Snowy lakes

Again were still stuck in Christmas, don't worry we'll get back to the new year soon enough! After we had Christmas up at ours, we went down to the lakes to see the in-laws for new years. It was good to get away, although the trip ended on a bit of a low with the Great Grandmother falling ill and unfortunately passing away not long after the new year. 

While we were down though, we did get to spend some time with the greater family, catching up with the brothers and sister in-law and hearing all the latest family news. Including the fact that the 18 year old brother in law is buying a house! Best of luck to him, hopefully he's going to be setting himself up well for the rest of his life, I remember how much of a struggle it was getting my first flat.

I think most of these facts passed the kids by as at the do with young children, they were far more interested in seeing grandma and going to the soft play, not to mention getting quite excited over the now on top of the hills around the lakes. 

Not a bad view from the house.

As always, I took full advantage of the time away to catch up on my sleep and grab a Costa Mocha or two. I do find that these trips south to the in-laws a great way to relax for a bit and recharge, leaving all the childcare to them, well, mostly grandma anyway. Grandad, as great as he is at playing with the kids, something I think he enjoys greatly as well, its grandma who seems to be the star of the show when were down. I think its mostly because she lets them get away with all sorts of things and always has lots of goodies around the house, not to mention every time they come home after being out with grandma and granddad they seem to come back with a new toy and full of naughty snacks. Not that we mind, after all, that's what grand parents are for, although I would get annoyed if they lived just a round the corner and did it, although I suspect that they wouldn't if they did.

It could be a while before we get back to the grandparents again, as trips south are more difficult now the little man is at school. We cant just join the wife on her trips south anymore, which is a shame, but the kids are getting older all the time and life changes. Maybe one day I'll be able to join her again and leave the kids at home by themselves!

crabbing

One of the highlights of the holiday for the kids was going crabbing off the pier with some of the other kids. We went crabbing twice in the end, once with a big group of kids, about a dozen of them and once a couple of days later with just our kids and one of the other children there, a young girl who the young lady had take quite a shine too.

Crabbing for those that may not know, which until last years holiday would have included me, is basically fishing for crabs, using either a small net on the end of a line or a basket type thing, also on the end of a line. Now there are various types of kits out there, but there are the best kits I think.

There simple and effective, even if they do take a bit more practice to lift out of the water while keeping the crabs attached. Now there was also a lot of debate about what bait to use but on this topic there really is only one answer as far as I'm concerned and that's bacon. Doesn't matter what type of bacon, but bacon is king of the crab bait. Stick it in the pouch and lob it in the water and away you go, as long as there are crabs in the water that is!

With out bacon filled net, we managed to catch more than the others using a basket type affair, and we caught some woppers as well!

The kids really enjoyed the crabbing, although it was yours truly who actually had to deal with the crabs! No-one else would touch them, although they all had great fun watching me chasing the dam things all over the pier when they escaped! Don't worry though, we did release all the crabs back in to the wild after we were done and as close to where we caught them as possible.

If your ever get the chance to do some crabbing with the bairns, go for it, its cheap and great fun, just be careful how you grab hold of the crabs! I'd recommend keeping away from the pincers at the front!

Oh, and have you ever seen a crab drawing?

Now you have!

Millport

While we were on holiday in Millport we managed to see some of the local sights, both in and around Millport and Cumbrae in general but also across the ferry in Largs. Now, Cumbrea is also known as the Island of a Thousand bikes and its a truthful name, there are hundreds of bikes all over the place, in town, on the only road around the island, all over the bloody place! Now, I am not a fan of cyclists, if they had to pay road tax like I do to use my car on the road, I wouldn't mind, but they don't and they still act like they own the place, well, Cumbrea is a hundred times worse, as its not just cyclists but cyclists on holiday! I must have spend several hours crawling along behind cyclists meandering along the centre of the road at a snails pace, completely oblivious to the the fact that there was a car behind them. I think if I ever go to Cumbrea again, i'm taking my car, at least then they would have no excuse for not hearing me!

Anyway, rant over, the island itself was beautiful and peaceful, the local shops had everything that we needed and the kids were more than entertained. We did see some pretty special sights while we were there as well, the main one for us, being merchant navy people, was the PS Waverley, an old paddle steamer, build 1946 and was the last sea going paddle steamer build in the world. The day we saw her, she stopped at the docks right by the FSC centre to take on passengers and that meant that we got a good look up close at her. She looks in pretty good nick for a 70+ year old vessel, better that some of the newer ships we sailed on!

Quite a majestic shot of the old girl

One for scale, that's a kayaker just in front of the paddle.

We also spent some time of the beaches of Millport and if anyone has ever been to Millport, there are a couple of attractions you have to go see, the first being the monster on the beach. This is really just a painted rock, but its pretty well done and does actually look like a monster, at least when its not swarming with children anyway.

Upclose

Wider shot, showing the bay in the back ground

We also visited Largs one day, taking the ferry across the Clyde and while we didn't spend a lot of time there it seems like a nice place, a lot busier than Cumbrea, but that's to be expected. We mainly went across to go to the swimming pools and the Viking exhibition, which are both in the same place at the leisure centre, along side the theatre and pitch and put as well. A bit of an odd combination, but its a small town, so not surprising. I know what your thinking, we live in a place surrounded by Vikings, and we go to a Viking experience when on holiday! Well, the bairns enjoyed it, they also enjoyed the swimming, mostly I think because the little man got given some water pistols by another family who were heading home that evening and didn't have room in the suitcase for them! While we were in Largs we took in one of the other famous sights of the town, Nardinis Icecream. Now, i'm not sure what the real story is, but there are several Nardinis in the town, one in a big building that is also a restaurant and one that's is just an icecream parlor, but apparently, according to a friend who grew up there and also supported by what the icecream lady told us, its the one by the ferry that's the proper one, Nardinis at the Moorings, the other is just named after the building. In reality, I don't actually care, what I do know is that the icecream was very nice and the bairns loved the bright blue bubble gum icecream, which was good as I don't fancy eating it when they decided they didn't like it!

For anyone looking for a little get away from life and civilization, I can recommend Cumbrea and Millport, there isn't much there and not many people, perfect for getting away from it all.

Real Familly Holiday

This year we went down to Millport, on the island of Cumbrae, for our summer holidays and as with our holiday last year we stayed at the Field Studies Councils Centre (FSC Millport). The FSC Real Family Holidays are becoming our go to yearly family holidays and for good reason. There reasonably priced, all inclusive and there are always a number of other friendly families there to chat and play with. Of course the other big draw is all the activities that they do there for the kids, from mini-beast hunts to treasure hunts to shelter building. Each centre is different and while there were some elements at this years holiday centre that were not as good as last years, there were also somethings that were better but overall I couldn't tell you which one was better. The kids enjoyed both holidays and we're planning on going back next summer. 

Millport accommodation and centre (from FSC website) 

One of the highlights of the trip was going hunting for wildlife, as part of the mini-beast hunt. We set some traps overnight to see what we could catch and two people were lucky enough to catch something. I've only got a picture of one of the mice below as the other mouse made a (successful) break for freedom as soon at the trap was opened. The kids were super excited by the sight of the mouse bouncing this way and that as it made its way back in to the  bushes. 

The field mouse (the one that didn't escape)

There were lots of other activities from team games and orienteering to rock pooling and beach art and with there being an aquarium onsite, there was also a guided tour of that. Probably one of the other highlights for the kids was the camp fire. These seem to be a hit at each place we go, although I suspect its more to do with the food on offer that the camp fire, last year it was toasted marshmallows and cinnamon sugared apply slices (toasted to melt the sugar) and this year it was popcorn, popped on the open fire in a proper popcorn popper thing. The only downside is that they keep on insisting on stupid camp fire games, I hated these things when I was a scout and I still hate them now!

Handeling starfish on the guided tour of the aquarium

The great thing about the Real Family Holidays though, is that you don't need to take part in any of these things if you don't want to, its completely up to you. We have know people who have just used the centre as a base for their own holidays, joining us for breakfast and dinner and disappearing out during the day with their pack lunches. When you have young kids its a great way of holidaying, as you don't have to worry about getting home each night and cooking dinner or shopping for food, or worrying about where your going to eat or whether the pub you've chosen will do something the kids will eat. Plus, when you want a little quiet time, you can just send the kids off to the games room or the TV room with the other kids and have a nice relaxing cup of tea from one of the numerous tea station that are around.

If anyone is interested in the Rear Family Holidays, you can find all the information you need here;

http://www.real-family-holidays.org/

and the FSC info here

http://www.field-studies-council.org/

One last christmas.

Well, after a bit of a whirlwind when we left to head south, we have finally got around to having our own christmas. Were only about 12 days late and the tree is still up despite 12th night having already passed, well, you can't have a Christmas celebration without the tree afterall!

It was nice to finally have our own little Christmas, ultimately I would have preferred to have it on Christmas day, but flying down boxing day wasn't going to work withthe weather anyway and it does make it a bit of a rush seeing everyone when we are south. We'll have to think more about next year, as we'll have to pay for the young ladies seat as well, but that's for next Christmas. As for this one, well, Santa has been busy! The kids have got a whole raft of new presents, from trackmaster for the little man to a toy cleaning set for the young lady.

Its a shame that its all over for another year, but its the young ladies birthdays party next weekend!

Christmas at the in-laws

Well, another trip to the inlaws is complete and yet agian it been fun and games. Now I enjoy being at the inlaws, so this isn't a moan about the inlaws. With all the rushing around to get down and avoid the worst of the weather, we ended up spending several extra days with the inlaws, doing a number of family things, such as visiting the great grandparent. Christmas was also a fabulous day, the kids getting far to many present of all of the family, far to much for us to take home on the plane that for sure! So it's all going to be posted up and as it cost the same to post 20kg as it cost for an extra 20kg bag on the plane, it's a no brainer. Costs the same but half the hassle, after all we don't have to drag it around an airport with 2 children and 2 car seats, plus the 2 bags we've got anyway. Plus the bairns will be getting more present from my parents anyway.

Things started going down hill a bit on Boxing Day, when the mother inlaw came down with a heavy cold, shortly followed by the father in law, who ended up spending the best part of two days holed up in bed! It meant that the last few days we didn't do much at all, as the kids weren't great either. So those extra few days at the beginning were a blessing in disguise as it meant we still got to spend the same time with them, just the other side of the holiday.

The only real downside to the mother inlaw being ill, was that the wife and I were unable to get our night away together, something we try and do when we're down. There's nothing quite like a full nights undisturbed  sleep in the same bed all night. With the kids being a little under the weather, we spent a lot of time in the kids beds, and not in our own! The young lady is also a stubborn one and will only sleep in her bed, even though it is far more comfortable for us in ours!

Update; Well, I have been a little getting this post sorted! Mostly due to the fact that the I've been feeling like someone's taken a cricket bat to my head! I've been out for about 5 days, just trying to get through each day and hoping the kids will sleep well at night, so I can recover for the next day! Were back home and im still not fully recovered, although its mostly just a very snotty nose!.

Unfortunately we seem to have given the bugs to my parents, my father especially, who went the same way as the father in-law, must be an on old man thing!

Merry christmas

Just a quick post to say merry Christmas to every one that reads this blog. That's not many of you, but thanks for looking.

So I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I hope Santa is kind to you all again this yearn

Airports

Living where we live we have we tendency to fly a lot. While the flights are generally short, never more than an hour and a half end most around an hour, and the planes are small, 30 to 40 people, it means we end up flying in and out of various airports up and down the country. Off the top of my head the list includes; Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Manchester, Exeter, Gatwick and Heathrow and in our previous life we could add Newcastle, London City and Southampton, to name a few.

So what has all this thought me? Every airport seems to have a very different idea of the rules. Obviously, so rules are pretty universal, no knives on the plane for eaxmple, that's a standard one across the board, but what drinks can you take through security for children or what id do you need for them? Stuff like that seems to change at every airport.

With every journey we have to fly through the local airport, not a lot of choice here as there is only one on the island, and its about as pleasurable an experience as you can get going through an airport. All the staff are friendly and happy pleasant people, who sound genuine when they apologize for having to go through your bags. The little man likes going through the metal detectors, as he gets a sticker the other side. The staff have even held the young lady for my wife when she was traveling with both the kids alone. Granted, when you get the otherside of security there is only a small coffee counter and a duty free that is never open (opens for the flights to Norway which happen about 1 a week in the summer), there is a nice view of the runway.

In contrast, flying through London is one of the most stressful things I do these days, if not the most, and everyone there seems miserable and grumpy and on some sort of permanent power trip, unwilling to bend any rules even if it means massively inconveniencing the travelers. We've been moaned at because the little lady won't got through the metal detectors on her own and so they have had to do a manual search after, while acting like this is the biggest pain in the arse. We've be challenged over bringing drinks for the kids, despite the fact that were transiting through and have already been through one airport with no problems.

Traveling through Glasgow and Edinburgh are better, the staff seem less grumpy and don't act like everything is a major effort, but the experience is never what I would call pleasant. We've had a few incidents traveling through these airports but they haven't been as bad as in London. Most have been about the kids drinks, however, I've found away around this one!

When we were away with my parents, mum brought some squash for the kids and had some of the Robinson's Squashed bottles, which as it turns out are only 66ml, well under the 100ml limit and fit in with all the usual changing bag related items in one of those clear bags that they have. This means that turning those bottles of water back in to squash after security is simple.

The main thing though that prompted this post was traveling through Manchester the other week when we got stopped at the security desks just before the x-ray machines. They stopped us and asked for our id, at which pi t the wife and I handed over our driving licenses as we always do. They then asked for the kids id's, something we've never been asked for, apart from traveling to America with the little man. At this point, we were a little shocked, having flown down no problems and the only id we had was the young ladies birth certificate to prove she's under two (she was 22 months and she's quite big for her age) and thus doesn't need as seat but that was for check in purposes only and had been checked with the baggage. After some phone calls and some discussions, some of which I misses due to an emergence dash to the little boys room with the little man. When I returned I was informed that it was alright but we'd have to have our biometrics taken, a bit of a pain but not a major problem. Well, that's not what the kids decided! Trying to get pictures taken of children when their not playing ball is not easy! Lucky we got everything sorted and were still in pleantly of time for the plane. Having traveled with the kids about 1 every 2 or 3 months, this is the first time I've come across this problem and I would have thought that a major airport like Manchester should know what there doing. Anyway we made it home but we'll have the kids id somewhere to had in the future!

Family holiday - the highs and lows

I know its been a while since we got back from holiday but I though I would write a short post about the holiday highs and lows. This was our first real family holiday, as in a holiday that didn't involve staying at one of the parents/grandparents houses. Yes we've done a holiday where we met my parents at a holiday home in Oxford, but we spent the whole week with them, so I don't really count that as a family holiday in the same way.

So what were the highs and lows of the holiday?

Ill start with the lows, mostly as they were not many of them. The main low was one that ran through most of the holiday, the temper tantrums. Now, the little man isn't really one for tantrums, we've be lucky with that, most tantrums were caused by tiredness. On the holiday they became a regular thing, be it wanting to the TV or ipad (Grandma's I might add), not wanting to eat lunch/dinner, not wanting to do what we were planning, not getting to play with the bigger boys or being left behind. Pretty much everything invoked a tantrum at some point or another. Since we've been back, the tantrums have disappeared again, which is good. Whether it was just the change of scenery or routine that caused it, I don't know but it was a pain at the time. The other low point that sticks in the mind, is some of the vocabulary that the little man picked up! Some of the other kids (read older boys) were, well, typical older boys, bigger and more boysterous and with some questionable vocabulary. A few of these words appeared to rub off on the little man, although again he seems to have forgotten all about them.

In reality, there were not many lows to the holiday, which was quite surprising. There were quite a few highs though. Pretty much everyday held a high point of some sort or another. Seeing the bairns playing with new children and experiencing new things, such as the aquarium. The activities played on Toby the holiday place were also pretty good, some more so than others. Pond dipping and survival skills were real hits, bat watching ( too late at night), low ropes (still to high!) and team games less so (mixed ages groups and parents taking over/cheating, not in a bad way, just a little to enthusiastic).

Watching the pair of them getting so excited over the little creepy crawly bugs during the pond dipping or seeing how enthusiasticly they collected branches for shelters building was really amazing, almost as amazing as watching them toasting marshmallows over a fire for the first time. Some of the other activities we did in the afternoons were also just as good, crabbing on Plymouth harbour, where we caught several crabs, was another high point I wobt forget in a while.

It was in many senses a trip of firsts for the bairns, although I think the little man will have got more out of it, as I'm not sure how much the young lady will remember.

Overall, I think the trip was a massive success and were planning another trip next year, although we won't be going as far as we did this time!

Hire cars

As some of you may have noticed, I'm a bit of a car nut. I like cars, both in terms of driving and designers, although my main taste is older cars. We hire cars pretty regularly as we fly south quite often, usually when my wife has work south and as a result we end up driving all sorts of cars, although they are usually medium to large family cars, focus to mondeo size.

Over the years we've had various cars, from memory the ones I remember are; Seat Ibiza ( older style, not very good), Vauxhall Astra (various mk's, all rubbish) Vauxhall Insignia (petrol's rubbish, diesel is quite good), VW Polo (gutless but comfy), Kia C'eed (alright), Hyundai i30 (newer version, very good on several occasions) Nissan Quasqui (unmemerable, as in I remember we had one but I remember nothing about it!). I'm sure there have been a few others, cutoff the top of my head I can't remember. Both my wife and I have driven various others cars over the years too; Ford Focus ( both types), Toyota Avensis and Auris, VW Fox (cracking little car), Vauxhall Zafira, plus a few others that escape me. There is of course the Rover 25, both MG ZR's Andy current MG ZS to add to the list, but they were all fabulous cars ( ok, so I'm slightly bias).

So whatscthe point in all this? I'm not trying to brag about all the cars I've driven, just saying I've driven a few, so when I say the Vauxhall Mocka and the 2wd Toyota Rav4 are crap cars, you know I'm basing it on having driven lots of cars and not just because there not the same as my car. So;

THE VAUXHALL MOCKA AND 2WD TOYOTA RAV4 ARE CRAP CARS.

Don't worry, I am going to justify my opinion. We'll start with the Rav4, and ill start with the positives, which there are a few.

The forward sidewards vision is great, mostly due to the height of the vehicle and it is a conftable and very spacious car. We managed the 4 of us with all our luggage for 2 weeks with no problems at all. The engine was great to, if I remember rightly it was the diesel version. For these reasons alone I wanted to like the car. However, there were 2 major drawbacks, namely rear vision was not great, I might have gotten use to it in time, but the killer was the ride quality. On a flat straight road it was very comfy, but the moment you hit a bump you'd been better off on a bouncy castle! And ill not go in to the whole driving down county lanes. When a car is bouncing and wallowing down the road, it doesn't inspire any confidence. I don't know how well it would have handled as I never had the confidence to push it. Now, I know its no sports car, but even so, ill not be hoping for another one, which is a shame as it does have a lot going for it. As a simple plod arounfmd town car it would be great, but I'm a driver and its not a drivers car.

However, no matter how bad the Rav4 was, the Mocka was in another league of rubbish! Ill be kind and start with the positives, um...... Well with that done we'll move to the negatives. Ready? Rear vision is rubbish (thank good for parking sensors), wing mirrors are rubbish, cabin space is rubbish for such a big car and boot space is just laughable, you can't fit a fold away child buggy across ways and leave your large cases at home, there's only just room for a couple of small cases if you want to leave the parcel shelf on. The 1.4 turbo engine is possibly the worst engine I've ever had the pleasure of using, its pretty gutless at any speed and has no grunt, we were I first on many occasions when going up the steep country lanes as you had to keep the engine screaming to get any it to move at anything other than a snails pace. Yes I know that turbo engines work better at high revs, but this one had nothing below about 3000rpm and above that it had very little, you had to properly flog it to get it to go. Not really what you want when trying to join a motorway at 70!

Friends of ours bought a Mocka when they first came out, think theirs was a diesel one, anyway they swapped it after less then a year for a BMW X1.

So, the 2wd Rav4 isn't great (I assume the 4wd isn't much different) and the Mocka is just rubbish but what about good cars? Ill leave out the MG's as I'm defiantly bias there, I will however praise two cars, the VW Fox, its just a shame they replaced it with the UP, and the Hyundai i30 which was a very present surprise when we hired it.

We had a VW Fox for several year and we went all over the country and a trip round the Republic of Ireland, all without any dramas. Granted, there was little to shout about with the car, but it did everything we ever asked it to do and never gave a moments trouble. It is the perfect car for any young driver, cheap but with the VW build quality. The Hyundai i30 on the other hand was a surprise. When we first got it we thought it was going to be rubbish, but very quickly we realised that it wasnt, we've had a few over the years and even the 1.4 petrol is a good car, a little gutless on the motorway but not like the Mocka! The 1.6 diesel is an excellent little car, so much so that we very nearly bought one. We didn't in the end as we got given a Toyota Auris by the inlaws, as they were going to get rid of it. I would have brought the Hyundai but a free car is a free car, next time were in the market for a new car though, it'll be an i40 we'll be looking at.