Skip to main content

Tigers!

Another busy week and tomorrow we head off again - who booked this ridiculously busy summer of activities?!? This time last week we were getting ready to head of to Port Lympne again. We last went 2 years ago for our 10th anniversary and we all enjoyed it so much that we decided we would go again. This time we booked into one of their new lodges, the Tiger Lodge. It's in a different part of the park from where we stayed last time, but still very central and of course (most importantly) came with the obligatory golf buggy. On the way there we stopped off for a BBQ with Helen and Simon and their 3 boys. I work with Helen so it could have been a bit one sided but the major draw for the kids was the fact they have a swimming pool. Given it was a hot sunny day (of course), this was the perfect situation and within moments they were all happily splashing around making the most of it. Quickly a whole bunch more people turned up, including a girl of Izzy's age who is most likely going to go to Pangbourne, and the party got underway. Despite having made me promise we would not stay too long, it was us dragging them away in the end.


We carried onto Kent, only getting stuck in one traffic snarl up, and got to the park as it was beginning to empty out so it was great timing. The first major obstacle to get our heads around was the fact that the Tiger Lodge had no kitchen facilities. I had remembered what we had last time, vaguely read the details and made a sweeping assumption... ooops. Luckily we had already agreed we would eat in the pizza restaurant both evenings so it wasn't such a big deal, and it did have a kettle and a coffee machine so we were happy.


Obviously the whole point of booking the Tiger Lodge was to have an uninterrupted view of the tigers. For the first 24 hours they resolutely refused to come round to our side of their (large and densely wooded) enclosure. However, our patience was rewarded and for the second part of the stay they barely left the area in front of our windows. We got to see them playing, grooming, sleeping (alot) and generally acting pretty much like enormous pussy cats as they dozed in the sunshine. We even managed to get some half passable photos in the end. We also saw all 3 cheetahs as we ate our dinner on the terrace, tapirs, gorillas and so much more - it was a lovely trip once again.


Once we got home, I had to go back to work of course. The start / stop nature of August is taking it's toil. Work is much easier when I am in a routine - only doing 3 days a week gives me far too much time to question why I do this week in week out! Never mind, only 10 years or so to go... I'm sure I can manage that.


This afternoon we dropped the girls off to Simon and Audrey's for a few days so we can head to France again, this time with Simon and Sharron on the (motor)bikes. Of course we anticipated good weather, we have had wall to wall sunshine for what seems like forever after all. But no, the forecast for tomorrow as we head to the tunnel is heavy rain, interspersed with thundery showers. Perfect! At least it solves the question of what to wear for the ride down - wetsuits!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bank Holiday sunshine

Off to meet FiFi and Grumps for a walk  (and yes, she is on the seat) Finally after weeks of rain and cold weather, the tide has turned and we have glorious sunshine for the bank holiday weekend and half term - hooray, it's about time.  Also just in time is half term as the kids were definitely ready for a break. They have both done brilliantly settling into the school, making new friends and finding their feet in an unfamiliar environment. Izzy has just had her exam week and felt it went OK given she hadn't covered all of the syllabus, and Abi's exams start as soon as she is back next week. I hope she's done some revision as she left for Devon with Claire, Adam and Mia today and isn't back until Saturday. There is talk of looking at some of her notes but who knows. My view is that a bit of R&R will probably be at least as beneficial if not more so than cramming all week so she should take the time to relax and have some fun - she deserves it. So we packed Abi o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Half term

Whatever happened to half term?? It seems to have disappeared in a flash, do doubt partly as I was working having had 3 days off the previous week for Kerrie and Ryan's wedding. The plan was to not have a plan - both girls have exam week coming up and so our major intent was for them to spend at least half an hour a day or so doing a bit of revision. This has sort of worked - we only had one day where I got an irate message from Glenn that Izzy knows 'absolutely nothing' about her maths... we'll see. With half term comes effort grades and if they genuinely know nothing, it's not for a lack of effort. Abi did really well, keeping up her average and getting a 6 (top grade) in French again. Izzy, who we always worry is apt to cruise if allowed, got the first 5.0 average grade we've seen from either of them and 3 6's in French, English and DT - well done Izzy! I tend to assume all the kids work hard but it seems not - according to Abi "all the boys always...
Post a Comment
Read more