Center Parcs was brilliant! We had a fabulous, although exhausting, time. IJ was keen to hire a bike, even though she had never ridden one before for longer than 5 minutes. And by the end the holiday she has mastered it. I had also grown large muscly arms from pushing her uphill every day for a total of about twenty miles a day (it felt like that anyway!).
The family got on well most of the time. There were the usual arguments over the remote control but thankfully Britain's Got Talent and the Apprentice got us all together huddled round the television. We spent £150 in Tesco vouchers in Cafe Rouge, drank far too much caffeine in Starbucks, attempted to get some exercise by playing badminton every day (difficult with a child and toddler) and even built sand castles on the man-made beach on our final day.
We paid extra to get a villa close to the centre and it was well worth it. And considering we were slap bang in the middle of Sherwood Forest, there were surprisingly few spiders and insects sharing it with us. Usually IJ wakes up panicking about creepy crawlies; this time though it was a squirrel on the roof.
For the past three years IJ has always gone into the creche each morning. This year though I decided she was too old and didn't feel it was fair on her, but I have to admit I did miss not having any time to myself to relax and read a book or gather my thoughts. So it was quite exhausting, we'll be back next year of course and I may book both me and IJ into the sauna and spa. I'm sure by then she'll be ready for a manicure and pedicure, it could be some mother-daughter bonding time, and somehow I am determined to get some pampering!
