Day 233/365: Not good at relaxing?

[nanila]

We had "only" two activities planned today, but somehow ended up all being completely zapped by 6 PM.

Humuhumu woke up early, so she and I had a quiet breakfast together and then headed down to one of the adventure playgrounds for a solitary morning play. She climbed everything she could reach, we caught a few Pokémon, and came back to wake the boys up.

We got ourselves dressed up for our professional photo session and went to pick up our hire bicycles. Humuhumu opted for one with stabilisers as she's not yet comfortable riding without them. She gained confidence with the bicycle over the course of the day, but given how hilly this site is, that was the correct choice.

The photographer took an array of photos of the four of us, and we're hopeful from the previews that we'll get some good ones. We have a handful of formal portraits of the children, separately and together, in the intervening time. However, the last time we had family portraits done was three years ago whilst on holiday in Turkey (see below). I'm resolved to get them done every summer from now on.


Family portrait in Antalya, Turkey.

We went to a different playground so the children could blow off steam from all that holding still and smiling, followed by ice cream (them) and coffee (us). We cycled swiftly back to the lodge for lunch and a quick nap before heading out again to go swimming. Both Keiki and Humuhumu went down the slides with the bloke. Humuhumu even tried one of the flumes, a particularly twisty and fast water slide. I tried one of them yesterday and did not enjoy it so played with the children in the various pools.

Spending a little too long in the water meant we had to dash to the second pre-booked activity of the day: archery. Humuhumu did bows and arrows in Forest School in reception last year, so she was already pretty good at it and scored the most points out of all the children. Keiki seemed a little intimidated at first, probably because he was the youngest and also isn't used to being included in these things. Eventually he relaxed and started giving it a proper go, and he even hit the targets a couple of times at the end of the class.

By the time we'd cycled home we were all deliriously hungry and physically worn out, so it was pizza for tea. After I post, it will be beer o'clock and then sleep not long after, I reckon.

Comments

[pbristow]

I've never liked water slides. With dry-land slides, there's friction all the way down and it changes smoothly with yor speed so you know what to expect. With water slides you can go from "effectively no friction" to "ouch that *hurts* because I was going so fast already before I made contact!" in a milisecond.

Physics is occasionally unhelpful. =:o\

[nanila]

Yes, exactly. The lack of control, plus the high-impact landing, make water slides largely an un-fun experience for me.

[silveradept]

Hooray for lots of activity that keeps the kids exercised.

And also for archery, which is a thing I love dearly but do not have anything all that close by with to think about shooting on the regular for.

[nanila]

So much activity. Cycling everywhere helps as well.

Archery is not a thing I ever considered partaking in, but Humuhumu always mentions it when they do it in Forest School as an activity she is good at and enjoys. Watching her shooting made me want to try it.

[silveradept]

Archery was a thing to look forward to at Boy Scout camps, and I would spend quite a bit of time shooting at the targets, even if my dreams of actually hitting it near the center didn't ever get that far off the ground.

It's also quite the upper body workout when you're shooting bows that don't have any technological assists to pulling and holding them in place.

If you do decide to take up bows and arrows, a chest guard may be a wise investment against accidental strikes to sensitive areas.

[ironed_orchid]

Getting family photos taken on holiday is genius because you get some lovely photos of all of you, and also some evidence that you took a holiday ;-)

[nanila]

Heh, exactly. We do take time off work! We're not very good at sitting around doing not very much during that time, but never mind.

[annofowlshire]

Sounds like a lovely day with the family!

I have precious few images of the three of us. Most of the ones I take are me and baby selfies, G walking in front of me with the baby on his shoulder looking at me, and then lots of pics of just the Enting. We should do something about that....

[nanila]

It was! Center Parcs is very good at catering to family holidays. It isn't cheap, for sure - these four nights cost us three times as much as the preceding six nights of camping, and that was before adding in the activities.

If you decide to put the Enting into nursery at some point, you could end up with a fair few professional photos of them as most nurseries tend to get them done twice a year. I think it's worth getting a professional family shot or two, though, especially when the children are young. Not to undervalue snapshots and selfies because those are great too. But people tend to prize high quality multi-generational portraits.

[cmcmck]

'Pizza for tea'

How very English of you! :o)

[nanila]

Haha, so it is! I didn't even think about it, that's just the phrase that sprang immediately to mind.

[omnipotent]

Breakfast and morning adventure with Humuhumu sounds like it was quite fun :D

Hooray for Keiki hitting targets!

I hope beer o'clock and sleep was refreshing.

That is a lovely family photo and I am sure your new photos will look just as great!

[nanila]

I like it when we get to spend time together on our own.

Keiki has grown a great deal in the past few weeks. It will be interesting to see how he behaves when he returns to pre-school. I suspect he's going to feel like one of the "big boys" now.

Beer o'clock was brief. Sleep was great but, as usual, not long enough even though Humuhumu slept in until 07:30.

Family photos won't appear for another day or two yet...having trouble being patient!

[azurelunatic]

I had so much fun with archery in school! Armor is definitely recommended.

[nanila]

I am, for my overall size, "gifted" in the bosom area, so will definitely take that advice on board. :P Thank you.

[azurelunatic]

Also the tender underside of the forearm.