Another holiday...and a competition.

I know I have some of you may think I have the life of Riley, before I even finish posting my memories of France I'm off on my travels again. This time I'm heading off to Rosslare in County Wexford. A friend of mine has a holiday house there and has invited us down for a few days. The collage below shows the beach we'll (hopefully) be spending lots of time on. These photos were taken in August 2004, do you see how empty the beach is? Bliss.

Before I go I'd like to host a competition. Dillon's scout leader has taken Dillon and two other scouts (along with three leaders) cycling for a few days. They will be camping on beaches, and carrying all they need in small rucksacks on their backs. There will be a prize for the person who guesses what item Dillon insisted goes into his rucksack above things like sleeping bag, water and clean underwear, as well as a prize for the funniest/most inventive/answer we like best. I hope there are lots of answers for me to judge when I return at the weekend and no mum and Mollie you can't enter because you know the answer!

Memories from France: Airpark

Whilst canoeing down the Dordoyne we noticed some wires across the river and decided to investigate. What we found was a place called Airpark which was a park in the air! We were given harnesses and a short lesson before being set free. There were three areas, toddler, six-ten years and ten and over. Ben had great fun in both the smaller areas, pretending he was a solider, whilst the rest of us tried out the big course. It was great fun and there were all sorts of obstacles to overcome. Of course I fell tested the harnesses for the safety of my family and they worked!!! We all agreed that the zip wiring was the most fun and the children enjoyed it so much that we returned another day.

Memories from France: Canoeing

Back to bore you with a post about France. On two separate occasions we hired canoes for a trip on the Dordoyne. The Dordoyne is quite a fast running river and the current will take you if you don't want to paddle. We saw a group on people on a Dordoyne Safari with their canoes loaded with camping equipment (there are plenty of campsites dotted along the river). We canoed past chateaux and villages built into the rock faces, under stone bridges, through weeds and under trees (I won't mention how Mollie and I were nearly decapitated as it may worry mum). There was a lovely breeze on the river to keep us cool and plenty of cafes and restaurants to stop at for refreshments. If you ever find yourself in this area I really recommend it as a fun way to pass a few hours.

Memories from France: Chateaux De Milandes

The view from our house was of mountains, forests and fields with only a couple of visible buildings, the Chateaux De Milandes being one of them. As chateaux go it was fairly small but the architecture was stunning with lots of gargoyles peeping out all around the building.

The chateaux has been restored and turned into a museum dedicated to Josephine Baker. Josephine Baker was a American who suffered from a very hard childhood. In 1925 she travelled to France and quickly established herself as a topless dancer. In 1937 Josephine fell in love with Chateaux De Milandes and rented it for a number of years before buying it. The chateaux contains many of her costumes from her period as a dancer including the famous banana skirt.

Forget about Brangelina and their rainbow family, Josephine was there first. She adopted 12 children from various different countries and they lived in the Chateaux along with her third husband. Josephine also helped the French resistance during the second world war and was awarded a medal for her resistance work.

Unfortunately there came a time when Josephine could no longer maintain the chateaux and she had to sell it, the current owners turned it into a museum in her memory and a lot of the work and design Josephine chose is still there today including the opulent bathrooms.

There was also a bird of pray exhibition on at the chateaux although unfortunately we got mixed up with the times and missed it. We were able to see all the birds in their cages from owls to buzzards to falcons.

Memories from France: The Caves

The area of France that we visited had a lot of gorges. Villages were built into the side of gorges and rock faces with houses virtually sticking out of the rock face. There is much evidence of prehistoric man living in this caves around 13,000 years ago and there are many caves open to visitors, some with museums attached and some with model wax prehistoric men to show how they lived but we decided to visit caves that were off the beaten track and had no gimmick.

We decided to visit Grotte De Rouffignac and after a late breakfast we set off for the caves. At 12.30pm we were driving through a busy tourist village and decided it was too early for as my mother-in-law recommended it for the cave paintings made by prehistoric men 13,000 years ago. It was our second day in the Dordognelunch, we'd see the caves first then have some food.

We left the main road and started travelling uphill in a very rural area following signs for the caves. At last we appeared to be there. Appeared. We came to a dead end. There was a car park (with about two cars). There were public toilets. But where were the caves? We were very puzzled by this turn of events because there was not road we had missed and we had followed all the signs. By the time we'd been to the toilet the other cars had gone and we were on our own. As we drove out slowly we noticed an entrance to a cave (see the first photo with Mollie). When you went through there it was clear that this was the entrance we were looking for. The metal grid also made it clear that it was closed. There was a notice informing us that the caves opened again at 2pm.

As it was only 1pm and Ben was getting hungry we decided to find a place for lunch and then come back. Ten minutes later we were in a village with a main street so we were sure we'd find somewhere to eat. We drove slowly down the road but everything was closed and it was eerily quiet with not a sole in sight. We thought this rather strange and headed back to a supermarket that we had passed on our way into the village. We were dumbfounded to find that closed as well. It was the start of the tourist season we were near a tourist attraction and not a morsel of food could be found anywhere. We drove to the next village only to be greeted with another 'ghost town' with a very hungry Ben moaning in the back seat.

By this time we had two options either head back to the really touristy village for food or visit the caves at 2pm then get food. Ben was outvoted as we felt that if we drove back to the village we were halfway home and wouldn't feel like coming back. I made a mental note to keep a packet of biscuits in the car at all times!

We arrived back at the caves at 1.45pm, again not a car or sole in sight. Dead on 2pm five cars rolled up and all the staff appeared. On entering the cave and purchasing our tour tickets we were delighted to find a vending machine where we could buy the children a chocolate bar to keep any hunger pains at bay.

Once there were nine visitors in the foyer of the caves were were ushered further into the caves where a small electric train awaited us. As all the visitors were English we were given the tour in English (when my in-laws visited the previous year their tour was solely in French) which was great as we learnt so much.

As little as possible has been done to the caves to maintain and preserve them. No photographs are allowed in order to preserve them and limited light is used on the tour as well as the number of visitors being limited. We headed quite a long way into the caves before we stopped to be shown some scratchings all the wall. I wasn't too impressed with prehistoric mans talent until the guide informed us that the care bears made these marks. Now I was really puzzled as he went on about the care bears scratching the walls. I thought care bears were fluffy teddies how could they have scratched the wall 18,000 years ago? Then it dawned on me that it was cave bears he was talking about. Every winter a cave bear would come to hibernate always alone and he would scratch his mark on the wall. The following winter when a different bear came he would travel further into the caves looking for a new place to mark as his own territory. These bears must have comes for thousands of years as there were lots of their scratchings.

After the bear scratchings we arrived at the art work. Considering the conditions the art work was amazing. They mainly drew woolly mammoths but also horses, bison, ibex and rhinoceros. The caves would have been lit with small 'candles' of animal fat and in one place they would have been lying on the floor drawing on the ceiling of the cave. As I mentioned before we were not allowed to take photographs but I bought some postcards, one of which can be seen here.

I was thrilled to have been able to have the tour in English as we learnt so much and I would definitely recommend this over the more touristy, gimmicky places as it is a real piece of history. Since the paintings have been discovered they have faded a bit and despite all their efforts to preserve them it is only a matter of time before they disappear forever.

Holidays

It's been a long, long week. In France we rarely went to bed before midnight (children included) and slept until 10am so to come home and have to be up for school has been really tough. Thankfully since 12noon today the summer holidays have begun-yey, I love the summer. Hopefully it will be a hot one and we'll have plenty of picnics and beach trips to look forward to.

Memories from France: The house

We picked up our hire cars from Bordeaux airport on Saturday each family was given (by mil) an Irish flag sticker to stick on the car to recognise it amongst all the other hire cars. Tim and Kathryn went off to a baby shop as there had been a mix up over their car seats and they had to go and buy some. The other three cars headed off to Sarlat. We left first with Joules driving and me navigating using a map and the psp. We exited the airport drove around a roundabout twice then entered the airport because the road the psp said I needed was not signposted. A quick argument look at the map and we were on our way circling Bordeaux on the ring road and life was just peachy.

Then the exit we wanted to take was closed off and we found ourselves on the road heading for Paris. Paris was no where near where we wanted to be heading so we took the next exit, I abandoned the psp and using all the skills I learnt in the Girl Guides I navigated us cross country (a very scenic route) and back onto the motorway we wanted.

Life was great, I could sit back and relax and was just nodding off when we approached the toll. We knew there were tolls and had some change ready but could see no booth to pay at so pulled into an automated machine. There was no sign we could recognise telling us how much to pay or even a slot for money, what should we do? Joules reversed out to try another lane. Luckily for us another car pulled up so we followed it to see what to do. They were ticket booths, we collected our ticket which then allowed us to pay at the next toll.

At the next toll we caught up with mil, fil and sil and we all stopped for lunch before leaving the motorway and travelling through the prettiest of villages on our way to our destination. At last we arrived and the view was breathtaking, chateaux, woods, hills and fields from our balcony as well as a large swimming pool and all bedrooms en suite. The main house was full of character (but the internal floors and walls were very thin) with a good, well stocked (30 wine glasses) kitchen and large sitting room. The other two houses were fine for sleeping in but a bit dark and drab so everyone lived in the downstairs of the main house and we ate our dinners on the balcony looking out at the wonderful view. We could shut the door to the courtyard making the house safe for the younger cousins but it was a bit of a hike to the pool which meant that our children couldn't go up there unless there was an adult available there to watch.

All of the pictures above were taken in and around our house which came with a lot of land including some woods.

Memories from France: Bordeaux

The farmhouse we stayed in was let on a Saturday to Saturday basis but the flights from Ireland were only available a few days a week and not a Saturday so we planned to travel on a Friday, spend the night in Bordeaux then travel on to the house. However when we went to book it was €150 per person cheaper to travel on a Thursday so we took the cheap flights, booked a hotel in the centre of Bordeaux and got to spend a day wandering around the city.

No offence to Bordeaux but with children one day is enough. We had read that you could take a boat trip so found the tourist information to make enquiries only to be told that the boat trip takes place on the first Sunday of every month. Yes folks you heard right, once a month. We then asked what was available that children would enjoy and were told that there was a small, electric train the ran about four times a day. That's all, one train running four times a day and a monthly boat trip.

Ben and Dillon (with the camera) went off with their Grandad to look at the river and Joules and I went with Mollie who wanted to shop. Shoe shop. Yes I have a daughter with a shoe fetish. She wanted silver crocs. Crocs are very expensive in Ireland and even more so in France. The more I explained that all her money would be spent on the first day and that her Grandma was visiting Canada soon and could get her some cheaper crocs the more she told me I was a bad mother for not letting her buy what she wanted on her holiday. Eventually we stumbled into the cheaper area and Mollie, by now on a mission to find a pair of shoes similar to some I had purchased last year in New York, continued to drag us into every shoe shop. Finally we found some really unusual silver shoes for €5 and Mollie had a huge grin on her face. Seconds later she found the New York shoes for only €12. Mollie heaven, two pairs of shoes for €17. Joules and I wandered around and I found my dream bike for sale for only €130 but there was no way I could squeeze it into my suitcase then it was time to meet the rest of the family at the Cathedral for a late lunch.

In the afternoon I got to wander around a French hypermarket. I love French hypermarkets, where else could you buy a motor bike, video camera, clothes, phones, suitcases, garden furniture, household goods etc all under one roof, I could have bought loads of stuff only my suitcase wasn't big enough!

Bordeaux would make a lovely weekend break (without children) but I was ready to travel east and find our holiday home.

10 reasons why it's hard to come home.

1) You leave behind temperatures of 31 oc in France and return to temperatures of 14 oc, mist and rain in Ireland.

2) You have no food in the house and it's 9pm.

3) Your car battery is completely dead.

4) Your jump leads are kaput.

5) Your battery recharger is a twisted heap of rust.

6) Your two youngest children have to be up early for school the next day, (well they have just missed three weeks and you don't want the Department of Education knocking on your door).

7) You then remember that your youngest child has a dentist appointment at 9.30am so you definitely need your car (not to mention the food shopping or else the family will starve).

8) You have to set the alarm for the first time in three weeks.

9) You wear socks and long sleeves therefore hiding your delicate tan.

10) You do a mammoth grocery shop because you don't know what you need and then have to find places to store everything whilst realising that you did have quite a lot of food and the freezer is full so where will you put the duck you just bought!

Postscript:

11) You have 643 emails to wade through!

Finito!

So I'm €40 and two cinema tickets worse off but Dillon, Mollie and Mollie's friend spent the day cutting down the remaining hedge and bagging the branches for me so my hands were saved more agony. I hope I can fit all the garden rubbish in my car! I spent the day clearing out and tidying the sheds. One shed is now full of rubbish (a trip to the dump) and children's toys we no longer need (ready for the church fete). This shed was originally the children's playhouse but they don't really use it anymore so I've also stored all the outdoor toys and scooters in there giving me more room in the bike/tool/garden equipment shed.

Today is yet again a beautiful, sunny day, we have been really blessed with this gorgeous weather while the children are on their Easter holidays, so we're going for a picnic with friends. I'm off to make the flapjacks and sandwiches, hope you have a good day.

Roll on Summer!

'We're all going on a summer holiday
No more worries for a week or two
Sun and laughter on our summer holiday
For me and you oooh ooh
For a week or two'....(or three)

To quote Sir Cliff we are going on a summer holiday and it's been booked, yippee. My parents-in-law have booked three houses in France and want their three sons, one daughter, three daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren to join them for three weeks in June. Actually the three son's won't make the three weeks as they all work for their father and have to cover minding the business but they'll each get two weeks.

Much as I am very excited about a three week break in the sun, with tennis court and swimming pool I have a dilemma. I plan to spend my time looking hot (and feeling hot no doubt) in a sexy bikini swanning around the poolside. The problems with this are as follows:

1. I do not have a sexy bikini.
2. I do not look hot (and would not even if I did have a sexy bikini).
3. I do not know how to swan around (though I'm sure I could learn).
4. My mother-in-law is half the size of me.
5. My sisters-in-law are gorgeous and skinny.
6. I am not.

So last week I decided to tackle my problems and started my healthy eating campaign. I cannot diet because to me that means depriving yourself of food and I love food but I can cut down on the biscuit, sweet, sugar intake and eat more fruit. So far so good, in a week the only bad food to pass my lips have been one packet of crisps, a slice of cake and a scone. Hell, I may not go on the holiday looking sexy or thin but I'll look better than I do now, (and I think I'll buy a decent one piece swimming costume)!

With my healthy eating campaign underway I was delighted to read Barbara's blog last week. I had contemplated linking to Barbara on Fun Monday because out of all the food blogs I read I consistently make her recipes, from jam to apple cake to baked omelette's. I consider them straightforward recipes to make with ingredients I can easily purchase. The only reason I didn't link to Barbara on Fun Monday was because I knew there would be lots of reading and decided to link to one post only plus I already had the idea of writing this post.

So back to Barbara's post (I fear I am rambling a bit today) as soon as I spied the title 'blueberry breakfast bars' I was hooked, within seconds I was drooling over the photograph and knew that I would be making this no matter what the ingredients were. I hopped over to Farmgirl to get the recipe and all I needed to purchase was the blueberries. As this is not the season for blueberries they are very expensive but I had to make this recipe so purchased two cartons. When I started to measure my ingredients I was well short of the three and a half cups needed. After a quick search in my freezer I found some blackberries so added those to the blueberries, having made the recipe I think you could substitute the blueberries for a variety of fruit.


These are so yummy, OK I kid myself they are healthy but I am limiting myself to one a day. Dillon, when he tried them elevated me from 'a wonderful mum' to a 'wonderful, wonderful mum' but then asked whether I felt guilty for depriving him of these for the last 13 years! Some compliment I think.

We Love Bank Holidays!

As today is the last Monday in October it is a bank holiday, so we decided it was time for an outing to the National Aquatic Centre (NAC). The NAC was built when Dublin hosted the Special Olympics and needed a competition pool but it also contains Wild Waters which is the closest thing you get to a water park here. There are three slides:- the black hole, the green giant and the master blaster; as well as a surf ride, a lazy river, a jacuzzi pool,a pirate ship and a wave machine. Dillon decided to stay home and go cycling with his friends, so the cost for a family of four was €39 and you can stay for as long as you like which makes it pretty good value.

We arrived early as, from experience, we knew it was quieter and we would not need to queue for the slides. It was practically empty and after persuading Ben to try the slides we had great fun. Ben would only go on the green giant although he did try the black hole at the end but found it scary. Mollie, Joules and I loved the master blaster which involves sitting on a huge inflatable ring and whizzing down the slide whilst being spun around. Mind you I didn't enjoy the time I flipped off the ring backwards and landed on my shoulder! Joules also liked the black hole which was temporarily closed when I went to have a go. Although Mollie and I went down the green giant we found it hurt our backs when we lay down as we went over the joins in the slide. As Ben sat upright he didn't have this problem.

After three hours of fun we were feeling hungry so found a TGI Fridays to have lunch in. The smell of the burgers being cooked was delicious and just what we needed after three hours in a pool. Ben and Mollie ordered chicken fillets and chips, Joules a BBQ burger ultimate (ultimate means two burgers!) and I ordered a Jack Daniels melteroy burger. My burger was very good, I'm not a huge burger fan but this tasted like a burger should, hearty and meaty. The burger sat on a bed of iceberg lettuce and tomato with onion and gherkin (which I gave to Joules). On top of the burger was bacon and cheese topped of with a Jack Daniels sauce which was sweet and suited the burger. We all agreed the homemade chips were the best we'd had and all the food was finished very quickly! Ben and Mollie still had room for dessert and Ben opted for a bowl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream while Mollie chose worm and dirt pie which was vanilla ice cream with a chocolate fudge sauce and jelly worms (they'd run out of worms so she had jelly rings instead). Mollie said this was the best pudding ever comparable only to the cookies and cream dessert Dillon and Joules had in Tu Tu Tango on Sam's birthday in Florida.

All in all we had a very enjoyable Bank Holiday Monday.