Holiday Memories

Cherub and I are back from our few days away at the seaside with Grandma. All three of us had a good time ... sun, beach, ice creams ... how could we not!

Holidays have always been very high on our priority list, especially so for Tevye - I think he would pare everything to the bone before giving up family holidays. He finds it so much easier to relax when he is away from all the "must do" things that call him at home, and needs occasional breaks to recharge his batteries. I am rather better at ignoring the things that need doing (not necessarily a good thing!) so probably have less need for the time away, but I always enjoy holidays, and I love the way they help us to build memories as a family.

The nature of our holidays varies with our finances. Some years we are able to do go abroad in search of sun and new places to explore; other years it is a simple holiday here in the UK. We like to vary things, but we always bounce back to one place - Weymouth, in Dorset - and this has become the backbone of our holiday memories. If we don't have any bright ideas for an alternative, or if we want to squeeze in an extra break, we go to this holiday park in Weymouth. We discovered it back in 2000, when Angel and Star were five and two respectively and recuperating from chicken pox. Tevye was working and couldn't get away, so my mother and I took them there for a few days. We loved both the town and the park, so went back the next year with Tevye and have been several more times since. In our opinion, somewhere that can be enjoyed equally by a three year old, a fourteen year old and an eighty year old is a gem.

For Cherub and I this was our second visit this year, and it was lovely to see her beginning to anticipate the things the older girls have enjoyed since we started going to Weymouth ... playing on the soft sandy beach, swimming in the pool, visiting the little fairground across the road from the park, eating delicious locally made ice cream, watching boats in the harbour. These days Angel and Star like to add in shopping expeditions and shows in the evening with Tevye (Cherub and I opt out!), as well as trips to familiar attractions (the Sealife Centre and Monkey World are old favourites). We love to see all three girls enjoying each others company without the distractions there are at home. When they grow up and think back to childhood holidays, all these things will leave them with warm memories, which I hope will inspire them to want to create similar ones for their own children.