Our Summer Holidays Highlights

What does the Summer Holidays mean to our family? Lazy days, adventures, sunshine, rainy days and most important of all no routine. The holidays seem to have been way too short and flown by. Looking back on my 10,000s of pictures I thought I would share our highlights of our summer holidays.

Camp Bestival –

The weather in early July was pretty glorious, So we were very much looking forward to our first ever festival and first ever camping trip. Then the weather decided to take a turn for the worst with heavy rain and wind forecast. To say it was making me slightly dreading the weekend, would be pretty spot on. When we arrived it was sunny and my positivity returned. We stayed in Pitch Village so our tents were already up and ready to go. The Pitch Village also had nice and clean facilities, with lovely friendly staff too, we will definitely choose this option again.

By the next morning the rain was pretty heavy and endless, so we got kitted out in our wellies and waterproofs and headed to the main site. Yes, we got absolutely soaked for the majority of the weekend but we made some truly magical memories watching and dancing to Mark Ronson was a once in a lifetime thing. The final day was sunny and we enjoyed lounging around in the sun enjoying the variety of acts. The kids are desperate to go again next year and I’m coming around to the idea too.

 

Avebury Manor –

If you follow me on Instagram you will see we love a good National Trust day out. So we returned to Avebury Manor for a family day out, the kids absolutely love it there, great for just a walk or for the kids to dress up and get hands-on in the house.

 

Our day 💖💖💙💖 but there was one smiley one missing looking forward to her coming home tomorrow 💖

A post shared by Jessamine (@mumunderpressure) on Aug 13, 2017 at 2:35pm PDT

Cracking GCSE Results  –

I was slightly worried about the new grading system for the GCSE’s. Plus it was a completely new thing for me to experience as a mum. T and I both lost sleep in the run-up to results day. But I am not sure what we were worried about as the blooming superstar did absolutely incredibly. I am one proud mama and T is now the proud owner of 9 A-C. Meaning she is now off to college to do her preferred course. We did celebrate with a family lunch at Frankie and Benny’s

Victorious Festival –

I wanted to end the holiday with a surprise day out. I spotted that Olly Murs was at The Victorious Festival in Portsmouth so thought that would be the perfect treat. The eldest 3 girls and I went to The O2 to see Olly Murs in the spring. But F was pretty annoyed he didn’t get to come too. On the morning of the festival, once F and A knew where we were going and that Olly was going to be there, they were beside themselves with excitement.

The weather was very hot, so we spent most of the day chilling out in the Children’s Arena. A’s complete highlight of the day was seeing the real Mr Bloom on the stage, singing and dancing. I went with all 5 of the kids on my own, but they were really well behaved, phew! Olly wasn’t on until 9.30pm, but my kids love a late night, so weren’t phased. They all sang and danced the night away. Even if T and I needed to keep swapping the little ones so they could see. When we got back to the car F said it ‘Was the Best Day of His Life’, so a definite parenting win.

The weather was very hot, so we spent most of the day chilling out in the Children’s Arena. A’s complete highlight of the day was seeing the real Mr Bloom on the stage, singing and dancing. I went with all 5 of the kids on my own, but they were really well behaved, phew! Olly wasn’t on until 9.30pm, but my kids love a late night, so weren’t phased. They all sang and danced the night away, even if T and I needed to keep swapping the little ones so they could see. When we got back to the car F said it ‘Was the Best Day of His Life’, so a definite parenting win.

Beach Days –

We love to be beside the seaside and me and the 4 youngest kids headed to Weymouth Sealife Park for a very sunny day out. We spent a long time in the Park and then once we had finished we headed over to the beach to have a little paddle and chill. 

Then later in August, I needed to head to Bournemouth to do a bit of work. So I and 4 of the kids tied it in with a visit to the beach. Firstly we visited Sandbanks, but it was a bit rainy so just stayed for a few hours. I hadn’t been for years and had totally forgotten what a beautiful beach it was. The kids built sand castles and did gymnastics on the sand. We then headed back to the main Bournemouth beach, wow was it busy, but we walked further up from the pier. It was quieter there and I treated the kids to an Ice Cream. We then headed for a paddle, but of course, F turned that into a full-on swim, that boy is water crazy.

Wow, when I thought because we hadn’t been on a ‘proper’ holiday we hadn’t done much. But now I can see that we did tons and made some awesome memories along the way.