It's been so long...........

It's been too long since I last posted!! I've decided that I'll just give a brief summary of our vacation and pop on a few pictures. I don't want to bore you all with the few hundred we took :)

We left on Sunday June 1st and headed down to Helen and Adam's in Derby. We had dinner with them and the boys, as usual, wouldn't leave Adam alone! They love him to bits (and Helen too). They played pick up sticks with him and then watched the DVD that they had bought for Zach's birthday. We left there late afternoon and headed to our Travelodge in Burton (we got the £9 a night rooms that were on sale way back in December).

On the Monday we went to Cannock Chase woods and had a lovely long walk. However, we got a little lost on the way back! It was a beautiful warm, sunny day. The woods are a great place for walking, bike riding, etc. Adam had mentioned that he goes there to bike ride and we could see why! We were staying at a Travelodge in Rugeley for 2 nights so visited the small town centre. I managed to find a few charity shops to visit (of course). We noticed that the Subway sandwich shop did breakfast subs so went there for breakfast on the Tuesday morning. When we had been at Helen's, we had mentioned going to the zoo and were excited that they were interested in coming with us. So we decided to go on the Tuesday as that was most convenient for them and it made no difference to us.

So on the Tuesday we had our Subway sandwich and headed off to Twycross Zoo and met Helen and Adam there. Unfortunately the day was quite wet but we still had a fun time. Twycross Zoo is mainly a primate center so we saw all kinds of monkeys, gorillas, etc. We teased Zach that we had got him from the zoo as he is a cheeky monkey. I think he realised we were just playing :) We watched the penguins and the sealions being fed too. We saw giraffes and camels and lots of other animals.

After the zoo we decided to head to Pizza Hut for dinner as we had vouchers that we could use there. We checked on the internet and found that the closest one was back in Burton so off we went. The kids loved their pizza and were excited to have the icecream factory. Adam had one too and I think he was just as excited. We all enjoyed a fab day and we were really pleased that Adam and Helen could enjoy it with us! We don't get to see enough of them, so when we get the chance we make the most of it!

On the Wednesday we went to Drayton Manor theme park. And what a wonderful day we had!! The weather couldn't have been any different from the Tuesday. It was warm and sunny the whole day! We arrived at 9.30 and walked around the park until the rides opened at 10.30. And it was so quiet!! There were absolutely no queues on any rides. In fact some of the rides we could just stay on for a 2nd, 3rd, etc, go!! And others we had to come off, go through the exit, back to the entrance and on again! There was a new part of the park that had just opened this year. It was Thomas land and all the rides were Thomas the Tank Engine themed. They were fantastic!! Some of them we could all go on as a family. And of course they were all new and shiney!! We loved the roller coaster in Thomas land and we lost count of the amount of times we went on. The boys also loved the dodgem cars. Can't remember how many times we went on those either!! We went on a water ride (Zach was too little so David took Nathaniel on, then I went on my own!). We spent the whole day there until it closed at 5pm and we couldn't have asked for a better time! We loved it and would recommend it to anyone!

So on the Thursday we decided to have a look around a few of the local towns so we visited Stafford and Lichfield. We drove through some beautiful countryside too. Some of the villages were just so pretty!

And on the Friday we went to Donington Park racetrack as they have a F1 museum with about 5 halls full of old F1 cars. David and the boys loved it! It's a shame we couldn't actually sit in any.

So here is a few of the pics from our hols. I don't have any of the zoo as Adam was taking pics so I decided not to bother! I'll have to remember to ask him to email me some :) They aren't in order, just random :) Oh, and yes - the boys had their hair cut when they got back. It's not usually that long!!