Day 9 - Center Parcs on a snowy day

We woke up to a bit more snow and today we did get up and out to play in it. Henry also wanted to jump in every icy puddle going. Thank goodness for waterproofs and winter wellies.

We then went to the buffet breakfast and buffet king Henry had a feast!

It was then time for some diggering. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more. Someone was on a mission to dig the biggest hole and someone else was shouting "I'm doing it, I driving the digger"

And then we went to stroke the fish! 🐠 The fish seemed to enjoy it.

The rest of the day was pretty mundane. Trying to get Henry's sleeep back on track meant heading back for a lunchtime nap and a Christmas film.

I also managed to get the laundry done. Three loads to be precise. Woohoo for clean pillow cases tonight. And yes - we are still using our own pillows to avoid the lumpy European ones 😂.

Thoughts from today:

> My grade A GCSE German is completely failing me! I can't understand a word people are saying. We seem to be the only non-Germans here. Thank goodness for smiling and pointing 🙂☝️

> Thinking ahead to our next stop in a hotel. It's been easy to have food and a kitchen on hand to help a grumpy toddler. How easy will that be in a hotel?

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Day 1 - Bromsgrove, UK to Bailleul, France

The first family trip in the campervan! A quick pit stop at the supermarket and then onto Le Shuttle. Henry was excited to "catch the train!" We arrived at the campsite in Bailleul just as it was getting dark we picked somewhere only an hour from Calais in case Henry had had enough at that point. The campsite was called Camping de la Ferme des Saule and it had an amazing farm shop on site which was still open. Dinner was a bit of a fail. We forgot to test (or rather didn't have time and didn't even think to test) if our camping pots and pans worked on an induction hob - they didn't 🤦. Thankfully we'd bought some over-priced Gouda from the farm shop and rummaged for some crackers, carrots and hummus in the fridge to go with it. Thoughts from today: > Henry did great at sitting still for most of the day. And adapting to being inside tje campervan for a long time. > Feeling a bit homesick. Definitely not missing the ...

The last supper

The last supper - a pizza picnic with a glass of champagne. Zero pans, hardly any washing up and no need to pack the bottle of champagne 😂. The camera doesn't lie - those tired faces are very real! It had been a very long week that week and that night was about to get longer... The night before (Wednesday) our immediate neighbours were burgled and their 2 cars stolen. On this evening they returned from the pub to find their back door wide open and the stolen handbag strewn across the floor. Feeling very spooked, they came to ours with their three pyjama-clad kids in tow. That then quickly turned into an impromptu sleepover, turning our lounge into a make-shift hostel. So no more packing happened after this photo 🤦‍♀️.

The backstory

So what made us want to travel? Where are we going? What about your stuff? What's happening to your house? How long are you going for? What about school? These are all questions we've been asked and we only know the answer to a few of them! Rewind 2 1/2 years to Easter 2022. We'd just moved into what we thought was a lovely but slightly too big house. We never wanted a big house but assumed with a baby on the way, we'd grow into it. It needed a complete renovation and I was 7 months pregnant. Not the best combination! With Andrew working tirelessly on renovating the house and juggling work, and me suffering from serious post natal depression we quickly realised the size of the house and ongoing maintenance needed due to the age of the house was not for us. Think of the stressed out couples you see on Grand Designs - we were fully living that nightmare. All of our time was consumed with work, renovations, house maintenance...

The Waltons Go Wandering

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