The Buckingham Blog

I expect this will be long, so get comfy first!!  We left on Friday 1st May about 10am to drive to Glasgow where I was meeting Laura.  The drive went pretty smoothly and we met at Glasgow bus station.  James went on down to my Mum & Tom's with the kids.  Laura and I headed for the train to Edinburgh to go to Never Forget, the musical with all Take That songs.

We had a little bit of time once we arrived to visit a few shops, then headed to the Playhouse.  We had a drink, then went to our seats which were front row in the dress circle.  Normally a show starts once the lights dip and you expect it.  Not this one!  We were in the middle of chatting when the drums kicked in and the whole audience got a real fright.

The show was really good, much funnier than I was expecting it to be.  There was Philip Olivier (ex-Brookie) and Shaun Williamson (Barry in Eastenders) in it who were really good, what a body Philip has!  We had time afterwards to head for a Burger King then back to the train down the road.  So a really nice outing. 

Saturday was a "nothing" day really, just hanging out at mums with Kory & Krystal eating her out of house and home as demonstrated by Krystal in the garden! 

In the evening James and I popped out for a while to go see Laura's new flat and meet one of her flatmates Martyn.  He reads the blog and really wanted to appear on it, so here you go Martyn, your 5 seconds of fame!! 

On Sunday, James and I nipped into Ayr for a few bits then we all went to visit an old school friend of mine, Nicola and her kids.  It was nice to catch up even if a bit of a flying visit.  Bathtime that night was fun as mum has a jacuzzi style bath that froths up the bubbles big time.  Kory stood up and had bubbles all over him and called himself Bubbleman!!

Monday morning was holiday time!  We packed the car up, went to Laura's work to say goodbye then got on the road to Yorkshire and our caravan for the week.   It took about 3.5 hours to get there and the kids were as good as gold.  We stopped for lunch at McDonalds in Carlisle and then they watched a DVD for the rest of the (silent) trip!  Thanks to Katy and Steve for lending us the player and screens, a future Christmas present me thinks! 

When we arrived, we unpacked a bit, did a quick change then headed to the onsite social area to investigate and get something to eat.  It wasn't as big as we expected (mainly based on Haggerston Castle) and it wasn't in season yet so a bit quiet, but they did have a quiz on and the resident bunny came out to see the kids.  Krystal was terrified, not going near whereas Kory was chasing it about asking for cuddles and photos!  Talk about role reversal! 

Tuesday morning involved unpacking the rest of the stuff then going swimming onsite.  I've been in cold pools before, but this was something else!  We'd been in about 10 minutes when Krystal's lips went blue.  I had to take her out as her whole body was shaking which is a shame as she was loving it otherwise! 

In the afternoon we headed for a place called Yarm.  We grabbed some sandwiches and had a car picnic.  Then went to Butterfly World.  Some of the butterfly's were really gorgeous, some small and some as big as swallows!  We spent a while in there, I really enjoyed it. 

Then we headed to the park beside it and spent ages there.  I think Kory had been taking his bravery pills as he had a shot on the death slide without any coaxing which is so not like him at all. 

In the evening we went out for a meal at a kid friendly type place called "Merry-Go-Round" which was quite nice for that kind of place!  It was quite busy, so while we waited we played with the camera! 

We went back to the pub after dinner, did another quiz then back to the caravan for snuggles in dressing gowns, and some hot juice while it heated up a bit. 

We were up early on Wednesday for the drive to Flamingoland about an hour and a half away.  We'd arranged to meet Jenni, Dave & Lagan there, but despite leaving from different places at different times, they ended up behind us on the road! 

As soon as we were through the door, the kids were wanting on something, so first stope was a merry go round.  Lagan and Krystal looked so unimpressed! 

Next James took Kory on the dodgems which he loved. 

 Dave getting soaked by Lagan (James & Krystal behind on the boat!)

By the time we'd had a nosey round all the rides it was time to eat.  Jenni had brought loads of food for a lovely picnic.  Well done Jenni! 

It started to drizzle a bit at the end so we got on the move over to the zoo area.  All the usual zoo animals really!  We kind of raced round it a bit in order to get to the Sealion Show on time. 

 Well you can't go to Flamingoland and not take a photo of the flamingo's right??!!

Next we spent a while in the farm area.  Not farm as in cows andsheep, but kids farm as in rabbits and guinea pigs.  There was a sciency exploring area indoors which was all dark.  Krystal was glowing like a lightbulb in her white jacket!  Kory was scared and went in a huff. 

Krystal and I went on a helicopter ride which actually went up quite high!  She loved it though. 

We could see quite far over the park and round to Jenni & Lagan in the next helicopter. 

While Kory was huffing he wanted to go on a mini roller coaster.  Of course once Krystal saw this she wanted on.  Krystal loved it, not sure if Kory did or not, because his huffy face was well and truely on! 

By that time we decided we'd been there all day and not gone on a single adult ride, so got on the Moo Cow train thing back over to the theme park part.  This is the kids on the train and below is Jenni, Dave & Lagan on it.  This is the 5th picture of them I took, Dave kept blinking! 

James doesn't "do" roller coasters, so he became babysitter for 10 mins while the rest of us went on the biggest coaster.  It was one of the floorless kind.  It's a bit blurry, but this photo shows Dave and I in front and Jenni behind us mid-ride.  It was over really fast, after the first drop, I didn't regain my sense of direction and the next thing it was over!! 

The sun came out then, just in time for us passing an ice cream hut.  So we had to stop for one.  Kory & Krystal had mini-milks which went down well.  Jenni & I squeezed in one more ride before the park shut and we headed our separate ways for the night. 

The kids were exhausted, pretty much asleep right after a snack in the car.  We stopped off in Hartlepool at a Pizza Hut which was actually really nice, then went for a look round the marina.  It had been a long day so we gave the pub a miss and just read magazines in the caravan.

Another early morning on Thursday to head to Northallerton where Jenni lives to see her wedding dress.  We got stuck in traffic so by the time I arrived at the shop, she had it on already.  Obviously I can't share details, but she looked lovely! 

We went back to her house after that with Lisa & Seb (another of the bridesmais and her son) The 4 kids played for a while, then we had a living room picnic lunch!  Lagan had a sleep while we bored James to tears with wedding talk. 

Then we went to Dave's farm.  Since Kory was little he's called Dave "Farmer Dave" which isn't rocket science given that he's a farmer, but I think Dave secretly likes his nickname! 

We saw loads and loads of cows which Krystal was very taken with.  Kory on the other hand was happy to look from a distance. 

Though he was keen to take pictures of them, like this one.

Both of them would have stayed in the tractor ALL day long! 

But we had to drag them away to go for a walk in the forest. 

By the time we left the farm, we were all hungry, so Jenni fed the kids and the grown ups ordered an indian takeaway. 

We left about 7:30pm and headed back for our last night in the caravan.  The kids slept in the car, so we decided to go for a little while in the pub where they came alive again! 

Friday was mostly driving home, but with a stop in Newcastle to visit Ikea.  Seeing as we've not got one here it's always a novelty, but I was very restricted as the car was already full!  Again the DVD players were brilliant on the way home.

A quiet weekend was had, recovering from the lack of sleep all week and getting in more shopping.  A great holiday was had by us all, and now back to reality (not to mention heat, a big bed, space to move and lots of TV channels!!)

Julie.xx