We are just back from our first family holiday and, despite my misgivings before we went, we all had a lovely time – especially Freya who I am pretty sure didn’t stop smiling the entire time we were away.
She constantly surprises me with her ability to adapt to any situation and being in a caravan didn’t bother her at all – in fact it was me (my first time too) who struggled to comprehend that the tremors that regularly shook the floor were not earthquakes but just someone moving about in another room (who knew?). By the end of our stay I had almost stopped grabbing on to the nearest bit of furniture.
Freya seemed to delight in everything we did even if it was going on the children’s playground where she was too small for half of the equipment.
We had planned to take in some of the local attractions near Caister but in the end we had no need to leave the Haven camp. Most mornings, we took Freya to a kids club activity which normally involved one of the characters singing nursery rhymes, which she clapped and danced along too. There was also the opportunity to take photos with the characters at the end of each session for free, which I was happily surprised by. Freya was a bit bemused by them.
In the afternoons we usually went for a swim in the indoor pool, which our water baby loved. She also enjoyed making eyes at the lifeguards (that’s my girl). And, of course, the beach was just a short walk away and thankfully we had good weather most days.
With my mum and dad along for the trip, I was even able to catch up on a bit of sleep, as they got up at 5am each day, which they apparently do normally (!?) and took over with Freya so I could go back to bed.
We took all Freya’s food with us so we didn’t have to worry about any allergy flare ups and it was only a 40 min car ride so her reflux, or maybe hang ups about car seats as a result of the pain of reflux, didn’t result in an entire journey of screaming as they so often have.
We used to go to the same camp when I was little so it was nice for my parents to see it again. Up until I was about nine we used to go on holiday with our extended family and when I think back now it’s more of a feeling of simply being very happy than one particular memory. While I can’t magic up a big family for Freya (her only cousin is on the other side of the Atlantic) I can hopefully make sure she enjoys herself – although given that she would have been happy running around the beach all day it shouldn’t be too hard.
Now to tackle this little lot.
After The Rain 