photo credit: gavinsblog

I’ve decided to make a list of “Things to Do and See in and around Bandon” for his family, keeping in mind that the children range in age from 6 years old to 9 months.

This is what I’ve come up with so far.

• Clonakilty Model Village and train
• Inchydoney beach
• Playground in Clonakilty
• Playground in Bandon
• Garretstown beach
• Charles Fort in Kinsale
• Whale in Kilbrittain
• Playground in Timoleague
• Nice flat walk from Courtmacsherry to Timoleague along the inlet, suitable for bike rides
• If weather is terrible and you feel like a day trip, I would recommend the Aquadome in Tralee and stop on the way in Killarney National Park. Great playground there. Aquadome good fun. Driving there takes about an hour and half.
• Cinema in Clonakilty
• McCarthys Maze Trail in Kilbrittain
• Fota Wildlife Park
• Bandon Skate and Play

So what have I missed? I know there’s plenty more but nothing else is springing to mind at the moment so any suggestions would be most welcome!

As a parent of 5 kids that has travelled by air abroad on holidays, I have had to deal with the expense and hassle on arrival of hiring extra booster seats for the children in the hired car. This in addition with each child needing a rucksack to carry onboard to store their bits and pieces during the flight. The Boostapak is a spacious, hand-luggage approved rucksack which doubles as a booster seat.

Its benefits include ergonomic design to protect growing spines and encourage better posture, durable hard plastic shell construction, removable cleanable cover, hi-visibility horns and reflective trim and fold-out seat belt guides.

It looks quite straightforward to use and I can definitely see it being useful and handy when out and about in restaurants/cinema or when bringing extra school pals home for playdates.

My only concern would be its weight, am hoping its relatively lightweight for children to carry on their backs. Its due for release Spring 2010 and retail price on the website is approximately £40. Very much looking forward to trying it out when its released.

photo credit: mescon

Gaining an interest in wine mainly in my 30s which coincided with my pregnancy, infant and young children years, hasn’t really been conductive to travelling and experiencing the famous vineyards of the world. But now that the kids are getting older, hopefully wiser and much easier to babysit, I’m beginning to contemplate escaping for a long weekend occasionally to some of the relatively close regions or appellations.

I think, for me, the starting point has to be Bordeaux. The direct flights make a quick getaway possible and make the most of the time away from home. Who could resist travelling the wine route, visiting the classified chateaux and tasting the range of wines? Would definitely fancy visiting the Rhone Valley and Alsace too but those trips may take more of an effort to accomplish.

I would love to visit some of the northern Italian and Spanish regions and hopefully these both can eventually be encorporated into family holidays in these countries in the foreseeable future. Long term, Australia and New Zealand would be brilliant to visit to compare and contrast as fine examples of New World vineyards, vinification and wine. Also as Barossa Valley reds and Marlborough whites are the current favourites in this house. This will no doubt change and vary as time passes.

Time to start planning. Where have you visited and would you recommend? Where’s next on your list?

The swimming pool area was the highlight for us all. Excellent assortment of pools with depths to suit both adults and our 5 kids. Plenty of slides, fountains, showers, good fun.

One disadvantage which bugged me was people who left their towels on pool loungers for the day without actually using them or being at the pool enclosure for most of the time.  The pool rule of removing these towels was not enforced which was a pity.

There were attentive staff visible at all times around the pools. The cafe at the pool stocked plenty of icecreams and cold drinks and the kids’ favourite lunch of crepes.

Other sports facilities included basketball court, football field, volleyball, playground. To be honest, we only ventured once to the mini farm, it didn’t look great.

The whole campsite was very clean and well run. Reception staff were very helpful. The mini market stocked the essentials and more. The kids’ clubs ran morning and evening for a good range of kids ages. Our children went a few times but felt the activities got a bit repetitive so instead preferred to hang out en famille at the pool.

The bicycle hire was a great idea as the park was quite extensive and they made trips to the bin area, laundry and shops much quicker.

We ate once in the restaurant on site and it was grand. A good range of dishes on set menu for adults and kids and also a la carte. The takeaway also offered a large range of pizzas made on the spot, roast chicken, fish, chips, burgers etc.

The campsite had a really safe feel about it. Cars drove very slowly, kids could walk and cycle everywhere without fear of being run over. The entrance gates were key coded and there was a curfew from driving in and out of the site at night.

The mobile home pitches were grand.  Air conditioning would have been nice though as we were there in hot weather. Overall we were pretty impressed with this campsite.

Despite this we landed in France all excited at 7am on a Sunday morning and drove to the La Grande Metairie campsite. Thankfully, we arrived there in just under 3 hours. Yep I was driver’s map reader and I blame google maps for our minor diversions. Its located very near the town of Carnac which is on the coast with a lovely beach.

The campsite was brilliant. We had hired a 3 bedroomed mobile home with additional baby cot. It worked out well for us. The decking with seating and table definitely made it more spacious and most nights, depending on the weather, we could sit, read or play cards outside.

The first attraction we encountered was the mini farm. The enclosure held a number of kid goats and goats, a wild pig, some llamas, ducks, geese and swans. Our gang loved the kid goats and feeding them leaves each time we passed.

The swimming pool area was great with a variety of depths to suit us all. The 2 smallies loved splashing around in the very shallow baby area. There was a fountain in this which gave them great amusement. In the indoor pool, the paddling area had a baby slide to keep their interest.
The outdoor pool 2 big slides were loved by Oscar who’s 9 and a good swimmer. He spend most of his time on these or persuading me and Conor to join him on them. Great fun. The middle 2 enjoyed the fun of the water rapids. Anytime we were there, the life guards were visibly keeping an eye on things.

The campsite has a huge number of activities on offer. The middle 3 loved the horse rides. You could hire the horses for 30 minutes and the parent lead the horse and child around the many lanes of the site. We all tried the table tennis, tennis, mini-golf. There was one large playground and one smaller one which had a good range of swings, seesaws, roundabouts etc. I liked the fact that these had sand underfoot. The kid’s disco every evening in the amphitheatre for a half hour was great fun. Each day there were kids’ clubs organised for the 4 year olds and older.

For the adventurous there were zip lines and climbing. Eeek!

The campsite also had the usual practical facilities of a laundry room, onsite mini-market, newsagents/gift shop, bar, cafe and restaurant.

The takeaway was also a welcomed addition for the evenings when neither of us felt like cooking. Pizzas, crepes and more available at reasonable prices. Each evening there was a special. Although hardly authentic French cuisine: lasagne, fish and chips, roast chicken, it tasted good and our gang loved it.

We were impressed with how clean everything was kept. The only minor complaint I would have was that some of the mobile homes were located very close to the campsite internal roads and the individual sites were quite compact. Thankfully we were given one on a quiet cul de sac so didn’t have the immediate worry of the toddler running out into the path of a car.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this campsite as an ideal location for a great family holiday. As its in Brittany, the weather was never too hot or too sunny. Our 5 kids ranging in ages from 9 to 1 year old all loved it.

photo credit: jwalsh

So the bags are nearly all packed, car’s getting loaded up and we’re off on our annual trip to Wexbird as the kids call it. The extended August bank holiday weekend is meetup time for Conor’s clann: his sisters, their kids and his parents. Its good fun and the kids in particular love the time hanging out with their cousins.

The packing is a pain though. I pack an individual bag for each of our kids, influenced no doubt by my mother’s giving us a Quinnsworth bag each when we were younger and getting us to pack our own stuff when heading to my grandfather’s house in Cavan from Wicklow. Then the 9 of us would pile into the navy Fiat Mirafiori and off we’d go.

Here’s hoping for some good weather and some fun on the beach. Enjoy your weekends.

Either way, its a break from the norm and I can’t wait. Ischgl here I come.

I have never been a person who raves about sun holidays. I don’t like the heat and my skin just burns and returns to pale so I tend to just sit in the shade. I had been looking forward to giving the snow slopes a go. As a kid, when any amount of snow arrived in Wickla, we slid down the local golf links on old empty NET fertiliser bags and that had been the nearest I’d come to winter sports.

So it was with great anticipation that myself and a group of my friends and sisters headed away for a weekend just before I became pregnant with our last baby. It was brilliant. My sister is excellent at snowboarding having lived in Munich for many years, and was a great teacher. For something that looks sooo easy, it was bloody tough. My feet clipped into the board, my first problem was how  to stand up. A couple of hours later, I had managed that and some movement but was still at the “ok I’m up and moving, now how do I stop this, slow down without falling, arrrrrggghhh??”

It was both exhilarating and frustrating at the same time. It looked so easy, kids no taller than my waist whizzed by whilst I did my get up, fall down routine. Then when I did get going, I’d start going too fast and panic. Then fall again.

Eventually that afternoon we decided to brave one of the tougher runs. On the way up in the ski lift I thought I was gonna die, vertigo kicked in. Don’t look down. Once we reached the summit, all was well, it was worth it. The views were absolutely breathtaking, snow capped mountains, it was awe inspiring, so peaceful.

Then the fun started. I thought I’d never get down that mountain.  After an hour’s slow progress and my body aching, my sister took pity on me as I had resorted to shuffling down the slope on my bum. It was functional rather than aesthetically pleasing but I was totally wrecked and at least I was no longer falling. She convinced me to put my trust in her, I got up and she waltzed me down the rest of the way. It was bloody brilliant and I got a small glimpse of what it must be like to be competent at this sport. The speed, agility and ease at which we competed the run was amazing. I loved it.

I am smitten. So after an almost 2 year interval, roll on December when, I hope to do it all again. This time, hopefully there’ll be less falls and more graceful, speedy descents down the piste. In my dreams.