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By Little Mummy, June 18, 2009 10:30 am

Well at last we’re on our way I’ve left the other pair in the room to watch Simpsons scoffing crisps and chocolate. I’m downstairs where yet again I’m paying (gasp) for wifi.

With all the stress of the last week I completely forgot to mention the lovely gifts that Mary Poppins (Head of Disney PR UK) sent me in preparation for our holiday. A large Minnie Mouse, fan, card game, autograph book and photo frame for Erin, I was touched, and Erin was thrilled, especially with Minnie Mouse and the fan which lights up! She also sent us a wodge of food vouchers for Disney which we can’t wait to use, I’ve booked a character breakfast already, can’t wait to see Erin’s face!

Our departure for the first leg of our jouney to Manchester went smoothly, apart from the last minute delivery of frozen food from Baby Deli which arrived just as we were leaving.

We stopped once on the way down for a quick coffee, which was expensive and crap, nevermind, nothing was going to dampen our spirits this morning.

We arrived at the Manchester Marriott at about half three by which time we were starving, we grabbed some food in the bar and then headed for the leisure club which was amazing. I steamed, sauna’d and jacuzzi’d, while Erin swam and jumped and Alex braved the plunge pool, he tried to get me to have a go, ha, does he think I have ‘eejit’ tattooed on my forehead, nevertheless we both agreed this was the way to start a holiday! The room is fab too, absolutely massive with two huge beds a settee and chaise longue. Erin’s been taking lots of photos, like mother like daughter eh! I’ve refrained from doing one of my videos, there’s time yet though

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By Little Mummy, June 14, 2009 2:25 am

I hope our flight attendant does this on Friday (thanks, Englishmum)

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By Little Mummy, April 17, 2009 11:56 am

The shock of the trip has settled a little, I can believe it’s happening now. The excitement is still coming in waves, but I’m a worrier so those waves are interspersed with worries, like missing my daughter and husband, I realise this sounds a bit wet but I’ll be away for a week when you include the travelling and I know it’s going to be really HARD. On a less dramatic level there are a number of smaller worries, how much money to take?, what clothes to take, purchasing new clothes, organising childcare or specifically who’ll be dropping who off and when…you know all the little bits. Then there’s the silly worries, my thighs looking big in my cozzy and what if nobody likes me, silly I know, there are seven people going at least one will like me

The plans for the trip have shifted up a gear too, we have an itenerary, which will be followed by a more detailed itenerary shortly (the itenerary looks amazing). The flights are booked and I know that I’m flying to Gatwick a week on Monday, I’ll be catching my zzzz’s at the Gatwick Hilton before flying out to Orlando on Tuesday morning.

With so much going on I figured the best thing to do today was eradicate the smaller worries (no, I haven’t had liposuction on my thighs) I headed for the shops, I’ve managed to get everything I need plus I’ve borrowed some stuff, so I’m more relaxed now. I already have dollars in the house as, by some strange coincidence, we are off on a family holiday to Orlando in June! So my plan is to ‘borrow’ (steal) some of my money for that trip in the hopes of replacing it at a later date.

I’ve begun to prepare Erin for my trip, she’s three and only been away from me for 36 hours before, so it’s a pretty big deal. I’ve basically said that Mickey Mouse has been on the phone and needs to see me before we go on holiday. Mickey needs to find out what things Erin likes and he wants to show me stuff that Erin would like. Oh, and he also has a special gift for Erin that I need to collect

I thought it was pretty ingenious, she nodded and agreed and got excited about the gift but I’m not really sure that it sunk in, I guess the reality won’t kick in until I go. I just keep telling myself that she isn’t going to an orphanage for a week, far from it, she has two days with each of the grannies and three days with Dad, and I know she’ll get spoiled, but she’s still my baby, but at least she’s getting to go in 8 weeks, and it’ll be good for her (to be away from me)….won’t it?

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By Little Mummy, April 11, 2009 1:05 am

Morning all, we’re up in Pitlochry at the moment. I was surprised to find that the park we’re at has park wifi, so here I am! I’ve only blogged from McDonalds before so forgive me if I’m a little excited.

We’re having a great time, Erin’s enjoying the morning kids club, in fact she’s partaking in a little card-making activity right now, I’m being the crappy ‘hands off’ mother. I figure I can get away with it seeing as I’m a stay at home mum (and constantly ‘hands on’).

The weather has been very mixed, we’ve still managed two barbecues in typical british stylee (umbrellas at the ready, eating the food indoors). I managed to do the box splits when I slid on the decking and just about set my hair alight. Just a normal family holiday at a caravan park then…

Toasting marshmallows and my husband finally finding his poker mojo to win the home game we played (taking down a cool £20) have been the holiday highlights so far…..I mean tonight we’re off to see ‘Reunited’ so I’ll let you know how that goes, still pondering whether I should get in early for the bingo, don’t you just love British holiday parks…

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By Little Mummy, May 30, 2007 12:55 pm

We visited centre parcs at Sherwood Forest last year and Whinfell Forest this year. Erin was 7 months on our first trip and 15 months this time. Here is a run down of the activities that were suitable for her.

Swimming

The swimming is included in the price, there is a buggy park, and family changing – so far so good. Inside there are mini life jackets, inflatable toys and floats freely available to use. There is a very shallow round baby pool which Erin loved, the water barely met her waist so she was able to crawl, splash, play and towards the end of the break even started standing.

There is another pool which is a bit deeper with more toys a sprinkler and slide suitable for ages two to five.

There is a baby dolphins class on a couple of the days, the only downside being that it starts at 9.30am (perhaps this is a good thing for you!). You get the whole pool to yourself and I believe there is instruction on how to build baby’s confidence in the water (as you can tell I didn’t quite get organised early enough to attend).

Soft Play

There are a number of soft play areas around the park, in the various restaurants, the leisure bowl and the sports complex. All are free of charge, some are especially suitable for babies and toddlers – at whinfell forest the best one was in the leisure bowl where they also held parent and toddler mornings.

Beach

There is a man made beach beside the lake in both parks, so don’t forget your bucket and spade.

Walks

There are a number of walks and nature trails which are suitable for buggys.

As you would expect centre parcs is extremely baby/toddler/child friendly, there are plenty of baby changing areas, bottle warming facilities and buggy parks.

Comments (12)

By Little Mummy, April 10, 2007 7:02 am

My opinions here were aroused by this news article on plans to keep a register of holidays taken within term-time.

I can’t stress enough how wrong I think this is.

For a start, the law states that a child must be provided with a suitable and age appropriate education. It does NOT state that a child must attend school, full, part or otherwise, that is why parents have free choice to homeschool, should they wish. This in mind, it begs the question, why do schools (and the government) have the right to prevent term-time holidaying? (and keep registers thereof)

If it’s a parent’s choice how and where to educate their child it is also a parent’s right to take them out of school if they can prove that they are providing alternative education. Wouldn’t you agree that a holiday particularly of a cultural nature is a rich learning experience for any child? It could be argued (and I would) that even the beachiest holiday can incorporate educational excursions to historic buildings, museums etc..

Our education system is all or nothing in it’s current form. Either you take full responsibility as a parent and homeschool or you are forced to hand over all responsibility to the state system.

Here’s a thought.

What about an ‘Education Partnership’ a system where teachers, pupils and parents work together. Pupils should have a larger say in the curriculum – child led learning could be practised quite easily if we weren’t so obsessed with examining our children, what if our ‘teachers’ were more akin to learning facilitators, flexible and prepared to facilitate the learning of any subject regardless of curriculum. This would have four major advantages as I see it.

1. Children will be far more engaged when they have a say in what they learn.

2. Teachers will not become stale, teaching the same curriculum over and over again. They aren’t teaching kids about the world and skills anymore, they are training them to pass exams.

3. We will end up with a hugely diverse set of future workers who will have a much larger variety of skills, strengths and interests.

4. We wouldn’t have to worry about term-time holidaying, because the kids wouldn’t be ‘missing’ anything. What they are ‘missing’ at the moment is the vital bits of information required to pass exams. A looser curriculum and a vastly reduced exam calendar and the problem is solved. Holidaying would be seen as a major advantage to their education, think, the possibility of experiencing different cultures, practising foreign languages and customs, the opportunities are endless and far beyond what can be offered in the confines of the classroom.

Parents need to be involved and take more responsibility to assist in the education process by visiting museums, galleries, and other appropriate activities that tie in with the current learning in school. Some parents will argue they don’t have time, to them I would say, if you don’t have time, don’t have kids, you just can’t do them justice. Harsh, I know.

Why can’t we encourage term time holidaying? Why can’t we incorporate that into the classroom. Jonathan visited Africa? Great, let him do a show and tell, let us share what he has learned. Let us open our minds to the possibilities, instead of building systems that hinder everyone.

The education system is our education system, we pay for it and it’s our kids it is serving. If we want to change it, we can.

Thoughts welcome…

Photo by flickr user Robem