Our weekend celebrating in Dublin

In April this year my eldest son turned 21 and it was also our 25th wedding anniversary. Instead of having a big family party for both ( which my son would have hated, and my husband would have hated) we decided to do a shared celebration with just us four. I’m not being funny but with the amount you spend on a party ( with food, drink and decorations etc) we have always been the type to put the money to a better use ( for us anyway) to go somewhere and have an experience instead. The amount of effort involved with food alone would put me under pressure illness wise and by the time I would have done all the organising for it I would probably be too exhausted to actually enjoy it! Anyway, we decided before Christmas that  a weekend in Dublin was our plan and so we all had something to look forward to.

I’ve been to Dublin many years ago with a group of friends and had a great time, but as I’m from Belfast myself it’s always been a place I wanted to take my boys and we agreed we would wait until they were old enough to drink legally! So we decided we would combine the celebrations and take ourselves away for a long weekend there as a family. We were actually looking forward to going away with our boys who are now 21 and 18 years old, it’s a whole other experience when they are this age. Less arguing, less faffing, less stress, more fun, more easy going and well, more enjoyable!

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Holidaying on the Isle of Wight

This is what we had decided to do this year. I know it doesn’t exactly push the excitement levels over the top, however, needs must and all that, I haven’t won the Lottery as yet so the Isle of Wight it was!

Now when I say holidaying I actually mean camping. That’s what we do and we love it.

However, it started like this:

This was not the start we wanted I can tell you!

I have to admit this is bloody typical when we go anyway.

But what’s not to like with a set up like this? The minute we got off the ferry onto the island the rain stopped.

That swingball brings out the competition in us and believe it when I say my OH and I take no prisoners when we play- you have been warned.

And we had a resident cheeky goose (no not my OH) patrolling the grounds and standing guard at our pitch! Although he was  bloody useless when it came to sorting out the wasp problem- but at least we had the camp fires for that and my OH becoming an expert swatter with a tea towel.

The boys had both had yr6 school trips to the Isle of Wight and both loved it there, so we really wanted to visit as a family before they lost interest. Therefore we had agreed beforehand that the holiday choices would be made by them. The list was drawn up from the tourist guides and there were loads to choose from.

So here’s the quick guide:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were blessed with a glorious week of sunny weather and none of us were ready to leave when it was over! There were also lots of places we didn’t get time to go and visit, so for us a return trip is a must.

Now considering we didn’t go abroad- THAT IS A SIGN OF A GOOD UK HOLIDAY!

PS- No comments on the bikini pic or I may just hunt you down!!