Our Holiday

Happy Father's Day to all those fab dads out there. After a week of holidays, then returning yesterday to quickly set up a big surprise day for my dear husband today, I am just now getting a quick moment to catch up over here. Hubby woke up to fresh baked bread, some thoughtful prezzies, a surprise picnic to Highdown Gardens, and now looks forward to a gourmet meal this evening (which I've not even planned, but will be Haddock).

Our holiday last week in Dorset was lovely, though it was a bit nerve wrecking to not have ANY internet (at all!) for the entire week.  Apparently none of us caught the fact that this self accommodation holiday had everything but wifi. The house itself was lovely in most respects. It was certainly located in a beautiful rural setting across from an RSPB reserve and minutes from a hidden beach in Wareham, which is an old Saxon village. It was a roomy 5 bedroom house with lots of space to run around indoors which is good because it rained a LOT.  We managed to get out and about on all sunny days to enjoy local attractions, like Corfe Castle, a model village and enchanted fairy garden, a steam railway ride, nature reserves, fossil hunting on the Jurassic coast and sandy beaches! We spent a lot of time at Swanage beach which is a lovely English seaside town. We tried to head to nearby Studland beach one day but decided to keep driving to Swanage when they tried to charge us outrageous fees just to park. (Swanage was free parking). Oh, and on the last day, which drizzled with rain, we toodled on over to a supposed Aquarium in Wool. Took us forever to find it, and 'it' was just a tiny fish aquarium in a run down fish shop (which was right next to a fish-n-chip shop!)  Their website said it would take a good hour to see 'it all' but we were outta there in about 5 minutes. When Indigo asked to see the seahorses they advertised she was told 'oh, they are hiding, you should have come at feeding time'. Needless to say, we didn't pay the hefty donation they asked for to support 'seahorse conservation'.  What a laugh!  Otherwise, a fab holiday. The children even loved the 2 hour train ride there and back (hubby drove himself and my mum-in-law). They're enjoying time at home now, playing with all the new 'holiday' toys they received here and their from their Gran. We now have more dinosaurs, Lego and Barbies to add to the ever growing collection in our home. Which reminds me, I need to go try and sort some house cleaning out before Monday starts tomorrow.  I came home to 500 work emails which I am soooo (not!)  looking forward to reading. Here's some pics of our fun week

On the train to Wareham, Dorset

Finally arrive!

Swanage beach (sand!)

Local Strawberries

Croquet

Game of Draughts

Corfe Castle mini-sized

Steam Train!

The REAL Corfe Castle (ruins)

3 Zephyr's

They love their Gran

Teamwork at the beach

English seaside

On our way to hunt for fossils in Kimmeridge

Father & son on a fossil hunt

Kimmeridge Bay

A bit disappointed when the sheep ran off

On the train home