We escaped for a few days :-)

Why???? do holidays that you arrange and plan for
go pear shaped and yet the ones where you say
'ok lets go', turn out to be the best???
Here is a classic example lol
2 nights at our favourite place, Barmouth, in Mid Wales!
The trains all ran on time, no problems with the
connections and the hotel was only 2 minutes walk
from the station :-)
Ok the weather wasn't too good on the first day,
but it didn't stop the kids from going on the beach,
the next day was even better and the last day was
glorious hot sunshine!! The hotel, 'The Seashell' was
lovely! we had a huge room on the second floor with
spectacular sea views, the food was good too, i would
highly recommend it.
I feel like we've had a real break :-)

The breath taking mountains, what a back drop!!



The view from our hotel window!



Charlotte



Lewis



Holly









Sunset by the sea, you can't beat it!

The two sides of the world meet!

Thursday 2nd April, a day i will never forget :-)

We set off for London at 8am, the children were so excited,
they just love trains! we arrived in our capital at 11am
with just a half hour to make it across the city to
Buckingham Palace and this meant taking the tubes!!!
There were so many rude, ignorant people who didn't have 5
seconds to spare grrr. The escalators were fun, poor Holly
kept putting her feet over the gaps, then couldn't understand
why the step split leaving her grabbing for my hand whilst she
regained her balance on one or the other lol
We squashed in like sardines until Andy gave us the nod that
it was time to get off. It was 11.20am and i could see the
Palace ahead :-)
We thought it would be a lovely place to meet, trouble is about
500 other people had the same idea, it was just a sea of heads,
and i had to find someone i had never actually met in person lol



Thank goodness for mobile phones, cos after a quick conversation
at least we were in the same area and it wasn't long before i saw
Rachael and her family coming towards me :-)
We hugged and i made a fuss of Noah and from there the talking
started and i don't think we stopped till we parted late afternoon lol



We watched the remainder of the changing of the guards then set
off for Hyde park, after asking the way *blush* in fact times
those blushes by ten, Darren had lots of questions for us and
we couldn't answer a thing lol, next time me thinks i'm reading
the tour guide of my own country lol
We settled at one of the playgrounds where the kids let off some
steam, and it gave us a chance to catch up.



Everyone was hungry so we took the short walk to the boating
lake and set up 'camp' by the trees.
Darren chose one of the deck chairs and it wasn't long before
he was pounced on by a very rude little man for payment (can i
just add he wasn't english) but Darren soon put him in his place,
it was so funny!





It was such a happy relaxed day, and just what Rachael needed
after her jet setting holiday, and who'd have thought this beautiful
spot was in the middle of a busy city, who ever planned London, had
a bit of forethought!!









All too soon, it was time to say goodbye, Holly was falling asleep
and we hadn't taken a buggy (she never uses one now), so we left
Rachael to do some shopping and we left to catch our tubes.
A very happy day :-)