2018 Highlights
2018 was another busy year and we managed to fit in lots of trips with our Grandsons, when we weren’t standing on the sidelines watching them play football.
The Boys are growing up so fast, GS no 1 started secondary school in 2018, so it’s lovely to be able to spend so much time with them.
5 of My Favourite Trips in 2018
Each trip we take is different and a walk in the woods can be just as much fun as a trip to the Safari Park. But these are 5 of my favourite trips that we went on with the boys in 2018.
Port Lympne
I’d never heard of the Port Lympne Safari Park until I saw an advert on the London Underground for it when I was going to work one day.
Our grandsons love animals and the advert had me intrigued so when I got home I looked them up.
The Safari Park of Port Lympne and its sister park Howletts are run as a conservation charity and owned and run by the Aspinall Foundation. The Aspinal Foundations founder, John Aspinall, dreamt of reintroducing gorillas bred at Howletts and Port Lympne back to the wild almost as soon as he started collecting and breeding them in the early 1970s.
I loved the fact that they aren’t just another zoo or safari park and that they are actively engaged in conversation and especially re-introducing animals into their native habitats. Over the past few years they have released back to the wild a range of animals including 8 black rhinos, 49 Javan langurs, 9 Javan gibbon, 11 European bison and over 60 western lowland gorillas back to their natural habitat.
TruckFest a Family Friendly Music Festival
Growing up G always loved music and shares her passion for music with her now husband Mr G. They have always loved going to concerts and music festivals and when the Grandchildren were small they would come and stay with us when G and Mr G went away to a weekend music festival.
As the kids got older they also started to love music and G and Mr G started to take them along to one of the local family friendly music festivals, TruckFest, during the day and we would pick them up in the early evening.
In 2016 they decided that the kids were old enough to camp at the local TruckFest so we all bought family weekend camping tickets.
We’ve been going to Truckfest every year with the Boys since and you can read more about it here Truckfest
Center Parcs Longleat
We were looking after the Boys for a long weekend while G and Mr G were at Mad Cool in Madrid, so we decided to take them to Center Parcs Longleat. We’ve never been to Center Parcs, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
Longleat Center Parcs is only an hour and half away from us so we thought that would be perfect for a weekend as it’s not too far to travel.
On the Friday we collected the boys from school and all jumped in the car for the drive to Center Parcs, we’d already packed up the car.
The traffic was heavier than usual, even for a Friday, as there had been a couple of crashes so it took us about 2 hours to get there.
Coasteering in North Devon
As I’ve mentioned in my Blogs before we love to go to Croyde Bay in Devon with all the family a couple of times a year.
The Grandsons love the sea and as they’ve got older they have progressed from building sand castles on the beach and rock pooling to more adventurous things including body boarding and surfing.
This year they decided they’d like to try something even more adventurous and they said they’d like to go Coasteering.
Learning to Surf in Croyde Bay
Last week I wrote about how the Boys enjoyed their Coasteering session in Croyde Bay, but they are also learning to Surf which they love. If you’ve read a few of my Blogs, you’ll know we go to Croyde Bay in Devon with all the family a couple of times a year.
The Grandsons love the sea and as they’ve got older they have progressed from building sand castles on the beach and rock pooling to more adventurous things including Body Boarding and Surfing.
The eldest Grandson started learning to Surf with Croyde Surf Academy last year and this year Grandson number 2 decided he would also like to start learning to Surf.
2019 Plans
2019 is sure to be another busy year, especially as we now have our new VW Camper Van so we’re busy planning lots of trips. Which means I should have plenty to blog about.
What a fab year you had and your daughter and grandkids are so lucky to have a grandma who is so involved!!
Oh wow! Lucky Grandchildren! We love Howletts but haven’t made it to Port Lymphe yet. Must give I a try!
We’ve been to Port Lympne a couple of times but haven’t managed to get to Howletts yet, maybe this year.
Wow! You have done so much with your grandkids, ho w lovely you all enjoy spending so much time together. I hope you have just as many fun adventures in 2019 xx
Wow what a fab year. You have a lot of things that I’m desperate to do. Port Lymphe being top. I am also keen to go to centre Parcs in longleat x
Wow what an awful lot of fun adventures you’ve had with the grandkids! Hopefully 2019 will bring many more.