Friday, November 17, 2006

The Magic of Disney

After many months of planning we finally were able to tell Al's neices that they are going to Disneyland Paris. Its a good job I didn't take it to heart that they seemed more interested in the ferry crossing. We had a very very early start on a rainy bristol day. We had a 12 hour coach journey ahead of us. For 11 hours 55 minutes Al and I had two boys kicking the back of our chair. I hate naughty children and I was on a bus full of them with no where to go! The ferry crossing was more like a roller coaster ride/ being completely drunk. After 12 hours of travelling we got to our twin room. What we weren't told was that one bed would be a childs short bed and it would have a stary/ stripy decor :)

The next day we had yet another early start. Have you ever walked backwards on a horizontal escalator??? I love having the children as an excuse for doing these things. We were one of the first into the park so we headed straight to Thunder mountain (a runaway mine train) and the haunted house. We went to the top of the Swiss Family Robinson's house and on the pirates of the caribbean ride. I'm a big fan of the film...ok ok, I'm a big fan of Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly ;)

We spent the day being in the right place at the right time. We saw a disney on ice show, a lion kings show and then it was time for lunch. The park is very very american so what did i do? I insisted on speaking french, even though everyone spoke to me in English. We were in France for god's sake!

Some time to let the food go down, a ride on the Buzz lightyear ride and then it was time for space mountain 2. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we couldn't see what the ride consisted of. Caroline didn't actually want to go on but before she could change her mind she was sat next to me and the overhead seat belt was on. WHAT A RIDE!!!!! It was petrifying, in the dark and all I kept thinking of was how I was going to explain this to my neurological doctor....sorry but I voluntarily whacked my head about for a few minutes....

Space Tours was a bit too much for Al's sister who thre up straight after :( The christmas parade was gorgeous but spoilt by the child throwing up next to us :( We were so crushed that she couldn't move so we just had to stand there.

In fantasy land we went on the carosel and the flying dumbo's and the light was going down. We had another parade and left the park. We had a great day and I would recommend it to all...to be a kid for a day (or in my case, I'm a kid every day).

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Westonbirt arboretum in the autumn

I don't think of myself as much of a treee lover but today's day trip might have changed that. We visited Westonbirt Arboretum with Rae, Jue, Archie, Fran, Nicolette and Al. It was a perfect day to visit, as the number of people showed. It was cold, crisp and bright. We wandered through the trees, avoided the tourists, looked sultry on the branch (one clue who did that :)), climbed trees, lifted Rae into the trees and everybody got to hug one each :)