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Mum's Guide To Harpenden Blog

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Summer Holiday Shout-out - Part 1

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I always think the first week is the toughest because the kids are all exhausted after the excessive frivolities at school (especially if you have a year 6 leaver – how many leaving assemblies / productions / services / hat-throwing gatherings can one year group need?) and then they have to settle back into being siblings again and find their pecking order for the next 6-8 weeks. Ever since an excruciatingly painful summer about 9 years ago when I drove into a field one evening and screamed/ cried/lost the plot at the top of my voice for well over an hour I’ve realised that holidays need to be broken down into segments. We’re now on weekly segments but at one stage it was daily morning, afternoon and evening segments. I then try and plan our holidays – staycation or vacation – in the middle two weeks to break it up further. 

But the children are now older and the only week-long activity they’re all attending is in the middle week! And with our holiday booked for the last week I’ve had to get creative to fight the “Can I go on tech every second of every day? But it’s the holidays…all my friends are on…”

Thanks to some great advice from a MGTH team member years ago, each weekly segment is themed and it’s surprising how many similar activities you can do with a change of costume on to make them seem vastly different! The first week was pirate week. My eldest (12) wrote a treasure hunt for the youngest two (8 & 4) that was so much better than I could have done – even I was excited to join in! We made a treasure map (with the treasure helpfully stuck on top of the X!), a pirate cake was baked, and costumes donned (even by visitors to the house who were very keen to join in) because who doesn’t love seeing a pirate around town?!

During all this Classics On The Common Harpenden was thoroughly enjoyed by my petrol head son (no pirate link though – I may need to ask if they’ll include boats on the pond next year) and two of the boys (8 & 11) were kicking balls, sweating in the 39 degree heat and having a great time with their friends at Watford FC CSE Trust’s football camp who were superbly organised as always and in THAT HEAT with so many mini footie fans they even came prepared with water guns and sun canopies. 

I took my little pirates Cassiobury Park, an old favourite of MGTH, and using the Tried & Tested advice from our website we attempted to arrive early. After an argument with the sat nav we were 10 minutes later than planned and the car park had just finished filling up as we saw the queue for the ticket machine. However, we discovered that the roads surrounding the park had very thoughtful time limits – one side is 9-11am and the other is 2-4pm. So we parked and had 3.5 hours to play with the option of moving the car later. The splash parks were HEAVING – it was like an 18-30s holiday camp except for 18-30month olds! We crossed into the woods and found a completely secluded cove and had an early picnic. It was magical. The boys waded in the water and climbed the arching trees and I got to SIT DOWN! After lunch we carried along the path and found the weir and river opening out, again no crowds just a handful of families looking for a tranquil afternoon in the extreme heat. Just before heading back to the car the children took a ride on the miniature railway (£2pp) that the 4 year old said was his “favourite bit” of the day but then decided that climbing up and down the “waterfall” (weir) was best and then the picnic was…We did a quick detour to the new café by the splash park for an ice-lolly and everyone agreed it was a superb was to cool off but we went home and put the hose down the slide for some more water fun anyway…!

At the end of the week the littlest and I made our own pirate ship that, apart from the pirate flag stuck in the middle, looks just like the butter tub it is but he has a great imagination (he needs to living in this crazy family) and it WILL sail the seven seas!

Coming up in next week’s adventures: 

• Stockwood Discovery Centre Science Exhibition (make sure you book in advance!)

Orbital Trampoline Park Luton  Summer Camp

The Odyssey Cinema, St Albans

Fizzbugs Seniors

Imperial War Museum London

Summer Reading Challenge

• Southdown Play Areas Oakley Park

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