Here we go – it’s holiday day!
Getting ready to leave was slightly more stressful than we had hoped. The kids were determined to find new things to play with and somehow made a mess everywhere they went (despite out best efforts to leave the house tidy). I had also miscalculated how the various bags would fit in the boot, but after some car boot Tetris I got it sorted. Phew!
We were aiming to leave by 8:00am with a 30 minute buffer window, so all in all we were quite happy to actually hit the road at 8:35am. Before kids were were always so punctual – I’ve had to learn to lower my punctuality standards!
The drive down to Lymington was easy apart from the inevitable “I need a wee” from Genevieve just outside of Southampton. This lead to the surreal experience going to the service station with our masks on, but I guess that will be the new normal for the time being.
As we drove through the New Forest (one of my favourite places in the country) we tried to engage the kids in some wild horse spotting, but sadly they were more interested in watching The Little Mermaid on the iPad. Hopefully they’ll appreciate it more when they’re a little older.
Megan was frustrated on the way as she wasn’t able to set up her new watch. Garmin’s website was hacked a couple of days earlier and was still down – not ideal. I know how exciting it is to have a new sports watch to play with so I totally empathise with her annoyance.
Grandma Lindsey and Grandad Lawrie were waiting for us in the carpark when we arrived at the ferry terminal. There were hugs all round and some much needed toilet visits. I stayed in the car for a quick snooze while the others went to enjoy a hot beverage and watch our ferry coming in. James was very excited to see our ferry docking but Genevieve was less interested.
There was more excitement as we drove on to the ferry when we realised our whole level was a rising platform. The kids were initially a bit freaked out when the floor started moving but this soon turned to fascination as the walls drifted past. As soon as we stopped moving we made a dash out of the car to get a good seat on the deck. We got seats right at the front with brilliant views (although it was a tad windy). Once we’d departed we pointed out the the sights (mainly the Needles), waved to other boats and counted the buoys. Despite our best efforts there was some very dubious social distancing on deck – people just kept on standing next to us seemingly without a care in the world. Oh well.
As we docked at the other end of the trip we took our first family selfie of the holiday. I took the first couple of photos without realising I was wearing my mask. It didn’t stop me smiling – I guess old habits die hard!
We drove to the West Bay Cottages and tried to check in. It transpired that we were too early as they were doing a “deep clean”. Megan started chatting with the cleaner so the kids went on rampage around the field and footpaths. Within minutes they’d already made their first friend – a little girl who was staying opposite. Genevieve even ended up trying to cycle the little girl’s bike around the field (but needs a bit more practice as she got stuck on the uphill bits).
While we were waiting for the cottage to be ready we drove to Fort Victoria which was just around the corner. We spent a couple of very happy hours throwing and skimming stones in the sea and generally messing about.
The children built up quite the collection of interesting things (including chalk, stones, shells and a part-rotten crab claw). We did our best to limit the particularly special items that came home with us, but this still meant that both kids’ pockets were full to the brim.
Megan continued our tradition of stacking stones on the beach. It’s a pastime that’s become infinitely more difficult as the children have got older; they’re very keen to “help”.
The stone throwing became slightly competitive with everyone seeing who could skim or throw the furthest. I think that James won the competition based purely on his joyful reactions. Grandad Lawrie slightly overdid it and suffered a mild groin injury – the perils of being a semi-professional stone throwing athlete!
When were were done seeing who could throw the furthest, we moved on to throwing stones at a derelict pier. The kids enjoyed the variety of noises they could make by hitting the various metal, wood and concrete sections.
After some coaching and lots of perseverance, Megan completed her first ever successful stone skim (quickly followed by her second). What a result!
We wandered back to the fort. James and Genevieve were instantly attracted to the giant cannon, but sadly James was then fascinated by the sea again (despite having spent the previous couple of hours stood right next to it). He seemed determined to try and fall in – what a silly billy!
Megan went to find the facilities but got more than she bargained for when she discovered a dragon inside – terrifying (if somewhat random)! I’m still not entirely sure why there was a dragon in an old fort – maybe we’ll find out at a later date.
With the children happy scrambling up a nearby slope under the watchful eye of Grandma Lindsey and Grandad Lawrie, we took the opportunity to take a classic “Stephen and Megan” selfie. It was too pretty and we couldn’t resist!
Before heading back to the cottage we did a quick spot of Geocaching. The cache was an official IoW tourism one, seemingly one in a series placed by the tourist board to drum up visitors to the island. It had some very damp and rusty badges at the bottom – unsurprisingly I did not let the kids take one!
Back at the cottage there was confusion about how to open the door. Although there was a key in the key safe it didn’t seem to operate any of the doors. After many minutes and numerous unsuccessful attempts, it turned out that the key was for a bedroom door rather than any of the main doors – well done door-ninja Grandma Lindsey!
We bundled into the cottage but sadly found that the floor and surfaces weren’t clean so had to get that sorted before we could move all of our stuff in. While we were trying to track down someone to help clean the cottage, our Tesco order arrived but missed our waving and shouting and headed further into the site. We caught up with him and took the delivery but couldn’t put it inside the cottage as at that point the cleaners arrived. Everything happening at once – chaos! Thankfully the cottage was soon cleaned and we were able to get comfortable.
I went for a lie down as the drive and wandering on the beach had tired me out. While I was resting the others went to the adventure playground. There’s nothing better than a wobbly bridge and a swing to make our two little darlings smile!
As the afternoon continued it transpired that both Megan and I had quite bad sunburn. In hindsight it wasn’t that surprising for me as it was my first bit of sun all year. I was bright red! This required an impromptu trip to track down some after sun lotion. Annoyingly the nearby Co-op had none and the local Boots was closed for some reason, but it was third time lucky in Sainsbury’s.
While I was out shopping the others played Left Centre Right, a game involving dice and counters. It was a big hit with the kids! Then it was time for the children to go to bed. This required a lot of cajoling and negotiation as they were both so excited about being in a different environment, plus they were sleeping in the same room together (a rare event). In the end I had to resort to taking their teddies hostage before they finally dropped off. Exhausting!
With the children down we enjoyed curry for dinner, chatted and caught up about life in general, made a plan for the week, and then headed off to bed. Happy holidays!
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