Back from Center Parcs

We're back from our week away at Center Parcs!

Tired, worn out, piled up with washing, but having thoroughly enjoyed our week away. In fact, far more so than we thought we would.

I think this picture of Theo in the car on the journey home sums it up perfectly...



Soon may we return...

Center Parcs Day 4

Lots of activities planned today and the weather was marvellous!

We started the day with pottery painting. Well, painting in the loosest sense of the word - more like smudging. But the boys seemed to enjoy it - even to the extent of smashing a ceramic tile onto the floor. That certainly quietened the place down for a few minutes. Here's a pic.



Following lunch, we let the boys have a play in one of the many kids' playgrounds:





We then took a trip down to the lake - the boys were tired by now and had a little nap in the trailer whilst we had a Starbucks coffee!







After that, it was time for the boys to visit the creche so we could have a break. We decided to go to the pool and ride the rapids, the wave machine etc. all the things we couldn't do with the boys. What we SHOULD have done is gone and relaxed for a couple of hours - not wear ourselves our even more!

After we picked the boys up, we went for dinner at Strada (along with everyone else by the look of the place) - then a quick cycle back home, bath and bed.

That was our last full day - we'll be on our way home tomorrow!

Margarine Supermarket Sweep

We're impressed that Charlie decided we needed polyunsaturated margarine rather than butter. He's thinking of our health you know...

Back from the Lake

All very easy cycling on the way down but a nightmare on the way back up. Here's a pic of Clair (with Charlie on the back) on the loooong climb up the trail from the lake.

Just after we got to the top, we took the boys to the Medical Centre. They both had high temperatures and were not themselves. The nurse said there was nothing seriously wrong but we (all) had a nice long lunchtime nap not long after this!

Back Seat Rider

It was bound to happen. The boys started to fight in their trailer yesterday (well actually most of the fighting was coming from Theo towards Charlie - as usual), so we decided to get a carry seat for the back of Clair's bike so we could separate them if necessary. Here's some video of a rather unhappy Theo having to spend the journey looking at Mummy's back rather than Daddy's behind!

Stingey Loo Roll....

For the record Mr Manager of Center Parcs, 2 loo rolls is not sufficient for a family of four for one week. There is a blackboard in the lodge so we thought we'd leave the following note for the cleaners. They seem to have ignored it for the last two days...

45-10

Splish Splash

We took the boys down to the lake this morning. Here's some video of Charlie splashing around in the water. There were hundreds of fish lurking around near the shore line (no doubt eyeing up people putting 20p coins into the fish food dispenser!)

This was the boy's first experience of walking on sand and splashing around in water. 

Supermarket

No, don't be silly! Theo hasn't had some massive growth spurt, it's just a miniature trolley! He was however, a great help on our visit to the Center Parcs supermarket today...

Center Parcs Day 2

We started today with breakfast in our 'executive' lodge followed by a trip on our bikes to the pool. All of the changing rooms seemed to be family changing rooms - which would be great, as long as you're a family of midgets.

Anyway, the pool was great fun. There was a wave machine and water slides but the boys were too young for them so we just splashed around in the water for a bit. It was apparent that Theo wasn't feeling very well so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked and left after about half an hour to go and have a coffee.

We had lunch in a 'Tapas' bar - although we knew what we were in for when the waiter came over to us and said 'Hola' and 'Buenas Dias' in a west country accent. This, plus the music playing sounded like a compilation of 'Now That's What I Call Vaguely Spanish Related Music' which included Gloria Estefan and the Austin Powers theme! To top it all off, the lager options were San Miguel and that other famous Spanish lager - yep Stella Artois!

We cycled back to the lodge after lunch and put the boys to bed. They had both been up a few times in the night and we thought it best to let them have a lunch time nap - plus Theo had a bit of a temperature too. So, what did we do whilst the boys slept? Yep, you guessed it - we slept too!

We had booked the boys in the creche this afternoon but, given Theo's temperature, we changed it to Wednesday morning instead. Our spa visit will have to wait till tomorrow!

We went out for another bike ride this afternoon down to the lake and then off to an Italian for dinner. Home by 7pm and the boys were bathed, changed and off to sleep again.

A fun day was had and we're actually starting to really enjoy it here.

Raspberry

Theo has recently learnt how to blow raspberries. Not that we've been encouraging it or anything....

The Trailer Twins

A couple of videos of the boys in their trailer. The heavy breathing wasn't me... honest.

Up We Go

All this fresh air is obviously giving Theo the energy to climb stairs (with a little assistance from Mummy)

Team Burchell on Tour!

Three years ago, it was Florida; two years ago, Thailand; last year, Miami; this year? We're away for the week in Center Parcs! The proper Team Burchell family holidays have commenced!

We have to admit that we've never been away on a holiday like this and we were slightly sceptical however, we're one day in and we're loving it! We're likening it to a holiday to Disney, but in monotone...

We arrived at around 4pm this afternoon - got ourselves settled in our 'Executive' (no less) Villa and went out to drop the car back at the Car Park (no cars allowed on site other than to drop off your stuff or pick your stuff up).

We then went to hire a couple of bikes - here's some pics of the boys in their mobile accomodation:









We then went for dinner to Strada. The boys had a pizza! (well some of it)

Lunch at Westfield

We stopped at a lovely Italian restaurant for lunch during our day at Westfield on Monday. The weather was good so we ate outside (not something I would normally recommend whilst in the Shepherd's Bush area but seemed to suit the surroundings on this occasion!)

It's amazing to see how restaurants differ in their approach to kids. Some will have a unique kids menu, some offer smaller portions on certain dishes (like this one) and some don't bother at all. We usually don't visit those. Some very cool high chairs at this place too. They bolted onto the edge of the table in a 'this doesn't seem very sturdy' way but actually they were fine and it felt just like the boys were sitting on the seat next to us. Lovely.

Here's some video of each of the boys playing with their crayons before the food arrived.

PS. Watch for Clair asking Charlie for a kiss and him obliging! They've recently started doing this!

Theo and Charlie 90

We went to the new Westfield shopping centre today. Primarily so Clair could look for some new glasses, but also to have a wander around as we've heard it's great there (it was great, but hey it's still just a load of shops...)

Whilst Clair was trying on the 148th different pair of glasses, I thought I'd entertain myself by taking some pics of the boys with some kiddie specs on. Let's hope they never need them but, I'm sure you'll agree, they look incredibly intellectual...

Where's Your Eyes?

We mentioned the other day about how the boys have started to recognise parts of their bodies. We managed to capture this photo of them when we asked them where their eyes were. Amazingly, they both react in different ways to the question. Charlie always points to his eyes but Theo for some reason always just blinks!

Happy Easter!

The boys with their Peter Rabbit bunnies....

Sock It To 'Em!

Theo decided he wanted to put his socks on himself today. Erm, Theo, they're your hands, not your feet....

Barrow Boy

We've been having a new patio laid in the garden recently and whilst Theo was watching the workman emptying his wheel barrow into the skip, he decided to copy him!

What a load of....

Erm, hang on Charlie, what's that all over your hand?

Oh....

Team Push Along

We've had this...err actually, what is it? A bike, a car, a scooter? Anyway, we've had this toy for a while now and the boys have gone from not being able to get on it, to being able to sit on it but not move anywhere, to only being able to push themselves backwards and now being able to move forwards and push it along from behind!

Theo always seems to be the one sitting on it, Charlie always seems to be the 'pusher'....

Theo and Charlie at 18 Months

The boys are 18 months old today! Here's the latest snaps of them (how grown up do they look here!)

Chessington

It was our wedding anniversary last week so what did we do? A nice romantic meal? A walk in the country? A romantic night away?

WHAT! Of course not! We have a family now so.....we went to Chessington World of Adventures for the day! Lots for the boys to do including a spot of driving - see below....

Happy 2nd Birthday Team Burchell!

Can you believe we've been running this blog for 2 years!

In that time, we've posted 445 times and had almost 8,500 visitors from 65 different countries!

We love running this blog and every so often we go back, look over some of the things we've done and can't quite believe the changes that have gone on in our lives.

Brilliant...