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As I finally fold the last of our laundry from our summer adventures, I thought I would share with you the family summer adventures we have enjoyed this year.
Knowing ahead of the summer that I would be working full-time hours, with What The Dad Said having his shift intermingled across the week too. We opted to make the most of the weekends, ensuring to plan days out and family summer adventures to allow us family time around the reality of the traditional working week. This on the whole has worked out well as Roo also signed up to help out at the local disabled children’s holiday camp a few hours per day. So proud of her for continuing to do this long after her Duke of Edinburgh Award volunteering hours were completed.
Boo Roo and Tigger Too’s Summer Adventures
Go Ape Thetford
Our first adventure of the summer, taking along one of Roo’s friends with us, was to Go Ape Thetford to complete the tree top adventure. Recovering from the Coronavirus meant that What The Dad Said wasn’t well enough to get up in the trees with Piglet. I took one for the team despite being afraid of heights (or more falling from a height). Needless to say, I was completely shamed by Piglet who took it all in her stride and offered me words of encouragement as we completed the course. The older ones had a fab time and managed to complete both courses without too much worry.
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach: Summer Madness
Loading up the car after work one day to make the drive over to Great Yarmouth, The Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach hosted a range of themed summer evenings. We joined them for the Summer Madness evening, celebrating 40 years since Madness filmed their House Of Fun video on the iconic wooden rollercoaster. A fun-filled evening of rides, entertainers and a Madness tribute act.
Grease The Musical
This year I have been organising one on one days out with each of the children. Although Roo should have been technically in July, she was happy to accept the few days of delay after finding out I’d organised a girl’s trip to London on the train. Alongside shopping in Primark we had tickets to see Grease The Musical London with Peter Andre. A fantastic show and we watched it just days before we found out about the death of Olivia Newton-John.
Hollywood Bowl Norwich
What better way to spend some quality time together than by getting competitive over a game or two of bowling? Located in the Riverside entertainment complex, Hollywood Bowl comprises of ten-pin bowling, arcades and dining. Let’s not talk about who won or lost, it’s the taking part that counts right?
GoGo Discover Norwich
Returning for the second year was the GoGo Discover T-Rex and Mammoth trail around Norwich and across Norfolk. Whilst we weren’t able to visit all the different statues, we did enjoy finding the ones in the city. Marvelling at the different themes and designs that had been produced for us all to enjoy. A fantastic free activity to complete.
Monopoly Lifesized
The game of Monopoly is such a classic board game, that I imagine that most households have a copy of the classic game or one of the many versions available. Bringing the game to life is the Monopoly Lifesized attraction on Tottenham Court Road, London. A variety of different boards are available to play depending on who you are attending with. We loved getting the opportunity to play the game, even Piglet was able to get involved with the gameplay.
Audley End Miniature Railway: Enchanted Summer
Having made our first visit to Audley End Miniature Railway earlier this year, it was wonderful to go back during their Enchanted Summer event. A chance to hop onboard the train and take a journey out into the woods and explore the different magical stations set up along the way.
Audley End House & Gardens
Located just across the road from Audley End Miniature Railway, is the English Heritage Audley End House and Gardens, which are an impressive slice of history to admire on the walk from the car park. Explore the different rooms within the gran house and marvel at the beautiful gardens.
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo
It has been a few years since our last trip to ZSL Whipsnade Zoo and was our first time completing it without a pushchair to hand. Something not only helpful for tired little legs but also to carry supplies of food and drink – Luckily we managed to pack our Lifewit cooler backpack allowed us to carry everything we needed whilst we were visiting. Thankfully, not visiting on one of the scorcher days we had this summer made walking around the zoo on the Dunstable Downs much more bearable.
Twitchen House Holiday Park
After summer adventures filled with days out, we finally headed off on a much-needed family holiday. Loading up the car to head to Devon, visiting the Twitchen House Holiday Park part of the Woolacombe Bay holiday parks in Devon. Staying in a deluxe 3-bed caravan with a hot tub we spent the long weekend in the pool, and cinema, taking part in the on-resort activities and indulging in the hot tub.
Butlins Minehead
A firm family favourite is a summer adventure trip to Butlins, knowing that we would be in Devon for a long weekend we decided to extend our break away and book a visit To Butlins Minehead for a Showtime Break. A chance for the children to reconnect with the characters that they love, the swimming pool, watching shows and taking part in activities.
A fond farewell to the summer
Just like that the summer is over for another year. After panicking that we hadn’t done enough with the children this summer, we have realised that we have managed to many so many memories.
