We spent most of last week at Centre Parcs at Longleat Forest. We had a nice time. The indoor pool was more fun for the older three. Cory took them every day while Avery and I only went twice. Since Avery wouldn't do any slides the wave pool gets a bit old. He prefers being outside in the forest and on the playgrounds anyway. I didn't mind. The weather was a bit cool but still nice and the forest is lovely in Autumn. We had a three bedroom cabin which was nice with big glass windows so it kinda feels like you're sleeping in the forest. We saw a few deer and a bunch of squirrels. They have many activities there that you can sign up for. The pool is included but other activities are extra. The kids played badminton in the indoor sports center, Cory took Avery kayaking out in the lake, Tristan and Aiden did the high ropes course and zip line, Lidia did falconry, Avery and I did the owls experience. They have several restaurants there but we brought groceries with us and cooked all of our own meals. They also have several little shops and things. The grocery store is a bit overpriced though. It was fun but after four nights we were ready to come home. One of Lidia's classmates was there with his family too. His younger brother is Tristan's friend. They met them a couple of times at the pool and had fun swimming and going down the slides together. Tomorrow we have to leave the house at 3:30 am to get to the Bristol airport in time for our 6:25 am flight to Iceland. This time I am prepared with a smaller carry on and I know that I must fit absolutely everything in it or Easy Jet will try to charge me for another bag. Stupid airlines. Please remember us in your prayers that we will be safe and that we will see some Northern lights. :)
In other news we had several D's on the older three children's progress reports so we are removing some distractions and trying to get them to focus more on school work and its importance. This means absolutely no screen time unless it's studying like Khan Academy or Brain Pop until they come home with zero D's. I think I need to hide away all the books below their age level because now that they can't watch tv they are looking at picture books a lot. Geesh!
Oh and Lidia ended up sick too but not the rest of us. She has a bad habit of drinking out of other people's glasses and I caught her drinking from Avery's water bottle when he was sick. I have been really fussing at them if they do that. It's lazy and gross.
The days are getting shorter and I can feel my energy levels decreasing with it. I hate gloomy winter days. I really miss the sun when it's gone. I think we get more sunny winter days in Utah and the days are not as short as here. Just a few more months. Then I'll be complaining about how hot we are. lol The fall colors are pretty here right now though. I will miss this beautiful countryside. I'm looking forward to the holiday season and Lebkuchen. It's kinda crazy how much Cory and I love these German Christmas treats. I really don't look forward to the long drive to Germany but I definitely look forward to the Christmas Markets! We are going the week of Christmas. We have to go when Cory has days off. His vacation days are dwindling.
