It is officially half term. This is both my favourite and worst school holiday, my worst because of all the stress of the week and my favourite because for our family it holds so many precious memories. This holiday, isn't just a welcome break from school, it also has Halloween and my boys’ birthdays. Yes, we have 2 birthdays straight after Halloween, Charlie and his brother share a birthday. I will do another post on my birth story.

When I was a working single mother, I used to book this holiday off work, as much as I could just so I could be prepared for the boys’ birthdays and I could relax, I don't think I ever did though! It’s been a tricky one in the past though and at times I have booked a week away somewhere just so we get a good break too.

So what does half term 2020 have in store? As with most of our life choices, I've had to consciously consider all the events we would do, by planning around Charlie's needs which has become 2nd nature in this household. So far we have:

Sunday - Staunton Harold Reservoir

Monday - bluebells dairy farm

Tuesday - Calke Abbey

Wednesday - trip out with friends

Thursday - car has its MOT/halloween crafts

Friday - trip to see aunt and cousins

Saturday - Halloween

Sunday - birthday

So, as you can see I've tried to keep us busy and occupied and wanted to try and make this holiday work for us. So far, it’s not been the best!

Staunton Harold

Yesterday we took a trip to Staunton Harold, we’ve never been before so I was looking forward to it. We got lost, and ended up in a field with horses, I didn’t know if we would make it out of there alive! And then once we were out of that field we needed to walk out into a field full of sheep. It was a lot further than we thought and ended up out for 3 hours, and did over 10k steps! Was a result, and actually a decent night's sleep for a change!

Bluebells Dairy Farm

I think on hindsight I made a rubbish judgment here. They were all prebookable tickets, and I stupidly assumed there weren't many people going to be there. I was wrong, there was easily over 100, and that was just what I could see in the immediate background. It was definitely too busy, and with the majority being young preschoolers and babies, it was incredibly noisy. You get a voucher for a free pumpkin and you could pay for an extra pumpkin too, which I did. And we left without pumpkins!! After 15 minutes, it was just intolerable. And such a shame, as it did look like there was a lot to do there. I have written an email and expressed my concerns, especially to request a more quieter SEN session too.

Currently on my phone, in bed doing this. But wanted to do it while it's fresh in my mind, not a fan. I much prefer my laptop! But now my website is downloaded onto my phone, I can access it wherever I am, so hopefully be able to write these experiences and information down a lot more accessibly and of course as it happens.

Georgina x