Being mum to 8 means Mother's Day is very much celebrated in our home . My babies range from 1 to 15 years and so I love nothing more than when they make me their personalised gifts, their homemade cards , their little trinket boxes and tissue paper flowers of course are always welcome. For me something personalised or made by them from them , means it was done with care and thought and not just something they've picked up off the shelf in a hurry , anyone can do that. For the past few years when they have asked me what I want for Mother's Day, I've always told them nothing but they know me so well and what I really mean is I want them to make me something special or buy me something personalised . I've never really been a fan of jewelry other than my Pandora's which I've recently started to acquire over the past 9 months from my husband , not much a fan of flowers or even boxes of chocolates. I've never had anywhere to put ornaments and only recently finalised my decorating to add frames and pictures to my walls so it's always been rather hard to buy for me if ever anyone needed. The one thing however always welcome and has been proven to be my perfect given gift to me was that of a notebook or any sort of stationary to be honest. Being a mum to so many and a blogger and home educator, I have always been very fond of books, notebooks, planners and diaries. A couple of years ago , I literally begged my husband for the 'Mom's One Line A Day' memory book and absolutely fell in love , since then I seem to have fallen for anything that could possibly be as pretty and now Chroma Stationary have just crossed my social media scope . I spotted their new line just in time for Mother's Day after seeing a post on their Twitter profile and immediately loved the idea . You get to choose not only the style of notebook your wanting but you also get to choose the inside style , the embossing, colour, number of pages,and most of all you get to choose your personalised Message with Initials if you so wish . Having received a small envelope through the letterbox , I immediately knew that this was my notebook just by the feel of it . As I opened it up I was wowed at how beautifully wrapped they had prepared it for transport and even added a little touch of gratitude to my parcel. I could clearly see that this was indeed sent with care and attention and they really did want to make sure you felt special receiving it . I opened up the wrapping, carefully trying not to tear the seal (because I get rather OCD with things like this) and wanted to keep it in pristine condition and was absolutely besotted at the personalised Line stating 'Mum of 8' across the top in Silver Embossment along with my Initials on the bottom right hand corner . It was just perfect , clear bright white , so fresh and so clean and fit perfectly with my dressing table to which it would stay for me to capture all my personal notes I would take before retreating to bed each night. For just £8.50 - £9 you can either choose the Perfect bound or the Spiral bound Mother's Day Notebook and they're available in so many different styles and colour. I was truly over whelmed with how pretty my new A5 notebook was. I can see these notebooks not just perfect for Mothers days but also perfect for birthdays, Xmas , Valentine, in fact any special occasion where male or female would love to have something personalised and directed to themselves. Not only do Chroma Stationary do personalised Notebooks but I have also now added to my wishlist the gorgeous Diaries they have available . They are perfect for my planning of my home schooling and blogging work and again you can personalise them to your own liking. £15 is an absolute bargain , you only need one diary a year right? Chroma Stationary also supply A4 Notebooks, pens , pencils and pencil cases , all available for personalisation and if your still not sure what to buy that person you love for their special occasion, why not let them choose themselves and send them a gift voucher so they choose themselves. Chroma Stationary are lovingly made in England and are of the highest quality . I would highly recommend these notebooks to anyone who is inspired to capture their loving notes, memories or plans and it does not break the bank. All of their Notebooks colours in their range is named after an important person or figure in Chroma Stationary's founder and designers lives, each colour reminds them and is named after a special person and each range is named after a memorable place. Their belief is that colour triggers memories which I think personally is a beautiful thought , for me my favourite colour notebook would be purple for my wedding day . Each Notebook is unique to the person it is personalised to. If you could choose a Notebook, what colour would you choose and what memory does it bring to you? Disclosure - All opinions are my own
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What do you get the person who means everything to you but has everything already?
My husband is the type of person who will either appreciate two things , 1 being some sort of tool , mechanic, engine or something with wheels or 2 something sentimental and meaningful. This year , I really struggled to find something to gift him for our Valentines . He already had everything he wanted and we were trying to save for Decorating the house as well as a family holiday , so money was a little tighter than usual. You can see how our Valentines turned out here and what we bought each other, we tried to keep it minimalist but this one gift was the main impression of the day and I was so happy when it arrived. I had only realised that a sentimental gift such as this would be perfect on the eve of Valentine after coming across a tweet from @Starnamereg. I had heard about naming stars before but for some reason I thought they would be so expensive that I had never actually looked into it . star-name-registry.com is the UK's No1 online Star Registry . Naming your very own star means it is registerd within 24hrs and is unique to you, no star is named twice and no one else can own the same star as you .
There a few variety of choices to how you would like to receive your very own star and it does not cost as much as you might think, in fact naming your very own star can be as little as just £14.99 for a standard star or the most expensive is the Binary Star gift set which gives you two star names for £69.99.
With all stars you get -
With the Gift sets you also get included -
If your puchasing the Extra Bright Star or The Binary Stars , you will also receive -
With all Stars , you will have the option to receive your star by mail or at an extra charge have it emailed to you which will be delivered within 12 hours from purchasing. Unfortunately this does not apply to the gift sets but with the gift sets you can ask for wooden roses to be sent with your star so this makes it an extra special treat especially if this is for a loved . Valentines Day was perfect for us receiving the Extra Bright Star Gift Set with Wooden roses .
The surprise of having this come through the door was definitely one of my husbands most loved yet. I never saw him so emotional to find he had his very own star named after him and not only was it named after him but this imparticular star I had chosen for him had a secret meaning, a few actually and brought sentimental feelings to why he appreciated it as much as he did.
Back when I was only 17 years old back in 2000, I met my now husband and we instantly became the very best of friends and no more. We moved in together and remained absolute soul mates . We shared our very first kiss under the stars at a family event but refused to share the thought we would actually ever be together but remained the very best of friends and spent many a night layed on the roof top of his flat that we shared talking for hours on end about everything and nothing.
Two years later I left to make my own life him to move into my own home and we departed into our own little worlds. Back in 2008 , I met him while he was working one evening and we share our second kiss under those same stars again but this time feeling like the time was right and we decided to make a go of it. As our relationship grew , we had children, he named my youngest daughter Drew Bear, no idea why but it kind of stuck with her and now we're married and totally inseperable . While spending many more a kiss under the stars over the years of being together we kind of took it upon ourselves to name a specific star ours but never really registered it until realising we could this Valentine. When I registered that particular star we actually found that it's nickname was indeed Little Bear (surprisingly the nickname he had been giving my youngest daughter from day one ) and so it only seemed even more fitting that it was definitely the choice for us. The Gift set came in a silver box layered with his favourite colour of blue wrapping and among it lay 4 gorgeous handmade wooden roses which suited the cupid theme of Valentine . His eyes watered as soon as he noticed what the box had inside it and he just looked at me with such love that I knew instantly he loved it as much as I thought he would. Sentimental gifts are always the perfect gift , if its homemade or means something , it shows you actually put thought and effort into sending that someone you loved something special and they appreciate it so much more. This star was his most loved gift to date, I don't ever think I will be able to top this one 'His Words', and being gifted in a frame , it will be placed on the wall for all to see .
Having loved this Star nameing Gift so much I have come together with Star-name-registry.com to give one lucky person the chance to win their very own Bright Star Gift Set for themselves or to gift to someone special they think may deserve such a beautiful and unique gift. All you have to do it enter below and wish upon a star , Good luck!
Every year my husband has spent an absolute fortune on Valentines but I wanted it to be different this year. I told him n cards or flowers or anything and especially no ordering take away . I wanted to show him I did not need jewellery, underwear or other lavish treats from him and hoped he would do as he was told and let me secretly spoil him for a change. I know that Valentine is not just to be celebrated on one day of the year. We love each other every single second the day , we tell each other daily umteen times and we certainly do not need chocolates, flowers and expensive gifts to show that. We're soul mates and my husband spends his every day trying to make sure he provides for us all and I know I don't get chance to show him that as often as I would like due to having 8 children in the home. He's had a hard few months with giving up his business and a few insecurities that come with him feeling like he had given up when i reality he was just as amazing as the man I fell in love with originally. Our house is always busy . we don't go out with friends and get our own space or time to share what we once had as a couple . Now we have a 1 year old in bed with us pretty much every night , we rarely get any peace or chance to snuggle and asking for an early night would be a miracle so we take advantage of any moment we can and I wanted to ensure that when my husband came in from work I could dedicate at least two or three hours just for him to be with me and we could be a couple without worrying about an unsettle child or fighting children in the next room. How our Day went- Waking surprise- The first thing that happened was I woke to my husbands alarm at the usual early call in the morning . He woke up and kissed me on the forehead as he always does, told me he loved me and whispered happy Valentines in my ear as I lay pretending to sleep . As he walked out of the door I heard him place something on my dresser beside our bed and I peaked slightly, unable to see what it was. Waiting for the sound of the engine of his bus to start and hear him driving of , I quickly jumped up out of bed to find a card, some chocs, flowers and a huge Care bear sat staring at me . The Swine he is. I told him not to bother and knew he could not help himself but I was smiling to see that once again he had given me a beautiful start to the busy day I had organised . I woke up the children and told them it was time to get up and get sorted. Routine in our home in a morning was a hectic one to start with never mind the Monthly shop delivery we were also expecting first thing . I had been frantically hoping for all my deliveries to arrive in time and was panicking that my Valentine surprise I had planned would be spoiled by something or other so when it arrived and everything was there , I was absolutely over excited and instantly ha to get started . The Flower Shop was empty- I had no way of ordering any flowers earlier than this day so I was holding on to hope that our local flower shop would be able to rustle up something or other and with having a joint account , the problem is that they get to see everything so I needed to do it secretly without him even having an incling . It was not something I really needed but after my husband had been buying me flowers on many occasions and me never returning the favour, I really wanted to do something different especially when so many people refer to bouquets to being for the woman only. Why cant a man be gifted such a beautiful bouquet of flowers? Hoping to get there first thing , my day was put on hold when my dad decided last minute to drop in with my son's birthday card ready for the next day and so I was running late and unfortunately I never got to the shop until 11.30am and by that time the florist in a hurry making her Valentines bouquets was frantically telling me she had nothing at all left in store. She had no flowers other than a few very small carnations and two roses singly wrapped , no greens shrubbery or any other flowers to which I could even attempt at making a bouquet with.I asked her if there was anything spare and she politely told me not even a small bunch. Absolutely gutted, I asked her to rustle up a bow and some paper and a card, bought the two roses she had left, bought some heart on stick decorations and had the children walk home picking flowers,berries and greenery from the local route. Together we made a pretty looking bouquet and when I got home I placed in a gift bag, added some red tissue paper which I had bought previously and sat it on his bed side with a few other pieces I had bought him . I was actually very impressed with it and thought it looked gorgeous, I thought it was even more sentimental because me and the children had made it together. I just want to make sure your all aware that this post is not about who got what or how much anything cost, in fact it is quite the opposite . Things like the poem, bouquet and our special meal was free or homemade . Arts and Crafts and a Beautiful Poem- Having children means we always get to enjoy making crafts and today was no exception. In fact the children made some lovely tissue paper like stain glass hanging hearts as well as some lovely candle holders. They also helped me by cutting tissue paper in the shape of hearts and making a door decoration . The most loved item though was this beautiful Poem my daughter had made for her dad . Drew loves writing poems for us and leaves them around the house in little hidey places for us to find throughout her day, she is very sweet and so we went and bought a frame she had seen that she wanted for it from the local shop for her to put it in and placed it with his other surprises for when he came home. Things like this are definitely important to my husband , he has brought up my two girls since they were just babies and so I know he would surely cry with joy at what she done for him. Candles- I decided that I wanted to make it all very pretty and ensure the setting for the evening was just right so I also lit over 100 candles and placed them across my very large dresser to dim light the bedroom, placed a candle on each stair from my room all the way to the door for his entering and lit a few more on his bedside . It looked very pretty but being so many to keep an eye on I only left them lit for a few minutes before abruptly blowing them out after he seen them . Petals and Balloons- With a bottle of his favourite wine on ice . A very large card , chocolates, a cute little mug ,massage towel and oil ready with hundreds of petals and so many balloons thrown across the room, I placed the personalised bunting and a few teddies I had also bought him on our new Valentine bedding and retreated to make our tea. I was happy with how it looked and hoped he would appreciate how pretty it looked . Homemade Fakeaway takeaway- Usually , as a tradition, My husband orders us a chinese takeaway . This goes back to 10 years prior to us actually becoming a couple as we used to live together as late teens and used to order weekly takeouts and spend a night together just as good friends , eating, drinking , usually consisting of us on the roof top talking for hours in all weathers. We've always been very close and even back then we enjoyed the little things. We were best friends and still are. This time I wanted to make something myself as we had been saving for decorating our home and an upcoming holiday, money is tight , we needed to save that few extra pounds so what better than a homemade kebab made in the slow cooker to get his tastebuds tickled? It was my first attempt at making my very own fakeaway and I was very impressed and so was he at how it turned out . If your interested in finding out the recipe and how to make this yourself then please follow this link . We had a beautiful evening, wine , chocolates and lovely food and yes , we still ended up with our very own little cutie in our bed but not before we got to have a well deserved hour or two on our own little home made date . A star names after him-
A day later my husbands extra special gift had arrived. Something I had always wanted to get him was on order but I was not sure if it would turn up on time . Since all the years of being friends and living together just as friends, the many evenings sat on the rooftop , talking for hours on end and then later when becoming a couple and pointing to stars saying they were ours and then my husband bringing up my daughter and calling her Drew bear (my youngest daughter who made him his poem) from day one, it only seemed fitting to give him his very own star , one that was named after him and not just any star but a star from the Ursa minor constellations (also known as little bear). So thanks to starnameregistry.com our Valentines day was made even more special and my husband absolutely loved it, I've honestly never seen him as emotional and appreciative as he was . Keep an eye out for my Star deed post coming up . Not sure how I can top it of next year though lol. Since writing my post on ''Living with the past'' last month , I found myself going through all those memories I tried to block out once again and although I find it easier now , one message kept creeping back into my mind - ''What if there was something I missed''?.
I've repeated the same story over and over in my head about my childhood, the memories I feel were true seemed to be dismissed and argued with by family members . On one side I have family sympathising with me and agreeing that it was all as I remember but on the other side it seems it is all hush hush and my memories have wandered a little from the truth. I kind of get the feeling I was being protected and by that I mean I was left with only half of the story. Maybe no one felt I needed to know the truth until like today I felt the need to question it again when I was in a better place in my life, a little more grown up and understandable maybe. Never the less I felt there were things that happened to me as a child that I needed to be clarified now as an adult and if it turned out that those nightmares I still have are just my worry , then I feel reading those files may be my answer to the truth and settling my mind into believing there was more to it . When I was just 19 years old , I fell pregnant with my first child and my Mum (my aunt who took me in at 6 years old) told me to try speaking to my biological Donor (who I had not seen for around 10 years ) and give her a second chance. I visited her in Scotland and all seemed well , she seemed like she was interested finally and maybe even thought that because she screwed up with me , her fist born grandchild may be her answers to making up for all the mistakes she had made in the past . If it was not for my mum I would have not done so but I gave her a second chance and within only 6 months that horrible woman showed me her true colours when she turned up with the records from Social services , showed me one piece of a paragraph and asked me to change it so she could wipe her slate clean and not have the bad name on her record for a future employment availability she had in the pipeline. As well as a few other things leading up to the birth of my daughter , I decided she blew her chance right there and those records were obviously effecting people now so why shouldn't I own them too? After all they were mine and I wanted to know what was in them and that one paragraph was a little disturbing although one sentence seemed a little mixed up. I found that one of the memories I had was written down but as a memory of my sisters not my own and it made me want to see what else was mixed up in there. They cant of honestly had things that were so important mixed up ? I queried to get them back when I was 20 years old but having my first child and actually going of the railings when my mum died for a little while that year made me realise I was not truly ready. Writing my post last month made me realise now is the time. I have to be honest , I am a little scared, maybe it is not as bad as I keep imagining , maybe all those terrible nightmares or flashbacks are just my wild imagination running away with me, but maybe my dreams were a gateway to the truth and those files I am hoping are going to give me answers. I don't need answers , I need truth. I am not looking to score points against those who have been involved but I know deep down some of those people have added to my upset of emotions and I feel they need justifying . I rang so many places around Christmas time , trying to find out how I can retrieve my files and after being passed from pillar to post for two days I eventually got hold of someone who was able to help . With a form to fill in and a small fee of £10 I was assured I was able to have those records . I lingered once again. I have no idea what is scaring me so much that I simply crumble at the last point of acceptance but I never filled the form and I never sent the cheque. Today with the form and the cheque both filled in and in my hand ready to post I still fear I won't have the strength to put it in the post but I am hoping by writing this post it encourages me to complete the one thing I know I need to fulfill to settle and move on with my life once and for all. Least I know I have to send it because there is always one of you lot out there telling me you have my back and wanting to know the outcome . Here are some simple steps to how you can retrieve your personal records- Please be aware this is my local council and this is the information I was given to apply for them although I am sure it is very similar to your own council .
Room 4/143-148 Durham County Council County Hall Durham DH1 5UF The form does not ask for much information so even if you know very little about your past like myself (hence the reasons I am after the details), you only need to know your name, address, D.O.B and then there is a small section for you to fill in which asks you write a brief description on any details you may feel they will have your details under such as any previous addresses or other names you may have gone by , dates of certain events or any other distinctive information that would lead to yourself. No one else is aloud to access your records , not family nor friends unless you grant them your ''Agent'' or unless there is a professional or legal reason to do so and all of your information will be sent to you as legally intended. There may be in some instances reasons for you not to have all of the details , these reasons are to prevent harm which may be caused or prevention of detection of crime. Within just 40 days of them recieving your request, you should have your information in normal circumstances . Records are kept for a minimum of twenty years from the last date of service but child protection have to by law be kept for much longer so sometimes it may take a little longer to access, I for instance was told three months at least as the file was rather large. I do hope its sooner although mentally preparing myself for what may or may not be in those files may need some careful self counselling which I have learn to do over the years myself. I have been informed that if needed there is someone available to go through your records if needed with you . For me I am not sure I could go through another set of eyes peering inside of my life when they know nothing about it except what is written on paper, instead I want to read it in my own home , in my own time . It's strange really, I feel I should share everything with you but when it comes to actually speaking to someone I quiver and hide. I wonder if any of the many social services are still working? Bares thinking about really , I 'm sure not one of them would be willing to go through the notes with me now . It would however be nice to speak to one or two and thank the odd one or two who did step in when it mattered and be there for me when needed, like for instance the one who defended me that Christmas meeting in the Nursery or the voluntary workers who actually spent time with me because they saw me as a normal child not just a neglected and abused one . So my next journey begins. I wonder if I can even bring myself to open those files and opening up a whole lifetime of hurt once again, maybe it will help the healing process. Will I forgive and forget or simply learn somethings are worth keeping hidden? Who knows! Either way the truth is what I am seeking. Having a large family is something I've always wanted as soon as I had my first child, especially after my upbringing and having a rather lonely childhood. Sometimes people look at me funny when I tell them how many Kids we have and after I explain the reasons as to why there are more than just my own living with us , they realise the full extent is more than meets the eye and it simply is not just a case of '' we do not own a T.V'', (if anything we probably own more than the average household). I love having a large family and I would not change it for the world but there are some downfalls apart from the obvious lack of sleep and no social life . No Holidays! Since having children I can honestly say I have only been on three holidays as a family and there are a few reasons as to why that is.
This week I found that having a large family is not a blessing but in fact a curse when it comes to holidays and up until now it never really bothered me. I have never been spoken to so rudely , felt so let down and made to feel ashamed of my having 8 children in our family until this week. Here is what happened! Not being able to go on holiday has to say the least put a real downer on things these past few years and my husband has literally worked his butt off for us not to be able to get away due to the costs and so he took it upon himself last month to make a drastic decision . To put it bluntly I told him it was either a holiday or a divorce (obviously I was not being serious but in a way, I was). We thought about going abroad but the realities just do not cater for us . Firstly I do not want to be paying out over £600 for passports then another £6000 for one week away. It is literally ridiculous at how much that is and I felt physically sick to think that we would have to spend that on a holiday for just one week and that would be without food and spending money. Secondly my husband says he won't ever get on a plane , I think he is a little scared to fly. We then thought about camping. We have been before in a tent and being in the UK meant we did not need passports nor did we need to spend an arm and a leg on travel expenses, insurances and all those other fees that add up to a small mortgage. My husband thought more into camping and the many different ways in which we would be more comfortable and eventually came up with the idea of buying a folding camper. We spent days and weeks looking for the perfect one that would be in our budget and eventually found the perfect one that we would all fit in. I say all fit, in reality I mean it was a six birth but with the awning it meant we could add the extra people in there and we could actually easily sleep all 10 of our family in there comfortably. We went and picked it up, set it up in the garden and slept in it for the night ensuring it was able to accommodate us all easily without us feeling like sardines in a tin and compared to the tent previously this was heaven. The children were all so very excited , even camping in the garden was like a holiday and we had a fantastic night making plans for our future trips . It was huge inside, we had two beds where 6 little ones could share , a table and chairs where we could eat and then turned into another bed for us adults and baby and not only that but we had a cooker, fridge and loads of cupboards to put all our things out of the way . The awning was the same size of the camper and so we bought some inner tents for the teenagers to sleep in the awning , giving them their own space, it was perfect . We prepared our new little holiday home and we were all so very excited to get started on going away but once I started calling places to stay we found rejection instantly. First it was the folding camper that some sites did not allow on site but not to worry there were hundreds of others that did and so I began to ring them. My first choices were the big holiday parks , Haven and Park Resorts and I could not have been more shocked to find that they only allow 6 people per pitch due to insurance purposes. I am sure the memories I have as a child are filled with fields full of huge tents and huge families. Why are people making it harder for us to get away? We had previously been to places like Blue Dolphin and we absolutely loved it , we wanted to go back for sure. Now please tell me what is wrong with us all staying on one pitch. Most of the sites are pay by key for electric which means we would be paying extra for that anyway and also our one camper would be using the same amount of space up as a large tent or caravan , the only thing different is that there are more of us in the camper because we are a larger family. I have been camping and seen bigger tents that hold more people than there are of us , I just really do not get it at all. After calling the main parks and being refused unless we wanted to buy two or three pitches to separate us all , (meaning it costing us three times more) I began ringing more and more. The more I rang the more angrier I became. Why were we being victimised? On many occasions I was told our family size was not that of the norm and it was ridiculous and of course the usual '' Do you not own a T.V?''. By the end of the day I was left fuming. Not only had I been told I was ridiculous , my family was not normal and we were unable to stay on most sites but I was also informed that we were being classed as a group and the reason sites were turning us down was not just because we were a family but because they think we may cause upset or damage to the countryside? Now do not get me wrong, I love the countryside, my kids love fresh air and we indeed were looking for something like a nice fishing holiday that allowed the family to be together and do something all together but how on earth is my family a danger to the countryside? I asked one of the people to explain what they meant with an answer of '' You have 11 people on one pitch with 8 of those that are children, those children are going to be running riot and on either side of you the smaller families may feel you are being too noisy for their quiet get away''. What, Their quiet getaway ? What about mine? These people obviously love to make judgments on large families and have no idea how they work. Maybe If they realised that all we were after was a nice quiet getaway, maybe they would understand the fresh air , beautiful countryside and open space is exactly what our family were after also. I know families of two parents and one child and they have the most unruly children ever, they make more noise and are so much more mischievous than all of my 8 put together. We were after that quiet holiday to but after calling over 60 sites around the UK , THERE WERE ONLY A SMALL HANDFUL THAT WERE HAPPY TO ALLOW US TO STAY ON ONE PITCH TOGETHER. I could not understand what the problem was. It seemed every where I rang , each person I spoke to either spoke to me rudely, judged my family or rejected us altogether. ALL I WANT IS TO TAKE MY FAMILY ON HOLIDAY ! I was not asking much -
I was not asking for a 5 star hotel and a golden goose egg, just somewhere our family could spend some quality time together . Most of the sites that told us they would not allow us on site on one pitch also had the cheek to give us the option of staying there in off peak times. Obviously our huge family would be spending a lot of money and they needed us to keep them busy when no one else would go but why would I go when everything was closed or out of use . I do not want to go in the winter , freezing cold and everything closed, what is the point? I am sorry but with the attitudes and way some of the people spoke to me , I have no intentions of turning up to their sites even if me and my husband decided to have a quiet weekend away alone together. I could not believe that what we thought would be our way of getting a holiday as a family would turn out to be the most hardest option after all. I spoke my opinions to some fellow campers , friends and family and they were disgusted at how my family were being victimised for being larger than normal . We were basically being told that unless we wanted to pay three times more , buy another tent or leave half of the family at home we were not allowed to have a holiday. It literally had me in tears at one point. I felt left down and heartbroken . After all the hard work and money my husband scraped together to buy us our folding camper to get us away , it was being made nearly impossible. Our children were being denied a right to have a holiday and I felt once again rejected. Have you ever came home and see your children’s faces light up when you have told them daddy has bought them a camper to go on holiday when they have never had that before then suddenly see the life literally drain from their eyes in disappointment when you tell them that they will not be able to go and see Rory the Tiger or Sparky Crew because our family is too big and they will not allow us on site? I suppose not! I have rang over 70 Caravan parks and only a very small handful will allow us . I felt so greatful and thankful to them for being so understanding and of course I will write all about the amazing sites when we visit but we do feel very let down at the amount of camp sites who allow unlimited size families to pitch up on one pitch . If anything I honestly thought the camping experience were for families like mine who wanted to spend time together with the open air and all its beautiful surroundings, peaceful and quiet but of course fun building happy memories . Maybe I am not looking in the right places, please help if you think you may be able to but there do seem to be a very short list of those who are willing to take us on. After asking some camping enthusiasts they have pointed me in the direction of the Camping and caravanning club . Being a member will help lower the price of visiting some of the sites as well as being able to join in on meets which happen every weekend in various sites across the UK. Luckily I have one holiday booked for us and a couple more on the waiting list , I just hope that eventually I can find more where I can let my children enjoy a holiday. Would love any ideas , opinions or options you have to be shared, hopefully we will be able to get away soon. |