A family holiday in the south of France (and day in Monaco)

Our summer holiday seems like a distant memory-the 30+ degree hear certainly does!! And yes I am writing about summer holidays in the October half term!!

Just after the school term finished we set off early on the Friday morning to get the Ferry to Calais-a little bit apprehensive as to whether we would have to wait for ages due the problems in Calais, but luckily we were early and they had space on the earlier Ferry. It was a long journey with the two boys (one with chicken pox in full anger too) down to nearly Dijon but we made it to our over night stop without any problems.

Our over night stop Hotel Hermes was great for what we needed it for, the restaurant on site was lovely and if we had been earlier there was even a small outdoor pool to cool down and relax in. I would definitely recommend it-although beware the rooms are very hot-no air con and the fan wasn't powerful-I did have to duck out at 12.30am to get medicine for Sam out of the car as the heat was really aggravating his chicken pox bless him-eventually he and I got to sleep!

We took things a bit too steady the following morning as both my Dad and James were tired from the drive the day before. Had we have known it was the French national factory two week shut down we may have left earlier. We weren't quite so lucky with the journey down that day, with the sat nav being stuck on 5 hours for a very, very long time out of about a 7 hour journey and taking a detour through the Alps due to an accident on the road we needed.

Edge of the Alps-one advantage to the detour

Eventually we arrived at the campsite in St Raphael around 7.30pm. We were staying in one of the canvas mobile homes along with my parents and one of my brothers. It was a bit of a tight space for all of us if I am honest but it was the only way we could go on holiday as my parents paid for the accommodation. None the less, the mobile home had everything we needed, and had air con in the lounge area which was needed in the 34c heat!

The campsite was probably the largest I have stayed on, but it wasn't noisy and I think you get some of the best facilities on the larger campsites. The pool area was fantastic, one extra large and really deep pool (which you were actually allowed to dive and jump into!), one slightly smaller pool with one tube slide, and the children's splash zone which is the best children's area I have seen on a campsite.

At the park- after a swim!

Enjoying the park as he wasn't able to swim due to chicken pox

The boys, especially Alex would have spent the whole holiday in the pool I think, and had we had been on holiday longer than a week I think he would have been able to swim a width of the pool (as unfortunately I can't afford lessons for him). It was so fantastic to see them having such fun in the pool, I think we all needed it to cool off and it was great to see how confident they had become in the water.

Although I have been lucky enough to go to France many times over my childhood years I have never been to this area before, and it really was beautiful. I wish we had explored more, but the 6 days we spent there went so quickly, I'd love to go back, maybe in May or Oct when it isn't quite as hot as it was a bit too hot to wander around and explore!

Sunset by our caravan one night

We had quite a chilled out holiday, a visit to the local beach, ice creams, a few meals out, one market, local towns, and a trip to Aqua Land with my aunt, uncle and 3 cousins who joined us on holiday on the Tuesday. Alex loved Aqua Land, for a boy who is scared of heights, stairs with gaps and not overly confident in water he was in his element, I didn't recognise the boy flying down slides by himself!!

Agay beach

We took a coastal drive one afternoon, such stunning views and some really amazing properties! Had we not have had the boys with us we would have pulled up along of the cliff/beaches that you could only walk to, I am sure it would have been quite perfect!

Views from the coastal drive

We also took a day trip to Monaco which was a nightmare to get to, we were originally going to get the train from Nice as thoguht the boys would love the fast train ride. After a hairy wait with some street people washing our windscreen at at set of traffic lights and then demanding money )after us saying no to the wash!), wiggling our way around the streets to find the station car park, Sam having a almost diarrhoea poo in the car park (in a nappy thankfully), rushing down to the station, to come across a huge queue and the train we needed to get arriving in 5 mins, with the following one being more than an hour later, we decided against it (and breathe that was a long sentence)! The only problem was there was tonnes of traffic getting out!

Eventually we made it, and it was pretty amazing, and definitely a glimpse into how the other half live! Alex and I really hate their car-parks though, underground, no air and winding and bending didn't help our claustrophobia much! It was such a hot day so it day make it hard work getting about, all we wanted was a drink! We met up with my Aunt and her family (my parents went here last Oct so stayed near the campsite) and headed up to the palace, there are some really great views from up here so well worth the walk it is also so pristine it almost looks like it isn't real, it's so surreal!

We also found the tourist train which was a great relief for our hot and tired bodies (and to entertain the boys) and also a good way to view everything relatively quickly with headphones to listen and tell you what you can see in many different languages (thanks to Sam pressing the button a lot when I was trying to listen! It follows some of the race track and also head up to Monte Carlo casino.

The holiday was soon over as soon as we got there really, it went by far too quickly and if we were to do that again we would definitely stay for at least 10 days as far too long to travel down for just under a week really. The journey back home was much easier as didn't really get held up in traffic, although it would have been a very different story going down to the south of France as the other side of the motorway was chock-a-block! Unfortunately James did a bit (a lot) of damage in the campanile carpark the morning we made our way to the Ferry. He managed to run over a rock which was next to our parking space creating about 4 grand of repairs (so insurance sky high next year)!!

Happy on the Ferry home

On the Ferry home

 I would definitely like to go back to this area one day, just without the major heat as I just melt and get a bit grouchy, we all had a great time and it was so, so nice to get some proper sun and enjoy a pool too :)

Family Time

This day in age it's so easy to just get caught up with it all, the days, weeks and months just roll into each other...before we knew it was Mother's day!

We had a lovely family day, the boy's bought in their handmade cards, it was lovely as Alex made such a beautiful one at school. Still no flowers, chocs, or cake or anything else though-James can't have got the hint...again!

We spent he day with my parents and headed out to Bristol Zoo, it was a really cold day so a lot of the animals were hiding but it was a really great outing. I'd not been there since primary school-I had images of it being bigger, but in fact it's quite a small zoo and it's funny seeing all the houses around it too.

We were extremely lucky to see one lion, he even walked right in front of us, I don't think her of them made an appearance the rest of that day!

The gorilla enclosure was really brilliant, although I always feel a bit odd watching the gorillas as it feels like you are staring at humans in some ways with all our similarities. We watched the talk & feed which was really interesting and was a great opportunity to see them all.

The boy's enjoyed the penguin and seal area-especially when the seals were play fighting! The both loved walking under the water too.

As it was cold the reptile house etc was perfect to warm up!

We also all had a bit of a race to see how fast we could run (it was meant to be for kids but me and mum also had a go), I was just pleased I won and that it warmed me up a little too! 

Sam loved the monkeys, and Alex found a drill that was less than impressed when Alex waved to her-but the boy's found it hilarious when she would hit the window each time he did it.

We popped into Ikea afterwards as I needed some more frames for my business, and then headed back for a perfect family roast.

Last weekend it was nice to take some more time out. We went to the Isle of Wight after Alex finished school-one advantage of him finishing early on a Friday! We went with James' family and shared a lodge with his sister and her boyfriend at Woodside coastal retreat.

We turned up to the lodges when it was dark so didn't really know exactly where we were as such, so it was a fabulous surprise on the Saturday morning opening the lounge curtains to find a sea view and blue skies too!

The lodges were really lovely, decorated fantastically and kept nice and clean with everything you need- I would definitely recommend.

We took it easy each morning but packed a lot in, in the 2 days there, We had planned on going on the steam train on the Saturday but it was only open Sunday's (Sam was so upset about this bless him and nearly cried, he kept asking to go on the train the rest of the day!), instead we took a trip to Amazon Zoo.

A small zoo but nice enough for a few hours, there is a good park on site too, and if you are staying for longer you can have a free return pass valid for a week too. The lemur enclosure was great, they were jumping up on a few of us and also there was a tiny 6 week old baby jumping  around too! Everyone found the talking parrot great too; I'm not sure if we timed it right but all the animals seemed really active, I for one have never seen a red panda wandering about as they are usually asleep!

We quickly popped to the Garlic Farm too, and tried a few samples, their makes are delicious, I think I would like to actually eat here one day for lunch-it smelt amazing.

We then had an early dinner at the White Mouse Inn, perfect for families as there is a decent sized play area-with a view of the sea too.

After dinner we popped quickly to the beach to watch the sun set, and wow the temperature dropped when it did!

The Sunday us 4 and James' sister and boyfriend popped to the beach which was less than a 2 minute walk from the beach, the boy's had great fun throwing the stones in the water whilst I had fun collected a bucket-load of shells, I say bucket-load but we had no bucket we had to use Alex's coat hood (he never wears his coat as doesn't feel the cold).

Then much to Sam's happiness we went to the steam railway, he was in his element with his wooden train whistle too, I think he thought he'd made the sound once when in actual fact in was the train's which was quite amusing.

They had some falcons and owls there when we visited, and Alex was brave enough to hold one (certainly helps having his young uncles to copy sometimes I think), I was really surprised he did it, i think he was proud about it too, he chose to hold Elsa the barn owl.

We then had lunch with everyone at James' parent's lodge and enjoyed another hour on the beach before the ferry. It certainly made the journey go quicker when a cruise liner went past and the boats played horn wars with the boat horns, the boy's (James included) loved this.

It was so nice having a couple of weekends to forget about the housework, school home work, and the 'to do' list, it was definitely needed-even if it does build up for afterwards!

Our holiday to Disney World: Animal Kingdom

Now this is the park that I wanted to go to from the first instance we booked the holiday, it's the park James knew I would like the most too-he wasn't wrong! I could literally spend a day in the 'Africa' area, the music and atmosphere here made it for me.

Our favourite rides and attractions

Waiting in line for the safari-we felt like bugs with the sky scraping bamboo above us

 Without a doubt our favourite was Kilimanjaro Safaris, I think that this was the ride we most went on throughout the whole holiday. Every time we saw something different, because of course being animals you never know what they are going to do, or if they are even going to be there at all! I recommend doing this ride at various times of the day during your stay, the one we did late afternoon the animals were very active (so much so they had to stop loading the trucks for a while due to animals being on the road). It was also a great ride for getting Sam to sleep-literally every time we went on there he would dose off half way through! Well worth using a fast pass for this attraction as it takes 20-25mins, but equally it's much more worthwhile waiting in line more than a ride which lasts a few minutes! It's not many places you get to see Rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, elephants, lions, and much, much more in 20 mins!

If you're left still wanting more animals there is also a gorilla and hippo trail, loads of big gorillas to see and if are lucky you can watch the hippos swim past under the water (which is pretty impressive)! There is also a tiger trail to see too.

Sam walked this whole trail and loved watching the fish, hippo and gorillas-he even wanted to climb into the gorilla enclosure!

We also all enjoyed Kali River Rapids, well everyone excluding Alex who didn't enjoy getting wet! He did however enjoying squirting everyone with water on the bridge near the exit of the ride!

We loved the African part of the park, whenever we had a picnic it was always in the streets of Harambe, there would be a live band, which would make you want to dance, and people do. The boys were jigging away also. Just around the corner there are some drum for the kids (and big kids) to have a go on too, which were very popular-we may have bought Sam a little drum as his holiday present :) It was such a lively atmosphere that always made us feel happy.

Parade
The Animal Kingdom parade really is rather wonderful and lasts a long time, there are so many different animal floats and costumes, full of colour and patterns. The mechanical animals really are clever, the photos don't really do them justice.

You get to see the main Disney Characters as well as favourites from films such as Tarzan and The Jungle Book-Sam was a little scared of these when they came to say hello, but Alex loved giving them a wave or a high five!

Places to eat
Now I'm afraid I can't recommend anywhere to eat here as we took a picnic every time we were here and only had ice creams as extras.

Away from the hustle and bustle
On the last day we finally to the boys to The Boneyard area before heading off for the plane home. It was great to let them discover the hidden mammoth bones and be free to run about for a short while-burn some energy off before the flight! There are plenty of spades and buckets for them do dig with in the stony sand too. We actually didn't go on any of the park style things mainly because we wanted to contain the boys in one area whilst we sat at watched! Now don't get me wrong it was fairly busy but the kids can't really escape either!

One afternoon at the park all our energy levels were flagging a bit and it was really quite hot so we took the wildlife express train ride to Rafikis Planet watch. We all enjoyed the sit down on the open sided train, it was nice to see an area of the park you wouldn't otherwise-we saw the missing rhinos in their outhouses and the massive and vast area for all the other animals and veterinary space. There isn't too much to do once you get here but it's nice walk without being too busy. There are many exhibits to see inside, but not much to hold the attention of our boys at the age they are. There is a small petting zoo too, but as both boys were tired and thirsty they opted for an ice-cream and drink instead!
We were lucky though and managed to get some photos with Rafiki himself, and chip and dale, because it is less busy in this area of the park you can be quite lucky and not have to wait in line long, in fact with Rafiki we were 1st!

My overall views

This park was where I felt my happiest during our time in Disney, they've themed it really well, I love the way the bamboo and trees tower above you and make you feel like you are somewhere really exotic. Because this park is spaced out it also doesn't feel as busy as the other parks. Yes Dinoland is a bit naff, but the boys enjoyed it, and Rafikis planet could do with a bit of updating, but on the whole I think this park is brilliant, I don't think any zoo is going to feel quite the same now that I have been here!

Our holiday to Disney World: Epcot

This is a really brilliant park full of learning, the environment, the future and or course the world showcase.

It was so nice to spend time here with and without the children. On valentines day James and I had from 3pm-11pm completely child free thanks to his parents having our boys. This was very much needed, we have not had time out alone (excluding an hour or two at the shops or something) for months, I'd even go as far to say about a year! We could actually talk to each other, hand in hand, enjoying our time with each other with only ourselves to think about-bliss!

World showcase
We walked around the showcase on our own, mooching in the small and taking our time looking at all the small or breakable objects we wouldn't be able to look at with the boys in tow. There wasn't as much atmosphere around as I thought there would be, it was only on our final quick visit that the street entertainers were out which did make a big difference. Some countries were better than others, but I did find some of it a little cheesy. My favourite countries were Morocco (pretty jewellery, food and very pretty), Japan (massive shop full of fun and quirky things-the Japanese bowls were my favourite), Mexico (nice sit down ride which Alex enjoyed, nice stalls full of lovely things and of course sombreros)!
Our favourite rides and attractions
Test track was a big hit with all of us-nice all 3 of us could sit next to each other too (as Sam was too small) Alex just loved that he was in a fast car! There are interactive things to do in the queue too such as designing your own car which digitally collects points for it's performance if it were to race on the track. If you've designed a great car you will go onto the huge digital leader board (I think for that day could be week/month), there are then plenty of games to do after the ride should you want to.

Alex really enjoyed space ship earth- this ride is within the Epcot ball which makes is quite exciting and you go through the eras, and to the future. Alex came off and saying "I'm excited about my future" it really made him think.

The seas with Nemo and friends This was possibly my favourite part of Epcot, the Nemo ride is very clever and Turtle talk was Crush is a very clever digital and interactive showing where the children can get involved and ask and answer questions with Crush. Afterwards there are huge tanks to view lots of sea life, with wall to wall viewing so it is really great for children (and adults) of any age or height!

Now this one I know I may get some backlash from, from hardcore Disney fans, I really, really don't get the hype about Soarin, James' family and Alex loved it, along with lots of others however I came off thinking it was very dated and felt I was just dangling on a chair (even with our fast pass I had waited over 30mins for this!), Alex really thought he was flying through the air on a hang-glider. I thought the video being played was very outdated and pixelated, but loads of people clapped at the end...just not me and James!

Places to eat
We actually only had a quick meal at the Electric Umbrella which a fast food restaurant which just worked for us with the boys when they tired before watching the fireworks, so it was fine for that.
On the day James and I spent without the boys we actually got food from separate places, and ate outside, I had a delicious meal from Morocco which had cous cous, pitta and chicken and James played it safe with a burger from America, we couldn't really afford a 'proper' meal and I don't really do eating our much, plus it was super busy being Valentine's night!

If you are feeling thirsty you can try some free weird and wonderful(!) drinks in the coca cola shop-beware some may be a bit ghastly!

Fireworks 
The fireworks can be seen from all around the world showcase, it's a bit slow to start with I personally think, it is quite hard to get the message of looking after the planet just before they set off thousands of pounds worth of fireworks into the air...But these fireworks are quite beautiful.

We found a lovely place to watch them-if you go the Japanese restaurant there is a balcony which you can walk up to-the view is stunning.

My views
I always came out of this park feeling quite happy and not stressed (like I often did in the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood studios) it is a much more relaxed park, and very though provoking, it is quite good how the rides all have learning elements that the kids do pick up on and mention later on in the day or week so you know it has sunk in. Some of the parks ride I feel could do with a bit of updating, particularly seeing it is meant to be the park of the future, even it was just the video elements of some rides and bringing a few bits into the 21st century. If you have young kids and can grab a chance to have a wander around the world showcase to yourselves I'd really recommend it, it makes it so much more enjoyable not to have little hands grabbing at everything or little voices getting whining that they are bored!

And of course you travel all this way and the little ones love the ducks :)

Our holiday to Disney World: Hollywood Studios

Now I will be honest, this was probably the least favourite of the parks for all of us. Not that there is anything wrong with it but with the children being younger there wasn't much for them to enjoy here-I think it is catered more for the tween/teen age and up.

This park has many shows-which with a 1 and a 4 year old isn't easy and many of the rides weren't suitable for really young children. I didn't really go on any rides in this park as I chose to stay with Sam.

Our favourite rides
Alex loved the star tours ride-and came off beaming, as did the rest of James' family too!

Shows we watched
We watched the Indiana show and managed to get front seats somehow, this is a very clever and jam packed show-I won't ruin any of the surprises though but well worth a watch, Alex at 4 was into it but didn't quite get what was real or not, however James' 5 1/2 bother loved it.

We also watched Lights, Motors, Action! Stunt show, which Alex being a car lover enjoyed. I found this quite a slow pace, it would almost be better to do the whole show and then explain how it is done rather than lots of stopping ans starting, or perhaps a little more audience interaction. It is very loud and has fake gun shots too, so if you have little ones beware for some tears/having to cover their ears.

With all of the shows it's best to queue up before, take drink and snacks for little ones whilst you wait.

Places to eat
We actually didn't eat out at this park as we took packed lunch with us. However if you are after a snack I definitely recommend the churros if you are a cinnamon lover which can be found on some of the stalls. Just avoid the salty Mickey pretzels, they literally taste as if you have poured the whole pot of salt into your mouth!

Meeting their favourite characters
We had to go and find Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc for Sam, he has loved Sulley since just before he 1 after us renting our Monsters University. Funnily enough Sam was scared of the characters until meeting Sulley-he even roared at him and his smile was priceless!

Alex got the excitedly see Lightening McQueen in the car show-which made his day!

My Views
I can't feel I can give an honest opinion of this park as we only went there for a day and a half in the whole 2 week holiday, therefore we didn't see much of it or see and do many of the things. We had wanted to get fast pass tickets for the Toy Story Mania ride but despite getting to the park at opening time were unable to as they only free up so many per hour, and we couldn't get any, any other time or day we tried, there was no way I was waiting nearly 2 hours to go on it. I think this ride was only so popular as it is really one of the only rides suitable for younger children. The scenes around the park were excellent, they were refurbishing a main ride, and the park was clean like all the others. I would have liked to have gone to see the history of Walt Disney, but it would not have been practical with Sam! Also the Fantasmic show is meant to be brilliant, but with it starting at 7pm (bedtime) I didn't think it would be worth at as the boys were pains in shows at the best of times, so perhaps we will do this if we were to go back one day :)

I just feel like this park needs to be made slightly more child friendly, perhaps a Pixar area as those films are always popular with the younger (and older/me) ones!

Our holiday to Disney world: The Magic Kingdom

Or the 'Castle park' as Alex called it.

This park caters for all ages, but really mainly for the little ones who believe the magic of Disney-Alex really believes that Mickey lives in the castle, that idea set in stone by actually seeing Mickey through a window after the fireworks "is Mickey going to bed now", my heart may have melted a little.

There are plenty of places to meet and greet characters from Mickey and the gang to Buzz, and princesses-if you time it right you might not even have to queue long, just stalk them when they walk out and too their post ;)

Our favourite rides
We obviously didn't do rides to satisfy our wants and stuck to the children's rides, but to be honest there aren't huge roller coasters in this park anyway. Alex's favourites being the Tomorrowland speedway and Buzz Lightyear's space ranger spin. The Monster's Inc show is also fun (perhaps actually more so for adults) very clever as it's interactive with the audience.

Some time out
Sometimes you just need to get away from the hustle and bustle or out of the queueing.
The Walt Disney World railroad is great if you need a bit of a sit down and especially more so if you have a train mad child like Sam! It goes around the whole park so it is nice to have a good look everything-it can even get babies to sleep too!
Some other rides that are good for a bit of a break (and great for after a meal) are 'it's a small world' and the Tomorrowland Transit again you get a bit of a sit down (often these don't have as big queues either unless really busy on the day).
On a hot day the kids (and big kids) will love the Casey Jr, splash and soak area to cool off.
As I was waiting with Sam whilst James and Alex were on some rides I also found a path that never seemed busy, it runs from the back of Goofy's Barnstormer and ends in tomorrow land, it was wonderfully peaceful and was just what I needed when I found it all a little too much!

Places to eat
We had our heart set on trying to get into Beast's castle, a new restaurant in new Fantasy land but alas it has been fully booked in advance for months. However if you take a minute walk around the corner you can find Gaston's tavern where you can taste amazing pork shanks, the biggest cinnamon buns I have ever seen and a delicious but ever so sweet frozen apple drink with toasted mango marshmallow topping-a winner in the boys and my eyes!

Top tip- If you've booked your holiday well in advance book some restaurants then too as the popular ones do get booked up quickly, you can always cancel nearer the time. 

Don't worry we shared the cinnamon bun between us!!

The lights and firework show

If you want a spot at the front along main street you need to get there early and park your bum on a curb-to be honest I wouldn't bother so much-the show was a little, odd. But the kids enjoyed all the lights and music.

Top tip- If you do want to get close make everyone go to the toilet first and grab food to keep the younger ones amused whilst waiting-everywhere gets busy just before the parade!

The fireworks are shortly after, if you are in main street it is really busy, so make sure little ones are kept close. The fireworks are really amazing as well as the light show on the castle-they really are big and quite amazing. 

We actually viewed the fireworks in 3 different places over the holiday

-once with everyone else on main street in front of the castle which was nice but just too crowed
-once on a beach at the Polynesian resort over looking the lake and Floridian resort, this was my favourite so peaceful and quite private, plus no crowds to fight through afterwards!

How beautiful and peaceful

-once to the right of the castle on a bridge, so close to the fireworks you feel them thundering through your chest with each bang which was quite something.

The fantastic light show on the castle just before the fireworks-it really is clever

My views
As lovely as this park is I felt I always seemed a little stressed out here, I think the volume of people is just too much for me, topped with longish waits for rides you haven't fast passed. Having said that seeing the magic work on your little ones faces is absolutely priceless, and as with every Disney park it was meticulously clean and cleverly themed-even down to the fences surrounding rides not yet open!

Talking of magic moments when on the Peter Pan ride Alex said "wow Mum we are actually flying!" and he really believed-perhaps that's why the wait is always so long!