Farewell to Summer: our beachy weekend in Wells

Making the most of the later start of school for the Reception intake, we went away for a long weekend on the first weekend of September, to Wells-next-the-Sea in North Norfolk.

This is a part of the country we'd never visited before; we've always automatically headed to the south west, to Devon or Cornwall, so it was quite exciting to try somewhere new.  We stayed in a caravan park, right next to Wells beach.  After a really good journey, broken up with a pub lunch and a run around the adjoining soft play area, we were delighted that our caravan was really luxurious and spacious.  M insisted on opening every door and exploring our new home first, and was so excited to be there. It felt really cosy, so we didn't mind that it was raining and blustery outside.

On our first full day, we rode the little train that runs along the estuary into Wells, where the locals had put on a pirate festival.  The atmosphere was fantastic; there were loads of people in costume, greeting each other with 'AAAAaaaarrrrrrr!' when they walked past. We had a lovely pub lunch in the company of a room full of raucous pirates and then a wander through the high street with all its quirky little shops before heading to the stalls and bouncy castle laid on for the pirate festival.  F finally fell asleep in the pushchair, so I had a lovely bracing walk along the estuary back to the caravan, whilst Two Boy Daddy returned on the train with M.  It had been a lovely day, but we were really hoping that the wind would die down and that we'd see some sunshine on the Sunday, because we had hired a gorgeous beach hut for the weekend and were desperate to try it out.

Going for a stroll along the estuary

On the little train.  (Yes, I am wearing a very similar coat to my boys!)

How cool is this little dude?!

Well, Sunday didn't disappoint! We were so lucky to have the perfect blue sky and lots of lovely sunshine all day long.  We spent the whole day at the beach, paddling in the chilly sea, making sandcastles, playing boules, and just enjoying our cute beach hut.  I've wanted to hire one of these huts for ages, and this one was the perfect choice.  It was equipped with everything you could need for a family day at the beach, with lovely stripey deckchairs and windbreaks, balls, buckets and spades, a kite, binoculors and loads of other fun stuff.  And I enjoyed playing house making cups of tea on the gas stove.  Even F thought it was so comfortable he had a little nap on the padded bench!

Boo! Hiding in the beach hut storage cupboard

Ahoy there!

A quiet cuddle with Daddy

We fetched a picnic from the Beach Hut cafe and munched it behind our windbreak, feeling a little smug that, for once, we were the ones with all the nice equipment (we're usually the family who forgets the towels and brings the wrong clothes!).  I had a whale of a time snapping away with my camera, and got some nice shots that capture our lovely day.

It really felt like a day to mark the end of the summer, and the end of an era, before M started school.  One of those happy days that you know you will remember forever.  That bluer than blue sky and the tang of the sea air really was good for the soul, and I made sure I drank it all in before we headed back home to start school and Autumn.

Us four

All snuggled up in the Mei Tai

Beachcombing

 

Just us

 

Sunflare behind Beach Hut 66

Our little gang

Summer holidays bucket list

So, we're nearly at the end of the first week of the summer holidays. Our first summer holidays in fact, as last summer M was still at his childminder's and so he was cared for throughout July and August.

I am very conscious that these seven weeks are the last ones I will spend with M before he becomes enveloped in the next chapter of his life as a school boy.  And I want to make some memories while we get the chance.

There are lots of things I want to do this summer, both as a family, and also just with M.  Here's my summer holidays bucket list.

1. Go and visit some lavender fields.  I've always loved the sight and scent of lavender, and would love to see a real lavender farm, where you're surrounded by all the aromatic purpleness.  I'd love to get some lovely family photos of the four of us with the lavender as a backdrop. I think the nearest farm to us is Cotswold Lavender, but we need to be quick, as I think they'll be harvesting soon.

2. Visit Warwick Castle.  This is an amazing castle, and I'm hoping to visit again as a family this summer.  M is really into castles, and I think he'll love this one.  I'm going to see if we can use our Nectar points to pay for tickets.

3.  Spend a day in a beach hut. We are off to North Norfolk in early September, to have one last family adventure before school starts.  I'm hoping to hire a gorgeous little beach hut, something I've always wanted to do.  I have my eye on one in Wells-next-the-Sea

4. Visit Gulliver's Kingdom again. We had such a great time at Gulliver's Kingdom for M's birthday, that we bought return tickets at a discount, so we can go back again before the end of September.

5. Have a cinema date with M.  I think he wants to see the new Thomas the Tank Engine film.  He's gone off any films with a 'baddie' in them, so we have to be careful what we pick.

6. Go for a walk in Dovedale in the Peak District. This is such a beautiful part of the world, and I'd love to go back now that M is old enough to negotiate the stepping stones over the River Dove.

7. Have a picnic in the park.  There's nothing nicer than a picnic on a beautiful summer's day, is there?  Hopefully, the weather will pick up a bit to allow us to tick this one off!

8. Organise some playdates for M.  7 weeks is a long time to be without your friends, so I'd really like to organise for him to play with some of his pre-school friends and other little people we know.  I'm a bit nervous about more than one four year old racing round the house, though!

9. Enjoy some more family barbeques.  Our garden is a bit all over the place at the moment, as G is building a large climbing frame for the boys, but once that's done, it'd be lovely to have the family over for a barbeque.

10. Introduce M to gymnastics.  He's always practicing his yoga poses, and demanding that we watch him while he leaps all over the furniture, so the other evening, I took him to observe a gym class for little ones, to see if he thought he'd like to do it.  He was VERY keen, and I put his name on the waiting list.  In the meantime, I'm looking into some ad hoc classes that he can get involved in over the summer.

What's on your holidays bucket list this year?