs in them so they were very excited to find their submarine themed room:
The porthole window in their door was useful for spotting when they were sneakily watching a film far too late at night! I had brought their headphones so that we could all listen to our own things with out disturbing each other.
My room had a double bed made of 2 singles joined together which was very comfortable. There was plenty of built in storage, a fridge and a safe. I also had a TV which I hardly used. We had a lovely little bathroom which included a bath:
