Week 1 of holidays...........survived!

I thought that with the start of the school holidays I would have so much more time to do............things, chill out, catch up on a bit of telly, blog amongst others.

HOW WRONG COULD I BE!

I cannot believe that we are into the second week of the school holidays already. In fact a slight panic has set in, have I actually got enough time to do everything. My eldest has already been and returned from his week long scout camp!! We are heading off tomorrow to my MIL's caravan along the Kent coast until Monday, as hubby now has a few days off work (thank God!). Now my boys are pestering me to go to their Nanny's, who happens to live in Devon, which would be fantastic but I'm not sure I can drive that long on my own ( due to the M.E sometimes my muscles are extremely painful and an almighty fatigue can set in). We also have a festival in the middle of August and I haven't even thought about uniforms ( apart from my eldest's new blazer..........which I never forget after leaving it into a dry cleaners once only to wake up middle of the night on the day he was due back to school, in a total panic about what to do!!! Believe me my OH was not best pleased as I almost gave him heart failure thinking someone had broken in!!)

Anyway, last week was great with one child away it was great to spend time with the other on his own, and boy did he have his week planned out. OH was off Monday so my son decided he wanted to visit St Paul's Cathedral in London!! So naively we thought great a little afternoon up there, we would listen to the tour gadgets and take a few pic's and then home....

Oh no were there for 5 hours!! Yes you read it right.........5 hours. They convinced me to go up the stairs to the Whispering Gallery, which I really wanted to do anyway. However, then they persuaded me to go further to the Stone Gallery! Which turned out to be fantastic as it was a beautiful day so we sat and had our lunch there!

That's us on the stone Gallery

View from the Stone gallery

 Then they persuaded me to go a bit further, to the top in fact. From there we had just the most fantastic view across London, so I felt it was worth it in the end.

More steps!!!!

View from the very top!

However, I started to struggle coming down and after several rests I got to the bottom only to find my legs started shaking uncontrollably and I was stuck to the spot for about 15 minutes!!!! It was sooo not funny, bad enough when people pass you on the stairs and look at you as though you are a complete pleb for not being able to get up there, let alone how people look at you when your OH is practically holding you up in the middle of St Paul's!!( M.E is invisible so people look at you as if your are an idiot when your OH helps you up or holds you up for whatever reason). We made it to the cafe to recuperate ............a cuppa and a chocolate crispy cake is like a miracle cure.


Then a purchase in the shop ( I very sadly collect fridge magnets from wherever I go) and a snoop in the Crypt and we then being practically thrown out we had been there so long.

When I thought it was all over my son casually mentions going across the Millennium Bridge ( which is practically in front of St Paul's) so I plodded on.

That's us heading towards the bridge..............slowly.

The day was fantastic although I knew I would suffer the next day.

So on Tuesday my OH took over and the pair of them built a 'den' in the garden while I watched from the sidelines taking pic's and drinking tea.

The finished product!

Complete with warning.

Wednesday my Oh returned to work so I promised my son that we would use our prize from a competition and go play our free round of mini golf at Bluewater. That was great fun until my son beat me by 2 points!!! I was so not impressed.........I'm not one of those lovely parents who let their child win at things. I don't know what happens to me but a competitive streak takes over and not an inch is given.

However, I consoled myself with a Krispy Kreme and a coffee before letting my son window shop around Bluewater to get a few ideas for his birthday.



Thursday, I had a lovely invite to HMS Belfast which you can read about in the previous post. So little ol' me and my son and his buddy spent a fab few hours on the ship before returning home. He then was invited to his friends for the afternoon ( his mum is a start and knew I would be heading to bed after a busy morning out) and didn't return until dinner time!!

Friday was a meet with a friend at the pool, boys went swimming we had a coffee and then went back to hers for lunch and a great catch up in the afternoon!!

By then I was completely drained so Saturday was a complete blur to me and spent most of it in bed. But my eldest returned from his camp very happy but tired!!

This week had already started with an impromptu water fight yesterday afternoon and a swim 'play date' with their friends this afternoon.

A make do water spray!! LOL

We will be off to the caravan tomorrow but I'm yet to get everything packed and I am sitting on the computer doing this!!!!!
I'm waiting on the magic fairy to come in the night and sort it all out for me...................OK that means I will be up late and then not sleep as I think of the things I have forgotten to pack!!! Meanwhile my lovely boys (including OH) will sleep fantastically well as they only have to remember to put on clean pants......and sometimes that's a struggle.


So here's to a few hopefully relaxing days away where I am hoping my OH will take over the 'entertaining' of the boys for a while as I sit on the sidelines and recuperate a little in readiness for the next few weeks!!!

HMS Belfast Gun Turret Exhibit

We were lucky enough to be invited to HMS Belfast on Thursday to see the new Gun Turret exhibit that is opening on board.

I arrived with my 10 year old son and his best buddy on a beautiful sunny morning to be greeted with tea and pastries and a press pack with all the information about the exhibit and HMS Belfast itself. We were then guided along to the exhibit which actually does take place within one of the 'gun housings' themselves. we went in and a black curtain darkened the inside. There is only room for a couple of families at a time in there so the children were encouraged to move forward to the front. A short film started to play with the story told from the perspective of a serviceman on board the Belfast in time of war. It takes you through what would happen in the run up to the guns being fired, with the workings moving and getting prepared. The experience culminated in a reenactment how it would feel to be inside there if the guns were fired, so loud noise, floor shaking and some smoke too. The boys thought it was great!

I am told that this film will be running on a timed loop for visitors to enter and watch during their visit. There is no extra cost to this so once you have paid your entrance fee everything then on board will be included. With this film on a constant loop it would be something that you could watch a few times on your visit if your children enjoy it.

Afterwards we were taken to the Operations Room where there are a couple of hands on games they can play. It consists of touch screen maps were the children or adults use ships and helicopters to search for aircraft wreckage on a timed game. The two boys loved this and were very disappointed by a 'Mission Failed' on their first attempt!!

Then we moved into the front control room with the Captains chair complete with uniform and hats for the children to try on, and two very helpful guides who encouraged the boys to put the coats and hats on and got them searching for different things to spot out of the window with the old sets of binoculars! The boys were in their element.

View from the Captains Chair!

In his dreams LOL

We were then offered a guided tour around the ship or the chance to explore by ourselves. The boys opted to investigate the rest of the ship using the guide map. We went from the very top to the very bottom and had great fun on all the levels along with the child friendly hands on displays.

Using Morse code!

Attempting the knots!

Word of warning......go sensibly dressed in trousers and don't wear flip flops!!!! Not that I did, but there was a lady with her son there who had great difficulty in a maxi dress and sandals, going up and down the very steep ladder/steps!!!

Although I went round with two gun mad boys who seemed to love everything about the ship I didn't feel that this would be a trip exclusively for boys. There were lots of girls on board who seemed to be having just as much fun. There is also a fab little cafe on board for that necessary thirst quenching cuppa for the adults, but if your budget doesn't run to extras there is an area just as you come on board where lots of families were indulging in their picnics too.

As with most London attractions, visits don't come cheap with an adult ticket @ £13.50 and a child @ £5.50. However don't be put off as there are lots of 2 for 1 offers when travelling by train, and if your child is lucky enough to be the proud owner of a Blue Peter Badge ( yes they are still going!!) they will get in free!!

SO CHECK OUT THE GREAT AND EASY COMPETITION BELOW FOR FREE TICKETS!!

Just as an extra there is a competition running for a family to win tickets to HMS Belfast with the opportunity to be aboard when the fire the guns for real!!!!

To enter the prize draw, readers just have to email hmsbelfast@fidopr.co.uk and the winner will be selected at the end of July.

Competition- HMS Belfast!

One of the great attractions in London, to do with children, is to visit the fantastic HMS Belfast. If you haven't been before it really is worth a visit. I have a great opportunity to go there this Thursday for the opening of the new 'Gun turret' on board. So that post will be coming at the weekend.

However, in the mean time they are running a great competition to win family tickets and a special tour on board HMS Belfast. The crew want everyone to have a blast, so they have decided to fire their guns for the winner! They don't do this very often so it will definitely be a rare treat for the winning family.

 To enter all you have to do is email hmsbelfast@fidopr.co.uk to say you are interested, and then leave me a comment to say you have entered and include your favourite London attraction!!

Just to show you what you are missing take a look at this tour which will give an idea of what you will see    
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i22EVBebuiE
                                    PS: feel free to follow too!!!