The Long Good Sunday

Anyone that knows me, knows fully well that I don't 'do' mornings. In fact I hate mornings. I wish I was one of these people that can get out of bed with a spring in their step, however it takes me at least an hour to get out of grumpy, snappy and downright miserable mood in the morning. I can't remember the last time I was awake at 5.45am and it wasn't easy.....especially as the heating doesn't come on til 6.30 and opening the bathroom door it felt like I was stepping into an ice box.

However, we managed to get the car full of everything we needed to take (far too much in retrospect) and met the coach and after three hours headed into the gates at Butlins, Minehead. The most beautiful sight I had ever seen greeted us. I love the sight of a rainbow but had never seen anything like this one. Over the sea front and disappearing into the sea at both ends, you could really see both ends of the rainbow.....of course, stupid me had packed the camera away in the hold of the coach and therefore didn't get to take a snap of it, but trust me when i say it was stunning.
The kids didn't take as long as me to feel with it and after an hour of humpting around bags (why doesn't Butlins have a locker for day guests....maybe should've filled out a suggestion card...or maybe should not have attempted to be some freaky human buckaroo just waiting for one of the kids to pull me in a direction which resulted in me falling in a heap on the floor) we settled down in the Skyline and watched some of the entertainment going on.

Bob the Builder, Pingu, Billy Bear and Friends and the Skyline Gang certainly kept the little ones entertained whilst Rob and Freya buggared off to the pool and go crazy on the go karts. Seven hours passed incredibly quickly. Inbetween shows on the stage there were the visits to the Puppet Castle, which was definately Emily's favourite as she was going on about it from the moment we arrived.

We then went into the little ones amusement park to attack the rides there. One thing I've learnt is that I really have to practice a bit more with the settings on the camera as I didn't manage to get many action shots, most were really blurred or the focus was in completely the wrong place. That'll teach me for ignoring the poor camera for such a long time. Will have to brush up again on the manual settings......and put a new lens down on the wish list for Xmas!

It was lovely to meet some more family members from HMS Torbay and have more cuddles with babies to satisfy my ever broody womb! The kids were non stop and loved it and I reverted back to headless chicken mode trying to figure out where they all were and rounding them up like some demented shepherd......really I have to learn to chill out a bit more I think.

The hardest part was being there without Pete. It's been a place for family holidays over the past five years and part of me kept expecting him to come over to the table where I was sat carrying a coffee and diet coke and ask where the kids had disappeared to now! A part of me kept looking over my shoulder hoping to see him, which of course wasn't going to happen but I made the most of it and by the time we got onto the coach at 6pm (wet and very cold) I was wishing I was in bed snuggled up to him watching Sky Sports News before disappearing off to the land of Nod.

The girls were asleep before their heads hit the pillows and now it's back to having a deep clean in the house ready for another week. Another week closer to hearing from Pete, another week closer to him coming home and another week closer to him going away again.......ever the pessimist me!